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raincoaster
11/05/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
I went to see the Lippizzan Stallions last summer, and got crap on my facebook page from someone who decried the "cruelty" of their restricted lives. Someone whose cats have never been outside. #peta
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krismry
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
If Peta really is protecting cats to death, which is a sort of misleading header, then that would reveal their secret ultimate agenda finally to stop all exploitation of so called companion animals by making it practically impossible to take care of them in a natural way. this woman was likely driven bats by the cat's behavioral problems indoors, probably the main reason cats or dogs are given up for death by impoundment in kill shelters or to be killed by helpful vets. most people don't really strike me as particularly worthy to be responsible for the lives of animals. they should get stuffed toys or robot animals instead. #peta
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Lydia Jenkins Netzer
11/04/09

@krismry: Yes, I was told that keeping companion animals was wrong, degrading to the animal, and tantamount to human slavery. #peta
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krismry
11/05/09

@Lydia Jenkins Netzer: There is an ethical and philosophical argument that goes into some detail about the slavery of 'pets,' but it is almost as extreme as the formerly unpopular opinion that women should have equality under laws...The world may become more radical about animal liberation as time goes by, but I think it could be a very lonely and bereft place. #peta
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krismry
11/05/09

@krismry: Apology to Ms. Jenkins Netzer for inadvertently referring to her as 'this woman,' no disrespect intended! #peta
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krismry
11/05/09

@krismry: i probably don't understand how the system works, did not intend to promote my own comment. #peta
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pmarble
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
How about this: have your lawyer send a threatening letter pointing out that there is no law against letting a cat outside and that if the cat was taken, it would be theft. You could even seek a TRO against them. Then, microchip the cat. Any shelter that gets a pet checks for a microchip. Killing your cat is just the worst possible solution. #peta
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Lydia Jenkins Netzer
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
Speaking of lawyers: On a later occasion my dog got out of our fenced yard, and the interns took my dog out of my front yard and called animal control to pick him up. He spent the February night outside at the shelter while we were frantically looking for him. I blogged about it, and received threatening calls and letters from the PETA attorney. So, no, a stern letter from an attorney would do nothing to deter these people. Like I said when the reporter interviewed me, I feel for them in a way -- they're young, deeply emotional, and really believe in what they're doing. It's just not easy to own pets in the house next door to them. #peta
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allyzay
11/04/09

@Lydia Jenkins Netzer: Sounds like maybe they're right to want to take your pets away from you since you seem to have utterly no control over them and are willing to murder them instead of either get them an owner somewhere safer or try to give them only supervised outside time. Just sayin'. #peta
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Btwbfdimho
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
PETA: Please Eliminate Thy Animal. #peta
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Sherry Young
11/04/09

@Btwbfdimho: Know what we call outdoor cats where I live? Mountain Lion/ coyote food. #peta
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MissNormaDesmond
11/04/09

@Sherry Young: You seem really proud of that for some reason. #peta
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Sharon Covington
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
As much as I enjoy hating on PeTA, putting the cat to sleep was not the correct solution here - so while the interns are a bunch of rude busybodies, they didn't actually put the cat in a kill shelter or harm it so it would have to be put down. Netzer may have felt forced to do it, but the best solution would have been more along the lines of a strongly-worded letter and/or intervention from the police to stop the interns from continuing to harass her. #peta
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allyzay
11/04/09

@Sharon Covington: Yeah - blaming animal "rights" busy-bodies for this woman's personal decision to kill her own cat is kind of weird actually. There's no reason why she had to put her cat down, and the vet who agreed to do it is quite possibly the worst veterinarian I've ever heard of. There's actually something really weird and fishy about this story. #peta
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iplaudius
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
King Solomon arrived moments too late to ask who wanted which half of the cat. Sobbing, Netzer said, “I would’ve wanted the ass. Cat anuses are so cute!” The King sighed, because then he knew. #peta
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comrade tacky
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
So, Ms. Netzer brings in what is, by all accounts, a perfectly healthy animal to the vet, and asks to have it euthanized, because of some interns?

