I’m doing my morning reading of the blogs, checking email, etc. a friend posted about her cat. Which brings to mind my Bernadette. ::sigh::

Bernie disppeared, which tells me that she was eaten or run over and what was left was disposed of by a stupid ghetto neighbor or DeKalb Animal Control. I can’t be certain, of course, but this is what I suspect. At least I didn’t have to see it – although not knowing is its own kind of suckage.

The friend’s cat was eaten by their asshole neighbor’s dog. The dog got loose and killed the cat while they were at DragonCon. The asshole neighbor took it to the vet and paid for the cremation, but that doesn’t really HELP bring back a dead pet. I don’t know, call me evil (many do), but I’d say that dog would suddenly get very ill. Maybe even die if I knew it had eaten my cat. 

Yes, it’s not the dog’s fault, blah blah, but that’s not the point. The point would be to cause the asshole neighbor as much pain as he’d caused me. And by taking out the pet (which is vicious and should be put down anyway, IMO), you would give the neighbor an object lesson in why keeping vicious dogs is BAD.

If I knew for sure that the vicious pit bull down the street had eaten Bernie, I’d shoot it. No hesitation. They can take me to jail, whatever, but I’d shoot that dog and not think a thing of it. I don’t like dogs much in the first place and I certainly have zero tolerance for vicious ones. And let me tell you, ghetto dwellers here in Atlanta believe the more vicious the better. Assholes.

So, the friend has fewer pets than she did a few months back (she lost 2 ferrets, a hamster and now a cat) and so do I. I miss Bernie every day. She still has a herd o’ varmints, but it doesn’t matter how many you have, you still feel the loss of one. I’m down to two kitties and I’m good with that. I’ve decided to not get any more (if I can help it) because we are going to be traveling more and I don’t want to deal with petsitters, etc. You can’t travel much with several pets in the house.

My other friend has too many varmints. She began feeding a stray cat a few months back which promptly brought two kittens to the door. She’s got two cats indoors already. So, she’s been feeding the mama and two kittens. This week, the mama brought four more kittens to her door. For a grand total of SEVEN cats in her backyard. She’s currently trying to find somewhere that will fix them, vaccinate them and check them for diseases.

I guess there’s always a balance to be struck with pets. We all would like to empty out the animal shelters and love those poor babies who need love – but we can’t. I know people who take on too many pets and can’t care for them properly – that must be avoided. If you can’t afford health care for the pet (getting them fixed, vaccines, etc) then you can’t afford the pet, period.

There’s a sweet spot for every family with pets. Mine is actually three cats, but I’m letting the herd thin out. I’m planning ahead for circumstances that will compromise their quality of life (our traveling a lot). I do NOT believe that cats are fine all alone in an empty house. No way.

Whether you’ve too many or too few, take care of your pets. Feed them good food, get their vaccines and have the compassion to put them down when they are very sick.

We are their stewards and it’s our responsibility.

Pets bring so much happiness. And so much pain when they leave us. But we do it again and again. Someone needs to create a kitty that lives as long as we do. Now THAT would be some research I could get behind. :-)

Also: today is the 9/11 anniversary. I remember that day quite clearly. Everyone say a prayer that this sort of stupidity does not happen again anywhere.