Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Your Sweet Cat




     Your sweet cat that you allow outside to roam at will defecates on the properties of others and kills wild birds. Cat poop does not smell good. Like dog poop, it is too acidic to use as "fertilizer" for garden plants. Cats kill birds. Cats have been killing birds for eons and will continue to do so.



     I came home today to find that your sweet cat has killed a song sparrow and left it on the snowbank near the bird feeder. That the bird was whole is indicative of the fact that your sweet cat killed the song sparrow with no intention of consuming it. You feed your sweet cat well-- that is too your credit-- and maybe you even take your sweet cat to the vet for shots and wellness visits. The thing is, you sweet cat hunts and kills birds in spite of not being hungry.

     My grandparents had a farm and ergo a barn and a clutch of barn cats. The barn cats killed mice. They never strayed from the barn. They were not a danger to the local bird population and they had a job to do. In return for rodent control, my grands fed the cats. 

     But those cats are not your sweet cat. Your sweet cat is pampered. In thinking that you are doing the best thing for your sweet cat, you have created a four-legged ecological disaster. Your sweet cat hunches down by bird feeders waiting for birds to kill.

     Besides that, your sweet cat has a pretty good chance of dying younger than if kept as a strictly indoor cat. We live by a road. The road has cars. The cars have drivers who hit roaming animals. Your sweet cat may wind up squashed like a pancake one of these days. You will cry about the big meanie driver who ran over your cat, forgetting that drivers have a responsibility to follow safety rules. It is not always possible to break for an animal dashing across the road. Period.

     There are feral cats who live in some building up the road. Some of them are fighters. Your sweet cat runs a chance of a beat down by one or more of the feral cats. Your sweet cat may come home requiring the attention of the local or not so local animal hospital. Or your sweet cat may not survive the run-in.



     Some kids may tease and hurt your sweet cat. Someone may use your sweet cat as target practice. Somebody may decide to pick up your sweet cat and turn it in at the animal shelter, an animal lab, or bring your sweet cat to a new "home" someplace else.



     If you really love your sweet cat, you will not allow your sweet cat outside. 

     ~sapphoq and the dead song sparrow

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