Okay, back home, kittens are like... well... they're one step above something you give away at a white elephant party. They're sort of crap. They have no value on a farm. I think it comes out of the "all animals here must have a job" mentality. But honestly, cats? Have no value. They're something you pick up when you want one. They're always being given away free. We also do NOT understand the concept of "purbred" cats. Everyone understands Siamese, and thinks they're sort of weird, but everything else? Huh?
But here in California? Cats, apparently, are like gold. Especially the homeless ones... I just do NOT understand this. Apparantly, in their zeal to overprotect these poor animals, they've made it IM-FUCKING-POSSIBLE to adopt cats. They've strongly discouraged the practice of "giving away free kittens" which makes it really hard to just get free kittens. Instead, if you have an "oops" litter, people make such a fuss about it, and they're so hard to give away that they sometimes get killed-- just the opposite of their intended affect, I think. Also, it costs so fucking much to adopt from shelters. And, here's the funny part, they don't even always accept you.
Ben and I had to put in an adoption application for a shelter and got REJECTED when we were first looking at kittens. We weren't good enough to adopt a kitten. We were ready to pay the $120 for the kitten, plus the $200 pet deposit, and there were two of us in a clean home. But that wasn't enough. They wouldn't let us adopt only one. We simply couldn't AFFORD to buy two cats at that time. Luckily, both Butch and Sundance came to us for free.
Sorry about the rant... but these people and their cats... it's just... odd... I love cats. Don't mistake. But... wow...
I know, it's crazy. Watching the craigslist "pets" section is an exercise in frustration. Anyone who posts "free kittens" is deluged with 100s of requests within minutes. Anyone who posts "free :older animal:" is showered with abuse from people about how they shouldn't have gotten a pet in the first place and how dare they give up a pet after having it for a few years and so on and so forth. Christ, people, if someone decides that they no longer want their pets (moving, allergic, whatever), let them at least try and give it someone who wants it rather than forcing them to just abandon it or give it to a shelter. Everyone gets so up in arms that the people stop trying, and god knows what happens to the animals then. I was looking at some of the pet adoption applications online, and they're scary. Like, if there's more than one of you adopting the pet, you have to specify who gets it in case "the relationship is terminated". What, we need a pre-nuptial agreement in order to own a pet? Sheesh.
But here in California? Cats, apparently, are like gold. Especially the homeless ones... I just do NOT understand this. Apparantly, in their zeal to overprotect these poor animals, they've made it IM-FUCKING-POSSIBLE to adopt cats. They've strongly discouraged the practice of "giving away free kittens" which makes it really hard to just get free kittens. Instead, if you have an "oops" litter, people make such a fuss about it, and they're so hard to give away that they sometimes get killed-- just the opposite of their intended affect, I think. Also, it costs so fucking much to adopt from shelters. And, here's the funny part, they don't even always accept you.
Ben and I had to put in an adoption application for a shelter and got REJECTED when we were first looking at kittens. We weren't good enough to adopt a kitten. We were ready to pay the $120 for the kitten, plus the $200 pet deposit, and there were two of us in a clean home. But that wasn't enough. They wouldn't let us adopt only one. We simply couldn't AFFORD to buy two cats at that time. Luckily, both Butch and Sundance came to us for free.
Sorry about the rant... but these people and their cats... it's just... odd... I love cats. Don't mistake. But... wow...
Moral: Good luck finding a kitten.
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I was looking at some of the pet adoption applications online, and they're scary. Like, if there's more than one of you adopting the pet, you have to specify who gets it in case "the relationship is terminated". What, we need a pre-nuptial agreement in order to own a pet? Sheesh.
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