Cat Down

We are fortunate in that we are not living up to our means - we have
money available (in savings) to treat the pets if they need it. Putting
it into savings rather than insurance is far more effective..

Well yes - that was also one of our reasons!

These hire cats - are they trained to hunt?

Phil.

 

I know some people think they can't live without a pet, but that's just
ridiculous.

 

Various people try - things like putting bells on cats collars..

Good luck on trying it with a cat. It's difficult to 'keep them within
our boundaries' when the cat doesn't recognise the concept..

Owners are not liable because they are defined as "wild animals" rather
than domesticated ones.

I'll explain it again since you seem to be unable to grasp a simple
concept:

"cats don't understand human boundaries"

Partly. But also because of historical reasons (dogs were kept by
nobility for hunting, domesticated farm animals were kept for food
which made them commerically important). Ferrets come under the same
classification as cats as far as I can remember - and for the same
reasons.

Oh - and cats (felis domesticus) isn't *actually* wild - if it was it
wouldn't tolerate being near people - like Scottish Wildcats (which are
truely wild and can't be domesticated - they can learn to tolerate
being near people but only if done from kitten-hood).

Really? You go around attacking wild animals all the time then?

Actually no. Any more than I would accept anyone attacking any
pond-fish I had (if I had a pond and fish..). I don't accept humans
killing animals for anything other than to use as food (or for self
defence obviously).

Phil

 

Yes, but there isn't *much* variability, is there. Apart from half a
dozen 'pedigrees' (Persian, Siamese, etc), most cats are moggies.

There's also the issue of *how*, in an early human environment, you'd
control which cats bred with which. Most owners don't manage to
control it now, after all.

Yes, this was mentioned on QI a while back - dogs appear to be unique
in this regard, and no one really knows why.

 

Is it like cars where the smaller ones are cheaper? I think that's a
purrfectly good idea.

 

So knowing a simple Latin phrase equates to being over-educated does
it?

"My religious tendancy for obfuscation". Really? Care to prove it? Or
is this just another "I can't tell one religious person from another"
crude labelling?

I didn't know you were a psycologist too.

Phil.

 

The form they gave us was already pre-printed with all the relevant
details - all we needed to do was sign it and fill in our bank details.
I refused and asked for a vet form without the insurance..

Well - it certainly increases their profits!

Phil.

 

I reply to posts on their individual merits, not on what others post
or what the original poster decides to try and change it to later when
they've calmed down.

Of course you wouldn't do it. Unless it was your cat and you flew into
a rage and didn't stop to think about what you were doing.

Gonna shoot me if I don't?

 

Mea culpa

 

I have some sympathy with this point of view. However, there's a more
general point that's to do with living in close proximity to other
people. You will always be a nuisance to each other to a certain
extent, but there are lines which I don't think you should cross -
some of which, of course, are defined by law.

Cats shitting in your garden are a nuisance, but I think to argue that
being torn to pieces by lurchers is somehow an acceptable penalty for
the cats to pay crosses that line. To consider a parallel case, some
people felt that Tony Martin was justified in shooting a burgler. I
say that burglery doesn't deserve the death penalty.

Dogs ought to be allowed to run free and muzzle-less in their own
garden - until they reach the point where they've become dangerous
animals, however you want to define that - at which point the game
changes.

Slightly more than 2p I'm afraid.

 

QED.

 

Lady Nina wrote:

Perge, Scelus, Mihi Diem Perficias

 

No - you reply to posts based on your prejudices about the poster. Or
at least from my viewpoint you do.

So saying "I was wrong to say that" is trying to change it is it? I
thought it was admitting I was wrong personally..

Believe me - I've had a *lot* of practice controlling my anger. I'm not
naturally a peaceful person and it takes a hell of a lot of control to
stop me getting angry all the time.

Sometimes my control isn't quite as good as I'd like it to me. But I'm
working on it.

No. I try to be better than that. Note the emphasis on 'try'.

Phil

 

You might want to paws for thought on that one.

Phil

 

They've been bred for domestication - sure. But a lot of the variations
in cat breeds came about fairly naturally rather than being bred that
way.

Most people think that the African Desert Cat is the ancestor of the
domestic cat (or that it comes from the African Wildcat which is a
distant relative of the European Wildcat). But they have found graves
on Cyprus dated from about 9500BC where a cat was buried with a human
so the association might be older than the Egyptians.

Indeed. I seem to remember they have the greatest size-range of any
species (I think horses might just beat them - think of the difference
between a Falabella and a Shire Horse).

Phil

 

"The problem with this organisation is that it has a blame-culture.
Who's fault *is* that?"

 

Which is generally not the case

But thier owners do and should act accordingly

Make up your mind phil is the cat wild or not

No , i have on one occasion shot a cat who was in the process of trying
to attack my ferrets and had done so several times before even though
he had been hosed down , chased off by the dogs and had several large
objects thrown at him over a long period and i had warned the owners
that thier cat causing a nuisance

Snipping of posts to change the meaning of the content is really rather
childish and makes you look rather silly


--

 

<googles>

heh.

 

I read somewhere that dogs may be the result of interbreeding of
different species cant quite remember where though

--

 

Only in as far as pointing out the unecessary use of flowery
language can be considered uneducated.

One of the last bastions of the common useage of Latin is in religious
circles. IMHO to add mystique and grandiose. It may not be your particular
brand of religion most responsible. But like it or not, Latin phrases have
religious overtones in the minds of many. You should bear that in mind when
you use them.

I'm not. Look, if you meant "My bad", just say it.
What other reason would someone use Latin, in the context
you did, other that to mitigate the effect of the statement?