Man! I love cats...especially the big overfed ones..heh heh..but my mum doesn't allow me to keep cats. But after a LooOOooong while, I come to understand why..besides her extreme hygiene habits that is. Maybe this is not her actual reason but what if one day, you have to absolutely let go of the cat because of some reasons that it is beyond control already such as peeing on the carpet a few times, destroying furniture or scratching the children. I just cannot imagine how the cat feels to be loved at one moment and then to lose the love at another in a completely different environment. They say cats can survive if you throw them anywhere as they can learn to fend for themselves but what if they have never been exposed to the outside environment and suddenly food is not brought to them...there is no comfy bed to sleep...no one to be cosy and playful with..it is a real cruel fate to them.
But we humans what do we know? Once we get over the cute factor or we think cats or any other animals even are too bothersome and expensive to take care of, we kill them off by putting them to sleep or we abandon them by stop giving them food, abusing them......and letting go of them and leaving them behind. To us, they are just animals and can never be compared to humans but they are still living things and how dare you do that to them! There is simply no justification to our cruelty and who is simply acting like an animal now huh?!
My heart goes out to my colleague who had to let go of the two cats and abandoned them somewhere far from their home because they are starting to make the house smell. These cats have been with her for a couple of years since they were still kittens. So basically they had no exposure to the environment outside even though she thought it was kind enough for her to drop them at this certain block at some street where the cats would be taken care of by the residents. But then it is true coz when I went to this place last year during my outfield screening and also the place where I used to grow up, I had never seen so many fat cats roaming in my life before at any one time! Like man.......the cats here were overfed! But no matter what, those cats were already used to her and her children already so it will be one heck of a loneliness when finding that their masters were nowhere to be found. My gawd...it is just so..........emotional.
As frustrated as I am with my mum's persistence in not allowing to keep a cat for a pet or any other animals as well, she doesn't hate cats. Infact, she grew up in a household where my late grandmother used to keep cats or stray cats used to come by their house and ate before leaving again. Even my mum used to keep a dog as a pet but not in her home. She didn't exactly keep the dog and neither did she touched the dog but she would see the dog or the dog would come to her whenever she was on her way to work at some gas station along bukit timah road. She saw the little pup growing up into an adult dog, gave it some of her lunch, would seek out for him by calling him 'kopi!!' (how original...) and it would run at her. She even befriended one of the guards at a nearby apartment to keep a watch on the dog when she was away.
But one day, the dog didn't come to her when she called out to him. So she kept on searching but the guard told her that he tried to chase some boys away when they kicked him. At last she found him but it was in a bad state already and whimpering. It was a very sad affair but the dog hung on just to say goodbye with tears running down its eyes and finally it died.
I guess I can never be a cat owner no matter how I swear to take care of it properly because I may get too emotionally attached to the cat. If anything happens to the cat, I think I may just go crazy or be so freaking depressed about it. At most, I am contented that I used to keep a fighting fish as a pet and despite people's comments that this kind of fish dont live long, mine lived until 6 months. It would have survived longer if not for something that I had done accidentally and no I am not about to describe it here. But it was damn funny initially when I first kept the fish coz I was sOOoooo mortified at the swimming fish as I tried to transfer it from one container to another for cleaning purpose. It could have just died right there if it jumped out from fear coz of my extreme icky factor. In the end, my mum was the one who would change the water under running tap every two days. The fish was so clean and beautiful that even the fishes sold by the shop outside could not compare to it.
When it died after it got sick, I cried. It would seem coz it was a tiny little fish but it had a life and worse, I felt responsible for its death even though it recovered well initially. Maybe it was time for it to go for it already went past beyond its life span. I would forever remember its name as Angel coz it's a no brainer and I think that it was a perfect little angel too.
So I think the bottom line is, if you are under any undesirable circumstances that do not allow you to keep pets but you still go ahead with it, they may continually haunt you that one day, you just have to let go of it. If anyone in your household hates cats, dont think the person is gonna let go of it that easily and he or she may turn cold and do nasty things to your cat when you are away.
