What drives us cat people crazy...

[Lyzzie]

I got the "it's only a cat" lots of time, and my mom, of all people, actually found a new one that annoyed me to no end. She works at a market, and can get lots of different meats either cheap or free. She came by and had two wrapped cuts for me. I think it was chicken and turkey, not sure. Well, one of them was "for you and John, not for the cat, it's a really nice cut". I said "sure, thanks" and gave everything to Sparrow. I know how to pick my battles, and this one wasn't worth it. She does like cats, but she doesn't love them since she had to put Pinceau (that's Paintbrush) to sleep three years ago. He was only 1 yo, and she never got over it. Yes, my cat(s) eat better than me. Yes, I do have the equivalent of a Care Credit to take care of them, and I'm currently paying one off. Yes, I will deprive myself if it means my cat(s) can have what they need. And John (SO) is the same way. He's a cat daddy, and proud of it!

 

[neely]

 
The absolute worst to me is "it's only a cat!" 

Having had both a cat and dog, I absolutely abhor this comment.  I grieved just as much for our cat as our dog.  Whenever people say this I ask if they've ever lived with a cat.  

I feel extremely fortunate that I love and adore cats, that I appreciate their unique qualities and especially their inherent intelligence.

 

 

[keylimecats]

 
1. The ABSOLUTE WORST thing I've heard regarding cats, is: "I declawed my cat, to keep it from scratching my brand new leather couch"

My sincere apologies to members that have declawed their cats - I am not trying to badmouth on anyone.

But, no, declawing is equivalent to amputation. It deprives an animal of a crucial part of its digits and it CAN deform the animal and create a multitude of behavioral problems.

It is unnecessary, expensive and can be controlled with trimming the cat's claws.

The saddest thing about this, is that most people who declawed their cats, thought that it:

• is a standard procedure (well, unethically, it has become one), like neutering or spaying
• doesn't harm the cat in any way
• is OK

Thus, many people fell for it, being sold by their vets, and didn't know they were conciously abusing their pets. 

2. "Cats are not loving and caring, like dogs are"

First of all: If that's what you're going for, then you can hire a nurse, a baby-sitter, or just stick with your mommy. 

Any kind of pet should be considered as a life companion. Sure, they fill in the "holes" that most of the time humans in our lives leave us with. But this shouldn't be the criteria based on which anyone would choose to adopt/acquire a pet. Or choose between a cat or a dog.

Second of all: Cats ARE loving and they DO care. In their own way, which is more discrete than the way dogs show it. In my opinion, felines include the whole nature inside of them. It's just more apparent on them, in comparison to other species. They're not looking to "belong in a pack" like dogs do (and their wild ancestors, as well). I believe they perceive us as "equals".. In their eyes we seem like "large sized cats". So, yeah, they will treat us like they treat another cat. They will attempt to bite us, when they want to play or when they think we pose a threat to them. They will come purring against us when they want to cuddle. They will press their paw on us when they see we are sad.. They will knead on us when they want to calm and take a nap.

We as humans, are not in touch with our instincts. So, we have failed to trust our "energy". The best criteria to choose a cat over a dog, or a parrot over a ferret etc, is to just let THEM choose YOU. They are way better "matchmakers" than we will ever be! 

To me, no one is a dog person or a cat person. To me, you either respect all life forms or not (I am not crazy about the term "animal lover"). If you respect life, you'll just pair your life either with a cat, or a dog, or both, or a parrot or whatever..

I agree whole-heartedly!!!!!!!

 

[ginny]

 
I hate people like that. Could you imagine what people would say if the opposite had happened and you told them. "you only feel sad because you don't have a cat". They'd lock you up. People need to think before they say things like that. 

When my DH passed away, the first thing my father said to me was, "This could  have happened 10 years ago so you should be grateful for the time you had." 

That was supposed to make me feel better. Oddly, it did not- at all. 

Oh my god.  I heard the same sort of asinine comments when my mom died.  She's in a better place, it happened for a reason, now remember she was 88 years old so she lived a good life, don't cry just be glad for all the memories.  Complete and utter bs.  They are lucky I restrained myself or else I'd be in jail right now.  

Even my own idiot sister said to me no less than THREE times the night mom died "just take in a boarder!" to help ease my suffering.  Here's a thought, sis.  Why not let's at least wait until she gets cold before making such a grossly inappropriate, absurd "solution"?  Smh.  There's no cure for stupid.  

