Thursday, January 11, 2007

Never Fails

I knew if I just waited long enough after my cat Cocoa died, I'd get another one. I wouldn't have to go looking for one; one would just find me.

And that's why I'm only a little bit surprised that there is a beautiful young tomcat howling at my door tonight, wondering why he can't come inside. Didn't I give him a can of cat food and two helpings of kibble? Didn't I give him fresh water? Didn't I pet him and hold him? Didn't I lay out a spare kitty bed for him? And wasn't he appreciative of all that? Wasn't he a good boy?

Of course he was! He is a very good boy. That's plain. He's had people at some point in his life; he isn't a bit mean, and he's nowhere near as wary as he ought to be in this world.

He's also declawed.

But he hasn't been neutered.

These, these are the people whose heads I would like to beat against rocks: The kinds of people who make it a priority to remove from an animal his chief defense mechanism, but the part of his body that will cause him to wander for miles and miles until he is hopelessly lost? That part of his body that will help create dozens, if not hundreds, of other homeless cats? Oh, no: We keep THAT part. Heaven forbid we emasculate the poor fellow.

And don't tell me it's about money. It isn't! Declawing is expensive, but I once paid a whole $15 to have a cat neutered, and not that long ago, either--within the last 10 years. There are low-cost spay and neuter programs everywhere, even here, in wouldn't-you-really-rather-have-a-dog? land.

I'll be taking this little guy into such a program tomorrow, if he's still around. I hope he is. He is very sweet. He licks noses and likes sitting in laps.

Alas, poor Shane: Your time as a baby was so short.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seriously, though:

Wouldn't you really rather have a dog?

Unknown said...

Damn, you know, I just don't stay up late enough at night, because here I was, all ready to say, "Wouldn't you really rather have a dog?" and Auguste beat me to it!

I do so wish you read the local paper, because just the other day our proud cultural heritage of cockfighting was being debated, yet again. It's legal here. The gov has finally thrown his (considerable) weight into the fray suggesting that the pesky cruelty thing does, ultimately, outweigh the "but it's part of a proud cultural heritage" argument.

ilyka said...

I do so wish you read the local paper

[hangs head in shame]

Wait, wait: This is why you have a login!

Cockfighting, shrouding women head to toe--these are the points at which I say "Oh, no, just fuck multiculturalism."

Wouldn't you really rather have a dog?

I used to think I wouldn't mind having one someday, but then I read this. Too much work.

Anonymous said...

I once earned myself some flames about how I must enjoy skinning kittens alive, when I insisted that if someone was going to let their tom roam free but didn't want to pay for all the neighbours' kittens they should really get it neutered.

Lesley Plum said...

I once earned myself some flames about how I must enjoy skinning kittens alive, when I insisted that if someone was going to let their tom roam free but didn't want to pay for all the neighbours' kittens they should really get it neutered.

Is it just me who wonders if people who don't neuter their toms think it's incumbent on the neighbors to have their female cats spayed. Either that or train them to keep their hind legs closed.

ilyka said...

Is it just me who wonders if people who don't neuter their toms think it's incumbent on the neighbors to have their female cats spayed

Well, not anymore it isn't. I hadn't thought of it before but it makes a twisted kind of sense that some cat owners would think that way. Some really, really stupid cat owners.

Slut-shaming for cats: There's a pussy joke to be made there somewhere, but I'm too exhausted right now to think of it.

Anonymous said...

There might be low cost spay neuter clinics near *you*, but near *me* there are none. At all. Now, I contend that if you can't afford $100 you probably shouldn't get a pet, but this is irrelevant, cause if you can afford one surgery on the animal, you can afford two.

But I have to read the stupid reasons that people give up their animals for (12 year old cats who "didn't like new kitten" -- who do you think adopts a 12 year old cat?) and I am also inclined to think that if you give up an animal to a shelter (ie, if you find another home for it, it's fine) for any reason (if it is, say, biting you, it's your fault anyhow) then you should be killed. Or if you leave it in the apartment when you move, or dump it on the side of the road, etc.

No, I don't think I'm being overly harsh. I just don't have the political power to enact this.

belledame222 said...

augh. best friend and his partner adopted two rescue lilac point Siamese, litter-brothers. it was a no-kill shelter, but they were in just a dire state when they adopted them, physically and emotionally; they honestly thought they might not make it for a while, they were so thin, had so much trouble eating.

they look like completely different cats now. they're lovely little things.

but so, yeah: declawed.

you read between the lines: the couple that dropped them off because, o dear, moving, can't take them with, so sorry; the sort of people who wanted fancy kitties to match the furniture, not -scratch- the furniture. oops, inconvenient, buh bye.

yeah, burn in hell, fuckers.

they're indoor kitties, so the defenseless part isn't so much of a problem, but of course without claws they have much more trouble getting traction jumping and climbing.