We’ve had cats since we got married 51 years ago, One was a stray we saw roaming the fields at the back of us with no collar on, we advertised locally on social media with no response so we adopted her ten years ago & named her Tansy.
She’s a right little mouser & brings us “presents” regular, some still alive & lets them go in the house. She now gets checked through the conservatory door windows before she’s let in now.
The other two Simon & Louis are brothers from an animal rescue centre.
I’ve usually had at least one cat since I was in my early 20’s, this lad is supposedly my daughter’s cat, but we all know how that scenario pans out. An RSCPA rescue cat, picked up as a stray in Darlington looking a bit sorry for himself. My daughter saw him on their Adopt a Pet webpage and fell in love with him, so a Dad’s gotta do what a Dad’s gotta do for his little girl
We’ve had him for three years as of August and he was estimated to be a year old when rescued. The RSPCA named him Arlo, so he naturally became Arlo from Darlo
He only gets outside on his harness, as a shedload of people walking dogs come past our house daily on the way to the field nearby, but he’s content just being outside. Here he is at our “garden bar”, waiting to be served “Bartender, gimme a pint of Starling”
Aw? What a contented dog , I had a wire-haired Jack Russell years ago & she used to come tramping with me back in the day.
@zac_a What a sweetie Ours rarely venture further than our garden as both neighbours have dogs. We get a few of the neighbourhood cats visiting overnight & as soon as they’ve checked out who’s been, they want to come inside.
We lost our final cat last week, our little old Calico lady was euthanised after suffering from hyperthyroidism. She’d lost over half her body weight since Christmas, she was nearly 21.
Wow! 21, that’s a good age for a cat.
My first (and best) cat managed 14 years, along the way coping with the loss of one eye, a life threatening liver infection, diabetes, and an aggressive form of cancer. Gone but never forgotten
Yes, pets are as much a family member as anyone else and the grief of loss can be every bit as deep as a human family member (and depending on your family, it can be more so - speaking from personal experience).
Worth reminding pet owners that chocolate is toxic to both cats and dogs, at a place I work the owner often brings his dog in, and several times I’ve had to stop the other staff giving him chocolate (he sits and begs for food with sad eyes, so people are easily manipulated - the dog, not the company owner )
Cat among pigeons here…
(NOT directly referring to anybody on here on this thread either btw.)
But there comes a time when you have to toughen up and differentiate between animals and humans.
I personally love animals, always have since a kid, and I deplore animal cruelty of any kind.
I have had dogs on and off since I was about 6 years old.
My favourite dog was an Alsatian, Elsa, brill with my kids, a big kid herself in fact, but on other hand a fierce guard dog, and she loved to be my ‘wrestling partner’ when I returned home…with me knowing she could have quite easily have done for me big style given her size…I loved that dog, and so did my kids.
On other hand she knew her place, not allowed in lounge let alone on sofa, some guys let dogs in their beds ffs, never got that.
I think with some it is a substitute for children.
A work colleague of my wife refers to ‘his boys’, turns out they are 2 cats.
He has spent in excess of 10 k on big operations and fixing them up after being knocked over…I mean come on.
I would imagine they have suffered intensely during these procedures, and getting into recovery,much kinder imo to put them to sleep, and to be pure mercenary, more sensibly economical unless you are super rich.
Before anybody is dumb enough to ask me if I felt the same way if it was my kids, do not be ridiculous, that is my point, there comes a time when you need to be rational.
She now gets checked through the conservatory door windows before she’s let in now.
, I had a wire-haired Jack Russell years ago & she used to come tramping with me back in the day.
)