What kind of vet would do this? Did I miss something about the cat's health and well-being, other than the threat of the PETA interns? #peta
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m4ximusprim3
11/04/09

@comrade tacky: I'm glad this story makes absolutely NO SENSE to someone else besides me.

I couldn't stand the people telling me to put my cat inside, so I killed it. WHA? #peta
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jimstoic
11/04/09

@comrade tacky: Substitute "cat" with "child" and the ridiculousness of the you-MADE-me-kill-it argument is even clearer. #peta
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Atilla the Bun
11/04/09

@m4ximusprim3: It makes no sense to me either.

It is the height of selfishness to have your pet put to sleep because you are afraid someone might take it away from you. If the cat had its druthers, I think it would have chosen to, you know, live.

And also...it is NOT GOOD for cats to be outdoor cats. Outdoor cats live a third as long on average as indoor cats because outdoors they are exposed to all different ways to die along with a host of diseases from other cats. I come from a family of veterinarians and have seen and heard horror stories about what happens to cats and dogs allowed to roam free.

If a cat is spayed/neutered and raised indoors, it should have no problem being a perfectly happy indoor cat. It seems the problem in this instance was the cat was allowed to roam outdoors in the first place and then freaked out when that was changed.

I think PETA is screwy in many ways, but in this case I think they had a point. Keep your cats indoors unless you want them, chances are, to meet an early death. Most reputable shelters will not allow people to adopt a cat unless they pledge to keep it indoors, and there is a good reason for that.

Okay, rant over... #peta
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monsters_and_dinosaurs
11/04/09

@Atilla the Bun: One has to also think of quality of life over quantity; some cats are not okay as indoor-only cats and are extremely unhappy at being cooped up inside. Animals at the zoo tend to live longer than those in the wild but that doesnt mean its the best life for them.
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Edited by monsters_and_dinosaurs at 11/04/09 1:34 PM

Atilla the Bun
11/04/09

@monsters_and_dinosaurs: I've rarely heard of an indoor cat that has always been an indoor cat and has been so upset by being indoors that its quality of life has greatly suffered. Give an indoor cat enough food, toys, and places to sleep, and they tend to have just fine quality of life and they don't have to worry about getting mutilated in some terrible outdoor accident. Keeping a cat indoors is simply not comparable to keeping, say, a 500lb wild lion in a small enclosure at a zoo. #peta
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MissNormaDesmond
11/04/09

@Atilla the Bun: Actually, my cat was pretty plainly depressed until I let her go outside. Then her whole personality changed -- she became more relaxed, less hyper, more affectionate -- she was a different animal. She was clearly much, much happier, and once I started letting her out she was miserable being cooped up. It did foreshorten her life, but I'd decided that she had the right to have the life she wanted, as opposed to a longer one that seemed like purgatory to her. If it had been up to me I'd have kept her in, but I felt as if I were torturing her by doing so.

I've now had for eleven years two cats who are happy to be inside and have never shown the least interest in going outside (as opposed to the other one, who was always trying to escape ever before I started letting her out). This is a huge relief to me, but I still don't feel I did the wrong thing with my first cat, whom I still love and miss. #peta
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Atilla the Bun
11/04/09

@MissNormaDesmond: There are going to be those exceptions where a spayed/neutered cat that has never been outdoors nonetheless goes nuts indoors. But I think it is much more common for people to just let their cat outside because they don't consider the consequences that may have on the cat. Bottom line: if possible, keep your cats inside. Most cats don't "need" to go outside to be happy cats, and they are exposed to a myriad of dangers out there. #peta
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Lydia Jenkins Netzer
11/04/09

@comrade tacky: They had announced they were going to remove him if they saw him outside again, and keeping him inside was not an option. At all. He was losing his mind in cataclysmic proportions.

They were keeping cat food on their porch, he was obsessively stalking the door, and it was only a matter of time before they "saved" him, and I would never know what was happening to him or where he was. They don't have a great track record with the animals they rescue. #peta
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Seeräuber Jenny
11/05/09

@Atilla the Bun:

I've always read that cats live longer and are healthier when they live indoors.

A 12-year-old "outdoor" cat might have difficulty adjusting, however.

