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Joe Szilagyi 1
If your pet isn't a purebred specifically set up to be bred for continuation/sales of that given breed--is your cat one of these? Is your dog?--and you don't spay/neuter, you're a complete asshole. Spayed/neutered pets live longer and have less stress.

Also, keep your fucking cat inside. Indoor kitties can be perfectly happy if raised that way and if you play with/engage in interaction with them all the time, and on average live a lot longer. I know some indoor cats that are 14+ years old and you wouldn't even know it.
Posted by Joe Szilagyi http://twitter.com/joeszi on April 2, 2012 at 2:14 PM
Resident Clinton 2
Oh no, I'm PURRegnant!
Posted by Resident Clinton on April 2, 2012 at 2:18 PM
ryanayr 3
Where's that anonymous commenter ranting that cat abortion kills millions of kitten every year? VETERINARIANS ARE KITTEN KILLERS!
Posted by ryanayr on April 2, 2012 at 2:21 PM
Cato the Younger Younger 4
Every Kitty Sperm is Sacred!!! Getting your pet to get spayed or neutered is KITTEN / PUPPY MURDER!!!!!
Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on April 2, 2012 at 2:24 PM
leek 5
Surely you mean she can't bear another PAWSitive pregnancy test.
Posted by leek on April 2, 2012 at 2:29 PM
6
I'm pretty sure spaying cats is contrary to the church's teaching on feline sexuality.
Posted by Cardinal Dolan on April 2, 2012 at 2:42 PM
TVDinner 7
@1: Your avatar and the photo in this billboard look eerily similar.
Posted by TVDinner http:// on April 2, 2012 at 2:42 PM
Phoebe in Wallingford 8
@1: I had a cat almost reach 22 years. Was in and out all her life, got to roll around in the grass and enjoy earthly delights just like the rest of us. Keeping an animal forever confined indoors is heartbreaking; but that's just my opinion.
Posted by Phoebe in Wallingford on April 2, 2012 at 2:42 PM
Cato the Younger Younger 9
@8, it's really heartbreaking when the outdoor cat gets hit by a car or becomes coyote food
Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on April 2, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Joe Szilagyi 10
@8 it's all about playing odds. I could also smoke a pack of Marlboro reds a day and drink a liter of vodka every other day starting at 18 and live to 100. Or, I could be dead by 40.

Things that are heartbreaking from a context of an animal are only what it knows. My cat has only ever lived in a:

3rd floor apartment
2nd floor apartment
2nd floor apartment

Before our current house, with all apartments behind 2 to 4 doors. She was born in a shelter. Every time she's been outside in a harness it's terrified her. We tried a harness once and it took a week to get her to not just flop over dead in it. We took her--with endless crying--to a park in the car once. Quiet, wooded. Her first reaction was to run for cover to hide in terror, and she bolted for the car. The one time she got out of one apartment by accident she huddled against the apartment door whimpering and crying until we heard her and let her back in 30 minutes later.

She wouldn't even know how to survive outside and would starve in a week.

Think about a cat that lives from 8 weeks old to 10 years old in a 10th floor apartment. What is it going to know about outside?
Posted by Joe Szilagyi http://twitter.com/joeszi on April 2, 2012 at 2:53 PM
Cato the Younger Younger 11
@10, so....the cat was a gaming nerd? KIDDING!!!!
Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on April 2, 2012 at 2:56 PM
Hernandez 12
Our two cats get out periodically, usually when we're out doing something in the back. Both were indoor/outdoor cats before we got them, so trying to keep them indoors-only (which was the original plan when we still lived in an apartment) has been a challenge. At this point we're OK with them occasionally coming out and rolling in the grass or laying in the sun while we're gardening or barbecuing. It helps that they're both deathly afraid of cars, so they don't wander.
Posted by Hernandez http://hernandezlist.blogspot.com on April 2, 2012 at 3:06 PM
Joe Szilagyi 13
@11 pretty much!
Posted by Joe Szilagyi http://twitter.com/joeszi on April 2, 2012 at 3:17 PM
kim in portland 14
Our cat died last Friday of old age.. He was a fabulous "bad" cat. He had a knack for bending the screen and getting out. He even snuck into the car and hid under the seat, and half way to the destination he'd pop out pleased with himself. He also hated the cat box and thus used the toilet, he never flushed though. And you couldn't take a shower or a long soak without his participation. We had 15 good years, and boy do we miss that stink.
Posted by kim in portland http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/11/fast-paced_video_provides_a_fu.html on April 2, 2012 at 3:28 PM
More, I Say! 15
To be fair, @1, my first ever pet (had her before I even had a little sister) lived until she was 20 years old, a happy, healthy indoor and outdoor cat.
Posted by More, I Say! on April 2, 2012 at 3:55 PM
Zebes 16
Rush Limbaugh thinks that cat is a SLUT and a WHORE and a PROSTITUTE because she expects her owners to PAY for HER to have SEX.
Posted by Zebes http://www.badrap.org/rescue/index.html on April 2, 2012 at 4:25 PM
17
@14: Sorry to hear about kat in portland, kim in portland.
Posted by pheeeew!crack!boom! on April 2, 2012 at 4:29 PM
18
@14: my condolences. sounds like he shared a fabulous cat life with you.

a poem called "The Heaven of Animals" (Dickey, 1961) helped me through the loss of my cat.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171…

Posted by gracey on April 2, 2012 at 4:56 PM
rob! 19
I'm so sorry, Kim @14. My cat is happy and healthy at 15, but it's only on his account that I would dig in my heels against the advance of time if I could do so. It's not much of an exaggeration to say I owe him my life; he was my main anchor in sanity during a sad and difficult time. Still makes me laugh every day.
Posted by rob! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZBdUceCL5U on April 2, 2012 at 5:16 PM
kim in portland 20
@ 17, 18, and 19,

Thank you, all. His companionship is greatly missed.
Posted by kim in portland http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/11/fast-paced_video_provides_a_fu.html on April 2, 2012 at 5:43 PM
Simone 21
Those are some wonderful little tidbits kim in portland.

I miss having a family cat around. A long time ago my parents had an orange cat that would follow us (and me) around the neighbourhood. We used to walk to the local Sizzlers and the cat would wait for us at the little wooded trail that we would often take. And there were many other cats that I could talk about but it's more fun to say a story or two per cat related slog post.
Posted by Simone on April 2, 2012 at 7:22 PM
venomlash 22
It's very tempting to construe the "this" in "pass this twice a day" as the feline pregnancy test.

@14: My condolences.
Posted by venomlash on April 2, 2012 at 8:02 PM
sirkowski 23
What do we want?

ABORTION ACCESS FOR PUSSIES!
Posted by sirkowski http://www.missdynamite.com on April 2, 2012 at 8:31 PM
sirkowski 24
Listen to #1. When you let your cat outside, it could get shot with an airsoft pistol. It's like hunting small lions in the urban jungle.
Posted by sirkowski http://www.missdynamite.com on April 2, 2012 at 8:41 PM
Free Lunch 25
@8 - I agree with you completely.

I'm guessing a lot of people aren't cut out to be owners of outdoor cats, though, even if they're in a relatively cat-safe neighborhood. It's tough realizing that every time you let them out may the last time you'll ever see them. I still feel dread every time she's not waiting for me when I come home.
Posted by Free Lunch on April 2, 2012 at 9:02 PM

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