It's been a long, long time.
I know that it's been a long time since I've posted anything in this journal. I've honestly figured that no one really cares about the mundane things that go on in my life, and truthfully, there hasn't been anything that's truly eventful going on. There's just been something that's been happening, and it's weighing heavily on my heart, so I feel like I really have to vent about it in depth. Feel free to read about my rant if you wish, but if you don't, that's okay too. Okay. Here goes.
I'll give you the back story first. My mom and I live next to these two brothers. I've never been particularly fond of them, but they've never done anything that's actually too bad. They smoke pot and trash their house, and their yard's a mess, but that just makes it ugly in their yard and make it looks like lazy slobs. That's on them. It's fine. It doesn't affect any other living thing besides them. About six months ago, they got a cat. This cat is a sweet, lovable cat who deserves to be spoiled and loved upon. This cat is declawed, which in itself, I believe is quite cruel. What's even worse is, they have this declawed cat outside. We live on a really busy road, so that's not a smart idea to begin with, but with the cat being declawed, that just makes it all that much worse. We didn't really say anything, though, because the weather wasn't bad, and we assumed he'd be reasonably safe. We had noticed that he was a tad thin, though, so we started to feed him to help him get his weight up to a normal level. We really started to notice how crappy our neighbors' pet-care skills were when Rowdy (that's the cat) would be outside when it was raining really hard or storming outside. There were times where we'd open the door, and he'd be huddled up against it, on our porch, wanting some shelter from the inclement weather. There were a couple of times when, still thinking these two brothers were decent human beings, we'd taken Rowdy back over to their house and ask them if they wanted to take their cat in, thinking perhaps they weren't aware that he was out, or they hadn't been able to locate him. After doing this a couple of times, with them taking him in with a bit of a strained 'thank you', one of the brothers told us to stop feeding him, because he was on a special diet. This honestly confounded me, because they had seen my mom and I feed him before, and they'd never said a word. I said that I'd not feed him again, but honestly, my mother has. The reason that we feed him is because whenever we don't, he cries piteously at the door, and it really just breaks our hearts. Things went on this way for about a month, but then it was raining really really horribly one night, and my mom went over to their house to see if they wanted to let Rowdy in, because it was such a bad night. Well, they started yelling at my mom. They told her that it was 'just a cat' and cats have been around for millions of years. They told her to stop worrying about their cat, and if she wanted a cat so badly, that we should just go get one from a shelter. Our other neighbor ended up getting involved. The other neighbor is a woman who's just as passionate about animals as my mother and myself. This guy, who is at least 6'2 got in her face and was waving his hand at her as he screamed at her. It was, honestly, pretty scary. In the end, the police were called because things got so heated. The police officer told them to stay off of our property, and for them to stay off of ours. I was fine with that. I don't want to go into the messy yard of heartless, pathetic slobs.. but anyway! Needless to say, things have been somewhat tense since then. One of the guys yelled at my mom a second time shortly after for feeding Rowdy, again saying that he was on a special diet and that my mom was a 'crazy bitch' and blah, blah, blah. That really pisses me off that they would say something like that to my mother. But, as I was saying, things have been somewhat tense, but it's been okay. We tend to avoid one another. The only thing they did that made us really mad before this last week was they left their cat out for about five days when they went away for Thanksgiving.
