First of all, I love animals, but I do not believe that a person should be required to sacrfice their peace of mind, income, and all their energy to their pets. I would love for every dog and cat to have a loving home. However, I do believe that it is sometime better for an animal to be killed rather than to live in frightening conditions or to cause harm to people and other animals. It seems to me that the LW has truely tried to give this cat a good home, but unfortunately this cat is unable to feel secure. LW can continue to spend money and energy on the cat, but I doubt it will help. Maybe for peace of mind, LW should give the cat one more chance and some sessions with a proffessional. But I still doubt that this will help.

So here is my advice: CRAIGSLIST!

I adopted a dog that was listed on Craigslist. My dog was one of MANY who was listed with a picture and the information that if the animal was not adopted by the end of the week, she would be brought to the Humane Society. My dog was a sweetie with heartworms and ear mites and the owners were unwilling or unable to pay for her treatment.

I think that if you decide that you are truely unable to live with the cat that you should list the cat on Craigslist before taking him to be euthanized. List his history. Explain that the cat will not be accepted for adoption at a shelter and will therefore be euthanized if no one adopts him at the end of a set time. Make sure to point out that you will not give this cat to anyone with children. There are a lot of hard core "cat people" out there (and they'll probably be damn rude to you - but really don't let their bad attitude and hatefullness be your problem, you've got enough to deal with)! Let the cat be someone else's burden (or joy - who knows). Perhaps no one will be interested in the cat and you'll still need to euthanize him. But at least you will have tried one last thing. Good Luck! Oh, and maybe talk to a lawyer about the liabilites of giving someone a dangerous animal, they might tell you that this is an awful idea!!

Lastly, I grew up in the country. We adopted shelter cats to be mousers. Because we had cats we didn't use rat poison. The cats stayed outside day and night, except when we had a freeze. They were mellow, affectionate, healthy cats and all of them lived long lives. Not one ever ran away. Yes they killed some birds, but not too many. I think that the birds had a bigger problem with the snakes and other bird species. Point is: cats can be very happy and quite safe out of doors.

In my previous post I illustrated that cats can be safe and happy outdoors. But I agree with others who say that an aggressive cat should not be outside where it could harm people and other animals. Also, cat feces do pose a health risk, so maybe its better not to let cats out in the suburbs or city. That seems sad to me. Maybe city dwellers should just get small dogs.

Its great to educate people about healthy lifestyles. Exercise, eat fresh foods, floss your damn teeth, drink more water, blah blah blah. Its fine to occassionaly point out that yo-yo diets and being either extremely over OR under weight can lean to serious health problems.

But I have absolutely had it with the fact that anytime a non-skeletal woman (not man!) is pictured in the media people start harping on how her obesity will lead to health problems which will simply drain our society of its resources. I hate that this argument often seems to amount to no more than the writer/activist's revulsion at the sight of a woman's body which is anything other than "perfect", that is very thin with large breasts (Playmates) or extremely underweight (super models).

Can a woman not be a healthy weight? The kid who won Amer. Idol and the model, Buffy, are simply NOT obese. Nor do they even look unhealthy in my opinion. My sister is the same size as the Amer Idol kid - she is a former Cheerleading National's champion and an avid jogger and mountain biker. I have a friend with a body (but not diet) similar to Buffy's. This girl participates in charity marathons. Both women eat well and are in amazing shape.

Both of these girls struggled for years to be comfortable with their bodies. Not until they were in their late 20's did they accept that no matter what diet/exercise program they tried, they would just be larger than the girls in magazines. They also realized that in the real world many men and women love their healthy, curvy bodies (esp. the girl with the ass!)

And WTF? Its better for women to go under the knife and anesthesia in order to get fake breasts than to accept their naturally large asses?!? This is the healthy alternative?

Shame on you and Salon