Is there a tort of "civil harassment"? #peta
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m4ximusprim3
11/05/09

@Lydia Jenkins Netzer: While I appreciate you posting in this thread, I still don't think it was the best course of action.

That being said, I'm extremely sorry for your loss. I have two cats and feel for you. The idiocy of PETA trumps your mistake in my mind, for sure. #peta
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pumpkinsoup
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
This reminds me of when my sister-in-law came to visit. She was so angered by the sight of our neighbor's cat sauntering down the sidewalk that she wanted to knock on their door and demand that they bring their cat inside. I had to beg her not to. For one: I don't see the harm in the cat being outdoors -- we live on a very quiet street, and two: I thought she should mind her own business.

The funny thing is that my cat loves to sun herself on our deck but has always been too timid to venture further. Well, the one time she did she got stuck inside a prickly bush, which I think scarred her for life. #peta
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City_Dater
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
Hoity is now haunting the PETA intern house, leaving spectral cat poo everywhere.

Ms. Netzer should have simply bought a dart gun and put a few PETA assholes to sleep. There is no more loathsome organization allegedly dedicated to a good cause. #peta
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HurtsSoGood
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
Confining a cat indoors is about the cruelest thing I can imagine short of subjecting it to a vegetarian diet. Cats like to prowl. They like to kill things. It's what they do. It's how God made them. If PETA has a problem with that, tough shit. #peta
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kathotdog006
11/04/09

@HurtsSoGood: I can't make my cats go outside. They'd rather sleep on my bed instead of under a bush, eat Fancy Feast instead of killing small rodents, and poop in a box than dig in the dirt.
I did grow up with an indoor/outdoor cat, but we also lived on 10 acres. And as much as I love animals and want all the animals, Fuck PETA.
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rubyruby
11/04/09

@HurtsSoGood: That was my first thought, too. Uneducated jerks harassing that woman. Nice going. #peta
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hollygirl
11/04/09

@HurtsSoGood: PETA gets made when cats act cat-like and kill birds. There was an article somewhere about this recently- a new push to keep pet cats inside. Fucking losers. #peta
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Edited by hollygirl at 11/04/09 10:51 AM hollygirl was starred hollygirl was unstarred

squinko
11/04/09

@HurtsSoGood: Cats do just fine indoors. It's actually safer for them to be inside, since they won't get attacked and killed by predators, fight with other cats, get hit by cars, stolen, poisoned, shot, etc. A lot of people also don't want their cats outside, killing the wildlife. It's really not that hard to keep a cat happy indoors, but depending on the cat, it may take some work, and some people are just too lazy to deal with it. So they take it to the pound and have it put down, instead of finding another home for it or something rational. #peta
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morninggloria
11/04/09

@HurtsSoGood: Also there are some pretty sick people who like hurting cats. I've heard of people "catnapping" pets that have been let outside and selling them to labs or using them in dog fighting rings as bait. In an urban area, letting your cat outside is pretty dumb. #peta
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Atilla the Bun
11/04/09

@HurtsSoGood: There is nothing cruel about keeping a cat indoors. But allowing a cat to get hit by a car, mutilated by a fan belt, eaten by a dog, or any of the other host of things that can happen to an outdoor cat is kind of cruel in my estimation. Dogs were made to roam around free in packs, too, but they tend to live longer and have a better quality of life if they are not allowed to do that, either. #peta
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HurtsSoGood
11/04/09

@Atilla the Bun: I'll go ahead and disagree with you about the quality of life part as it pertains to cats. In my extensive observations, cats who are kept indoors tend to go absolutely bonkers from boredom, and there is only so much that cat toys and such can do to alleviate that. #peta
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Atilla the Bun
11/04/09

@HurtsSoGood: I have had many a cat in my life and observed many an indoor cat brought into my dad's vet clinic, and I've never had, heard of or seen one going "bonkers" from being indoors if it was a neutered/spayed cat that had not previously lived outdoors.

