# No cat for YOU! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 5, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229 "2008-09-05T19:57:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/21 "2008-09-06T00:17:03Z")
Karma points for you, **spaceweft** and to your Littlest. Caring for kitties, even only once a week or so, is a very good thing. But may I suggest this thread be moved over to MPSIMS since it isn’t likely that the topic will turn as ugly as other Pit threads have? ---
**Author:** ![spaceweft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@spaceweft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spaceweft)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/22 "2008-09-06T00:21:11Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > He talked about not wanting to clean up messes and you didn’t mention hairballs? Or disemboweled mice? Or clawed furniture? > > Oh, man. I could have gone on for an hour about that horking sound they make and how irritating it is to hear in the middle of the night. Or how lovely it is to discover pedally that you slept through the sound. > > My sweet Ruli, may she rest in catnip, once got out and horked in the kitchen when she came back. Apparently she had been eating cockroaches. Lots of them. > > Although I feel you missed an opportunity, I really can’t fault you for it. You must have been stunned. Especially after being lulled by the nearness of so many cats. There were other people that might very well have been great new owners, so I didn’t want to discourage those folks with my rendition of Schmoo’s\* 3am _hork hork HORK_. Weft - Schmoo, incidentally, through such regular hairball removal scheduling, has trained my daughter to wake up at 3a. Every night. Without fail. Every day of her life. Thank the ghods she’s nine now and will just go back to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![spaceweft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@spaceweft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spaceweft)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/23 "2008-09-06T00:25:59Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > Karma points for you, **spaceweft** and to your Littlest. Caring for kitties, even only once a week or so, is a very good thing. But may I suggest this thread be moved over to MPSIMS since it isn’t likely that the topic will turn as ugly as other Pit threads have? I think \*\*OtakuLoki \*\*captured the spirit in which I posted quite nicely. This is a pitting gosh durnit! 🙂 I wish I had a clue why in the world that man thought he wanted a cat instead of, say, a pinup of Betty Paige. Weft ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/24 "2008-09-06T00:32:03Z")
So did he take the cat or not? Poor kitty. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/25 "2008-09-06T00:32:39Z")
I say this with great hope, but if the adoptions counselors at that shelter are even half as good as the ones at _my_ shelter, they probably suggested he volunteer for a while before adopting. There’s no shortage of the need for people to just come in and spend time with the kitties! You sound very kind and patient. I think someone like that would have made me feel very warm around the ears. ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/26 "2008-09-06T00:43:17Z")
I hope you made that dipshit change his mind. Unfortunately, I’m afraid he’ll end up going to a place where they’ll just tell him what he wants to hear about owning a cat. Based on what I’ve seen at some of those big-box pet stores, that’s a pretty good possibility. From my experience, domesticated predators like cats and dogs have a cognitive complexity that many people don’t give them credit for. Just because they lack our capacity for language and abstract thought doesn’t mean they lack emotion and empathy. It’s depressing how other clueless fucks such as the one described in the OP have had many opportunities to cause a creature to suffer because it’s “just a cat.” Good on you, **spaceweft** , for making the effort to dissuade that moron from treating a living thing like it’s some kind of new, fuzzy iPod. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/27 "2008-09-06T00:46:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I wish I had a clue why in the world that man thought he wanted a cat instead of, say, a pinup of Betty Paige. > > Weft This is why Pet Rocks were invented. People could adopt their very own little rock, nestled into fluffy stuff in a cute little box, with a care and feeding regime that consisted of…well, ignore the dang thing all you want. Dust if you’re finicky. Actually Pet Rocks were the greatest scam ever and I’m heartsick I didn’t think of it first. People rushing to pay good money to ‘adopt’ chunks of rock. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/28 "2008-09-06T00:49:36Z")
I can’t comprehend that level of cluelessness. Even if you grow up without owning a cat, haven’t you at least _known people_ who have owned them? How do you make it to your late teens or early 20s knowing that little about something so ubiquitous? ---
**Author:** ![spaceweft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@spaceweft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spaceweft)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/29 "2008-09-06T00:52:26Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > So did he take the cat or not? Poor kitty. Thankfully, he did not seem to find one that was… er… _suitable_. I did see him filling out adoption application paperwork as we left, but our humane society is fully aware of the dangers of letting (new) students take home the poor fuzzies. I’m betting (hoping/praying/sacrificing sno-caps) that they let him fill out an application as a way of saying “don’t call us, we’ll call you.” **Khan** , at first I thought he was joking because I could not wrap my mind around the thought that someone honestly was considering taking a living being and assuming it would be easier to deal with than a tamigotchi. Weft **SeaDragon** : no, no, I give _skritches_ around the ears. Heating is for cold toes! ---
**Author:** ![spaceweft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@spaceweft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spaceweft)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/30 "2008-09-06T00:54:27Z")
> [@cowgirl](#): > > My friend volunteered at an animal shelter once. A guy came in to adopt a cat for some stage production he was involved with. > > Leaving aside the potential utility (or lack thereof) of a newly adopted shelter cat in a stage production … > > She said “What will happen to the cat once the play’s run is finished?” > > He looked at her like she was an idiot and said “… it’s a cat. We’ll let it go.” _boggles_ So did you provide an alibi for her when she disemboweled him? Weft ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/31 "2008-09-06T02:40:31Z")
