ASPCA Commercials

[contender1]

I saw this thread yesterday, and didn't open it. I figured it would be more about dogs, and a bit of cat bashing. Along with bashing of that commercial.)
I am SO glad I was wrong.
First, I, like many here have the intelligence to see beyond the pity hype they use to get folks off their wallets & put the money in their wallets. I liken the ones who donate to them to the folks PT Barnum used to talk about,, you know,, the suckers!
But it truly warmed my heart to see the posts were very positive about our pets, and especially about cats. I too fall into that category of "cat lover."
I have enjoyed cats as my friends for decades. For the last 16-17 years, once we adopt one, it comes inside & never goes out except for a vet visit. Cars have killed a few of my cats years ago, and now, with coyotes around, I do not want one of my friends to become coyote poop.
When my wife & I got together 21 years ago, I kept telling her; "Three is the limit" on cats. Mostly because I wasn't sure how other cats would behave when overly crowded. Well, we currently have 6. Our most recent addition, was found on my gun range this past june. A young kitten, starving for food and attention. In fact of my 6, 5 of them were found on my range. Our oldest one is 13 yrs & 7 months old, & he's the only non-stray we have. His mother was a stray, and she came to us pregnant. her one & only kitten was born, literally in my wifes lap, 5 weeks to the day after we took her in. She passed a few years ago, but we have adopted others.
One of my biggest compliments came from a friend last year, a guy who really isn't a cat person. He doesn't hate them, but he's just more of a dog person. He came to visit, and later commented how my house was the only one he'd ever been in, where cats lived that didn't smell of cats.
I like to think that the way we treat our cats, and keep things clean prevents the odor many homes have with them.
We have 5 litter boxes, and they get regular cleanings. We allow our cats certain things to scratch upon, and discourage other stuff with a water squirt bottle. But, one of the biggest things I feel makes all the difference is how we spend time with out cats. They all get held, petted, loved upon, sleep on our bed with us, have toys, we play with them etc.
Our home is also their home. We can come & go, but they stay here, 24/7. So, we make their life fun as well as loving. As such, our cats are very social, friendly, & loving, even to strangers.

So, when I see that commercial, I just smile & know that the very people who send them money are the same type of folks who voted for Hussain, wanted socialism (Obummercare,) & live the liberal life of looking at things via rose colored glasses.

And to the other cat lovers here, I'm proud to see I'm in great company!

[WILCO]

For awhile PETA was killing every animal they got their hands on. Don't trust Humane Society of United States either. A lot of animal rights groups seem to exist to tell other people how to live and dispose of pets.

Yep. Plus they use the government to seize animals and force owners to turn them over, or face lengthy court cases and jail time. Doubt me? Google it.

[savagetactical]

I am a member of PETA . People Eating Tasty Animals...

I think they do more harm than good all joking aside, they place my emphasis on euthanization than actually finding homes for pets.

[jaystuw]

The wife and I feed an outdoor cat that comes to the house on a regular basis all black and you could count his ribs when we first saw him. Today he came and ate (2) two 5.5 oz cans of food and ate half of another along with some milk. I call him half cat figuring that we feed him half the time and somebody else feeds him the other half. The only cat I know of that can meow and hiss like a snake at the same time but he is getting friendlier.

doc, Same deal with me, A small black , long legged cat has, on occasion, passed thru my yard for several years. Its timid and fast. never got within 50Ft. of me . If not a true feral, at least a long term stray. Its said that cats like that are unlikely to be tamed. Who knows, I wanted to see for myself. I left food out, and a small bed by the sliding glass window. In a short time, it started eating, and sleeps in front of the window everynight. We are now friends, and I have a bond with it. Well worth the effort. Jay

[runfiverun]

I sat through a series of commercials while I was annealing some brass, there one was for the animals and the next one was for some new charity for the kids.
I was amazed to find out it cost LESS to feed a starving child somewhere in the world than it does to feed a kitten in a cage.

[rockrat]

We have had a few strays around here. Had to put down the oldest a few months ago. "momma kitty" will let me feed her and talk to her, but not too close. I have picked her up a few times and petted her for a few seconds, but she really doesn't like it and will stay away for a few days, until she feels she is safe from petting. She just adored the old tom I had to have put down and doesn't like my other two. All the cats sleep on top of the dog box, in insulated housing. Sometimes I let the "runt" of the bunch into the shop and sleep, especially when the others, especially the neutered tom , pick on her. He doesn't get in the shop anymore, first time, he "marked" my lathe!!

[Elkins45]

I can't take those commercials either, but we give our donations to the local dog rescue where our two mutts came from. I know those people and I know every penny goes to the animals with 0% overhead.

[cbrick]

I got this one from a Humane Society shelter a year and a half ago. She was 8 months old then and had been there for 4 months, half her life in jail. Here she is dealing with cabin fever. She is an outstanding trainer, she has me just how she wants me.

Rick

[WILCO]

Great picture Rick!

[Doc Highwall]

Dogs have owners and cats have staff.

[shooter93]

Virtually all my pets have been rescued animals and I'm certain cats have a network because any hurt or abandoned cat always shows up here. I hate the commercials and I wonder if there is a GOOD organization out there to donate to that really does help abused animals.....any ideas?

[BruceB]

Most dog breed associations have some sort of informal "rescue" network affiliated with them.

Do a simple search on Google, such as "dachshund rescue" or "wolfhound rescue".....whatever breed interests you. You will find links to many animals in need of homes, and there is no requirement to actually adopt the dog yourself if that's awkward.

