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Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Originally posted by: LordMaul
Jesus man, that's more money than would feed a half dozen starving children in Africa for a month.

Sure I'll donate... A 12ga. shell or two, that is. Just to make sure you don't miss. ;)

Animals and cats are cute and nice and whatnot, but that's just a waste. Sorry.

I'm guessing someone spending $200.00 on a Guinea Pig would make your head explode. :D

 

Shadowknight

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
3,959
3
81
Originally posted by: LordMaul
Well, more power to you then, I guess. Though the difference between spending hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on a random cat wandering the street is different than a human going to the hospital. Though maybe you're a hardcore PETA subscriber and thus that sounds entirely unreasonable, I don't know.
Long story short, I got a family of cats (the parents and two kittens) hanging on my porch for a month so I put food out. As time went by, more and more strays/ferals found out about the food source, and since I've been told by the Friends of Feral Felines that they stop hunting, I can't stop feeding them or else they might starve to death :( Trust me, I'd rather not if it meant I could save some cash. I've tamed a few and am trying to break in one so I can adopt him out, and another was as friendly/tame as Traya and I've given him to an adoption group.

The thing with Traya is that when I saw her, I wasn't sure what to do. Being injured and all, and a stray feeding on my porch. I'm against killing animals (such as the pound) but didn't think I could afford the vet costs. When I went to put some food out, she and her mom went behind the bushes, like the other strays when I come out to put food out. When she immediately came back and started purring and rubbing all over me for attention, something that no feral has ever done, I didn't feel like I could condemn her to death (via the pound) or let her die from her wound. Didn't really have a choice at all. :( Poor kitty. She's been happy the whole time, and having a rotten tail (albeit with dead nerve endings according to the doc, thankfully) and then having it cut off seemed to bother her not at all. The only "wild" aspect to her behavior is that she tends to bite my hand a lot when playing, but she never uses her claws, but otherwise you'd never know she wasn't born and raised in a home environment.

Make no mistake though, I am NOT a PETA person, though I'm trying to humanely eliminate the feline population that comes to my porch by way of capturing, taming, and adopting (as opposed to "humanely" killing them), but that's it. There are tons of cats out there, especially at the college not too far from here, but I want to get rid of those relying on me for food so I can save $$$ while simulatenously keeping them from starving to death by simply skipping to not putting out food period.* Oh, and PETA's been known to murder animals and dump them in trashcans behind businesses, and I don't swing that way.

* Screw the family of raccoons, though, that keep trying to eat the foodstores I put out.
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Originally posted by: Shadowknight
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: LordMaul
Well, more power to you then, I guess. Though the difference between spending hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on a random cat wandering the street is different than a human going to the hospital. Though maybe you're a hardcore PETA subscriber and thus that sounds entirely unreasonable, I don't know.</end quote></div>
Long story short, I got a family of cats (the parents and two kittens) hanging on my porch for a month so I put food out. As time went by, more and more strays/ferals found out about the food source, and since I've been told by the Friends of Feral Felines that they stop hunting, I can't stop feeding them or else they might starve to death :( Trust me, I'd rather not if it meant I could save some cash. I've tamed a few and am trying to break in one so I can adopt him out, and another was as friendly/tame as Traya and I've given him to an adoption group.

The thing with Traya is that when I saw her, I wasn't sure what to do. Being injured and all, and a stray feeding on my porch. I'm against killing animals (such as the pound) but didn't think I could afford the vet costs. When I went to put some food out, she and her mom went behind the bushes, like the other strays when I come out to put food out. When she immediately came back and started purring and rubbing all over me for attention, something that no feral has ever done, I didn't feel like I could condemn her to death (via the pound) or let her die from her wound. Didn't really have a choice at all. :( Poor kitty. She's been happy the whole time, and having a rotten tail (albeit with dead nerve endings according to the doc, thankfully) and then having it cut off seemed to bother her not at all. The only "wild" aspect to her behavior is that she tends to bite my hand a lot when playing, but she never uses her claws, but otherwise you'd never know she wasn't born and raised in a home environment.

Make no mistake though, I am NOT a PETA person, though I'm trying to humanely eliminate the feline population that comes to my porch by way of capturing, taming, and adopting (as opposed to "humanely" killing them), but that's it. There are tons of cats out there, especially at the college not too far from here, but I want to get rid of those relying on me for food so I can save $$$ while simulatenously keeping them from starving to death by simply skipping to not putting out food period.* Oh, and PETA's been known to murder animals and dump them in trashcans behind businesses, and I don't swing that way.

* Screw the family of raccoons, though, that keep trying to eat the foodstores I put out.

