Stupid family at animal shelter

[Seshat]

The shelters the RSPCA is building these days (when they can afford it) are more 'rooms' than 'cages', and the animals that can get on together share rooms.

[Lady J'ssem]

I miss my black cat Loki. Even if he was aptly named. He'd always get into some sort of trouble as a kitten, but after we moved up here to VA from AL he got very mean. Got to the point I was the only one able to handle and pet him. He tried to rip my baby sister's face off once! (She didn't like cats and wasn't very nice to him, but after that she never bothered him again and is now afraid of cats, I'm not sure this is a bad thing.) Sadly he disappeared a couple months later. I haven't been allowed to have a cat since, and I'm moving into a no-pet apartment.

[PepperElf]

i can't say sis and i were always good about the finger/cage rules but we didn't try poking the hell out of cats either.

kinda in between... put the fingers up near the cage and if kitty hisses we prolly won't want it. but if kitty purrs and cuddles up, that cat may have chosen you.


first time getting a cat: cute white cat hissed at us. we found out later an older couple without kids adopted her and were quite happy. the cat we went home with ... was licking us to death. of course it may have helped that we'd been eating candy. lol


my viggo: cuddled up the the cage and tried to rub his face all over my hand. (a black cat)


but actually reaching in to poke a kitty... nope.
kinda like... letting kitty decide if he or she wants to make contact.



as for black cats & friday the 13th. how awesome.
in my family 13 is a lucky number and cats are always lucky.

had a girl on my second ship who was scared when she came upon a black cat in the evening. i mean she was really terrified that the cat might cross her path. O_o I was nice and walked around her so that the cat ended up crossing my path instead cos... to me that's lucky.

[boxxertrumps]

I love my Biz, he's just a domestic short hair. he's so friendly to people inside but whenever he's outside and people walk by he's clawing at the corner of the door... I ended up acquiring Biz when the girl who bought him needed someone to take care of it while she was in summer school, and she never told her parents about the kitten before she got it. So, after promising to take care of him, I never ended up stopping.

My friend, steve, got a cat. His brother is very allergic to cats and steve has to wash his hands after he's played with the kitten... This has happened on multiple occasions:
Me: "Hey Guys, look what I can do!"
*Picks up cat, takes a big huff*
Me: "Aaaaaahhhhhh...."
Them: *Expletives*

[ThirdGenRetail]

Boxxer, you're evil...

I'd LOVE to have another black cat ~ When I was a kid, we had a total of two adopt us. Shadow, who adopted us within days of moving into our rental home(And became quite the spoiled prince when we had to rehome him when we moved), and Snowball, a fat ol' thing who showed up out of the blue in '99... And then vanished the very next summer as mysteriously as he showed up. I miss them so, and as soon as Mother had bought the trailer we live in now, I told her... I wanted another black cat. Instead... I got a brown tabby, two cream tabbies(Brother and sister, one short-hair the other long-hair... Wonder Twins), a gray-tabby hooded, and a tabby-and-white(The hooded's sister, in fact). No black cats, but all sweet And yes, all spayed/neutered! Can you tell I love me some kitties?

[bainsidhe]

The local humane society runs specials in the summer for black cats, since they're the hardest to adopt. However, they refuse to adopt out any black cats around Halloween. Shocked the heck out of me when they told me why, people can be vile.

If I owned a house, I'd probably have at least 3 cats. With my small apartment, I have just one silly brat with the personality of 3.

[zombiequeen]

Unfortunately, my family had to lock up our black cat, Sebastien, on the 13ths, and on Halloween every year, after several years of the people the next road over sacrificing cats in the middle of the road in the middle of the night. It wasn't like it got hit by a car or something, it was.....brutal.
The famlily down the road stole my dear cat though, when they moved. Family had two little girls, and from what I heard, the dear "Whiskers" ran away from them after they moved to the city. He did hate kids and being stuck inside, that's how they managed to take him both times. I just don't know how they managed to keep him in a car or keep their kids intact. I miss Sabuu...

[lobo94]

We have to love the wee ones. Especially after a long day at the office.

I can have the worst day from the lowest level of hell, but kitty kisses and headbutts help me feel much better.

[Marmalady]

Oh dear me, yes. My Purdey (fluffy grey and white) sits and waits on the hall mat for me to come home, then we have to have 10 -15 minutes of cuddly headbutt stuff before anything else is allowed to happen.
They ask for so little and give so much.

[chainedbarista]

i'm all for giving everyone in that family (in the op) sticks and planting them in front of a badger's lair.

[Dreamstalker]

His local shelter has a room JUST for the Black Cats. No Cages. They're just.....socializing.

That is awesome. A friend had a tiny little black kitty (we think she was the runt of the litter) who thought she was a mountain goat. Any chance she got she'd climb on your shoulders, the little sneak learned to get you to bend down to pet her, then zoom!

However, they refuse to adopt out any black cats around Halloween. Shocked the heck out of me when they told me why, people can be vile.

Ours does the same thing; they also check potential adopters ten ways to Sunday (character references, etc) which one would hope cuts down on the shenanigans. They put out a warning around Halloween: if you own a black cat, keep it indoors. One fall when I was working at the shelter I had the opportunity to find out why (kitty survived and it wasn't too awful, but still, people suck).

[roothorick]

Me: "Hey Guys, look what I can do!"
*Picks up cat, takes a big huff*
Me: "Aaaaaahhhhhh...."
Them: *Expletives*

This has me chuckling uncontrollably for some reason.

We have a "shelter-only" rule in our family, all pets come from shelters, no breeders or anything. Taco is a sweet, energetic ball of fur with some serious acrobatic talent. There isn't a place in the house she can't get to.

[elsporko]

I agree that people should take shelter animals rather then buying them from breeders. There are enough animals in need that there is no reason to buy them.

I had to make an exception when I got rabbits since there weren't any in shelters, but the people I bought them from where crazy hillbillies so I feel like I rescued them.

[Falor]

Another thing to keep in mind as far as the 'no fingers in cages' thing being for the animals and not the people. The vast majority of Shelter workers (you know, those who do it because its what they want to do, not just a job) like the animals a lot more than they do the idjit hyoomans who come wandering through putting the precious little four legged babies at risk of catching something from those filthy ape descendants.

My wife used to work for a city animal control before her knees gave out on her to where she was no longer able to wrestle uncooperative hundred pound canines. One of our three dogs came from a county AC shelter, one from a contact made there, two of our six darling kitties came from her shelter, another from a generic contact from there, and three from a show/breeder contact she met there who retires her 'queens' after two litters by spaying them and finding them homes. One of those three wasn't up to snuff for show, so we got her young (just old enough to have been to see the doc). We're waiting anxiously for October to roll around so the newest arrival (a Bengal with a leg damaged in-womb, he's so cyuuuute!) can go visit the vet for his 'tutoring' appointment.

That man has one thriving business. Three month waiting list for a three decade long customer whose wedding he (and most of his staff) attended.

[jedimaster91]

My grandmother knew someone who had a black cat named Spook. That's just the cutest name ever for a black cat. I like cats, but I'm horribly allergic to them. But if I could have one, I'd have a black one.