Love the Unwanted
68
A almost 10,000 year old History!
We had thought that the Ancient Egyptians were the ones to domesticate cats almost 4,000 years ago, but a recently discovered grave in Cyprus shows a human buried with a cat. The grave is almost 10,000 years old!
So what happened?!
One of my greatest horrors was the numbers reported on a 2009 report on euthanasia statistics for North Carolina:
Two shelters had a 99% euthanasia rate and one of them a 100% euthanasia rate for cats!
For a avid cat lover and enthusiast it was a heartbreaking revelation!
I knew for a while that cats don't do well in shelters. Some of the horror shelters I have been posting my heart out for always had low adoption rates for cats.
I had to stop checking their websites two or three hours before that final hour or I would find myself crying! Rumors of cats being sold to laboratories added to the pain. Some of these shelters even made the news with that!
$5!
$5 was the price paid to one of the kill shelters for a cat!
A life that hadn't been worth the $25 fee to adopt it!
Especially black, tabby, Tuxedo, and Senior cats rarely make it out! If the cat is Fiv/Felv positive, it is marked for death! Only rarely can you find somebody willing to take a 'positive' cat. The one I had to leave behind in Germany with my Mom died last year at 18 years of age!
What happened?!
They are easy keepers that don't need walked, rarely chew on things, don't jump on you with muddy feet, don't bark at anything and everything, don't take up as much bed as most dogs do!
Yeah, some litter box cleaning that can take me less than 5 min to do a day! And you need a few things to make them scratch the right things! Other than that... EASY KEEPERS!
They even hunt your mice!
And they sleep 20 hours a day!
A 20lbs bag can last you a month or more! $10 of food IN ONE MONTH OR MORE! A sum I wish my dogs could live on!
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST 10,000 YEARS!?
Valued enough to be buried with the Gods!
The feline found in Cyprus seemed related to the African wildcat and suggests, supported by genetic studies, that the cats we know were probably domesticated in the Middle East. This seems to have happened around the time we humans developed agriculture. This could be supported by their ability to hunt mice, which are often found around agriculture!
The ancient Egyptians considered them sacred and many of their sculptures and such show cats or something looking very similar to cats. And the Romans may have been the ones introducing them to Europe. Cats can be found in many historical documents and pictures.
Ships often carried them on board to keep the rodents at bay; thus keeping diseases at bay!
Many religions gave cats trades that were or stood for something good. The Japanese considered them a symbol of good fortune. Even Muhammad was said to have a favorite cat named Muezza. It was also said that he would rather do without a cloak than disturb a cat sleeping on one!
But superstition also led to negative views on cats. Despite being often based on historical and often uneducated and pathetically primitive views, shelters and rescues often refuse to adopt out black cats around Halloween in fear for their safety!
It seems that even the nine lives credited to cats will not save them from human cruelty and neglect!
Human Nature - Their worst Enemy!
Cats seem to be as misunderstood as the Pitbull is! We keep them when they are young and cute; but when they grow older and actually even easier to keep, we dump them at kill shelters to face certain death or throw them out on the road to often die of diseases and starvation!
Only rarely do people still appreciate their worth as micers and their normally gentle and loving personalities!
Another factor is used against them that speaks of a human trade I despise:
The way we treat our old and wise!
I was raised to respect my Elders. And I always believed it to be a duty of the young generations to care for the old. Maybe it is a European thing, but I have found that most Americans dump their Elders into often sub-standard 'Retirement' homes (what a lie that word too often speaks!). What happened to valuing and caring for your Elders?!
Almost every email I get for Senior cats says something about their 'parent(s)' being send to a nursing home or having died; and the family not wanting the animal(s)!
You can't even respect your mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, enough to take care about those they loved?
You dump your Elder into a nursing home and doom the only creature(s) that truly loved them into a kill shelter that means their certain death!
How must that feel for an elderly person that was send away from their 'loving' family!? How must that feel for this now lonesome and obviously unloved person to know that their beloved pet will die!?
It breaks my heart and causes me an amount of disgust I simply cannot put in words!
It is bad enough to see how many senior animals are send to certain death! But to know that they were loved and cared for and that their 'parent' knows that they will die; and can't do anything about it!
It sometimes makes me scared to death of getting old!
What happened in the last 10,000 years to turn a creature of the Gods into a unwanted nuisance?
And where have our values gone!?
Cats for Adoption on Petfinder.com
- Pet Search Results: Adoptable Cat Pets in Raleigh, NC: Petfinder
Pets in adoption centers near Raleigh, NC are listed on Petfinder, which has helped find homes for over 12 million pets since 1995.
|
Catlore Desmond Morris FELINE HISTORY BEHAVIOR LORE CAT GUIDE BOOK ANSWERS MEOW
Current Bid: $5.99
|
|
Natural History Feline Cat Elegant Cat Wild Cat Home 1836 Antique Print
Current Bid: $.99
|
|
100 CATS WHO CHANGED CIVILIZATION by SAM STALL History Influential Felines HB/DJ
Current Bid: $9.75
|
CommentsLoading...
I have looked into getting a dog or cat from Las Vegas animal control, but they want $125 for either which I just can't afford. This shamed me because I know what they do when they can't be adopted.
As a cat lover and owner of yet another rescue kitty, I truly do appreciate this hub that was written with great emotion and compassion. I have found that there are many people, when you look around on Craigslist and in classified ads that rescue cats and then look for them homes. That is how we came across our most recent addition. The fees at a shelter are rather high, but you can still adopt them from other sources.
Voted up, interesting and useful. Thanks!
While I am a firm believer that some rescues are out of their mind charging hundreds of dollars as adoption fee, you also need to look at what goes with the fee.
If the dog/cat receives a full medical including heartworm (dog) and or Fiv/Felv (cat) testing and a complete set of shots, and is also fixed, the fee is not too bad. I'm not sure what spay/neuter costs in that area, but I imagine that Vegas is a bit more expensive than back-woods NC.
Should the price not include any medical work, it is too high.
Look at what was done to the animal you are trying to adopt and figure out what the rest will cost you.
A free cat or dog on craigslist is rarely fixed ($50-$150 average in NC) or tested ($20-$40 average). And unless you do your own shots ($15 at the farm store in NC), shots will cost you with vet visit fee another $100. Most vets here charge at least $50 to see your animal, which sometimes does or does not include a fecal ($30+) for common worms.
It really does depend on what you are getting!
And please, if you do get an animal from craigslist, do not buy from a backyard breeder! Their animal often live as bad as puppy mill victims and their parents are too often inbred or bred to death. So your change to get a healthy animal is slim!
Find a private person, make sure they give you legitimate vet paperwork and match what the animal has to what the rest will cost you! If they charge $50-$100 for a animal that has nothing, you are looking at $150-$250 minimum at getting all the vetting done!
And PLEASE spay/neuter! Cesar Millan reported much higher than the usual 9 million euthanized annually in one of his recent articles!
THAT'S 9 MILLION OR MORE TOO MANY!
picklesandrufus Level 6 Commenter 3 months ago
I agree with you 100%. I have many friends with cats, but hear the negativity towards them all the time. They are beautiful, independent, intelligent creatures. If I could wish any one thing for humans in general, it would be to find their compassion again.Animals do not deserve what they get more often than not. Thank God for those who love them and want to care for them . Vote up!