When Animals Attack! Back From the Hospital

[REP]

I have six cats. None of them have ever been feral. Three of them are 9 month old kittens. They all got speutered, and while at the county clinic, they all got fleas, so I got some Advantage to put on all six.

Things went fine until it was Amelia's turn. She's the most skittish of all of them, but I just needed to put a drop of medicine on the back of her neck...

...Turns out I don't need stitches, just a few butterflies, and when she bit through my thumbnail, she missed the nerves (the same nerves I had severed a few years back, no less). I have some serious puncture wounds and have to antibiotics for 10 days. My left arm is swollen, as is my right thumb, which I can hardly bend.

Amelia, of course, acts like nothing happened.

[juliemoo]

1. OUCH!!

I'm a vet, owner of 4 cats, and foster mother of numerous others, so I can certainly sympathize. In my career I have never been seriously bitten by a dog but have by several cats. If they just weren't so darn loveable...

[REP]

2. This Is Why People Don't Try To Breed 40-lb Housecats

They'd just be too dangerous!

[juliemoo]

3. I was actually discussing this with my husband tonight

The only reason we keep cats is because you always know where you stand. No false loyalty like with a dog. If they jump in your lap and start purring you know it is because they REALLY love you. Not just because you control them, like with some other animals I know...

[Fridays Child]

4. What about Greyfriars' Bobby?

I've never heard of a cat guarding his master's grave. Don't get me wrong. I love cats and dogs, both. Each species is deserving of love and appreciation, on its own terms. But the loyalty of dogs is not false. It's about as real as it gets.

On edit: Welcome to DU, juliemoo! :hi:

[REP]

5. Same With Cats

If dogs like Bobby were common, we wouldn't know his story!

Dogs and cats have different types of socialization; dogs have packs and cats have colonies, and their hierarchies are determined differently. Dogs usually establish hierarchy through force and dominance; things a human mimics when training a dog. This doesn't mean the dog isn't loyal; it just means it's accomplished through a different mechanism than with cats, with whom force and dominance do not work to form a relationship. Cats are as loyal to their humans as dogs are to their humans, but express that loyalty in different ways. Both animals can establish truly touching bonds with people, which speaks volumes of the marvelous natures of both creatures.

[juliemoo]

6. Thanks for the welcome

I may not agree with everyone here, but at least we agree about the most important thing...ANYONE BUT BUSH 2004!!! I am just so glad to find a forum where I can vent. SW Florida offers only 1 liberal radio talk show every week...Guy James (who I love) on Saturday afternoons. Who the heck listens to the radio on Saturday afternoons? Meanwhile I have to suffer through 3 hours of Hannity a day during rush hour. What is this world coming to?