Cats: A Love-Hate Relationship

[Gaspard]

I was strolling in my garden. Watering the edible honeysuckles and the rhubarbs. I saw a big beautiful green lizard, Lacerta viridis, in the pleasurable sun. What a beauty! I went back to my work: building a dry stone wall.
Then I saw my neighbour’s obese cat moving fast in the background and realised she had just caught the elegant reptile I admired one hour before… I shouted and tried to save the victim. I almost caught the pussycat but my grip was too weak and she managed to escape with my lizard friend in her mouth. I watched the dreadful killer escape in my neighbour’s garden where I couldn’t possibly go… I gazed at the prey moving between the feline’s jaws. And now I'm full of tears...

That’s the second time she caught a green lizard in my yard; I swear it will be the last! I know, while I’m writing here, the obese pussycat is torturing the lizard. Cats don’t like reptile flesh. It makes them sick. With zero empathy, they just kill for sport and torture for fun.
I’ll build an electric fence around my garden, as planned. And, I swear, I’ll make clear to any cat that they ought to stay away from me.

Tell me “It’s the cycle of life!” as anti-vegan would argue, if you dare! Why love dogs and eat pigs? Why is there a cat lover thread in this forum and no lizard lover thread?

I used to be a cat lover when I was a child. I chose our pussy’s name: Aster, like the flower… I must say we had a great relationship… But that was in the Good ol’ days, the Great ol’ days, the Grand ol’ days! I like her to be the best mouse assassin in town! She slaughtered so many! In the barns, the cellars, the fields… I was so proud of her! We cuddled so often! One morning, she ate a rodent who was intoxicated with rat poison. She must have been very thirsty because of the stuff…. She drank so much water, her tummy might have exploded… Live by the sword, die by the sword!

But anyway… I’ll dedicate this tread to all the victims of our carnivorous beloved pets.

 

[shyvas]

I hate that when it happens and understand how upset you must feel.

The same thing happened to me a few months ago. I tried to save a dove that was being attacked by one of the strays. I called the emergency services whilst I stayed with the mite. Unfortunately the vet had to put the poor thing down as it was very seriously injured.

Did I cry ! I still have one it's feathers in a small jar and look at it from time to time.

 

[Poppy]

Domesticated cats have become a scourge on the natural world. They kill billions of birds and other animals every year (far more than windmills). The only thing that can be done at this point is for every cat owner to ensure their pets are spayed/neutered and live indoors. And we must do what we can as a society to support the spay and neuter of community cats throughout the world. It's not the fault of the cats, it's the fault of humans that we have allowed such a prolific species to dominate.

 

[Mischief]

Cats are far from the only species that kills for sport. Dogs, foxes, raccoons, weasels, etc. do also. In fact, most predators do.

 

[Freesia]

 

[Freesia]

Kitties rule..

 

[Mischief]

Domesticated cats have become a scourge on the natural world. They kill billions of birds and other animals every year (far more than windmills). The only thing that can be done at this point is for every cat owner to ensure their pets are spayed/neutered and live indoors. And we must do what we can as a society to support the spay and neuter of community cats throughout the world. It's not the fault of the cats, it's the fault of humans that we have allowed such a prolific species to dominate.

Apart from habitat destruction by humans, what kills the most birds per year is windows.

But yes, as a species we humans are responsible for the animals we have domesticated, and for what they do.

 

[Luis Halson]

I've never been a big fan of cats, I'm more of a dog person.

Yep, that can happen if you're not careful with your cats. Cat owners, try getting a bell for your cat.

 

[Poppy]

Actually I love cats, and always have.

 

[Raven]

I actually used to hate cats when I was younger as I was scratched by one. I made up for it by having so many rescue cats as an adult.

 

[KLS52]

When I first saw this thread I thought it was absolutely horrid and really not appropriate for a vegan forum...as if any of us would hate a sentient being. And then my Joon did this at 4:30 this morning..


I had just gotten my pour over coffee started when she decided to jump on the counter and rub against it. I probably hated her for about five seconds and took about that long to come to my senses again.

 

[shyvas]

When I first saw this thread I thought it was absolutely horrid and really not appropriate for a vegan forum...as if any of us would hate a sentient being. And then my Joon did this at 4:30 this morning..
View attachment 20995

I had just gotten my pour over coffee started when she decided to jump on the counter and rub against it. I probably hated her for about five seconds and took about that long to come to my senses again.

Ooh no - lovely coffee.

 

[KLS52]

Ooh no - lovely coffee.

Exactly.

 

[Veganismo]

I feel guilty feeding the birds in my yard because the cats in the neighborhood hide under the feeders waiting to pounce. The also poo in my vegetable garden. Once I saw a neighborhood cat carrying a beautiful flicker in its mouth across my yard and I basically screamed (he dropped it, and a minute later the bird flew off, to what fate I don't know).

