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- Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!uvaarpa!murdoch!kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU!rkn3u
- From: rkn3u@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Keith Norwood)
- Subject: Re: Cat on Counters, HELP
- Message-ID: <1993Jan25.183826.6632@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
- Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU
- Organization: University of Virginia
- References: <C19Gov.C4I@cck.coventry.ac.uk> <1993Jan22.190937.2427@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <1jqd9eINNkd7@umbc8.umbc.edu>
- Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 18:38:26 GMT
- Lines: 31
-
- In article <1jqd9eINNkd7@umbc8.umbc.edu> ac999257@umbc.edu (ac999257) writes:
- >In article <1993Jan22.190937.2427@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> rkn3u@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Keith Norwood) writes:
- >>
- >>If we are surrogate parents to our pets, doesn't the responsibility exist
- >>
- >Cats are adult animals, and we are not necessarily their surrogate
- >parents -- just their perpetual providers. They act like children,
- >and treat us like their moms, but they really are adult animals that
- >can fend for themselves if we didn't do everything for them. (Oh, God!
-
- Above you said, "They act like children and treat us like their moms". Isn't
- this parental behavior?! Just because they can fend for themselves doesn't
- mean we don't act like parents to them. I can fend for myself but my
- mother still behaves in a parental fashion.
-
- >We do have a responsibility to provide our cats with a loving home and
- >as healthy a life as possible. We do not, necessarily have the
- >responsibility to make them conform to our way of life -- we just
- >like doing it.
-
- You last statement is interesting! We don't have to make them conform
- but it works out that way. I don't like to make them conform but sometimes
- it is necessary. After all, they are living in my house. If they're on
- the counter playing with food, I'm going to TRAIN them not to. It's as
- simple as that. If they were paying the bills and feeding me, I couldn't
- say shit.
-
- When you neuter/spay/declaw/train your cat, you're making it conform to
- your way of life.
-
- Keith
-