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Pet Abandonment Poem

by Zachariah Atteberry
(Hannibal, Missouri)

I was once home cuddled in your arms
Where no one could induce me harm
Shy and knelt in acclaim --
With my home that has been reclaimed.

I now lay entangled in this cage
With much hate and rage
Who we depend on we must fear the most --
Perhaps when I scratched the couch, not the post.

If only I had a chance and were trained
Too far, too gone the past can't be regained...

So they gave me to the shelter and were glad
They kissed me farewell, what made me so bad?
As they leave, I heard them say "one more day"--
Do I get a second chance, Do I get to leave today?

Leave a comment or anything...Zach

Pet Abandonment Poem to Feral Cats

Comments for
Pet Abandonment Poem

Click here to add your own comments

Oct 15, 2010
 Pet Abandonment Poem.
by: Rudolph.A.Furtado

Nice poem Zach, When are you publishing there poems into a single condensed book?
Oct 15, 2010
 To Ruth. About not caging cats in England
by: chillisauce

A lot of people cage cats in England, especialy breeders. Most of them have catteries, and what are they? Big cages.I have started breeding Bengals and keep my cats in the house but most breeders keep theirs in catteries.
Oct 15, 2010
 Your poem touched me
by: Chillisauce

Hi Zac I come from the UK and I decided to breed Bengals as a hobby. I bought a male Bengal from a breeder and he was living in a cage, I don't think he had been socialized at all. He would not even be touched by anyone and was like a feral cat. I introduced him to my female and he ran under the wardrobe and stayed there for 2 days. I spent my days with my arm under the wardrobe to stroke him just to give him some human contact. I cried for days just thinking, how could such a gourgeous animal be caged for most of his life just so people could make money out of them. slowly he is beggining to trust me but we still have a long way to go. I keep my cats in the home and I know that some breeders complain that entire males spray, but thats no reason to cage an animal, they could build a conservatory and keep the male there when it was in heat.
Jan 12, 2010
 Sad about black cats
by: Edward

Ruth Y I think its the same in the UK man, black cats are hardest to home.I don't know why cos under their fur all cats are the same whatever colour, they are the best pets ever.
Jan 11, 2010
 no life for a cat
by: Ruth Y.

A cat in a cage can't have any semblance of a normal life. My little cat, Monty, has cabin fever because it's too cold and snowy for him to be outside with me on the leash much. He's been complaining about it and trying to get into things, and sometimes literally trying to climb the walls. He seems to want new smells and new experiences. If it is hard for him, as it is for humans, simply to be indoors more than usual, how much harder for cats who live in cages? I've been thinking about how if I had not adopted Monty from animal control, he would have went to a shelter. If he were lucky enough to be sent to a no kill shelter he might still be there sitting in a cage almost all day every day. If it's hard for him to handle winter, how could he have handled that? I'm doubly glad I kept him, because I have since read that, due to superstition, black cats have just about the lowest adoption rate of any color of cat in American shelters.
Dec 31, 2009
 Thank you, Zach.
by: Finn Frode, Denmark

A beautiful poem, Zach. Beautiful and sad. Thank you.
Dec 31, 2009
 Pets confined
by: Edward

I dont know anyone who puts cats in cages but I did know someone who put a dog in a cage a lot of the day, the poor thing used to go mad barking with frustration.It upset me very much as doggy friends I have all have their dogs around the house as they should be.
I cant bear to think of cats in cages because these beautiful creatures have lost enough of their freedom already.
Why do people get pets only to cage them ?Are they shut in all night too ?
Im really sad for them.
Dec 31, 2009
 Cages and crates
by: Ruth

Sorry but I don't understand why so many people in the USA keep cats in cages (and dogs in crates) ? Just reading Kathy's post about the kitten not wanting to go back in her cage and about biting when taken out of the cage.It strikes me that she does this because she hates being confined. What is supposed to be a treat 'coming out of the cage' is always followed by having to go back in. Naturally, she bites in her confusion.Cats more than dogs, are free spirits and hate being confined in cages, it's not natural to them.It's like us being given a regular treat, we'd enthusiastically go for it at first but once we realised it was in someone's power to take it from us the moment they decided to,it would take all the pleasure out of that treat and we'd turn on the person doing that to us.
Here in England we don't cage our cats, yes we confine them to one room at first, a kitten/cat safe room, but as soon as possible they are integrated into the whole house and the family and other pets. They are part of the family, not captive animals,they sit with us, sleep with us, eat around us and we give as much time to amusing and loving them as is practical.
As Kathy says, it's for the kitten's own safety but I don't see how she is ever going to integrate whilst being shut away and fed seperately.
I'm not critisising Kathy or anyone else ,I just want to understand.
Going back to my first comment on Zach's poem,it's particularly sad to see a cat in a cage at a Shelter here as they are not used to being confined.
Kattaddorra signature Ruth

