Just wanted to share with you a story about my housemate and why I think the vast majority of people shouldn't be allowed to keep animals!

I got a dog, which I had been looking for ages two years ago. My housemate at the time decided she had to have a cat then and went about finding one. She brought home a very nervous little cat and really followed it around forcing it to love her - making the cat share her bed at night then complaining about being kept up , not letting the cat outside in case it ran away, and generally making the cat stressed out and uptight.

Then the Christmas holidays came and she decided to go to her mums for two weeks but her mum couldn't possibly have a cat in her house - so I took the cat to my mums where I was staying even though I think its really cruel to unsettle a cat like that. This one hid under the bed for 3 days!

When we both moved out she yet again decided I would HAVE to take the cat 'for a while'. It has been well over a year and I still have the cat. She brought around food for a while but then just didn't bother. She moved into her own house and didn't come round for her cat. This really annoys me because I hate the way people take on an animal but don't want the responsibility for it. She babied that cat but dropped it like a hot stone when she didn't fancy looking after her any more. Now I have the responsibility of looking after her - I don't mind because I know she has a better life living out in the country with my other cats rather than cooped up in a house.

Long pointless rant but the gist is this - why do people get animals and treat them like a toy to be thrown out of the pram when they get bored with it

(I should also add she is no longer a friend and we rarely speak anymore - she dropped me like a hot stone too!)

I used to know someone like that. She got a kitten and then realised that the reality was different from the cute pictures of cuddly kittens. 2 weeks later she gave it to a friend. Then a couple of years later she did the same thing!


I don't know about the majority of people not being allowed to keep animals, but there are certainly some out there who have no idea what is involved. Mind you the same could be said about some people who have children.

We need to pass a test to drive a car, maybe would should have to pass a test to own a pet.

People like that drive me nuts I know someone who had a dog got rid due to costs etc now she has more expenses and yet got a dog a week later sold it and had another one , what drives me she says her mum in law take it to pdsa to get free treatment as her mum in law is one the dole!! This girl is due to have a baby too and I am waiting for the moment this poor child comes into the world I can imagine the ebay ad " one puppy no longer wanted as now bored comes with new born baby bored of that too "
Sorry I had a rant too lol

I wouldn't worry about it, the cat is obviously much more happy with you and your cats and having the open space of the country side like you say. Some people, like your ex-friend, are just to immature to have a responsibility like that. My boyfriends cousin lives with her dad and had an old cat of about 15 years old and they had to move into a new house so asked us to look after her until they had moved in, so we did, I was glad to in fact then they moved into their new house, came for the cat...just to put her to sleep "because she was old" was the excuse. But I think they just couldn't be bothered

This has just reminded me of the woman who lived 2 doors down. She moved house and left her cat behind - in the house. Thankfully the new owners of the house are cat lovers and adopted it. How can someone move out and not take their cat!!

Pugamo, you've answered your own question.

Some people mistake animals for toys.

I honestly don't know how you can put a stop to that.

Just lucky for the cat that you are a right thinking person.

This reminds me of my sister in law so much, shes had a dog and kitten and given both away, she knew before she got them she didnt have the time for it, the dog spent the whole time locked in the kitchen but then she got mad that it didnt know how to sit etc, she never bothered to train it!!
What made me laugh even more is her own mother slagged her off for how she treated animals yet has let her look after a dog she now no longer wants

I know someone who got rid of her dog when she fell pregnant because her and her partner didn't think they could cope with it once the baby arrived. They didn't even give it a chance. They both worked full time when they had it as a pet anyway so perhaps it's kinder for the dog that it's gone to another home. She kept going on about it being destructive but I was never surprised. If you keep a young dog locked up on its own all day then it's bound to get bored and lonely and resort to chewing things. People seem to think it's acceptable to treat a dog the same way you can treat a cat and you just shouldn't. They're completely different animals and need different care and attention.

Thing is, why get a dog in the first place if a) you work full time and b) you're planning to start a family? It's just irresponsible and ignorant.

I have heard this happen loads which is so sad each time I am glad to say people have been happy to help the poor cats out and they had a proper home
Some people grrr

I get on my high horse when people think they can have a kitten or a puppy and just send it away when the kitten becomes a cat or the puppy becomes a dog and is no longer "cute". Our wee pets are like wee people. They love and they care and they suffer when they are discarded.

Many years ago I became the new Mummy for my first ever boy dog. A man who worked alongside Himself mentioned to Himself that his daughter was expecting and was looking for a good home for her dog. She believed all the nonsense about the dog being jealous and eating the baby crap. Anyways.... Rusty came to our wee family aged 6. We got another dog !!!! I'm of the mindset that dogs are sociable creature and like company most of the time. At the time I and Himself worked shifts and there wasn't always one of us at home with them. The most they would be left alone was about 2 hours.

About 8 months after our Rusty and about 6 months after Cleo joined our tribe I was expecting. My wee dogs loved the baby and the other babies who followed. They had a new job as "Baby sitter and protector". They would patrol round the pram when it was in the garden and stay very very close to the moses basket when indoors. When the Slavettes were toddlers they both stayed close and did bare teeth at strangers but the Slavettes could do anything to them.

I think of Peter Pan and NANA as the nanny/ nurse and I really do believe it was based on an experience.

I really think there should be a register of people who give animals away because they can't devote the time and energy into looking after them, or because they've decided they're not as much fun as they thought they'd be, and they should be banned for life from owning any pets.

