Whirlwind

Now, my cat Missy knows the routine. I go to work early, and when I come home I feed her and put her outside. It's been that way every day since she came to live in my house.

Last week, she put up quite a fight (for the first time) when I put her out. She raked up my shoulder good with her claws when I opened the door, and now I'm mad!

My friend came home the other day and asked if I wanted him to let her in. I said no! She's an outside cat now, I told him. And I explained why I was angry with the cat.

He said: But it says in the bible that we're supposed to forgive!

I shot right at him: But it also says in the bible that man will have dominion over the animals; it doesn't say animals will reign over man!

Missy has been getting worse as the days go on. She's been trying to get at my pet turtle (Sprout) and she sneaks around doing bad things.

Question: Do you think God wants me to treat my cat like a human being? To forgive it? Or is it okay for me to go on being angry with it because she won't follow my rules when she's in the house (believe me...she knows the rules. When she hears me coming, she'll jump down from the turtle's tank and then sit there and look at me like...who, sweet little innocent me???)

Thanks for listening to me rant.

adonaicole

Poor kitty...

You have to remember who the boss is..."the cat"...just kidding.

I have a pet turtle too, or rather my son has one, I just get to feed and take care of him.

I would forgive the cat but make sure she can't get to that turtle.

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Love one another, for that is pure, undefiled religion.

Don

CSchultz

I fear that many on this website would not appreciate my solution to a cat that clawed me.

I don't see any cats mentioned in these passages.

I shall refrain from further comment.

violet

KitsapGirl

I had similar problems with our cat. So I put him out. He is full time outside. I feed him 2x's a day like I did in the house, and he still gets a lot of snuggle time. In fact, the vet told me that he's a much healthier cat.

I am the master of my pets. They do not earn their keep. I keep them for my pleasure, and I delight in their company, and affection. I enjoy pampering them.

But, if I had a dog that bit someone, I could no longer trust the dog. I would have him put down. If my cat were a danger to people...randomly attacking them, I'd have him put down too.

In our case, the cat (Rusty) was opening the door, and windows to let himself out. This was a security problem. We'd come home to the back door wide open.

Yup! Outside is where he is nowdays, and he's happier for it! (so are we)

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Jax

I think we need to remember that if we have taken on the care of an animal, then it's welfare is our responsibilty.
I have two cats, one whom goes out at night and stays in all day, and the other by her own choice stays out most of the time especially in summer.
But both of them know the way I do things, but they are animals, they dont think like humans, we need to remember that!
If an animal is exhibiting behaviour I dont like, I make sure they know, a plastic bottle filled with stones and lid replaced, shaken loudly when the animal commits an offence (behavioural not like pooping!) usually does the trick.

carolinasteve

Whirlwind, I feel your pain. We have 5 cats, 4 inside, 1 outside. Once, we had none. My wife said she wanted a kitten. I finally broke down(cause I live her) and we eventually found one from an ad at Petsmart. Then two small kittens showed up in our back yard, one came one day, and the other one a couple of days later. Then one just a day old or so showed up under a bush at the vet's office my wife used to work at. We bottle fed that kitten, raised her by hand. Then, my wife saw a stray kitten at the gas station close to our house, and he now has regular meals and water,outside. We asked for one, and God blessed us with 5. Anybody want a couple(seriously)? Kiited are a blast. Cats,welll, not so much. The inside cats have become a handful. we now have a new baby, and our cats are being themselves(they're still fairly young-the oldest is 2) getting into everything, making messes, and sometimes a couple decide that they are too good for the litter box. We cannot send them out, though because they were raised around dogs, and do not fear them. There is no leash law in my county, so some people in the neighorhods around us just let their dogs run loose. I may not like em so much, but I definately don't want them getting killed.

Cat's definately do not show any desire to please their owners, as dogs do. They have no masters, only serveants. I do not believe they love- they codepend. Yes they fear our discipline, but onlyl when it threatens their interest, not because they wan't to please us. I agree with you Whirlwind. Our repsonsibilities torwards our human brothers and sisters do not extend entirely to the animals. Animals are part of God's creation, and as such, we are to be good stewards over them by making sure we give them care enough to live healthily and securely,when they are entrusted to us. They reward us with degrees of appreciation, depending on the species, but we are not to put them first over our own needs or those of any other person.

Whirlwind

I think being raked across the shoulder hurt my feelings more than it did my body. I mean, yeah...it did hurt physically. I had to actually pull one of her claws out of my skin. But after I put her out and scolded her and shut the door...I felt like one of my best friends had just slapped me.

Seriously!

This cat was unwanted in another house, because she kept on beating up the other cats. The owner was going to "dump her". So I stepped in and rescued her, not liking the idea of any creature being driven out to the middle of nowhere and left for dead.

It took a long time for Missy to come around. For the first two weeks she hid under the coffee tables. Eventually, at night, I'd wake up to her kissing me on the nose. When I'd open my eyes she'd run away.

Now she's done with the kisses. Every night, she curls up with me and goes to sleep. Every morning, I sing her "Good morning to you" while I pet her. She loves snuggles...but she wants them on her own good time.

My friend, who lives with me, got a can of Silly String for Christmas as a gag gift. I found out, by accident, that Missy is just terrified of this stuff. So whenever I see her getting ready to crawl into Sprout's tank, PSSSST! I blast her with Silly String.

Anyway, my feelings are hurt. I fed her the other day, and she wanted to come back in, but I said no. Enough is enough.

I feel bad for thinking this way, and I appreciate the advice you all (did I just say that?) have given me.

I feel like it's a contest between Sprout and Missy, and I'm favoring my turtle because he never scratched or bit me. Yet.

DaveS

Animals don't know better. It always bothers me when people get upset at their animals for no REAL reason. I saw my neighbor pick up his cat and throw it outisde, and not a gentle throw, and it was because that Cat had scrached up the top of a box with a plush top, that he had in his room and left the door open.

Now, a human knows not to mess around, and animal does not, and does not deserve to be treated poorly because of it. If you don't want to show love to your pet then I don't think you should have one. Give it to someone who will care for it if you no longer want to. But I'm an animal lover, and all my animals have been nearly perfect. They don't give me a hard time, but they've been trained. (mind of I've got 2 dogs, no cats)

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Whirlwind

Now, now!

Hey, I heard that dogs are mentioned in the bible like 10 times; but cats aren't mentioned even once.

...is this true?

Just curious.