I am horrible

If she should not speak to ANYONE like that, then why did YOU? She probably lost her pet. That's not funny and your spin on it is not funny no matter how much you defend it. I have a sense of humor. What I lack is a mean streak and the inability to tell the difference between humor and insensitivity.

The two are not always mutually exclusive.

Re: PaulUK comment: It made me laugh out loud. I didn't think he sincerely suggested I say the exact wording to my son and I can appreciate trying to make light of a dreadful situation. Sometimes the extreme exaggeration and obvious ridiculousness IS humor. I can also understand how some people might not be amused by a comment like that at all find it disturbing. So, we are all right. Personally, I saw the humor.

Top of the food chain? Where do you live? Your biggest wildlife creatures are mice? If I lived anywhere else, I'd agree about the getting hit by a car. Not here. What do you think those coyotes and bobcats eat?

[qutoe]Oh, and why was I so sure you lived in a downtown Seattle house and not on the edge of a jungle? :S[/quote]

Beats me. I work downtown in a highriser and live in the woods


I didn't think he sincerely suggested to phrase it just like that. I can understand how people might think it was distasteful and perhaps it was. But I can also see the humor in it and making light of a dreadful situation.


My son is 9 and very much familiar with the harsh realities of death. I've been active in pet rescue for years and has been my companion in it ever since he was 5. He knows that thousands of pets get gassed daily because people don't spay or neuter and discard pets when they become a chore. He's been to the shelters and he knows where the cats go that are put in the hallway (death row). We had to put down our dog almost 2 years ago and my son was part of making that decision. Well, not really, but I told him he had equal input and after I made my case he agreed that it was best to set our Mellow free of his psycho mind. Once I did lie to him about a foster dog I had to put down - I told my son he found a home - I thought it was unnecessary to put him through that emotional trauma over an animal that wasn't ours.

I am not one who likes to tell fairy tales, I suppose. I would have hated it if I was lied to as a kid (which I wasn't - I was very aware of all our pets fates) and I do believe that the truth is generally better than some lame bullshit. Of course it also has to do with age and the general understanding of the child. Mine knows about death. Mine knows about the lifecycle. I feed my dogs and cats according to the prey model, which means as closely to what they would eat if they were living in the wild. Sometimes, that means there is a dead rabbit on the eating mat next to the fireplace. My son has no problem with it. It's the visiting friend that freak out

I have also already tried the 'Felix was meant to make another little kid happy and thus he had to move on' which was received with lots of crying and hysterics. I am really not kidding when I think that the 'part of the lifecycle' idea might be perceived with less emotions....


I did look into Cougar sightings and there are almost weekly sightings in our area (not neighborhood but cougars reside in a 75-100 square mile radius, so there is a big chance that they come this way as well - especially since all these areas are connected by massive forestry) and what I found in the process was that the cougar kills immediately. They jump on the prey and with one bite to the neck the prey is dead. Then they take them some place to devour them. So, no blood and guts and such.

See, there is this one little piece to the story I had left out: On Sunday night, I woke up by some noise. First it was a thunk then a swishing sound. If I inadvertently lock any of my cats in a room or the garage, they swish on the door with their paw until I hear them. Sometimes they swish on the patio door when they are sitting outside but want in (it's getting too cold to leave the door open for them). Once, I inadvertently locked one of my cats outside over night and when I was about to go to sleep, I heard swishing noise. I went downstairs and there she was outside. When I heard the noise that night, I immediately did a headcount and determined that Felix was still out - went downstairs and looked, but nothing. I have a throw rug on the patio and it was flipped over on one end - could have been the heavy winds though. No blood no guts. I've been re-checking every inch of that patio for signs of a fight. Nothing. Reading the cougar attack method, I'd think I wouldn't see anythign. The thunk might have been the cougar jumping on the patio and Felix trying to get in - swishing noise. Then a breaking of the neck and off they go. No blood, no guts, no limbs, no fur clumps.... nothing. I just have a hard time believing a cougar jumping on my patio.

Or, it could have been just one of the cats jumping in the litterbox and the swishing was the scratching of the litter afterwards. I was asleep when I heard the noise, so I cannot accurately say what it really was.



Becky: He can't get under the hous but under the patio and I already looked. Plus I let the dog all over the place, hoping she'd flush him out.

Aure: Didn't put up signs casue I really don't think he is anywhere cuddled up. Nobody would take my cat (I think) and if then they'd bring it to animal control. I called the humane society and animal control. Nothing. I called all vets and rescue groups. Nothing. I posted on our neighborhood board and several other lost pets places. He is microchipped, so if they scan him, he'll be home.


Thanks for all of your empathy - it really does help!!!!!

Of course you dont own a cat, a cat owns you and maybe he was just pissed off with what you were feeding him and thought **** you if your going to feed me this crap i'm off .Maybe put some tuna out for him to come back?

I'm glad you can see the "humor." Personally, if I posted about loosing a pet, it would hurt me very much for someone to post that and I was afraid you could have been hurt by it too.

It's "losing".

You're so predictable. ROTFLMAO

This also made me laugh. My present cat is sort of like this. She truely believes that she pays the mortgage.

From what Maria said though, I think her assessment is correct. I used to live in California and coyotes were a problem for all small animals.

Kathleen

Well its true in our house ,Hobbes our Cat runs the place.He takes up all the sofa so we are stuck on the end and we have to bow and scrap to him and his beckon call

Being top of the food chain has nothing to do with size, I just don't think cats have any predators.
Bobcats eat rabbits, hare, rats... I really really doubt they'd eat cats as they are of the same "family". Coyotes are omnivore, they eat grass, fruits, and small animals but nothing as big as a cat.
What could eventually happen is he could get into a fight for something (food, being a male on another male's territory)... but if he's such a laid back chap I doubt that would happen to.

Ponrauil