Instead, you can provide services such as driving a dog on a "leg" of his journey to a new home.... I recall reading about a dog that was moved from Texas to Washington in just a couple of days, by folks who would meet at prearranged locations, transfer the dog to the next vehicle, and on he went. No cost to the new family, but everybody involved sure felt good...

If the dog faces a LONG trip to a new home, it would be nice to have someone to keep him safe for a day or two of rest, too. There are many ways to help.

In our own case, a rescued Anatolian was driven from southern Arizona to Las Vegas, where my wife and daughter met the nice folks involved. They then drove him ten hours to home..... best dog we've ever shared our lives with.

[lavenatti]

That's great you took in an Anatolian. They aren't always the easiest dogs to have as pets. We rescued this monster at three years old, took a year before she would even look at my wife. Great dog now, wouldn't give her up for anything.

[Bret4207]

Call me heartless and cruel, but they don't bother me at all. There have always been too many dogs and cats, always will be. A swift, painless death is the best answer for most and a very active, FREE- as in taxpayer funded, spay and neuter program should be in each community or at least county. I don't believe people should have to license their dogs, but I do support the idea of publicly funded spay/neuter programs. The main reason I support the idea of tax payer funding for the program is simply because people otherwise will not do it. Shoot, sterilize or use them for medical research. They aren't people, they are animals.

Sorry if that view bothers anyone, but that's the way it is.

[jcwit]

Sorry, sounds like a real Christian attitude.

[montana_charlie]

We live in the sticks and from time to time a cat will disappear, bobcat or coyote meal I suspect. They still live good and if they are smart they live here and become old cats with tenure.

Since they eat a lot of mice, you might consider worming them occasionally.
The stuff they sell now is just squirted on the skin along the spine ... pretty non-confrontational.
CM

[oldred]

Since they eat a lot of mice, you might consider worming them occasionally.
The stuff they sell now is just squirted on the skin along the spine ... pretty non-confrontational.
CM

Good point, allow me to add to that.

The best concoction to use is Revolution because it not only worms them it also kills fleas, ear mites, lice and ticks for 4 to 6 weeks. Since we have so many cats we could not afford to spend about $21 per cat every month or so during warm weather but the vet told us to buy the biggest Dog dose available and to use .4 CCs for cats under 8 lbs and up to .8 CCs on larger cats (he gave us a bunch of 1 CC syringes to make it easy but other measures can be used). He told us not to worry about guessing about the weight because the large dose would not hurt the small cats or more than .8 CCs would not hurt the bigger cats it would just be wasting the product since more is not better, doesn't hurt the animal but doesn't work any better or last any longer. Doing this allows us to dose all our cats for less than $2 per cat when we use the revolution, since worming is not necessary every month we sometimes use Advantage for fleas, ticks and lice and it costs less than $1 for each cat (Advantage does not kill ear mites or worms).


DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES USE K9 ADVANTRIX FOR DOGS ON CATS IT WILL KILL THEM!!!!!!!!!!!

Advantage, Advantage II, Revolution and most Frontline products for large dogs can be used in broken down doses on cats (ASK YOUR VET FIRST IF UNSURE ABOUT A PARTICULAR FRONTLINE PRODUCT!!!!!).


I feel quite comfortable suggesting doing this since we have been doing it for several years now, I have researched this thoroughly and spoken at length about it with our Vet and it is safe because there is absolutely no difference between dog and cat products except for the size of the dose, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF K9 ADVANTRIX WHICH IS LETHAL TO CATS!!! I am not that familiar with Frontline products but I know that most are ok to use on either cats or dogs but since I have not thoroughly researched the Frontline products ASK YOUR VET FIRST!


One more point, Don't waste your money on the Wal-Mart "Pet Armor" brand of flea/tick products that claim to be the same as Frontline, they list the same active ingredient but for whatever reason it DOES NOT WORK! The stuff is made in India and does not seem to cause any health problems (long term remains to be seen) but while it may be harmless to your pets it is also just as harmless to fleas and ticks!

The Vet supplied products, Advantage, Revolution and Frontline are proven safe and they work BUT the cheap Wal-Mart flea and tick drops, Sargent, Heartz and Zodiac Spot on brands have killed and crippled thousands of pets and I don't see how these products have been allowed to remain on the market. They all have a disclaimer on the package warning the pet owner to ask their vet before application and that's probably how they get away with selling this poison, they know full well it would be the rare pet owner who would buy this stuff at Wal-Mart and then call their vet who would certainly tell them to never use it on ANY animal! It will destroy the nervous system on Cats but while Dogs seem to be a bit more tolerant it's still dangerous to them also, your vet will tell you the same thing I just said.

[Elkins45]

A swift, painless death is the best answer for most

By the time they get in the condition shown in those commercials, putting them down is often an act of mercy. What bothers me is all the human-inflicted suffering they had to endure to get in that state. People who keep pets have a responsibility to give them a certain minimal level of care, and the ones in those commercials have obviously been terribly abused or neglected.

[cbrick]

the ones in those commercials have obviously been terribly abused or neglected.

Perhaps but do you suppose they could have been made to intentionally look that bad, what you see from a TV camera is very rarely to never reality. What you see is ONLY what they want you to see and in those commercials they want you to see the very worst possible to get your money. Between make up, special effects and computer generated images every one of those critters could well have been the healthiest, happiest critter you ever saw.

Trust nothing on TV, trust it even less if it's from someone that wants your money.

Rick

[blackthorn]

People who inflict pain and suffering to the degree shown on those commercials should be subjected to the same treatment! It should be administered in a cage in the center of the town where they live! The slap on the wrist provided by the law in these cases is simply a joke!