What are your stances?

Question

This is just out of curiosity, a bit of a poll if you would. I'm curious as to what everyone's stances are on some controversial dog topics. I'll list my own as well. Feel free to add any I miss or ask for elaboration or reasoning behind my stances.

I am:

Pro spay/neuter

Anti backyard breeding (but pro responsible breeding)

Anti outdoor or indoor/outdoor cat keeping (unless indoor/outdoor involves a harness or safe outdoor enclosure and not free roam)

Anti declawing

Pro high quality cat food and RAW diets and educating people on them

Pro wet/canned diets for cats and anti dry

Answer 1

I'm pro spaying and neutering.  Aside from preventing further unwanted kittens from being born, it increases a cat's lifespan.

I'm opposed to backyard breeding, it just adds to the number of animals being euthanised every day.  

I'm English and the vast majority of British cats live an indoor/outdoor lifestyle.  The environment in Britain is very different than in North America.  There's less traffic, no natural predators of cats and it's a rabies-free island, so vets and animal welfare organisations advocate the indoor/outdoor lifestyle as a healthy and relatively safe one for cats.  In fact, some rescue organisations will not allow people to adopt cats unless they have a garden and promise that the cat will be allowed to spend time outside.  When I lived in England all of my cats lived into their teens and died of age related illnesses. (My last cat lived to be 19).  Obviously any cat that spends time outdoors should be spayed/neutered, vaccinated and kept indoors overnight as a precaution.  The oldest feral cat on record in the UK was 28, which just goes to show that the environment is very different from North America. You can read more about the indoor/outdoor debate on the link provided in the source box.  

I've no objection to people keeping cats indoors only, but I do take issue with those who automatically assume that anyone who allows their cat outside is an irresponsible or uncaring owner, because it simply isn't true.

I'm vehemently opposed to declawing - there's enough animal cruelty in the world without owners inflicting it on their own pets.  

I feed my cats wet food.  They prefer it and I honestly believe it's healthier for them than dry. I've recently considered the idea of a raw food diet, but need to educate myself on that subject before I make a decision.

Answer 2

I do rescues so my stance on spay/neuter is that it shouldn't be an option. I am all for legislation of mandatory spay/neuter rules since lots of folks won't take it on their own to be responsible.

We have enough mongrel kittens and cats who are already here and can't find homes. We certainly don't need people making more for whatever reason. Thank God cats aren't exploited by breeding mills nearly as badly as dogs are but there are plenty of "oh, I just love having kittens around" and "my cat is so pretty, she just HAS to have a litter". Letting your cat have kittens just so you can have a few new "toys" for a while is disgusting.

Most outdoor cats come up missing sooner or later. Cats should be kept indoors with plenty of activities to keep them busy. outside is just not safe.

Cats have claws and a natural instinct to scratch. Anyone who can't accept that should not get a cat as a pet. I have seen way too many throwaways in shelters whose owners couldn't deal with the aftermath of declaw and opted to abandon the cat.

I think raw diet is the best. I understand lots of people don't have resources or time to commit to a raw diet but feeding Meow Mix and other cheap food is like feeding the cat a candy bar. Again, if someone can't appreciate cats need meat in their diet, they should not have one. Skimping on nutrition is unacceptable. I do prefer wet food for more moisture intake.

Finally, homemade vetting usually just causes the problem to get worse. Pet owners should realize that their pets will at some point need vet care and they should prepare for that. If you can't afford the vet, don't get the pet.

Thanks for the soapbox!

Answer 3

Pro spay/neuter

Anti-breeding (in all it's forms, because no one ever says, "I'm an irresponsible breeder...")  

The best, cheapest, easiest, most humane way to stop MILLIONS of animals from being killed in shelters is spay/neuter.  It's criminal to bring more animals into a world that's killing them.

Anti outdoor cat.  I agree.  They should be leashed or fenced outdoors.

Declaw ONLY as a last resort.  

If owners are going to dump the cat at a shelter because they like their couch better (YES it happens every day) then declawing is an option.  Only after they've tried everything else.

Pro nutrition.  I constantly preach good pet nutrition.  

