It's a sad story - former owner overfed the poor cat and it ultimately killed him. I have never been even slightly amused by animal cruelty, which is really what this was, even if unintentional.

Major Nikon

(36,827 posts)

9. I wouldn't go so far as to call it animal cruelty

Reply to The Velveteen Ocelot (Reply #6)

Mon May 7, 2012, 05:30 PM

May 2012

For one thing, the owner was 87 yrs old and probably had a hard enough time taking care of himself/herself. My guess is they just put food out and let the cat eat as much as it wanted. For the vast majority of cats, this is not a problem to do this and won't result in a 39 lb cat. For another thing, even if a cat or dog is overweight, it doesn't mean the owner is being cruel to them. Cats and dogs almost never die of congestive heart failure, so obesity doesn't carry all of the same risks as humans.

Certainly a cat blowing up to 39 pounds is a problem, but the owner did the right thing in letting someone else handle the situation that they couldn't. They just did it a little too late. My guess is that this is just one of those rare cats that you can't allow to eat as much as they want.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,681 posts)

11. I realize it wasn't intentional.

Reply to Major Nikon (Reply #9)

Mon May 7, 2012, 05:36 PM

May 2012

But letting your pet get that morbidly overweight really is unkind, even if it was not meant to be. I was reacting more to the dumb Romney joke that was making fun of a very sad situation.

Archae

(46,322 posts)

7. "Inactivity?"

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Mon May 7, 2012, 05:02 PM

May 2012

The story listed "inactivity" as one of the reasons the cat got so fat.

You mean the cat slept 23 hours a day instead of 22?

(I have two cats myself.)

tabbycat31

(6,336 posts)

8. very poor taste

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Mon May 7, 2012, 05:18 PM

May 2012

RIP to the sweet kitty

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