Dec 30, 2009
 Pet abandonment.
by: Rudolph.A.Furtado

The reason for most cat abandonments could be "Claw scratching of valuable furniture" and "Untrained toilet habits" for people living in apartments as is the common case in large city's like Mumbai. My cat "Matata" has territorially marked my favourite sitting chair arm-rest with his claw marks, staking his claim to the "CHAIR" in my absence from the house.People unused to "Cat Behaviour" would find such behaviour atroscious and hence "Cat Owners" should realise that owning cats requires dedication and a certain amount of human tolerance to pet natural instincts. "Matata" and his dam "Matahari" really enliven my household with their antics and "Childish behaviour" compensating for the mild damage that they occasionally do in the house by their unjudgemantal companionship.
Rudolph avatar
Dec 30, 2009
 De -Clawing
by: Julie

You are so insightful! It is so sad and true. Our vet says that the number one reason people turn out their pets is because of clawing of the furnature.Cat's are not for everyone.
Cat sratching towers are important for cats,especially feral cats. We have to replace the rope on Freya & BB's often.BB runs and leaps to the second pillar and then scratches franticly as bits of splintering rope fly everywhere.We are amazed by her power and grace. The tower is their free zone. No one is alowed to bother them when they are in the tower. They know this. we first had it in their room but they prefer it in the main living area so we had to move it back. It is important to note that when cats are positioned over your head it brings out a natural attack reflex especially in ferals!
BB is very graceful and dose not break or scratch at the furnature.Freya is clumsy,sounds like a bull in a china shop trotting around the house and she loves to scratch the back of the sofa.We don't mind. It sits agianst a wall and will be re-placed in a few more years or it will be recovered. If she breaks a cup we turn it into a garden steping stone. It is life that is important not things.
We removed the carpeting when Cao,our siamese, got her claw caught in it while we were out shopping and almost lost her nail.
People make their homes safe for babies ;why not for their cats?
Dec 30, 2009
 sad poem
by: kathy

What a sad picture. I still wonder what happened to some of my cats from 5 years ago. Well I got one back and now I got Midnight and a new Savannah kitten. She was very aggresive at first and there are times when I almost wanted to give her back to the breeder. I had claw marks and bite marks. We keep her in a big two story cat cage and taking her in and out created a problem after a couple of weeks. At first she wanted to come out but then she refused to be held and would scratch and lunge to bite us. I told myself that she definitly was a candidate for abuse if she fell into the wrong hands. I tried the nose tapping task as this was recommened to me then I saw on this site that that wasnt a good idea. Then another Savannah breeder told me just to keep on making her be held. Now I have found that if when I go to take her out of the cage if she lunges at me to bite, well guess what? I just leave her in there. At first she looked at me like I was crazy. What was I doing?? But after a few attempts at taking her out and she lunges to bite and I just left her in there she actually started turning her back to me for me to pick her up. When I put her back in and she puts up a fight which really started to be a problem, I found out that if I put a few treats on her shelf its not so bad. At first I would give her some canned food when I put her back. But its not always feeding time when I would have to leave. So then I would have to give the other 2 cats food also. I put her back for her own safety. Also to make sure shes getting enough to eat. My cat Midnight was killed in a household accident so Im not taking any chances with my new kitty. Cats can be abused for so many reasons. Biting and scratching is one of them.
Dec 30, 2009
 Abandonment
by: Jan Plant

Just as you are Zach, this one's another keeper.Beautifully ,yet sadly,said!
Dec 30, 2009
 VERY GOOD poem
by: Ruth

Very deep Zach.It's a pitiful sight to see cats in cages in a sanctuary when they were once part of a family in a home.
To me parting with a pet would be like parting with a family member, we don't cast out human family (well most of us don't anyway) so why take an animal into your home only to 'get rid' of it.
Animals are far too easy to come by, it's all wrong !
Kattaddorra signature Ruth

Dec 30, 2009
 Pet abandonment poem.
by: Rudolph.A.Furtado

Very touching, don't we humans also feel abandonment in different ways also?

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