The best way to approach ferals is to get them fixed and release them back where you found them if you don't want to take them in. You have to kind of harden yourself that sooner or later you will see one missing and find out it was hit by a car or whatever. My wife has been feeding a small group of ferals close to her school for about a year now and 2 of them have been killed by cars. :( We already have 10 in our house so we can't take anymore in so we do what we can that way along with donating to organizations that work with them as well. You do what you can to the best of your ability. What you have done for this cat is really a very good thing and I hope she has a long and happy, healthy life with you.
 

Shadowknight

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
3,959
3
81
I have caught two others that I got fixed and released, but that was only because at the time I wasn't in the mood to deal with them pissing on my bathmat and on my bedspread, when I made the mistake of letting them into my bedroom. The first three strays I caught learned the concept of using a litterbox in a few minutes. Teaches me to be optimistic. On the otherhand, a feral I've had some (but not total) success at taming had issues for awhile of not being pleased about me moving the litterbox, so instead of going to the new location, he kept crapping and pissing behind the kitchen table. A lot. Oh, and he also had a ton of blood in his stool and diarria. Between free clinics, the FFF will cover the neutering costs, but anything else like shots, Revolution, etc. are up to the person catching the cat. Despite telling them THREE TIMES, clearly, to make sure they gave him deworming medication, they didn't. After scoring some later, the diarria and (eventually) the bloody stools went away. 90% of the websites out there say "oh, tapeworms usually have no visible effects so we won't list what they are." 7% remember to mention diarria. 3% actually remember the blood in the stools. Oh, and he kept defecating and urinating on my bed for some reason as well, which he usually never does period. Yet right after getting him fixed with the deworming meds he stopped trying to ruin my sheets and stopped dumping waste behind the table after I moved the litterbox back. I BARELY didn't put him out with all of the waste issue. It had gotten to the point where I had to put down shower curtains to keep him from ruining the carpet even more.
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
2
81
I'm sending a kitten off to an animal shelter place today because it was hiding out on my patio, and I'm not in a position to keep a pet. But the little ah heck's very bondable. A little bit of food and affection turned it into a motorboat.
 

Number1

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2006
7,881
549
126
Frankly I think your fixation on cats borthers on lunacy.

Why do you have to deal with feral cats. Let them be. You don't have to feed them, cure them or adopt them. You don't have to do anything. If they bother you, call the SPCA.

There are so many other things that you could do to make this world better instead of this. Volonteer you time in an old age home, donate money to cancer research, donate money to people who can't afford medical treatment in the US.

All your doing here is saving a cat for your own personal enjoyment in the future.
I think its a waste of money and time.
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Originally posted by: Number1
Frankly I think your fixation on cats borthers on lunacy.

Why do you have to deal with feral cats. Let them be. You don't have to feed them, cure them or adopt them. You don't have to do anything. If they bother you, call the SPCA.

There are so many other things that you could do to make this world better instead of this. Volonteer you time in an old age home, donate money to cancer research, donate money to people who can't afford medical treatment in the US.

All your doing here is saving a cat for your own personal enjoyment in the future.
I think its a waste of money and time.

And since you think that it must be true. There are no alternatives to what you personally think is the only valid way to make the world a better place. :roll:
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
52,770
46,582
136
Originally posted by: Number1
Frankly I think your fixation on cats borthers on lunacy.

Why do you have to deal with feral cats. Let them be. You don't have to feed them, cure them or adopt them. You don't have to do anything. If they bother you, call the SPCA.

There are so many other things that you could do to make this world better instead of this. Volonteer you time in an old age home, donate money to cancer research, donate money to people who can't afford medical treatment in the US.

All your doing here is saving a cat for your own personal enjoyment in the future.
I think its a waste of money and time.

How about you tell us about yourself, I'm sure we could find something to self-righteously denigrate.
 

Shadowknight

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
3,959
3
81
Have about another two weeks to finish coming up with the other $200, so another bump. Please help!
 

TallBill

Lifer
Apr 29, 2001
46,017
62
91
There are injured vets that don't get this much attention. Cat should have been left alone or put down. Feel free to flame.
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
I know a local Chinese restaurant that is taking in local strays for adoption.
 

Shadowknight

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
3,959
3
81
Originally posted by: TallBill
There are injured vets that don't get this much attention. Cat should have been left alone or put down. Feel free to flame.
... why do people keep posting crap like this? Did a cat rape your father and kill your mother, or something?
 

davestar

Golden Member
Oct 21, 2001
1,787
0
0
it's a nice thing that you did, but at this point (after nearly a month of requesting donations) you might want to just suck it up and pay the rest of the bill yourself. You already got 2/3+ of the bill covered.