BUT, I've changed my tune a bit. It's not their fault, they are just being themselves. I don't chase them away anymore, I cover my vegetable beds with chicken wire, and I make sure they don't have hiding spots under the feeders.

Now if I could just do something about those sparrow hawks....

 

[Booney]

Yes as much as I love them cats really are a problem. The birdsafe collar is really a must, especially in the Breeding season. Shes still catching lots of mice but no more birds. Most of the lizards here at least have a chance if they still have their full tail intact. I know how you feel but I guess that they just can’t control their instincts.

 

[KLS52]

My cats are strictly indoor so they don’t pose a problem for anyone other than me.

 

[beancounter]

I don't hate cats, I just prefer dogs.

 

[Vegan Dogs]

cats are an invasive not part of any real ecosystem animal that humans messed up with due to the PET owning issue.

they belong indoors to avoid them destroying what is left of the natural ecosystem.

70% of all animal species are herbivores in all categories of animals even in the dinosaur period....and the fact is extinction is taking out the ultra carnivores the most as only 25 thousand wild lions left in the entire world and 4 thousand tigers. Elephants and the big herbvores are also going extinct but...seems clear the carnivores are going extinct in this period

there is no point adding to the extinction of real wild life by the imbalance that domestic cat animals kept alive due to humans interference create by letting these pets loose to destroy what is left of real wild life.

 

[Vegan Dogs]

2 year old vegan cat Midnight fed vegan since age 12 weeks old. eating ami kibble vegan cat food.

Vegan Cat Midnight age 2 years old August 2019 Pulford Chester Cheshire Cat England near Wales Cymru (pronounced kumree) The Modern Cheshire Cat ! out with her vegan dog companion.

Time to see pet cats and dogs for what they really are....UNNATURAL PESTS and destroyers of real natural ecosystems as well as the cause of deaths of forced to die by humans unnaturally bred by humans prisoner farm animals. Feeding them VEGAN is the least we should do to show RESPECT FOR ANIMALS LIVES that WE cause deaths of if not by choosing to prefer PET SPECIES.

It is ironic...that some believe that it is the "love of pets" that leads people to "love of animals" or more importantly actually "RESPECT for animals"

The number of times people pretend to lecture others about "respect for a pet cat's need to kill and wander free" whilst in reality in addition to allowing that destruction of real wild life due to the pet cat being kept alive and able to do so by feeding the pet cat "bred unnatural prisoner no free wanderings allowed prisoner farm animals" is just plain hypocrisy in the extreme towards animals.

Why ? should a pet cat get to wander free when the chickens turkeys pigs etc never got to do so ? never got to fly as turkey natural species ancestors could as farm bred ones are Frankenstein suffering freaks of nature animals that get only weeks or a few months to live even !

Why ? is the life of an unnaturally cared for pet cat more important than the life of a chicken or wild bird ? it is not ! why then...are humans deciding which animals live and die ? why are humans FORCING animals to die for a pet animal ? there is nothing NATURAL about this at all...there are NO LIVES being saved of any animals overall just deaths if fed animals bred by humans ! This is not "loving or respecting animals" at all ! is the truth ! just pandering to some preferred petting use species !

Vegan Cat Midnight age 2 years old August 2019 Pulford Chester Cheshire Cat England near Wales Cymru (pronounced kumree) The Modern Cheshire Cat ! out under supervision with her vegan dog companion.

Pet dogs and cats....have no place in any natural ecosystem. There are totally superfluous and destructive to it. The pet species like farm animal human created Frankenstein species of animals should go extinct. They are travesties of nature. The least people should do is feed them vegan to stop forcing other animals to die for them that they do not need anyway.

Cats are classified as PESTS on British Council web pages and departments. There is no need to report a found or killed on road cat in Britain. 150 thousand per year die on roads as unlike in the USA people allow pet cats to roam outside killing 40% of wild birds etc and getting killed on roads. No council is interested in homing stray cats either. They are the same as rats mice pests to destroy in places where they have got out of control like Australia where whole species of wild life have gone extinct due to gone feral pet cats reproducing like the pests they are destroying real ecosystems. There is no way the numbers of pet cats people keep alive and feed would survive without being fed and cared for by humans so caring for them feeding them causes massive destruction of real wild life.

People often try and justify allowing their pet cats to roam outside destroying real wild life and risking road death...that this is their "natural" way of life they are being allowed. This is absolute nonsense....the reality is those pet cats would be DEAD fast if not vet treated and fed by humans so well...they would die of diseases and starvation due to the huge unnatural numbers of them in every single town suburb of anywhere that people keep pet cats.

