"Countin' Scratches on the Wall..."
Until now I have refrained from posting anything that could hurt people's feelings in any way, especially with my family. They do not know about this blog, and don't even regularly read my family-friendly one. But, in case they were to stumble across this, I never wanted to offend.
But, today I have to blog about something that might bother them. And, I just have to risk that because this has to be said.
MY FAMILY HAS TOO MANY FREAKING CATS!
I love them dearly, but their cat obsession needs to be curbed. I say that and I have a cat myself, although I am rapidly becoming tired of cat life with my cat's weekly gift donations.
So, my Mom has always had several cats. Growing up, we never had more than three at one time. But, after I left for college, something changed. My sister kept rescuing and bringing home these cats. At one point, my Mom had 5 inside and 1 outside (that came inside sometimes.) People, this is just too many felines for a human being to have to feed and clean up after. And, I really think breathing in all that cat hair HAS to have some affect on your lungs.
My Mom loves animals and that is a wonderful quality. Sadly, recently two of her collection of cats went to kitty heaven, so now they only have 4 cats in their new house. This house is bigger, so it feels less consumed with cat life, but 4 is STILL too many.
Now, my sister is not much better. She moved into my parents old house when they moved out. And, I believe they have 3 cats. Only, today she called me to ask if I wanted a cat. You see, a little cat they "adopted" that lived in my parents garage, well she is having kittens. My sister said she'd already had two before she left for work this morning, but she thought there would be more.
MORE? No, please, no....no MORE cats!
This may sound cold to some of my cat-loving friends. I am sorry. I am increasingly going in the anti-pet direction, at least for me at this point in my life. I have to wipe enough noses (and butts for that matter) that cleaning up after a cat who won't go in her box is just too much.
But, even physically, it is hard for us when we visit. Aside from horrible allergies, my son has allergy-induced asthma and we have to constantly watch out for that when we are there. Plus, my husband has started having what he thinks are asthma attacks when we go there. The only possible culprit is the cat hair. He won't let me say anything to not hurt their feelings. So, he just quietly suffers, sneaking breathing treatments in with my son's nebulizer when no one is around, and spending long hours outside. This really is becoming a problem.
So, I begged my sister on the phone to not let my parents have any more cats. She sounded a little annoyed, but swore she wouldn't. But, I see the "scratches on the wall" with this one. She won't be able to get rid of them, and won't be able to afford all of them. My Mother will take pity and take 1-2 off her hands. And the cat-overload cycle will continue. There will never be a hope that a few will die off and we'll be left with just 2 or something to contend with when we visit.
But, today I have to blog about something that might bother them. And, I just have to risk that because this has to be said.
MY FAMILY HAS TOO MANY FREAKING CATS!
I love them dearly, but their cat obsession needs to be curbed. I say that and I have a cat myself, although I am rapidly becoming tired of cat life with my cat's weekly gift donations.
So, my Mom has always had several cats. Growing up, we never had more than three at one time. But, after I left for college, something changed. My sister kept rescuing and bringing home these cats. At one point, my Mom had 5 inside and 1 outside (that came inside sometimes.) People, this is just too many felines for a human being to have to feed and clean up after. And, I really think breathing in all that cat hair HAS to have some affect on your lungs.
My Mom loves animals and that is a wonderful quality. Sadly, recently two of her collection of cats went to kitty heaven, so now they only have 4 cats in their new house. This house is bigger, so it feels less consumed with cat life, but 4 is STILL too many.
Now, my sister is not much better. She moved into my parents old house when they moved out. And, I believe they have 3 cats. Only, today she called me to ask if I wanted a cat. You see, a little cat they "adopted" that lived in my parents garage, well she is having kittens. My sister said she'd already had two before she left for work this morning, but she thought there would be more.
MORE? No, please, no....no MORE cats!
This may sound cold to some of my cat-loving friends. I am sorry. I am increasingly going in the anti-pet direction, at least for me at this point in my life. I have to wipe enough noses (and butts for that matter) that cleaning up after a cat who won't go in her box is just too much.
But, even physically, it is hard for us when we visit. Aside from horrible allergies, my son has allergy-induced asthma and we have to constantly watch out for that when we are there. Plus, my husband has started having what he thinks are asthma attacks when we go there. The only possible culprit is the cat hair. He won't let me say anything to not hurt their feelings. So, he just quietly suffers, sneaking breathing treatments in with my son's nebulizer when no one is around, and spending long hours outside. This really is becoming a problem.
So, I begged my sister on the phone to not let my parents have any more cats. She sounded a little annoyed, but swore she wouldn't. But, I see the "scratches on the wall" with this one. She won't be able to get rid of them, and won't be able to afford all of them. My Mother will take pity and take 1-2 off her hands. And the cat-overload cycle will continue. There will never be a hope that a few will die off and we'll be left with just 2 or something to contend with when we visit.
In short, THIS IS NEVER GOING TO GET BETTER. ARGH!
posted by Crazy MomCat @ 3:10 PM
2 Comments:
I've got a phrase for your family: "spay or neuter" :)
-babs
Hey, I may be a pet person, and a cat person to boot, but just like there's such a thing as breasts that are too big, there IS such a thing as TOO MANY PETS. And just like with breasts, if you don't take of the pets properly, they become dirty and gross and smelly and turn people away. Okay, maybe I'm losing the parallel here. Or not. Either way, I don't understand pet people who don't take other people into consideration. Hell, the whole reason I own two carpet shampooers is so I can minimize the amount of cat hair that people who come over have to deal with! It's not that hard to shampoo every once in awhile!
Post a Comment
<< Home