Now that I've given the back story, I'll give the recent developments. It's been getting progressively colder, as it does during wintertime. There's been a few times where my mom's seen Rowdy, and he's been curled up and shivering, which is, of course, the first sign of hypothermia. During those times, my mom's taken Rowdy in for awhile. We separate Harry and Rowdy, because my cat doesn't get along with Rowdy. Tonight when we got home, it was around 20 degrees or so, with a wind chill of 13 degrees. The younger brother came out of his house and was just watching me pet Rowdy. Yeah. Their cat runs over to our house whenever we pull up or whenever one of us leaves the house because we give him attention. Anyway, he was just watching me. I got so pissed off that he was just concerned about whether or not we'd feed his cat, so I look at him and ask him if he's going to take his cat in. He asked if I was talking to him, and I said I was. His brother came out, and he asked what was going on. I informed him it was 18 degrees, and Rowdy should be in. He walked towards me in a threatening manner, I guess to get closer so that he could yell at us properly. Anyway, I told him he wasn't allowed to be on our property, and he said he was getting his 'fucking cat'. That's when the yelling really ensued. I can't remember all of it, but it went along these lines: He told us that if anything was going to kill him, then it was going to be my mom and me feeding him, because he's on a special diet. My mom asked him what kind of special diet he was on. They told my mom that it was none of her 'fucking business' because it was their 'fucking cat'. Then they started informing my mom and me that we're 'fucking crazy bitches' because we can't 'leave their fucking cat alone'. I told them that he's going to end up dying from hypothermia, because it's way too cold to be outside. They informed me that it's not THAT cold, and I again reminded them that it was 18 degrees out. My mom piped in, saying that when we lived in Ohio, we had to take animals in at a certain degree. They said "Well, this isn't Ohio." and I reminded them that "IT'S STILL FUCKING COLD." Then, they started going on a personal attack. They yelled at my mom and me, calling us pathetic sacks of shit, saying that they made more money than me, and that we needed to get new hobbies besides worrying about what they're doing about their cat. Somewhere in there, they also informed us that he's 'just an animal' and that cats have been around for thousands of years outside, and they've been just fine. I tried to point out that the average lifespan of an outside cat is 4 years, and one of the brothers scoffed and said "Great! Why don't you tell us some MORE cat facts!" There was also something in there about how he's survived through 13 winters, which is odd, since just this summer he was 9. So, I told him that Rowdy's damned lucky to have survived if this is how he's been treated for his whole life. In the end, we left because trying to reason with those two tards is like trying to reason with a brick wall. All that's going to happen is you're going to get a headache. I called them 'fucking assholes' in a very loud manner, and we slammed the door.
What I don't understand is how is it so hard to keep your cat inside when the weather's really bad? I mean, seriously, as a general rule of thumb, if it's too cold or hot for you, it's too cold or hot for your animal. If you wouldn't want to be caught out in certain weather, then generally, your pet wouldn't want to be out in that weather, either. How hard is it to get that into your thick head?
I'll give you the back story first. My mom and I live next to these two brothers. I've never been particularly fond of them, but they've never done anything that's actually too bad. They smoke pot and trash their house, and their yard's a mess, but that just makes it ugly in their yard and make it looks like lazy slobs. That's on them. It's fine. It doesn't affect any other living thing besides them. About six months ago, they got a cat. This cat is a sweet, lovable cat who deserves to be spoiled and loved upon. This cat is declawed, which in itself, I believe is quite cruel. What's even worse is, they have this declawed cat outside. We live on a really busy road, so that's not a smart idea to begin with, but with the cat being declawed, that just makes it all that much worse. We didn't really say anything, though, because the weather wasn't bad, and we assumed he'd be reasonably safe. We had noticed that he was a tad thin, though, so we started to feed him to help him get his weight up to a normal level. We really started to notice how crappy our neighbors' pet-care skills were when Rowdy (that's the cat) would be outside when it was raining really hard or storming outside. There were times where we'd open the door, and he'd be huddled up against it, on our porch, wanting some shelter from the inclement weather. There were a couple of times when, still thinking these two brothers were decent human beings, we'd taken Rowdy back over to their house and ask them if they wanted to take their cat in, thinking perhaps they weren't aware that he was out, or they hadn't been able to locate him. After doing this a couple of times, with them taking him in with a bit of a strained 'thank you', one of the brothers told us to stop feeding him, because he was on a special diet. This honestly confounded me, because they had seen my mom and I feed him before, and they'd never said a word. I said that I'd not feed him again, but honestly, my mother has. The reason that we feed him is because whenever we don't, he cries piteously at the door, and it really just breaks our hearts. Things went on this way for about a month, but then it was raining really really horribly one night, and my mom went over to their house to see if they wanted to let Rowdy in, because it was such a bad night. Well, they started yelling at my mom. They told her that it was 'just a cat' and cats have been around for millions of years. They told her to stop worrying about their cat, and if she wanted a cat so badly, that we should just go get one from a shelter. Our other neighbor ended up getting involved. The other neighbor is a woman who's just as passionate about animals as my mother and myself. This guy, who is at least 6'2 got in her face and was waving his hand at her as he screamed at her. It was, honestly, pretty scary. In the end, the police were called because things got so heated. The police officer told them to stay off of our property, and for them to stay off of ours. I was fine with that. I don't want to go into the messy yard of heartless, pathetic slobs.. but anyway! Needless to say, things have been somewhat tense since then. One of the guys yelled at my mom a second time shortly after for feeding Rowdy, again saying that he was on a special diet and that my mom was a 'crazy bitch' and blah, blah, blah. That really pisses me off that they would say something like that to my mother. But, as I was saying, things have been somewhat tense, but it's been okay. We tend to avoid one another. The only thing they did that made us really mad before this last week was they left their cat out for about five days when they went away for Thanksgiving.