When I had Gracie PTS, a friend was holding my hand at the moment she breathed her last.  I thought she was a true friend after all she made the effort to come over and be there for me.  She even missed an appointment to be there.  Then she offered to pick up her ashes the next day (yes it happened very quickly.)  She even brought Gracie to me, but she slipped up and told me that she was talking to one of her family members while on her way back to me with Gracie's cremains and told them she was riding around with a dead cat beside her.  That really hurt.  Who can you trust?  

 

[hbunny]

@Ginny   I am so sorry that happened to you with Gracie!  Jeez!  People just don't understand.  I wish there were local cat-support groups we could form to be with one another, but from what I can tell, everyone is scattered out.

I also went through that when my mother passed away.  No matter the difficulties our relationship had over the years, it was just not appropriate when very closely related family members, including one of my uncles, started asking me for her things AT THE FUNERAL HOME!  I have cut ties with virtually all of them since her funeral due to their greedy behavior.  And they wanted stupid stuff.  One cousin wanted her sewing machine, the uncle wanted an old glass pitcher she had, I mean really, people!  She was in the other room just put out for viewing, fresh in the coffin---and here they are bickering over her stuff?!?!? 

You can bet no one got a thing.  I was even asked about her wedding rings.  Yes, her wedding rings.  I even had high suspicion that someone (family member who had a key) had already gone through her house by the time I got to it.  And things had been taken out of her shed that I wanted.  It is the worst time for you emotionally, but the best time to quickly figure out who is truly family.  Sadly, none of them made the cut with me.

To top it off, she left her house to the cousin who wanted the sewing machine.  I got an attorney and got it anyway (only living heir).  AND--she left a small cd of about $5,000 to the church to go in the graveyard fund for perpetual care/maintenance, which another cousin was the treasurer for.  She was asking me for the death certificate so she could get her grabbers on that money the freaking day she died.  She wasn't even cool, much less cold, when she asked me for it.

Whew, we veered off track.  Sorry!  I've carried that for so long and it had to come out.

 

[Willowy]

In our family we make morbid jokes. My uncle's ashes are currently in my grandma's closet. You can bet we get a lot of mileage out of that . And my aunt's ashes are in my uncle's car trunk. Oh, the "body in the trunk" jokes are numerous. And my grandma has ashes from one dog and one cat in her china cabinet. And yes, we do make "dead dog/cat in the cupboard" jokes. We mean no harm; it's how we cope. I'm sure your friend didn't mean any harm either, and may have no idea that was upsetting to you.

 

[ginny]

Thanks @hbunny,  I'm sorry for what happened to you as well.  People sure do show their true selves in times like that don't they?  It's so inappropriate to ask for items at the funeral home, of all places.  That's just so wrong.  I'm glad they didn't succeed.  Like your, sadly, none of my family members, not one single one, made the cut either.  

It's also never an appropriate time to joke about your friend's beloved pet as a "dead cat", especially if she just died the day before.  So, to keep on topic, that comment sure goes on the top of my list of  "What drives this cat person crazy".  

Is it any wonder we like cats more than people?  

 

[ginny]

I'm sure she didn't realize how inappropriate that was, especially since we aren't really close and haven't known each other long.  I did tell her very nicely and she apologized in a way that suggested she did not understand.  But she did make time to be with me on a very bad day, I will give her that much and will never forget that kindness.  More than I can say for "family".  

 

[Boris Diamond]

It irks me when people say, "If your cat weighed 100 lbs., he would try to kill and eat you."

1.  My cat does not weigh 100 lbs.  He will never weigh more than 12 lbs.  It's not a problem.  I never heard of anyone killed by a kitty cat, unless they got rabies from it.
2. They are usually dog owners.  Dogs don't have to be any larger than they are to kill an average of over 16 people a year here in the US.  And they are ugly deaths as dogs messy killers.  And it's usually old people or children.  And that's not mentioning the thousands of people with severe, even crippling injuries from dog attacks.

I love all animals, including dogs.  But a bad owner can make a dog dangerous by not controlling him.

I was delivering something I had repaired to a house.  The owner's dog came out and bit me on the heel.  I said "Lady, your dog bit me."  She said, "My dog does not bite."  I said "OK, but if I drop this item and break it because your dog bit me, I am not responsible for damages."  She put the dog up.  She was not happy with me, but I don't mind losing a customer whose dog bites me and then tells me her dog does not bite.  I figure you are better off without a small percentage of customers who walk through your door, anyway.  People who will not control their dogs are better serviced by someone else.

