Friends Who ARE NOT Animal Lovers
I've been stressed to levels I've never experienced before and needed some sort of release before I had a total mental breakdown. Luckily, a friend came over yesterday to have a few drinks and dish the dirt about ourselves and our lives. We worked on the drinks and the stress, and it was just what the doctor ordered. The visit was truly therapeutic, because we laughed and cracked each other up with our commentary on life's woes. I feel almost normal again.
But the thing is, she does NOT like animals. It's so funny to see her react to the dogs when they greet her--her body stiffens and recoils. She is a very neat, Felix Unger type of person when it comes to her home, and as you all know, it's hard to be like that and be comfortable with pets all over. I must say though, that after a few drinks she was actually talking baby talk to Zoe.:)
It's funny, several people I know and really like, do not like pets AT ALL. A former coworker, a coworker here at the paper and my visiting friend. But here's the thing: They KNOW they don't like pets and therefore DO NOT get pets, only to later neglect or give them up like so many other people do. I don't think less of people who don't love animals the way I do. I understand everyone has different loves. Heck, some people actually like babies! All I expect is that, like my friend, they don't get a pet of any kind. My problem is with people who will get a pet just because their kid wants one, or for any number of other equally stupid reasons. Then they can't deal with it and give it up, causing a problem so big that 5,000 pets are euthanized in this county every year.
So, do you have any friends or family members that don't like pets? How do you deal with them? Or do you?
Picture today is of two more good friends who are very different, but friends nonetheless: Catfish and Tarzan, aka Bubby and Puff Puff.
posted by Sandy at 2/25/2007 06:45:00 PM
Pet People
22 Comments:
Sandy, first of all, your figure must be daily not yearly.... it's estimated 10 million pets are euthanized each year in the US alone (3-4 million in shelters). Between 6-8 million per year enter shelters. It's almost too much to comprehend, the Humane Society has the stats on their website.
Anyway, I have a hard time truly bonding with non-animal lovers....but I married a man who tolerates them, but doesn't adore them passionately like I do. I guess I'd have to say I have the hardest time being friends with hunters, I just can't for the life of me comprehend how someone gets pleasure out killing an animal.
A human with supposidly superior intelligence, carrying a gun vs. an animal. Doesn't seem like a "sport" to me since I thought a sport was between 2 *equal* sides. I work with people who hunt and they constantly put pictures of bloody animals on my desk. Anyway, it's tough to really become close friends with someone when I have that in the back of my mind....but we have to learn to live in a society with all types, so I have to try and ignore it.
Daisy, my figures were for this county (not country). Montgomery County along puts down 5,000 a year, twice the national average for shelters of cities a similar size.
But you are right--the national numbers are appalling.
Duh, that's why you're the older and wiser one! (did I mention "older"?)
Glad you clarified that, I keep forgetting this blog is for locals and I'm a far-away Yankee.
Sandy,daisylouu, those stats just totally break my heart! How I pray for a world where not one single animal is ever killed just because no one wants it. If I could I'd take dozens but I can't do that.
Sandy you know my story ( from the first postings) about how I called Animal Control on my neighbors for leaving thier poor dog tied to a tree and leaving it all day, and in the thunder, lightening and rain getting soaked. I called them twice and the dispatcher told the people who called! It was messy when the neighbor came to my door furious and now I have to tolerate living across the street feom them. She was more into the fact that thier animals were pure bred and how they paid so much money for them. That was all she cared about, she didn't give one whit about the animals. People like her make me sick!
And daisylouu, like you I have a hard time with hunters and I refuse to look at the photos printed in the paper with them showing off thier trophy's the poor dead deers. It really hurts!!!!!!!!!!
I don't think any of my friends are non-pet lovers. I have a couple of friends who would love to have pets, but are in situations where having a pet is not ideal, so they don't. I guess I just get along better with people who understand the issues that come along with having pets. They don't complain when they come to your home and get dog hair on there clothes or worse, one of you beloved pets decides to embarrass you by having an accident in the house while they are visiting. Pet people are more understanding and easier going. One of the architects I work with doesn't have any pets and can't understand my love of them. He and I tolerate each other. He's a nice guy, but not someone I would want as friends with outside of work. He has told me in the past that he was raised with all kinds of farm animals and as an adult didn’t want the responsibility or the hassle. He tells me the other day he was thinking about getting a dog for his son. I told him to think long and hard about it b/c it’s a lift time commitment for that pet. It's not fair or right that you get a pet and than decide that you can't handle having it. I truly hope he doesn't get any kind of a pet.
That is the cutest picture of Tarzan and Catfish! What snuggle bunnies they are to each other. I cannot think of any of our family or friends that do not have pets in their life. Maybe there is some one but I cannot think of any at the moment…
Like I said on another post, I have a brother which hunts. He has had pets which he cried over when they died but for the life of me, I do not understand his drive to hunt! Other then his hunting, I cannot find fault in him. He is my brother and I do love him but I don’t agree with that hunting side of his life. I fish and I am sure people find fault with me fishing. So who am I to judge a hunter?