Now that I've given the back story, I'll give the recent developments. It's been getting progressively colder, as it does during wintertime. There's been a few times where my mom's seen Rowdy, and he's been curled up and shivering, which is, of course, the first sign of hypothermia. During those times, my mom's taken Rowdy in for awhile. We separate Harry and Rowdy, because my cat doesn't get along with Rowdy. Tonight when we got home, it was around 20 degrees or so, with a wind chill of 13 degrees. The younger brother came out of his house and was just watching me pet Rowdy. Yeah. Their cat runs over to our house whenever we pull up or whenever one of us leaves the house because we give him attention. Anyway, he was just watching me. I got so pissed off that he was just concerned about whether or not we'd feed his cat, so I look at him and ask him if he's going to take his cat in. He asked if I was talking to him, and I said I was. His brother came out, and he asked what was going on. I informed him it was 18 degrees, and Rowdy should be in. He walked towards me in a threatening manner, I guess to get closer so that he could yell at us properly. Anyway, I told him he wasn't allowed to be on our property, and he said he was getting his 'fucking cat'. That's when the yelling really ensued. I can't remember all of it, but it went along these lines: He told us that if anything was going to kill him, then it was going to be my mom and me feeding him, because he's on a special diet. My mom asked him what kind of special diet he was on. They told my mom that it was none of her 'fucking business' because it was their 'fucking cat'. Then they started informing my mom and me that we're 'fucking crazy bitches' because we can't 'leave their fucking cat alone'. I told them that he's going to end up dying from hypothermia, because it's way too cold to be outside. They informed me that it's not THAT cold, and I again reminded them that it was 18 degrees out. My mom piped in, saying that when we lived in Ohio, we had to take animals in at a certain degree. They said "Well, this isn't Ohio." and I reminded them that "IT'S STILL FUCKING COLD." Then, they started going on a personal attack. They yelled at my mom and me, calling us pathetic sacks of shit, saying that they made more money than me, and that we needed to get new hobbies besides worrying about what they're doing about their cat. Somewhere in there, they also informed us that he's 'just an animal' and that cats have been around for thousands of years outside, and they've been just fine. I tried to point out that the average lifespan of an outside cat is 4 years, and one of the brothers scoffed and said "Great! Why don't you tell us some MORE cat facts!" There was also something in there about how he's survived through 13 winters, which is odd, since just this summer he was 9. So, I told him that Rowdy's damned lucky to have survived if this is how he's been treated for his whole life. In the end, we left because trying to reason with those two tards is like trying to reason with a brick wall. All that's going to happen is you're going to get a headache. I called them 'fucking assholes' in a very loud manner, and we slammed the door.
What I don't understand is how is it so hard to keep your cat inside when the weather's really bad? I mean, seriously, as a general rule of thumb, if it's too cold or hot for you, it's too cold or hot for your animal. If you wouldn't want to be caught out in certain weather, then generally, your pet wouldn't want to be out in that weather, either. How hard is it to get that into your thick head?