The debate isn't wet vs. dry, it's quality vs. c**p.  Innova puts out great kibble.  Purina is c**p and they put out wet food.

QUALITY, education, and reading the label is what's needed.

EDIT TO ADD:

Cats have an instinct to drink water just like people do.  Can you deny yourself water?  No.

Neither can/do cats.  (when have you known a cat to deny itself anything?  LOL)

Wet foods are often higher in protein which can ALSO be hard on kidneys.  Kibble cleans teeth.  In the wild cats would have bones that did that.  I've never seen bones in canned food.

IN MY OPINION:

A balanced diet consists of both wet and dry.  There are benefits to both.

And plenty of fresh water.  Of course.

To the raw feeders:  I understand where you're coming from.  I agree that there are health benefits to raw.  It's just too gross for me.  I don't touch meat.  Unless someone else cooks it, I'm vegetarian.

Answer 4

Pro spay/neuter

-although I did allow a pregnant stray we found to have her kittens.  It was a tough decision but since we found homes before they were born we decided to let her have them.  But she's certainly spayed now and that's the only litter of kittens I've played a role with.

I don't really have an opinion on responsible breeding.  

I couldn't care less about specific breeds of cats.  I would never intentionally breed any animals because they're like my kids and I'm not really keen on playing grandma.  But as long as people treat them well and get the kittens to responsible homes I'd never argue against it.  Obviously I'm against any irresponsible breeding, against the attitude that someone will always want more kittens, and against the idea that giving them away on craigslist or giving them away to random people in general is a good solution to anything.

Strongly indoor only.  I have helped build a cat enclosure and cat fence and in some areas I think those are great.  I'm in a pretty urban area now so there's no safe place at all for cats outside.  Although there are a lot of there and I feel sorry for them all the time, it's a tough life.It's where many of my pets have come from and they don't seem to want to go back.

Anti-declawing.  

Food...I have mixed feelings about food.  I do think that cat chow is essentially the equivalent of me trying to live off a diet of a multi-vitamin and a roll of paper towels.  I think I would do a raw diet if I had the money and I hope to eventually get to that point.  I think kibble is kibble and if that's what you can afford then you get the best you can but none of it is great.  Wet isn't great either, it's still cooked food but at least it's not dry.  Personally I feed wet in the morning and free feed dry and it's not even great dry food.  

I wish there was more research on the food.  I wish vets didn't rely on sponsorships from "big pet food" and that vet schools didn't basically do the same thing.  There is a very limited amount of good research on the subject.  

I think with the food we do the best we can.  I'm not going to yell at someone for feeding cat chow, although I will point out that you can use coupons and get purina one for about the same price or less (yes, I know, it's not a big improvement).  

I think people should try to educate themselves as much as possible then draw their own conclusions.  For many people just reading the ingredient list should be enough to make them concerned about what they feed (poultry by product, dried beet pulp?!  umm gross!).  

And I tend to ramble.  Pardon me.  :)

Answer 5

Note first of all that I'm involved in breed-specific rescue - Siamese rescue.  So my opinions are those of someone who sees and works with societies throw aways.

Pro spay/neuter, and especially early spay/neuter.

Very anti back-yard-breeding.  I do support ETHICAL, RESPONSIBLE breeding by select breeders - without them we would not have the breeds we love.  Not that DSH don't deserve homes, etc. but many of us do dearly love the breed cats.  And saving a breed cat saves two lives - the cat that got in to breed-specific rescue, and the DSH who now has an open cage space in the shelter.  "Real" breeders don't contribute to the overwhelming number of cats in shelters - that's the lazy/irresponsible/cheap people who don't alter their pets, and the BYB's who churn out litter after litter with no regard to where their kittens end up.

Indoors only!

Anti-declawing

pro high quality diet, preferably canned!  But high quality kibble is better than c**p quality canned.

Answer 6

I agree with you on all but the RAW food.  Today with so may bacteria in almost everything much care must be taken to make sure the raw food is of the highest quality and does not harbor lethal bacteria and/or worm larvae.  Other than that, I'm right with you.