I had friend who was trying to avoid being bitten by a Chihuahua at a house where he was working.  He accidentally stepped on it.  I won't go into details, but his company had to pay a hefty settlement.  She loved that dog and the money did not make up for her loss.  Moral of story - if your dog bites, either put it up or teach it not to bite.  Bad things can happen when a dog is undisciplined.  As dog trainers say "There is nothing worse than an untrained dog, and nothing better than a trained one."

 

[Willowy]

^^^While I agree that dogs can be dangerous, and people shouldn't put their dogs in a position where they can injure people in any way, let's keep it in perspective----there are about 80 million pet dogs in the US, and only around 30 dog-related deaths per year. That's about as low as it can possibly be, even La-Z-Boys and 5-gallon buckets kill more people than that. While every individual fatal incident is a tragedy and most are preventable, as a statistical measure the number couldn't really get any lower. It's remarkable that we live closely with so many sharp-toothed predators with so few fatal incidents. For perspective, every year about 400 children are killed by their parents and about 1500 women are killed by their husbands/boyfriends, so a woman is about 50 times safer with a dog than with a man .

And I do think that most cats would injure us if they weighed 100 pounds, and not from aggression. One of mine likes to jump on my shoulder when I'm not looking, if she weighed 100 pounds that would be a big problem! I have another who likes to give love bites, and another who likes to "touch" me with his paw. . .yeah, I think I'm glad cats are the size they are!

 

[Boris Diamond]

I agree with what you say. It just irks me when people act like their dogs are harmless and cats are vicious.

 

[ginny]

I agree with what you say. It just irks me when people act like their dogs are harmless and cats are vicious.

I agree!  I think these are the same dog owners who complain bitterly that cats kill cute cuddly creatures.  But SO DO DOGS!!  They kill all those cute creatures INCLUDING cats.  

Recently a 4 year old girl was killed by a brand new pet, a doberman I think.  They just got him home and she tried to feed him a treat.  He went for her throat.  Very sad. 

Now, how many domesticated cats have killed humans?  Yet this bias is still being perpetuated for no good reason.  Except that some people are trying to find a reason to not like cats.  

 

[hbunny]

Oh, wow, I really can relate to the "my dog doesn't bite" thing.

I want to share what we are currently going through.  The other evening I got home from work and noticed on my husband's car there were huge muddy smears, so I went over to investigate.  Then I saw BIG muddy paw prints everywhere.  He has a black metallic car.  Turns out a local dog(s) that live one road over from us had chased one of the feral cats, or so we assume, up under the wheel well of the car.  We've seen the feral kittens climb the tires (whole other issue going on at our house!!) so we think that is probably what happened.  Anyway, there were punctures all around the wheel well in the steel--and this car is metal, not fiberglass or composite.  Headlight cracked.  Deep scratches in front end cap, both doors, sides of both front quarter panels....ends up being over $4,100 in damages.  You should see the bite marks in the front end cap around the headlight.  Dents where it or they jumped on the car.  So it was a big, strong-jawed dog.

I have pictures of the dogs in our yard from our security cameras, and I had reported it to the animal control officer a couple of weeks beforehand.  She even knew whose dogs they were.  Apparently nothing was done.  The sheriff's deputy who took the report for us said there is no way we can prove it, so I can't press charges on the owners.  It has to be them, they appeared to be large boxer-pit bull mix dogs.  I have seen them in person roaming before.  And those are the only large dogs that live anywhere near us--at least the only ones allowed to roam, or regularly get out of their fences, so I know it has to be theirs.

Our insurance adjuster came out and he said he had actually seen worse damage to parked vehicles by dogs running loose.  He said he has had a pit bull attack a vehicle and it tore a fender completely off and flattened two tires.  I honestly had never seen anything like what happened to ours.  The fender looks like someone shot it in a row with a bb gun, the teeth marks are that deep in the metal.

 

[Willowy]

Oh, wow! My mom has a smaller dog who chews up aluminum cat food cans, and my own (larger) dogs can chew up a steel cat food can. . .I suppose fender metal is only a little thicker! But still, that's something. Too bad the owners aren't responsible enough to keep their dogs properly contained .