Also, there should be a register of people who breed animals irresponsibly or don't bother neutering animals so they get pregnant. We've got two adorable house cats (around here cats go missing all too often and are rarely found again - we've heard of three in the last month), but when we got them we were told they were 8 weeks old and fully weaned. We doubted this as they were so tiny they fitted in the palm of our hand, but took the last two kittens anyway. We also had reservations as she didn't ask about where we lived and wasn't bothered about whether we knew how to care for cats. Within 48 hours of being home with us they were both really ill, sneezing and coughing and had discharges from their eyes, and the vet suspected they had FIV. Thankfully it was just a respiratory infection (and a lot of fleas) and they eventually made a complete, albeit very expensive, recovery. The vet also informed us that as they were so small he suspected they were at most 6 weeks old and shouldn't have been removed from their mother.

I'm not one for cruelty to animals, so I got a bee in my bonnet and ended up confronting the woman we got them from. She informed me that she didn't want her cat to have a litter, and when they came along she just wanted 'rid' of the kittens because she didn't want the hassle. When I asked why she didn't get her cat spayed her response was "I couldn't be ar$ed - I've got better things to spend my money on...". If she hadn't have been a woman I'd have been up on charges of murder because I was livid. Apparently the kittens were 5 weeks old when we got them. Thankfully my wife knows someone who worked for the RSPCA and she had a word with her and they paid her a visit and got her to agree to part with the cat.

I really don't get why people buy animals on a whim. My wife and I had been discussing getting a pet for about a year and had originally wanted a dog, but couldn't agree on what type. She wanted something like Jack Russell or a Staffy while I wanted something like a Newfoundland to protect her as I work away a lot. Even when she saw the ad for the cats, we ended up spending 6 hours on the phone discussing it, researching pet insurance and ensuring we could devote to getting cats. I also made sure there were two so they had company while my wife was at work and they were left home alone during the day, To me these are basic considerations, but all too many people just seem to wake up one morning, decide they want a pet and go and get one and don't think whether they're suitable owners for a pet.

Some people aren't even suitable for rats if they buy just one and then spend most of the day out of the house. Rats are very social animals, and need company (usually other rats, although I have heard some very strange stories involving both cats and dogs forming bonds with rats) if you're going to spend all day away from them. By their nature rats are naturally inquisitive, intelligent and playful pets (I had 17 at one point due to a mistake when I sexed two rats I bought), but if people are going to buy just one they need to realise they need to spend vast amounts of time with it. Just taking it out the cage for 10 minutes or so every now and again isn't enough. When all my male rats died, apart from the last one, I used to get him out in my home office and let him scurry around on my desk while I was working, and as males tend be a little more chilled out than female rats, he'd usually end up crawling up my arm and fall asleep on my shoulder quite happy while I worked (he crawled into the hood of one of my hoodies one day and I forgot he was there and went up to the shop and only remembered when he poked his head out to see where he was, but thats digressing). If I wasn't able to have him out with me I'd pop him back in his cage next to the females, because at least he had some form of company.

I think it's really bad that people rarely take into account the effect they can have on their pets and only get a pet for their own happiness.

Rant over.

I agree with there being some kind of assessment or test for potential pet owners (if buying from a pet shop) because if you try to go to a Rescue for an animal, you have to undergo all sorts of questionnaires, assessments and home visits! When you think about it, anyone can go and buy a pet from a shop and that's it. There is a pet shop near to us that sells puppies so I am not sure if they do any further checks on potential owners, but I doubt it.

We started off with guinea pigs and rabbits, all well loved and cared for. After the last one sadly died we had a break from pet keeping for a while as my kids were all busy with exams and studying and football etc and we just felt that having pets did not fit in with our family life at that time.

We now have a gorgeous rescue dog but as I am now at home most of the week she is primarily my responsibility. Like other posters here I have known people who buy pets as if they are just part of the general weekly shop and very quickly the kids lose interest.

I am glad the cat has found a new home with you but I do understand your annoyance.

Thank you for the kind responses. Its a real shame there are so many animals out there that were ruined as puppies and kittens and then left abandoned. Seems there are a lot of irresponsible and selfish people out there. I totally agree with the suggestions about making people who have got rid of lots of animals unable to get any more. I think most people would be happier to pay a bit more for their dog licence if they knew it was going towards the protection of potentially unwanted pets as well as the dreaded dog warden's wages. Prevention is better than cure after all.

Because some people are dumb, selfish and conceited, they shouldn't be allowed to keep pets until they can show some degree of maturity when it comes to being responsible for them. I guess thats why rehoming schemes have pretty strict checks etc when it comes to vetting the pet's potential new home and owners, etc.

I wonder where she got it from.

She got it from a woman who lived a couple of streets over from us

Sometimes it can't be helped. I used to have two pet rats but I then was made redundant. I lost my job and my home. I had to move back in with my parents and I couldn't take the rats with me so I did have to find another home for them. Not everybody gives up their pets because they get 'bored' with them

You acted responsibly and had to make a decision on based on your circumstances. I know I shouldnt speak for everyone but I am sure "we" all understand. I bet it upset you to have to give up your pets. What we are talking about here are people who think they're fun to have around for a while, but when they realise the longer term commitment, they simply can't be bothered, with no thought whatsoever for the animal's welfare. Stories aboutpeople leaving pets behind when theymove house are beyond disgusting.

No. I really missed my rats.