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Post by ellen on Apr 9, 2013 9:15:07 GMT -5
Lioness, I was more or less kidding, but not taking offense at anything you posted. I have a hard time looking at shows like Animal Cops, which do show people who have 30 cats in the house or even saw one where the woman had so many dogs she had turned the house over to them and was living on her porch. The feces were so deep that the door wouldn't open, and was literally a foot or more solid on the floor. I can't even watch nature films or even cartoons about animals. I am such a wuss. The cats here aren't contained. They don't leave the area but they aren't caged. They have to be caged for a couple of weeks when they come here, until they get used to the place. I do worry about what would happen to them, if something happened to me....and that is why I'm not taking more, but then last week someone dropped off a newborn kitten at my friend's house. Left it in a box by the gate. I did take that one because I know she won't take care of it....doesn't have time. My daughter just had to have her cat of 15 years put down, and I am hoping she will take this kitten when it is weaned. If not, I will keep it as my "personal" cat. I have four "personal" cats....all that I raised on a bottle, and outside cats, except they sometimes come in to sleep. Actually, if something happened to me, the shelter would probably come trap the cats. I worry much more about my horses, which are mostly up in age...two of them being in their 30's. I keep the animals all in excellent condition. I don't have to buy pet food, because it is all donated. One of my pet peeves is people who move out to the country, get an acre or two and think they have enough land to keep horses, which pretty soon are in mud up to their knees. And all the people who move out here and put dogs on chains. Here is a picture made in my feed room. Notice, it is neat and tidy. The animals get better care than I do, I think. That is one of the cats I raised on a bottle, Mancow, keeping watch over things.  I have every kind of food you can think of, for the cats. That includes Science Diet and prescription diets. We often get food by the pallets. This is just the food for the cats. I also have dog food donated for the wildlife and my dogs eat that. I figure for all I do for the shelters, etc., who donate the food, feeding my dogs some of it is a little pay back for taking care of the wildlife. |
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Post by flymomrn on Apr 9, 2013 10:11:15 GMT -5
I had to make the painful realization that I can not have pets at all. I had 2 cats and a dog and was not able to provide them with the care they needed and it was effecting the health and well being of my children and my pets. I love them dearly...enough to make sure that I found them better homes where they could be h a ppy and healthy. It took months to rehome them and it was very hard on all of us, but we had to do this do that we could live in a cleaner home. I love animals and wish I could have pets, but I recognize my limitations and will not do that to myself, my family or another animal again.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using proboards
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Post by Celeste on Apr 9, 2013 11:11:03 GMT -5
What a difficult decision to make, flymomrn! My hat is off to you for putting the welfare of your pets first.  |
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Post by angela on Apr 10, 2013 1:16:17 GMT -5
I'm going to jump in here with another side of all this. I have livestock and have had to radically downsize my herd the last two years. It wasn't because I couldn't care for them, they get the best of everything they need. But it was taking too much out of ME. I don't see the cost to the pet owner in energy and peace of mind in discussions of hoarding animals. Or maybe I've missed something.
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