I just thought of a funny story to share...
When we lived in Germany I loved to eat the dish called Goulash! It was the best meaty with gravy dish over rice or noodles you ever tasted! One time we were in a restaurant that had Hirsch Goulash. I assumed that Hirsch was a region of Germany and this is their version of making the dish. The price was a bit higher so I assumed it was a really good dish so I ordered that stuff and loved it! I ordered it everywhere I saw it on the menu. Then one day out of the blue, I looked up the word Hirsch in the dictionary. Oh my gosh y’all… I had been eating deer meat! I about died right then and there! Needless to say, I never had Hirsch Goulash again…. You would have thought that with me being active in the Rod and Gun Club, and hearing that word spoken about often, that I would have put two and two together much sooner! Duh. I liked the stuff so I know not eating deer meat with me is physiological. I feed the deer here at my house and enjoy them as though they are my pets! How could I eat one?
I say give the deer an AK-47 and even the odds.
In my humble opinion, no one in this day and age needs to hunt. There is Wal-Mart and Kroger for food. If you can't afford it, there are public assistance programs. Back in the olden days, hunting was survival, now it is cell phones and commuting. Outlaw hunting... it is barbaric and uncivilized.
I don't trust people who don't have a pet or at least like animals. To me, it's a character issue... they are prolly too self-centered and selfish. And if my pets don't like them, well, buh bye! It was nice knowing ya! If friends don't like my Fur-niture, oh well. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out!
I think I'm cranky today.... naw, just putting out my two cents.
I can't think of a single friend I have who doesn't like animals. I think I must gravitate away from people like that. But I don't dislike them-like you said Sandy-as long as they realize they are not animal people and don't get animals-I don't mind them. Both my mother and father in law went thru life disliking cats. Would you believe they now both have an inside cat that they dote on?
Skeeter-too funny. My oldest daughter had been eating my chili for years and just gobbling it down. When I told her it was deer meat she couldn't believe it. She had always thought deer meat would taste gamey and now she won't eat it just because its deer meat.
I have to say that I could never hunt but I am married to(and love very much)a man who does hunt. In his defense- he is a very ethical hunter. We eat everything he kills and he doesn't take a bad shot. I am critical of those hunters who kill only to be killing-and Daisylou its very bad taste and bad manners for your friends to show you those pictures knowing how you feel about hunting. But not all hunters are like that. I don't enjoy the thought of an animal being killed for my appetite, but that hasn't turned many of us away from the line at Burger King has it? Many a time I have thought to myself-wouldn't that baby calf that was killed at 1, 2 or 3 months old to be made into veal have loved the opportunity to be out in the wild and at least have a chance at survival? The animals that are hunted do at least have a chance. The cows have none at all. I wish I could be a vegetarian-but I can't. I like my meat!!
Alice, what you said about giving the deer a weapon reminds me of a video I saw a month or so ago. I think they showed it on You-Tube but I say it on Inside Edition. It showed this hunter and a deer turned on him and was basically knocking the s--t out of him! It kept on till the hunter finally managed to get up and run and it chased him a bit, it was soooo funny and I'm yelling you go deer go buddy!
I for one cannot stand the taste of deer or lamb. Now I do think they are too sweet to kill too but it really is the taste that I find too different than beef and pork and as i've mentioned, I have a very sensitive taste and smell and it is just too different. Also I agree we can buy meat at the store so ne need for me to have it. I really am like Shannon and wish I didn't like meat. I did stop eating veal since it is a baby cow but can't seem to become a vegetarian, at least not yet. I guess I somewhat of a hypocrite, maybe someday I can change.
I just remembered- a few years ago a friend of my husband saying "I hate cats!" It really made me lose a lot of respect for him cause he knew how much I loved my cats. Another person I know ( she is a nurse so should be more compasionate )once said when she was teen ager that she and several friends would try to run over cats in thier cars when they ran out in the road. I was so upset I wanted to hit her and run over her! I have never been able to be around her without thnking about that since. I really lost respect ofe then. I guess she has changed because a mutual friend of ours told me this past weekend that she now has a cat. I pray she takes good care of it.
I won't eat veal. I buy eggs from a free range farm, where the chickens are treated humanely, not locked 6 in a wire cage with their beaks and claws clipped. I also buy local beef where the cows have a normal life and are humanely killed. I don't like hunting, way too many wounded animals walking around with gangrene in their legs and arrows stuck in them. Kids too young allowed to roam around with guns, shooting birds to fight boredom.
I also don't buy the excuse that hunting saves money. Ever see the costs involved in license fees and the camo wardrobe, along with guns, ammunition, and all the rest of the new-fangled trinkets?
Once many,many years ago, I came home from work or someplace... I don't remember now, anyway, one of the barn cats had got hit by a car and killed. I was so sad because even though it wasn't a "personal" pet, I fed the barn cats and had them spayed and neutered. Most were feral at worst and skittish at best. I buried the kitty and went next door where my sister lived with her family and I mentioned it to her. Her husband spoke up and said he had seen it but just ignored it. I was furious! I asked him how it would be if it was their child that was laying out in the road? He were surprised by my anger and disgust and said that it was "just an animal". I had never been close to my brother-in-law in any case but this was the just horrible. He had never had pets growing up and just didn't get it. My kitties, barn cats or not... did not deserve to be roadkill.