The fact that in addition to "being alive and well" due to humans feeding them unnaturally these pet cats are then able to go destroy more real wild life is just facilitating mass destruction of real wild life out there.

Why ? should a pet cat be allowed this alleged "freedom" to roam supported by the care and feeding of them by humans...and real baby birds etc be killed lose their lives ? are the LIVES of animals not more important that a long walkies and instinctual killing for food stores of a pet cat ?

That pet cat would be DEAD if not cared for by a human. It would not survive in the wild in the numbers of pets that people keep...most would DIE if not fed by humans is the truth due to the vast numbers of them people keep as pets.

So it is selfish and wilful destruction of real wild life to let a pet cat wander free to destroy real wild life.

We can have no idea WHY cats kill so much their minds are closed to ours...it is instinctual and food related is all we can know for the need if living wild, that killing when not hungry might be an exercise like practising survival skills is entirely possible as is storing like squirrels and foxes do if possible food for the future.

Whatever the reason...they are massive killers of real wild life...they are NOT part of the natural ecosystem...so we humans have the responsibility to keep them out of the natural ecosystem to SAVE LIVES. What hypocrisy to coo over the saving of a baby bird as people do...to then just turn a blind eye to the massive DEATHS that a pet cat will cause of them even that one we may have saved if we allow the cat to roam free in an unnatural ecosystem that cat does not belong to.

That Australia and some islands with very fragile ecosystems have to cull kill MILLIONS of gone feral pet cat species...is unfortunate...but there is no other solution to those massive numbers and their effect on real wild life that they decimate.

People who believe in TNR "TRAP NEUTER RELEASE" of pet cat and dog species...are just condemning billions of real wild life to death ...which is unfair...as well as the fast that 70% of the TNR die horrible deaths diseases starvation splats on roads. WHY ? is saving the pet cat species more important than saving the lives of real wild life birds that are going extinct additionally ? There is NO LOGIC to the TNR system...other than an excuse to SAVE SOME PET CAT SPECIES LIVES whilst deciding the lives of real wild life do not matter. The numbers...of the pet cat species are not natural ! not part of any ecosystem ! they do not belong roaming in the wild.

These feral pet dog and cat species...have no place in any ecosystem...they do not belong roaming wild. So it is not right to release and allow them to live roaming stray and wild. They are unnatural to the ecosystem out there and massive destroyers of it is the real truth. It is time for us humans to admit this truth rather than pretend that the pet cats and dogs species should roam wild out there. The reason that they are in such HUGE numbers is that humans care and FEED them, as they are the preferred species, rather than caring about the real wild life out there that these pet species decimate.

The original Cheshire Cat invented by Lewis Carroll in the novel The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland is a stone figurine on a Church near Warrington. St Wilfrid's Church is in Church Lane, Grappenhall, a village in Warrington, Cheshire, England. ... below the west window, is a carving of a cat and it is suggested that this might be the origin of the Cheshire cat.

Nutrients are what any animal needs to thrive. Cats dogs humans any animal. All the necessary nutrients a cat needs from healthy sources are in this pampered compared to farm animal pet animal;s food so no unloved as not useful for human "petting" uses farm animal unnaturally bred by a hairless ape human kept captive need be killed as a baby for this pet animal.

There is no point to pet dogs and cats. They have no place in any natural ecosystem...they are just entertainment toys of humans for petting etc uses. They are a major cause of passing diseases and death to natural wild life that destroy them what is left of natural wild life. Hardly anything is the reality in the world's 6th mass extinction in progress due mostly to animal agriculture taking 1000's more resources of land water etc to produce processed via farm created animals flesh bodies nutrition inefficiently.

The 56 billion unnatural not part of any ecosystem farm animals per year bred and killed created unnaturally by humans pollute the land air and waters destroying those our health and wild life even further.

Pet dogs alone produce billions of tons of dog **** excrement per year on pavements etc.

Pet food based on animal protein content would make PETS if counted like humans the world's 5th largest population continent...totally unnatural species and numbers of animals that if not cared for and fed by humans would at least die out as there is not enough wild life left in the world to sustain those unnatural numbers who currently destroy wild life massively in addition to the farm animals destroyed to feed them.

Pet dogs and cats....have no place in any natural ecosystem. There are totally superfluous and destructive to it. The pet species like farm animal human created Frankenstein species of animals should go extinct. They are travesties of nature. The least we should do is feed them vegan to stop forcing animals to die.
— with Vegan Cat.

 

[Gaspard]

I suppose hatred has a lot to do with love... Alas, our love and hate relationship with cats is irrational…

I’m quite sure that many pictures in the cat lover thread are just advertisment from breeders. Yes most cat pictures online participate in the exploitation of cats. Most cute cat pictures are NOT vegan.