You wrote, below: "...because my blood sugar and metabolism was harmed through years of eating a low-fat, virtually no meat diet."

Perhaps your diet was too low fat, or otherwise not planned well. I don't worry about low fat this or that: I avoid junk food and eat a wide variety of foods, and despite your gloomy view of veganism, I am very healthy, and have been for years. My vegan friends are all doing just fine, as are their vegan-from-birth children. Veganism is a healthy diet, and the American Dietetic and Canadian Dietetic Associations concur.

You cannot scare monger the facts away, Dairy Queen. We haven't discussed the ethical and environmental benefits of veganism, but those, along with health benefits, highly recommend a vegan diet.

Veganism can win every argument save one: an individual's desire for the taste of animal products, an even then, there are faux meats and faux cheeses out there. The bottom line is, no one needs to eat animal products. That is a choice, and I believe, a poor choice.

We did not invade Iraq to free its people. We invaded Iraq to steal its oil and control its land. If a few hundred thousand Iraqis need to die or suffer so that the American Empire can have more, well, they're a bunch of raghead darkie wogs anyway, so who cares?

Congratulations, my fellow Americans. We are the new Evil Empire.

There are a million and one things wrong about this idiotic museum, but the worst might be that the people who visit this without irony also vote.

Can American democracy survive a system in which people who believe that early man lived side by side with dinosaurs are also allowed to vote?

Dear LW,

There are a number of good psychiatric drugs for cats which, hopefully, can alleviate your cat's problems. Find a good vet and inquire. If your cat won't eat food with the pill or liquid mixed in, then just use an inexpensive pill popper and shoot the pill right down his mouth before meals. We use prozac to treat one of our cat's aggression, and it works very well.

I would get another opinion about the issue of defecating outside of the litter box. Your cat might be constipated or have a urinary tract infection, or a similiar problem, and thus he would associate his litter box with pain and avoid it. Also, if you haven't already, experiment with different kinds of litter, because it might just be a matter of preference.

I know it's hard to go what you're going through, but please don't give up on this little fellow. If you need to isolate him when you have company, so be it. If he knocks stuff over, "cat proof" your house by minimizing the amount of stuff he can access and knock over.

Good luck!

MacK, I know from experience that feral cats can make fine pets. We adopted a one year-old feral cat and her months-old son, and with enough love and attention, they are now great pets. In this case, though, it's not an issue. A one-day old kitten does not qualify as feral.

Note to anyone who advises dumping the cat in the country. Domestic cats are not wild animals, and a cat raised from birth in a human household will die a miserable death by starvation or disease if dumped in the middle of nowhere. The only creatures who deserve to die in such a terrible way are people who suggest doing things like that to animals.

To make a long story short, my mother cat's mother was a feral whom a friend used to feed in the woods near her apartment building. The feral had kittens, one of whom was the feral mother we eventually took in. When that mother herself finally had kittens, my friend trapped her and her sole surviving kitten, and persuaded us to take them in (we have a house, my friend still lives in the apartment).

So, I know for a fact that we took in a feral cat and her kitten. Fortunately, they've adapted well and have become great pets.

Sorry you're a lemon sucker, but most Americans have pets, either cats or dogs (cats are now more popular than dogs), so you better get used to it. If a pet gets on your property, go ahead and chase it off or talk to the owner. Don't even think about hurting it, though, since you'll be in trouble with the law, not to mention the person whose beloved pet you made the grievous mistake of harming.

Why not give pyschoactive drugs a chance? It might be something as simple as prozac or another anti-anxiety med. Until the LW tries those things, there is no reason whatsoever to kill the cat.

Responsible people who have no other alternative but euthanasia have their pets put to sleep painlessly by vets. Only creeps and sadists drown animals.

You accuse me of promoting irresponsible pet ownership, but in fact my cats are kept indoors, and I strongly urge all cat owners to do the same.

The sad fact is that not everyone keeps their cats indoors or, if they let them outdoors, keep them on their own property. However, it happens, and your rant about some cat crossing onto your precious yard is a huge overreaction.

As for my fist and your nose, the point of my last post is that there are people out there -- and you might be one -- who claim the right to hurt or kill pets who cross onto their precious property. I can tell you, as a pet owner and as someone with common sense, that anyone who hurts another person's cat is asking to be arrested, and begging to be stomped on.