debodun
SF VIP
- Location
- way upstate in New York, USA
Some people get a kick out of watching a predatory pet stalk and kill live food. Man.....
I would not want a pet that had to be fed live things
- Thread starter debodun
- Start date
You are obviously in serious denial & not living in the real world.
Your avatar is a cute kitten. All cats are predators that survive by stalking & killing live food. That includes bobcats, lions, tigers, AND house cats. So are all dogs, which include coyotes, foxes, wolves AND domesticated dogs.
The only reason we can have cats & dogs as pets is because someone else does the killing for them so we can feed them food that doesn't resemble what it really is - which is animals that have been killed & ground up.
And how do you suppose we're able to eat chicken, beef, pork or fish? Someone else killed & disguised it. Predatory animals can't cook their food or disguise it.
What you say about cats and dogs is very true. What we see as cute playing with toys is in fact replicating the stalking and killing of prey. However, there is a difference between owning a dog or cat and feeding them 'dead' food...and buying a live creature in order to watch it being killed and eaten by a snake.
Aunt Bea
SF VIP
- Location
- Near Mount Pilot
It might not be all bad!
Judycat
Well-known Member
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Pet cats would rather eat cat food than have to go out and hunt for food. Once they reach around three years old many pet cats don't bother with prey anymore. Some do. A lot though would rather lie around and wait for the sound of a can being opened.
Snakes, (like cats & dogs) are carnivores. If someone chooses to have a pet snake, what do you expect them to feed it? Let it starve to death? You are trying to demonize people who own a pet you don't care for by creating a difference where there is none. Hypocrisy at its best.
And, a much-higher power than you decided what snakes eat.
AnnieA
Well-known Member
- Location
- Down South
Feeding live food is disturbing, but so is keeping captive as a 'pet' something that's so wild it needs it. Evolutionary domestication makes a huge difference. Snakes didn't make that leap. As for letting them starve, a lot of people who do choose snakes as pets feed them thawed, previously frozen meat.
And even a well-fed house cat will play with, torment & injure a small animal when they're not hungry; just for the fun of it. My cat would toss a rat or bird around, hurting it again & again, just to watch it try to get away so she could hurt it more.
Yeah....how cruel...
Much more humane than a snake killing & eating his food in a few minutes.......
Judycat
Well-known Member
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Blah I don't care anymore.
Yes, some snake owners do feed thawed, previously frozen meat. Not all snakes will accept non-living meat.
I don't have a pet snake. I did have 2 when I was young. My Boa Constrictor would not eat anything he didn't kill himself. My CA King would eat anything dead or alive, including insects.
And....uh.....what was that thawed, previously frozen meat at one time? Asparagus? An apple?
Repondering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Nebraska, USA
Everyone's entitled to their own tastes. Don't like feeding a pet with a meal that's still alive? No probs......don't have a pet that needs live food.
And you're entitled to your opinions too.......but not entitled to infringe on someone else's choices in pets.
And you're entitled to your opinions too.......but not entitled to infringe on someone else's choices in pets.
I find your reply very disturbing. It suggests you are one of those who enjoy seeing things suffer. Many people dislike watching wildlife programmes because they so often show prey being chased and killed, others watch the programmes because they enjoy a kill. I presume you are one of the latter.
I think the point we are discussing here is not that many animals kill and eat other animals, but that there are some humans who get pleasure out of watching it happen.
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You find my reply very disturbing? That's probably because you are very disturbed.
I find your reply very ignorant - because it is. "I enjoy a kill?" You enjoy elevating your shaky self esteem by being a put-down artist.
Now you've decided you are some type of psychologist & you think I "enjoy watching a kill."
There is no animal I don't love. Perhaps you should not drink & post.
Judycat
Well-known Member
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Cats Rule 
Repondering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Nebraska, USA
OK, I think that predators display an athletic grace in their stalking and then rushing to engage and administering the coup de grace.
"Enjoy a kill"....me? You can look at it that way if you want to.
For me too, there is no animal that I don't love, and that includes the grass eaters, the beautiful deer that (fascinatingly) wrap their long tongues around the slender branch of a tree and efficiently strip away the succulent green leaves.......and I also love the hunters in the ecosystem, who, it can't be denied, have a much more difficult task securing their meals than their herbivorous prey who by the way can fight back. I've seen with my own eyes a rabbit kick a fox with both its hind legs and then make its escape......the big cats also know that the hooves of zebras and antelope can be formidable weapons.
Everything has its place.
"Enjoy a kill"....me? You can look at it that way if you want to.
For me too, there is no animal that I don't love, and that includes the grass eaters, the beautiful deer that (fascinatingly) wrap their long tongues around the slender branch of a tree and efficiently strip away the succulent green leaves.......and I also love the hunters in the ecosystem, who, it can't be denied, have a much more difficult task securing their meals than their herbivorous prey who by the way can fight back. I've seen with my own eyes a rabbit kick a fox with both its hind legs and then make its escape......the big cats also know that the hooves of zebras and antelope can be formidable weapons.
Everything has its place.
Aneeda72
Well-known Member
My favorite son wanted cats so he had two cats. They were not mousers and we lived in a mouse house, ugh. They would play, in the manner you mention, with mice. While we killed mice, through various methods, those two darn cats never killed a mouse. Just played with them till they died of a heart attack. There was never a mark on any of them.And even a well-fed house cat will play with, torment & injure a small animal when they're not hungry; just for the fun of it. My cat would toss a rat or bird around, hurting it again & again, just to watch it try to get away so she could hurt it more.
Yeah....how cruel...
Aneeda72
Well-known Member
What? Most animals, left to their own devices, kill other animals for food whether or not someone is watching or not. Your pet dog will eat you if push comes to shove. People have been known to eat people when they are starving.
People eat dogs and cats and birds and spiders and whatever is available plus, ugh, bats.
Yeah. I told my son if I die alone in the apartment and have not been discovered in a while not to get mad at my two cats if they ate my eyeballs, and other stuff. My son said 'of course, not.'
Remy
Well-known Member
- Location
- California, USA
I wouldn't either @debodun But as a cat owner, I know they eat other animals. I don't like it. But I don't know what I would do without pets as I have lived a very isolated life. Dogs can be vegetarian and I worked with a woman who's dogs were. You can also buy commercial, even vegan food for dogs. Cats no. Some say you can but I don't think so.
I personally have not eaten meat in almost 30 years and plant based about half of that. But yeah the cats.
I personally have not eaten meat in almost 30 years and plant based about half of that. But yeah the cats.
"Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning that they need to eat meat to survive. ... Feeding a cat a plant-based diet is a lot like feeding a cow a meat-based diet—their digestive system isn't geared to handle it, and they will not thrive on it."
Humans are omnivores & don't need meat to survive. People eat meat because they like it; not because they need it.
So you went to a street market, bought a guinea pig, rat or whatever, fully intending to feed it to your snake? What a cold, callous person you must be.
Plus your snakes were kept..where? In a tank? What satisfaction did you get out of that? At least cats get to go outside and hunt for their own prey.
You're missing the point, which is that we know full well that most animals eat other animals. That is not what we are discussing. It's the fact that some people keep as pets the sort of animals which need to be fed live prey. The owner has to go out and buy a live creature to feed to their pet snake or whatever.