%$#*^@! people

I take after my dad.  He is a truck driver, and when he is feeling passionately about something, the first thing out of his mouth is usually profane.  Being a mom, I tend to watch myself, but the instinct is still there.

So, in order to find words foul enough without being foul, I had to use google.  I googled low-life.  Scum, scab, filth, worm, villain, scoundrel, wretch, brute, derelict, snake...

Those are the only words I can come up with-- other than cussing-- to describe the emotionally devoid character that dumped a kitten recently.  What kind of barbarian would not think through this sort of action?

The kitten is a beauty-- she is white, with sparse tortoise markings and big blue eyes.  She has been named Jewel my my children.  

Jewel appeared this morning, looking about 3 months old, emaciated, scared, and wounded.  She had apparently had some sort of altercation with a predator, who had gone for her jugular, leaving a silver-dollar sized gaping wound on her smallish throat.  The wound has healed some, and after soaking the infected, purulent scab in peroxide, I pulled it off to reveal several puncture wounds that extend into her neck and throat.  Basically, she has holes in her neck, where her oxygen and food leak out.  She's probably wormy, and has an infected eye and snotty nose. 

Sorry to be graphic, but hey, you know what? I didn't want to see that either.  But some asshole decided that it was better that my kids and family find and see that and take care of his/her cat, than it would be for him to step up, do the right thing and try to rehome his cat the upstanding way: by finding and vetting a good home for her or taking her to an animal shelter.  No, s/he has no balls, morals, class or conscience. 

What is it?  Is it the perception that farm/country kids (or adults, for that matter) deal with life and death all the time, so to see an animal hurt and suffering is no big deal?  That is just asinine.  And it couldn't be farther from the truth.

We hate it when animals suffer.  First and foremost, it is cruel.  Animals that eventually become meat feel no less pain than animals that are kept as pets.  They just have a shorter life, in some cases.  Secondly, an animal in pain is less efficient than a happy, healthy creature, and will be smaller and provide less of a return.  So, even those harder people out there that raise animals are still looking at the bottom line and taking care of their animals to increase the bottom line.

So, for now, Jewel is on "cage rest and neglect."  She has a lovely little kennel in the mud room, with her own private litterbox, good meals all to herself, and a lovely warm bed.  And nobody will cast her out to fend for herself, and no predators will stalk her.  Not even her "owners."

And, when the time comes, since we already have too many cats in the house (including another cat that was cruelly treated and cast off by his former owner), and plenty outside, we will rehome her.  To a willing home.

Just so you know, barn cats are born, not made.  They have instincts and abilities that inside cats do not have.  She is not a barn cat and will not be-- she is tame and loves people and has no ability to fend for herself.  Barn cats don't necessarily have to be truly feral-- they can love people and be tame-- but they NEVER let their guard down, and they are always aware.  That is something that is instinctive and born into the particular cat (or not), not learned at several months old.