You nailed it. Some of us like success, happiness, rewarding hobbies, friends, a sense of responsiblity to the environment and our fellow humans, and yes, soft, fluffy kittens. Consider this an open invitation to enjoy camaraderie, and reduce the anger and sense of alienation in your life. You aren’t expected to like kitties, democrats, homeless, or handicapped- you just have to be kind and responsible. C’mon in, Carol Steam, the water’s fine.
I once confused lekatt with letour, which amused the latter when I called him “out of body-boy”.
I’d rather put my own eyes out. Thanks much, though. 
Sorry. I got lazy and didn’t go back to look up how it was spelled.
You misspelled “fucking” so I guess we’re even.
Local dialects and all. Fucken is appropriate here in Aus to describe something that irritates you…like tourists, blowflys and cats for example.
*
Fucking* cats would be the local tom screwing yer’ lady puss. 
I hope very much that all of the defensive and heated posturing stops with this reply. (Mine included, I apologize to all that I snapped at, especially Lib). Superstition and tradition can and should be tested when possible. Our lives are short and there is so much to learn, and so much to experience.
What’s wrong, dear, things not going the way you expected, (in the Pit, no less)?
No body is worrying about me - it is my destiny in life to be a worrier, not a worry-ee (I have no idea how to spell that…).
I’m hoping that the cat in question will agree not to sleep on my head at night so that I don’t expire in my sleep. He is a short hair, and keeps himself very clean. Also, he’s met my dog and they get along pretty well. There are not many cats that I would take into my house, but he is one because he’s a cutie patootie, and one of the only cats I’ve ever met that I really, really like - he looks just like “Puss in Boots” from Shreck II. He’s also 17 so I’m hoping he won’t be around for decades and decades. Harsh, perhaps, but realistic. And yes, I know that he could live for another ten years and am prepared to keep him for that long.
Really though, I don’t understand (and you don’t have to justify yourself to me, I’m honestly curious), if you already have three cats, how much more trouble is one more? I’ve never had a cat (see aforementioned alergy) - does one extra cat really add that much work to a household? I guess I should find out before Shatsie moves in…
Did you lurk long before joining, Caridwen? Because **Liberal ** is well known for his hijacks and need for intervention to prevent him from posting/assist him in resisting his addiction to the board. He can be a valuable poster, and at the beginning of his tenure at the Dope he was extremely interesting to read. However, he’s only been back a short time and already he starting his old shit again.
No one disparaged his daughter until he started this thread, basically calling out the Pitizens. This is what he wants, and of course we are giving it to him–apparently because some of us can’t help ourselves.
I personally anticipate a return of paranoid behaviour where Lib decides various posters are members of a cabal against him. Who will be on the list this time?
My wonderful psychic ability has at least one candidate. 
Thanks. 
Hope you saw their chief spokestroll yesterday before he was banned.
I was quite taken with him…I did hope he’d hang around for a bit to bless us with his astute insights and remarkable wittiness actually.
(we need a tongue-in-cheek smilie).
Obviously we are in collusion.
Or it could have just been that was when I happened to read the post. 
I realize the discussion has moved past this point (and how!), but I’d like to address this point - most of us were ignoring the smoking issue because this thread is about opinions of people getting rid of pets when children come into the home (well, at least that’s why I was). Us old-timers know where threads about smoking go - they’re even worse than threads about cats. Only thing worse is threads about ordering milk in a bar.
Or even worse, ordering milk in a bar for your smoking cat … who’s also a fundie.
Sure I did, but his posting style or addiction is really irrelevant to this particular discussion. I realize by some of the latter drive-by posts that some of the issues many of you have isn’t about this particular topic but your apparent dislike of him. This ain’t rocket science. But this thread had turned into a bad version of Law and Order even before people posted to remind everyone what a fruitcake some of you think he is and to remind everyone to pretty much discount everything he has to say.
I get it. I don’t have an opinion about his previous posting. But don’t you think it would have been a little more honest if you don’t have an opinion about the damn cat to either open a new pit thread with those issues rather than swooping into this thread to take shots and tell people to discount what he has to say?
Afraid there’s nothing “psychic” about your predictive abilities, dahlin’. You’re a simple student of board history and an intelligent one at that. Not that it takes much intelligence to predict Liberal’s future on here. In fact, let me take a gander: a continuation of his past. Ergo, I have no choice but to become your third advocate.
Well, let’s see. I did have an opinion about the cat, posted earlier in this thread. I also have an opinion about Liberal. If you are suggesting that Dopers shouldn’t call Liberal on his bullshit when he starts a Pit thread basically to remind those of us who didn’t know that hey, he’s back–you’re entitled to your mode of operation and the rest of us are entitled to ours.
