7/15: Cats Are Not Fans Of The Pack
8 p.m.
• Nothing all that exciting to report. The alleged baby's daddy of my out-of-control niece-in-law is probably going to get kicked out of his house. Damn Bush economy. I bet W. made him rack up those credit card bills, too.
• Go away, Brett Favre.
Brett Favre says he's tempted to show up at the Green Bay Packers' training camp just to call the team's "bluff."
I haven't followed this story all that much, but there comes a time when a team has to look out for its future. These off-season "Will I or won't I return?" games have to eventually stop. And why the hell would the Packers let him go to a divisional opponent?
• Speaking of football, kkk Bowl VI will be announced sometime during the NFL preseason. I was seriously thinking of not holding this contest anymore, especially since I probably wouldn't have been able to update the standings each week. Thankfully, I'll be getting some help from the mods (or at least that's what I'm being told).
• Last week in the USA Weekend special insert found in many Sunday newspapers, there was an interesting story about why cats don't get treated better than dogs despite more people owning felines than canines.
You'd think from the numbers that cats are "man's best friend." According to the American Veterinary Medical Association's "U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook," cats outnumber dogs by more than 10 million (82 million to 72 million). And, no question, kitties have legions of fans.
But here's the dirty little secret: Cats are more often neglected than dogs, more often relinquished to shelters than dogs and less often taken to veterinarians than dogs...
...Everyone agrees there are too many dogs and cats in shelters. However, according to a 2006 survey by the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators, increasingly more cats are given up at shelters than their canine cousins.
"The reason cats are given up is sometimes pretty amazing," Rohde says. Indeed, shelter officials have told me of some explanations people have used for giving up their cats: "the cat doesn't match our new carpeting" or "my black cat sheds on my new white sofa."
Studies show that behavioral problems are the most common reasons both dogs and cats are relinquished to shelters. But, according to a 1997 survey by the National Council on Pet Population, cats are abandoned at shelters more often for behavioral issues than dogs (the complaint heard most often is that the cat misses the litter box).
Rohde believes that, to the general public, cats have less value than dogs. Another indication of this is that far more pet owners claim their lost or stolen dogs at shelters than cats. The Humane Society of the United States says an estimated 30% of those dogs who land in shelters eventually are reclaimed. Of the lost cats who find themselves in a shelter, a meager 2% to 5% are ever identified by their owners. Sadly, well over half those shelter cats are never adopted, and most are euthanized....
...The same rationale may be used, in part, to explain why cats don't see a veterinarian nearly as often as dogs. Vet visits for pet cats have fallen 11% since 2001, according to a new survey from the American Veterinary Medical Association, with more than a third of all cats never visiting a veterinarian in 2006 (compared with 17% of dogs who didn't see a vet). "Veterinarians can't treat clients we don't see," adds veterinarian Jane Brunt, AAFP past president.
Vets also can't treat what they don't know about. In a seemingly self-perpetuating cycle, far more dollars are spent on dog health issues than on cats. In 2008, the Morris Animal Foundation, a nonprofit funder of pet and wildlife health studies, is spending nearly three times as much on canine health initiatives as on cat health research. Even the scientists seem more interested in studying dogs; in 2008, there were more than 119 proposals submitted to Morris for grants to study dog health, three times more than proposals to study cats.
"Dogs are given preferential dollars for research," says veterinarian Anna Worth, president of the American Animal Hospital Association. "Veterinarians have more tools to treat dogs than cats. For example, while there is pain medication for cats, it's been slow in developing, and there haven't been as many options as there are for dogs."
Now I'm sure I don't need to bring up my affection for kitties, but I have no problem with dogs being higher up on the social ladder than cats. One reason cats are more often abandoned is that, like the author said, more people have cats than dogs. And because dogs are more in tune to a "pack" mentality, they would often be more devoted to their owners than cats. And regarding vet care, dogs should get better treatment. You don't see a K-9 kitty lunging after a robbery suspect. You don't see cats herding livestock. All a cat is really good for is killing rodents.
But in case you are thinking I have lost my kitty-loving ways, here's some more pics of the family.
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