I must say that I DO see a difference between raising cattle and butchering them for meat and taking a firearm or bow out and stalking and killing an animal even if one does eat it. I never did 4H because the thought of raising and caring for an animal and then auctioning it off to the highest bidder to be made into meatloaf was just something I could not do. People do and good for them. People have children, good for them. I don't approve of how some people raise those children and I don't approve of killing animals with weapons. That's me. God bless America. I don't have to do any of that... it IS my choice.
Hunting is a continuous argument in our house. I hate it, but my Hubby was raised with it. For his family who was poor, it was a way to put food on the table. However, we are not poor. I have never understood how anyone could kill anything that isn’t able to protect or defend its self. I don’t find it sporting, I think its murder. I don’t enjoy the taste of the meat, deer, elk or any other wild game. I can barely eat beef any more, it tastes bloody to me. What’s worse is the smell of it cooking. I will occasionally eat chicken, fish and pork. My Hubby insists that he has meat with every meal. I could care less. I have gone weeks without eating meat. I just don’t want it. Since Hubby is the cook in our house, I just eat around what ever he cooks. If he makes a casserole, I know it will have meat in it, usually ground or shredded. I don’t have too much of a problem with that, and if I do, I eat a bowl of cereal for dinner. He has the disgusting pictures of animals he has killed also, but he respects me enough not to show them to me. At one time he wanted to hang a deer head. I said hell no! Not in my house. We argued over it for months. I finally said the only way he was hanging a deer head in this house, was if he wanted his head to hang next to it. He has not asked about it since.
Daisylouu is right about the cost involved. My Hubby started bow hunting as a compromise. It is ridiculous how much he spends every year. The bow it self, with none of the gadgets, just a bent piece of metal with a string, was $600. I about had a heart attack. Then it was a new sight and a stabilizer and arrows and nocks and new tips and and and and…. By the time he was finished, he had spent over $1500 ON JUST THE BOW! And he had the nerve to get cranky with me the other day when I spent $75 at Kohls and everything I got was off the clearance rack. When we were in CO, he spent on average 5-7 thousand dollars every year on hunting crap including his week long trips and food. I don’t want to think about what he’ll spend if he ever changes his mind and goes back to rifle hunting. I have a feeling he’s been thinking about it. Since he has been bow hunting for several years now and has never brought anything home. He’s not a bad shot; it’s that hunting in CO in very different. You actually stalk your pray, not sit in a deer stand and wait for them. He can’t seem to get close enough. DARN!
OK, I’m done unleashing my hatred. It’s a HUGE sore spot for me. Anyone else notice that Dragon hasn’t commented on this subject?
Dragon is probably like me-----too afraid to say what he thinks on this subject. He may be a man, but he's proven on some posts that he ain't stoopid!! Well, not THAT stupid anyhow. LOL
Dragon may be too busy building “Kitty Kastle Kingdom’s” He sure has a lot of good idea’s from these postings. He may be moving forward in this big venture without us. Now that would kind of make us stoopid don’t ya think?
That also could make Dragon get his head on a wall too if he goes ahead with Dragon Enterprises without us! We would find out who he is and stalk him! We would rip his arms off and beat him to death with them!
Dragon, where the heck are you anyway? We ahven't heard from you in quite awhile!
Alice, I know you were good to your barn cats and very thoughful to ahve them spayed and neutered but how could you not fall in love with them? I get so attatched very easy I know but if I ahd cats anywhere near me like that I'd be in love with them. I guess I go overboard really fast but I can't help it. Anyway I'm sorry your kitty got run over and God bless you for not only burying it but for standing up to your brother -in-law like you did!
I would be the hunted with my views. Yaw Wacko Female Fanatic would hunt me down, cut me into little savory morsels, and toss me on the grill.
I’ll stay away from this subject.
Have a good day.
We don't believe in hunting. We would find you when you were sleeping and then whack! Anyway, dragon meat is stringy and tough. It has to be stewed.
Oh Skeeter!!!!!!!! He wouldn't do that to us, would he???? What were we women thinking??? Trusting some MAN with our brilliant idea. You would think a bunch of women, most of us with HUSBANDS, would know better!
I'm with Pam. Except I think Dragon's have really stubby little arms, kind of like T-Rex had. We might have to use a different method to perform the actual killing blow (so to speak).
Dragon, get on here and reassure all these doubting ladies that you would never go behind our backs with Dragon Enterprises taking our good ideas without us on board. We're your girls here,the ones who will help make you rich beyond your dreams! We do tease you a lot on here but I for one still have faith in you! We miss hearing from you so get back on more often. I know you must have some opinions on these other subjects, not hunting, think you made a good call staying out of that one,ha.
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