If you really want to keep a pet, make sure that everyone in the household loves the pet unconditionally in health or in sickness. K this may sound like a marriage vow but keeping a pet is a huge commitment including having to spend money on it and it's not that cheap. So if you know you cant afford it, then better not keep one. Don't let it fall sick, realise that you cant afford the medical bills and then leave it to die. That is way too cruel.
For me, I may not be able to keep one but I guess it's okay. Still, Im still hopeful I can keep a cat as a pet one day.....I promise I'll be good to it.
But we humans what do we know? Once we get over the cute factor or we think cats or any other animals even are too bothersome and expensive to take care of, we kill them off by putting them to sleep or we abandon them by stop giving them food, abusing them......and letting go of them and leaving them behind. To us, they are just animals and can never be compared to humans but they are still living things and how dare you do that to them! There is simply no justification to our cruelty and who is simply acting like an animal now huh?!
My heart goes out to my colleague who had to let go of the two cats and abandoned them somewhere far from their home because they are starting to make the house smell. These cats have been with her for a couple of years since they were still kittens. So basically they had no exposure to the environment outside even though she thought it was kind enough for her to drop them at this certain block at some street where the cats would be taken care of by the residents. But then it is true coz when I went to this place last year during my outfield screening and also the place where I used to grow up, I had never seen so many fat cats roaming in my life before at any one time! Like man.......the cats here were overfed! But no matter what, those cats were already used to her and her children already so it will be one heck of a loneliness when finding that their masters were nowhere to be found. My gawd...it is just so..........emotional.
As frustrated as I am with my mum's persistence in not allowing to keep a cat for a pet or any other animals as well, she doesn't hate cats. Infact, she grew up in a household where my late grandmother used to keep cats or stray cats used to come by their house and ate before leaving again. Even my mum used to keep a dog as a pet but not in her home. She didn't exactly keep the dog and neither did she touched the dog but she would see the dog or the dog would come to her whenever she was on her way to work at some gas station along bukit timah road. She saw the little pup growing up into an adult dog, gave it some of her lunch, would seek out for him by calling him 'kopi!!' (how original...) and it would run at her. She even befriended one of the guards at a nearby apartment to keep a watch on the dog when she was away.
But one day, the dog didn't come to her when she called out to him. So she kept on searching but the guard told her that he tried to chase some boys away when they kicked him. At last she found him but it was in a bad state already and whimpering. It was a very sad affair but the dog hung on just to say goodbye with tears running down its eyes and finally it died.
I guess I can never be a cat owner no matter how I swear to take care of it properly because I may get too emotionally attached to the cat. If anything happens to the cat, I think I may just go crazy or be so freaking depressed about it. At most, I am contented that I used to keep a fighting fish as a pet and despite people's comments that this kind of fish dont live long, mine lived until 6 months. It would have survived longer if not for something that I had done accidentally and no I am not about to describe it here. But it was damn funny initially when I first kept the fish coz I was sOOoooo mortified at the swimming fish as I tried to transfer it from one container to another for cleaning purpose. It could have just died right there if it jumped out from fear coz of my extreme icky factor. In the end, my mum was the one who would change the water under running tap every two days. The fish was so clean and beautiful that even the fishes sold by the shop outside could not compare to it.
When it died after it got sick, I cried. It would seem coz it was a tiny little fish but it had a life and worse, I felt responsible for its death even though it recovered well initially. Maybe it was time for it to go for it already went past beyond its life span. I would forever remember its name as Angel coz it's a no brainer and I think that it was a perfect little angel too.
So I think the bottom line is, if you are under any undesirable circumstances that do not allow you to keep pets but you still go ahead with it, they may continually haunt you that one day, you just have to let go of it. If anyone in your household hates cats, dont think the person is gonna let go of it that easily and he or she may turn cold and do nasty things to your cat when you are away.
If you really want to keep a pet, make sure that everyone in the household loves the pet unconditionally in health or in sickness. K this may sound like a marriage vow but keeping a pet is a huge commitment including having to spend money on it and it's not that cheap. So if you know you cant afford it, then better not keep one. Don't let it fall sick, realise that you cant afford the medical bills and then leave it to die. That is way too cruel.
For me, I may not be able to keep one but I guess it's okay. Still, Im still hopeful I can keep a cat as a pet one day.....I promise I'll be good to it.
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