However, I have seen cats with their legs chopped off from getting caught in a fanbelt; with abscesses on their head that went to their brain from being in a cat fight with the neighborhood tom; with gashes into their skull from the thrasher; with painful acute kidney failure from drinking anti-freeze; with their bodies torn limb to limb because they were attacked by a dog; and the list goes on and on. Cats do not inherently need to be outdoor cats to live happy lives. There are some exceptions, but to say they as a species "need" the outdoors is simply incorrect. And I guarantee you most vets would agree with me on this.
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allyzay
11/04/09

@HurtsSoGood: People who say black & white things like this on either side of this issue have no clue about domesticated animals and should probably just keep their opinions to themselves. Some cats or dogs are more active than other cats or dogs. If PETA or you have a problem with that, tough shit. #peta
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Lymed
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
Or she could have tried going to the police or even suing her neighbors for nuisance. One scary letter from a lawyer may have been enough to get them to stay off her property. #peta
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HurtsSoGood
11/04/09

@Lymed: THIS.

Only I would have told them in the most polite way possible to go f*** themselves. #peta
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Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
I empathize with Ms. Netzer. When I read that more than 70 percent of all prostate cancers are diagnosed in men over the age of 65, I shot my Grandpa in the face with a revolver. I really had no choice. #peta
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sanyucat
11/04/09

@Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: He might have been happier in a shelter. #peta
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ms_priestypants
11/04/09

@Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: win. #peta
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
11/04/09

@Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: Thank God you did that. If you had done it a few years earlier, even better. #peta
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TriedandTrue
11/04/09

@Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: Only fair. Besides, what did people expect, that you find him a new family? They don't want that problem, either #peta
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squeakel
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
I can't believe there are still people who think a shelter or death is the only option for an unwanted animal.

In the age of Craigslist it's not usually difficult to find a new home for a pet. I've rescued and placed animals a few times. You have to screen people to make sure they're not nuts, but it's not all that hard. #peta
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norwegianlabrat
11/04/09

In reply to PETA Protects Cat to Death
i honestly think i'd rather put my beloved cat to sleep instead of giving him to a local shelter or PETA, where god knows what may happen.
these PETA folks have a good message, but they have to recognize that their methods need adjustment and are a tad too much occasionally. #peta
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squeakel
11/04/09

@norwegianlabrat:

What might happen would be that your cat could be adopted into a good home. #peta
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Jim Topoleski
11/04/09

@squeakel: rarely do animals brought to shelter once they are older get adopted.

People want kittens and puppies not cats and dogs.

It happens, two of my cats where older once I got them (I adopted them from a friend) but Im the exception to the rule. #peta
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rubyruby
11/04/09

@squeakel: On top of which in this case, these PETA kids didn't even understand that that cat probably had a good life to begin with. Some cats cannot function inside like that because it's their nature to spend time outside, doing what cats do. And I agree w/ Jim-- many older cats are euthanized rather quickly even in shelters that brand themselves as "no kill." Eventually, they do. #peta
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squeakel
11/04/09

@Jim Topoleski:

It's true that the demand for puppies and kittens is higher, but I worked in an animal shelter and we did 50-70 adoptions a day and most of them were adult animals because younger animals are more scarce. Kittens also have a season, so they're not available most of the year. #peta
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Tiger Lourdes: Zombie Hunter
11/04/09

@squeakel: If you ever want to see what it's like in probably 50-75% of animal shelters in this country take a trip to the Carson shelter in Los Angeles.

I threw up and cried in my car the first time I went there....mainly because it wasn't the first I had seen that was so bad. #peta
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MissNormaDesmond
11/04/09

@Tiger Lourdes: Zombie Hunter: Oh, God, don't remind me. I adopted two kittens from there who died of distemper. It was a nightmare. They didn't want to know they had distemper there, the bastards; I'm sure dozens of cats died. #peta
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Tiger Lourdes: Zombie Hunter
11/04/09

@MissNormaDesmond: Same thing happened to a friend who adopted a dog there. The place is teaming with distemper and they do not care. I offered to volunteer my time to help clean up and was flatly refused. They said that was their job. Great, you collect a check and I'll be over here NOT KILLING ANIMALS.

Sorry, still makes me stabby. #peta
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allyzay
11/04/09

@Jim Topoleski: Yes, you're a magical little snowflake. #peta
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