> [@spaceweft](#): > > no, no, I give _skritches_ around the ears. Heating is for cold toes! Awww. Give the kitties some ear-skritches for me. ---
**Author:** ![Anduinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Anduinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduinel)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/32 "2008-09-06T07:38:36Z")
Good on you for trying to educate the guy. You were a lot gentler than I would have been. Some people are just unsuited to take responsibility for another living being, and that fellow sounds like a prime example. Glad to hear he didn’t get one. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/33 "2008-09-06T08:41:31Z")
[QUOTE=spaceweft;10158243…And yeah, the thought did cross my mind that I should ask about a spay-or-neuter voucher for him while I was there.[/QUOTE] And a spay or neuter voucher for any animals he might adopt, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/34 "2008-09-06T10:10:43Z")
People need to understand that a cat is basically a vicious predator, and is not really fundamentally very different from lions and tigers in terms of its behavior and instincts. A house cat is little more than a scaled down version of huge wild cats; the only reason it doesn’t kill its owners is because they’re bigger than it, so it’s afraid to. Anything else, it will generally kill. My mom’s cat would show up with huge dead rabbits, mice, rats, moles, birds and anything else that it could catch. A cat is by nature a killer, and there’s nothing you can do to change it. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/35 "2008-09-06T10:33:43Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > People need to understand that a cat is basically a vicious predator, and is not really fundamentally very different from lions and tigers in terms of its behavior and instincts. A house cat is little more than a scaled down version of huge wild cats; the only reason it doesn’t kill its owners is because they’re bigger than it, so it’s afraid to. And even so, I’m pretty sure my cats would devour me if I stopped feeding them. ---
**Author:** ![SomeUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@SomeUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeUserName)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/36 "2008-09-06T11:03:41Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > And even so, I’m pretty sure my cats would devour me if I stopped feeding them. Word! I don’t know if that guy is worse or the ones that think they know about cats, or any pet for that matter, and plunge ahead and get one and then ask “Got cat, What now?” It takes about 2 fucking seconds to google “cat care” or “cat necessities” to determine what basics you need BEFORE you get the damn cat. I can understand not knowing about training, socialization, temperament, etc. but I can not understand not knowing things like needing a litter box and food. Of course rescuing a cat/kitten off the street and maybe having no clue is a different matter. Do some fucking research before you get a pet. Even if you had a pet as a kid do not think you can care for one as an adult. In most cases the parents took care of all the mantenance, all you did was reap the harvest. Look before you leap! ---
**Author:** ![spaceweft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@spaceweft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spaceweft)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/37 "2008-09-06T13:30:07Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Awww. Give the kitties some ear-skritches for me. Double skritchies for Mauricio from Anne, got it. 🙂 He was a beauty with big blue eyes and a constant talker. He got adopted by a lovely lady who knew all about Siamese half breeds. As previously promised, here’s a handful of photos: [[Album] Humane Society cats ![](https://live.staticflickr.com/3131/2832118566_7a0e43c278_b.jpg "Humane Society cats") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/9369784@N06/sets/72157607135829729/) **Bridget Burke** , I think that our Humane Society (though not the local animal shelter) requires the pets to be spayed/neutered prior to adoption. They charge a fee to cover it, but that’s only fair. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/38 "2008-09-06T14:03:44Z")
Is there a feline version of seeing a baby and wanting to have one? This thread is certainly giving me the urge to go out and adopt another kitty…😃 ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/39 "2008-09-06T14:11:57Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > People need to understand that a cat is basically a vicious predator, and is not really fundamentally very different from lions and tigers in terms of its behavior and instincts. A house cat is little more than a scaled down version of huge wild cats; the only reason it doesn’t kill its owners is because they’re bigger than it, so it’s afraid to. Anything else, it will generally kill. My mom’s cat would show up with huge dead rabbits, mice, rats, moles, birds and anything else that it could catch. A cat is by nature a killer, and there’s nothing you can do to change it. Sure there is. Do what my mom did; feed it enough that it’s a roly-poly ball of fur that can barely move. That cat’s killer instinct exists only in that she will drool all over catnip mice and then go for a 12-hour lie-down. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229/40 "2008-09-06T14:16:39Z")
> [@supervenusfreak](#): > > Is there a feline version of seeing a baby and wanting to have one? This thread is certainly giving me the urge to go out and adopt another kitty…😃 I would, too, but my microlion likes being an only cat. But times she was introduced to a visiting feline, she was Not Happy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-cat-for-you/462229.md?page=3)