Some of us are able to address more than one point in a thread, especially a thread where Liberal is playing his usual game. Look at his comments about our “chief troller”–obviously the troll was on nobody’s side and playing his own game, but now he’s given **Liberal ** more fodder for his persecution complex. IMO, much of the time Liberal is only barely this side of the troll line, himself.
Anyway, not trying to piss in your Cheerios, just wasn’t sure if you were aware that this is Liberal in all his glory. Get used to it, cuz until he goes away again there will be hijacks and pit threads galore. And if I’m wrong, well I’ll be happy about that.
Fair enough.
Since we’re somewhat returning to the topic, perhaps I could repeat what I said earlier, which I thought was a reasonable stance we all could agree on:
Why don’t we just say this: be as responsible a pet owner and/or parent as you can be. When shit happens, do what you feel in your heart (and your brain) is right. Tell other people that if they want to live your life, they should pay your mortgage.
And hopefully this time around, it will be met with friendlier responses than “And then shut the fuck up about it,” and “You make an unpleasant assertion in an otherwise pleasant thread then get all put out because a handful of people disagreed with you.” But, who can say.
This thread will likely die now that most everyone has checked in. So, unless anyone would like to submit some more “I hate Lib and here’s why you should too” posts, I’d like to summarize my experience with it as follows:
(1) I’d like to express my appreciation to Snipe1978, Contrapuntal, Rilchiam, Dung Beetle, Cheesesteak, Fessie, Anaamika, Licentious Ectomorph, Foxy40, Elza B, Ca3799, StuffLikeThatThere, Jsgoddess, matt_mcl, Rick, Saoirse, Bryan Ekers, CaerieD, Caridwen, Auntbeast, dangermom, Jodi, Unregistered Bull, DianaG, Sad and Deranged (the OP of the MPSIMS thread), Nyctea scandiaca, Cub Mistress, The Swan, Missy2U, Flight, Ogre, Justpassingthrough, Gigi, Featherlou, The Flying Dutchman, The Lady, Guin, Stegon66, Sarahfeena, Tengu, MrDibble, Zoogirl, Kambuckta, Poysyn (for whom posting here was especially difficult), and to **Giraffe ** for banning the worst troll.
The vast majority of you were either supportive or understanding, and those of you who disagreed with me argued respectfully. Thanks for that.
(2) Unfortunately, the thread broke down when **Boscibo ** entered, proclaiming that this is all about him/her/it.
(3) Without calling out any more names: a poster who lied, saying that “everyone” was piling on me, called me a liar; a poster who called me down for calling names did not call down the one who called me a liar; a poster bothered to examine my time-stamps for two days and draw bizarre conclusions from them; a poster who said the thread was all about him/her/it complained that I was seeking attention; a poster who never failed to drop into a thread before to goad me said that I haven’t changed; and a poster characterized the following post from MPSIMS as taking a shit in the thread.
Here’s that post in its entirety:
I’ve become a cat person in my old age. I love what you did, and your new friend looks lovely and healthy.
We had three, but it’s a fairly big house. Jane (a male, long story…) died recently of old age (14 or 15), and we still have Great Whore Jezebel (Jezzie). She’s a fairly young (3-4 years old) loner, staying mainly on the third floor in the two bedrooms and bath there. She shows up once in a while to eat and shit, but hides completely when company comes. And then there’s Pretty Black Girl. She came with the house when we bought it. Our neighbor, who owned her mother, tells us she’s 14. She does seem a bit arthritic, and although she’s an outside cat (with all claws), we let her stay inside during bad weather. (She doesn’t like rain, wind, hot, or cold.) So she inhabits the basement floor, where there’s a sewing room, a library, and a heated/cooled garage. She comes and goes as she pleases.
I say all that to give you some perspective. I really do love cats. But…
My daughter recently had a baby. My first non-step grandchild. She did not hesitate to rid herself of her cat, and I support her decision a hundred percent. The infant child is way at the top of the pyramid, and everything else — everything — including the mother herself is somewhere below. Any risk, even a miniscule risk, of anything going wrong, and harm coming to the child is simply completely unacceptable. She did other things, too, to prepare her home. Neither she nor her husband smoke inside anymore.
She loved her cat, and she did solicit all her friends and family, and even advertised on the Net to get the creature a home. But nothing panned out, and she had no choice but to take the cat to a shelter. I just hope you won’t be too hard on the family that didn’t wait to see whether the cat and their baby got along. The infant child is so utterly helpless, you just wouldn’t believe. And we already lost one grandchild (my wife’s) to brain cancer. I’m glad my daughter made the decision she made.
Sad and Deranged, if that post somehow hurt you, insulted you, or made you feel even remotely that I had shit in your thread, then I regret that very much. It certainly wasn’t my intention. And since you haven’t complained about anything like that here, I’ll just assume for now that you’re okay with it. And for a final time, I’d like to express my admiration to you for what you did for the old cat.