The same way that one can be outraged about the death of a six-week-old fetus but unaffected by the deaths of thousands of civilians in the Middle East. Or vice-versa.
That’s an interesting idea, I hadn’t thought about it that way.
What’re you, nine? Society’s “decision” has nothing whatsoever to do with the emotional bond that is established between a human and a pet.
You don’t read well, do you? I wasn’t saying that one day society ‘decided’ that people should form bonds with certain animals, I was making a point that certain animals being considered pets has more to do with culture than it does with anything special about those particular animals.
As one example (that already I pointed out), we consider dogs and cats to be different than food-producing animals such as cows while in east Asia those animals are eaten all the time. In India cows are considered sacred, but they’re nothing more than a food source in the West.
So if you want to attach special value to a cat or any other animal then that’s fine, but don’t act like it’s not still an animal. How much more can I possibly explain this concept to you?
Bzzzt. Wrong.
I worked in the pet industry for over 15 years. I’ve had, at one time or another 64 different species as pets.
The cat and the dog are the only animals–with the possible, and recent, exception of the Viet Namese potbelly pig–that are consistently consistent with life in a family home. They don’t require cages; interact naturally, and well, with humans; and can be easily trained in bathroom habits. No other species combines those traits with a historical usefulness to humans: as guards and as vermin exterminators.
Society had nothing to do with it, just as society had nothing to do with why the horse was domesticated while the zebra was not.
Well, I’ve moved one step closer to evicting the evil friend; I’m just waiting for the final word from the lawyer. She never signed a lease, she hasn’t paid rent in six months, although she did try and get money from some government agency that will pay back some of the $1400 she owes, and I think that if catsitting counts as services, she owes me more money for all the time I’ve spent printing up flyers and nailing them up. I even loaned her money, because that way she can get her little up and running. I don’t think I’ll see any of it, though.
I had a creepy encounter with her demonspawn kid, who gets this really sly look in his face just before he looks directly at you and does whatever it is you just told him not to. This applies to opening the door; this is how the cat got out. The kid thinks it's really cute when he disobeys, and the friend just thinks it's precocious when he does that. In fifteen years, it'll stop being so cute, and right now it's worn out its welcome with me because it's so constant. The kid pushes, hits and slaps adults; and if you tell him to do something he shouts "NO!" I feel really bad that I ever put my cats with her. God only knows what the brat has been doing to them. One kitty had big bald patches, and we had to take her to the vet. The other one has been hiding in the closet, and she's normally intrepid fighter kitty, even if she just weighs six pounds. If she's that reluctant to come out just inside a house, what must the poor kitty outside be doing?
I go back on Sunday. I've spent every day putting up new flyers because the little fuckwads in the neighborhood tear them down. The ex friend? Well, she's been taking those little naps of hers every day.
Once I hear from the lawyer that I can toss her out, I’m changing the locks and putting her shit on the curb.
It’s because I’m one bad muther-fucker and don’t you forget it.
Why hasn’t this idiot been kicked out yet?
I’m sorry, and I really hope you find your poor kitty. 
You need to kick your so-called “friend” out and have no further contact with her whatsoever. She does not respect you or your property in the slightest. She has allowed your cats to be mistreated – hell, I’d be angry enough if someone housesitting for me let their kid, say, break my furniture or damage my piano. But a living creature?
Your “friend” is responsible for everything that has happened to your cats. Have you spoken to the police?
Gods, just thinking of this and of the shit the other fuckwads are doing makes me so angry. :mad:
Hey, look who got banned!
I’d say he was toast from the get-go. Not a good thing when one uses one’s alias to invite flames.