Well spoken Glenda--I liked your musings. I find everything you've said very true. As for that compassionate chip or gene or something missing, my sister was telling me about "levels of awareness" which is something she learned in school. It basically means that if you are on a lower level (say a level of prejudiced people), you are incapable of understanding those on a higher level (say those who are not prejudiced). Also, she explained that prejudice is not race-specific, but that people who are prejudiced against one race (or species--i.e. cats) are prejudiced against all different races/species.
I would say that explains why people who say, "I hate cats, but I like dogs" are still not animal lovers. That's like my father-in-law who makes racist comments occasionally but once knew a nice black man. I'm not sure exactly what it's all about, but that's the gist of it that I caught from her. Wendy, in defense of Leos--I'm a vegetarian, animal-loving Leo! :) But, I will have to agree, I love to be the center of attention!! I've always wondered why my husband adores some of the cats but not all. Now I know! They ones that adore him, he adores back! "My" cat that I brought to the marriage is not really his buddy, but "His" cat and "Our" kitty are his big babies. Not that any of them are actually ours--you all know they own us. We're their slaves! I'll be nice to a dog tomorrow--I usually take my neighbor's chained dog for walks--she doesn't even need a leash. She stays in our garage during thunderstorms (now they've caught on, they'll put her inside), but during sub-zero weather, we're still letting her in the house. She's a golden retriever--very large--and she doesn't even try to chase or growl or hurt our kitties. I don't understand our neighbors who won't let her be a house dog. Enough! I said I wasn't going to talk about dogs today! :) Melissa -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of wendy Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 10:53 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: People who don't like cats/Ensie/Irony/FeLV shelters Hey guys, Love this thread about people who don't like cats. What Glenda says is so true. I once saw a saying on a sticker that read, "People who don't like cats have never been loved by one." So now, when I run into someone and we're casually talking about cats and they say they don't care fo them, I use that line on them. I also have noticed (guys, forgive me) that many men are more ego-driven than women. It's not a bad thing; that's just how it is. And cats do not often cater to our egos. We cater to theirs. LOLOLOLOL. So often, men say they don't like cats. Of course, if a kitty decides it likes a man, and pays attention to it, then the man will love the kitty; my husband is exactly this way. He at first said he didn't really like cats, and I came home one day to find him carrying Cricket around like a baby. LOLOLOL. "You don't like cats, huh?" LOL. And he loves Julie, who is indebted to him for saving her literally from the jaws of a large boxer, and now she gets up on his chest in his face; it's really cute. People I know who are particularly egotistic often do not like cats. One of my best friends is a Leo,and very ego-driven (Leos are sometimes like this), and she can't stand cats. She likes to be in the spot light. Surprisingly, she does have a new little dog, who she worships the ground he walks on, and I have to admit, he is cute as a button. My grandmother, who died recently, has always loved cats, and my father picked this up from her. I have three brothers, who all grew up loving cats, and now all of them as adults have cats and are great caretakers. So I agree that family tradition also plays a role in how a person views cats. Ensie, our new feral kitty, is sitting in her cage right now. I brought her into the computer room to enjoy the window while I'm typing. She seems to like it. She doesn't have any windows in the room she is sequestered in right now. I am going to take her into the vets in a week or so, depending on how she does with me, and have him look at her. She has to be FeLV/FIV tested, and she needs a fecal done and flea meds, also, before I let her out into gen pop. lol. She's doing great so far. Such a sweet kitty. Something really ironic happened, I thought you guys might be interested in. When I was in Greensboro, I contacted a group called The Feral Cat Assistance Program, a sub-group of Alley Cat Allies. A woman named Lisa called me back and gave me info. that helped me to trap Ensie, which was my first trap. When I got back to Texas, I called them again, and a woman named Amy answered a few of my questions about Ensie's care. The funny thing was, I told her that I had called Best Friends to do a TNR on my grandma's feral colony a few years ago and that they had called their sister group in Greensboro, which is Amy's organization. She said that they had come out to do the TNR. So I was talking to the woman responsible for getting Ensie spayed. Isn't that ironic?! Even more 'fateful', Amy said she had been stressing about three kittens that they had recently trapped and tested positive for FeLV. She said in the past, they had pts FeLV+'s because they didn't know better. Now that she did know better, she didn't have much experience with positives, so was looking to learn. I told her that I was an active member on the Feline Leukemia.org site, and she said it must have been fate that brought me along. I gave her some info. on seroconverting; basically told her there's about a 40% chance that the kittens will seroconvert. She said she was going to wait a month before retesting (IFA), and I told her she may want to wait about 3 months. The woman who is caring for the kittens said she could keep them for a while, so that will be good. She asked if I knew anyone who would take them. I only knew a few specific shelters, like Casa de Calmar at Best Friends, and the one up north that one of members was recently instrumental in seeing that it get built as an addition to a new shelter going up. Anyone else know of any close to NC? I also thought it would be great if we could add a link on the website of shelters that take FeLV+'s. Any thoughts on this? Do any of you know any shelters that are FeLV+ only? I hope you all are having a great day. FYI: Coca-Cola contacted me today and said that Mr. Vick hasn't worked for them in a while (frustrating!), so I emailed them back and asked them about Powerade, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola. I'll let you know what they say. :) Wendy "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games. http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow
