Chris Pratt

[Ginger]

Jul 30, 2017 11:24:29 GMT -4 ennazus said:

Chris and Anna couldn’t hire someone to sift her cat’s litter and clean up after it?

They said it was shitting all over the house, therefore it was not a litterbox problem.

People have different limits as to what they are able to deal with, and rehoming is a better course of action than euthanizing.

An incontinent cat can make your life fucking miserable. I had a cat I saw through to the end (19 years), despite years of anxiety-driven peeing which wrecked both a floor and a $3,000 couch. Administering Prozac didn't help, and there were no actual anxieties in his life that could be remedied. Even the vet suggested euthanizing. Those are tough calls to have to make. I have no judgment for people who choose to rehome.

[ennazus]

I probably should have said they could have hired someone to deal exclusively with the cat’s incontinence problem, cleaning up after it and keeping the kitty comfortable in a separate room. They could afford it. I agree that re-homing the cat doesn’t make them animal abusers, it makes them not ideal pet owners.

[Ginger]

Jul 30, 2017 11:24:29 GMT -4 ennazus said:

I probably should have said they could have hired someone to deal exclusively with the cat’s incontinence problem, cleaning up after it and keeping the kitty comfortable in a separate room. They could afford it. I agree that re-homing the cat doesn’t make them animal abusers, it makes them not ideal pet owners.

Then people could argue that keeping a cat confined to a single room with no companionship is cruel. And does that mean anybody who has money in the bank is morally obliged to hire a dedicated cat nurse just because they can afford to? I don't believe so. If rehoming is a reasonable choice for regular people, which I think it is, then it's a reasonable choice for them too.

[lpatrice]

Nov 7, 2021 19:02:36 GMT -4 ennazus said:

I probably should have said they could have hired someone to deal exclusively with the cat’s incontinence problem, cleaning up after it and keeping the kitty comfortable in a separate room. They could afford it. I agree that re-homing the cat doesn’t make them animal abusers, it makes them not ideal pet owners.

Clearly that was not something that was an option for them and that’s okay. Life changes. Peoples circumstances change. There is nothing wrong with making a decision to rehome a pet. Nothing.

[Ridha]

So I do have some judgement for pet re-homers (although it does not constitute animal abuse in my book, nor do the other incidents that Ginger has provided context on - thanks). Usually when I see regular people enquiring on re-homing, I will side-eye and wonder why they couldn’t make the same adjustments they would had it been a kid. For me that’s what pets are and (why animal abuse is my biggest ‘see red’ thing, while I am relatively more open to context and giving benefit of the doubt in situations where there are claims of racism, sexism other isms etc). And yet even coming from that baseline I think this rehoming is FAR more understandable than others I have seen: when the dilemma comes down to Pet kid vs safety of human kid. When one consider how dangerous cat faeces is to pregnant women, coupled with the cat in question being incontinent, then yikes. A cat would have also gone pretty crazy in 1 room with a cat nurse who was new in his life.

As to the valid question posed how other women cat owners manage, a) if Anna eventually gave birth prematurely, it’s reasonable to assume that earlier in the pregnancy too she might have already had some indications that a pregnancy was high risk, and b) when one is ‘advanced geriatric age’ as Anna was (as was I) you’re even less likely to take risks. I actually have that same dilemma currently because of the 2 dogs I adopted pre kids, 1 has turned out to be not kid friendly in the least, and I am in a constant state of stress about whether to just stay on high alert every time Edgy Dog and kids are in the same room, or consider other options (re-homing in my location not being one). So as much as I would judge most people for re-homing, when they do so for the safety of human kids or fetus, is surely when it should get a pass.

If there’s one mistake that CP made (and I had been periphally aware of this incident, it just didn’t occur to me that was a part of the animal abuse mentioned upthread), it’s that he was iirc fairly jaunty on what is a sad business.

Re hunting - don’t know if it’s trophy hunting or regular eating to kill hunting. As a Vegetarian, the latter is still (somewhat reluctantly) ok with me on the basis that as long as there are meat eaters in this world they may as well be honest with themselves about the process, so I have more respect for CP if he kills his meat instead of buying it packaged in a market, not less. If he’s a trophy hunter though, then he’s dead to me, UGH. (And yet even they still deserve freedom of religion… )

Thanks Stargirl, I was a bit nervous about that line of thinking but the contradiction bothered me IRL for a while and then came up as an example in CP situation, and I knew on Greecie I was most likely to get some insight over how this clash can be squared up in America.

Edit: For the record, I’m not particularly religious although I do hail from a Muslim country, and do agree with some of the principles of both these traditional religions, and as such culturally subscribe to a more conservative ideas than that currently seen in the West. I just see this (anti-religious discrimination and anti-discrimination of certain sets that the religions in question cannot be cool with if they are to be true to their principles) as a huge clash waiting to happen within liberal ideology, which has already come up in some scenarios eg Pratt’s, and am interested to see how it plays out.

[ennazus]

My stance, and this is for me, when I adopt a pet, it becomes a part of my family, for better or for worse. I’ve had both incontinent dogs and cats and I dealt with it. I think it’s ok to have this point of view.

[dragonflie]

poofed for double post monster- see below ;p

[dragonflie]

Pratt was not trying hard to find a good home for this cat. He posted on Twitter- to his followers: "Hey- anyone want a cat?". When people gave him heck for it his response added to the vileness: 1st, he and his wife were "trying to start" a family... so no, they had not had Jack yet- they had had the cat for 15 years... but hey, who cares about that. Because of the want for a family they couldn't have a cat "shitting all over the place". Not sure what he thinks babies do?

The best part though: him being uber aggressive and defensive to any one who didn't support him: because if we were a parent we "would understand... if not, that explains why you have such a hard on for cats". Yep- there is a caring animal lover right there. He was the one who posted it on Twitter- this was not (IMHO) an irrational Twitter mob going after him out of the blue! He invited it by asking his followers to consider taking his cat!! And- he got replies. He didn't like them- and... well... too bad for him. He was able to re-home the cat- but I have little confidence he would have worked as hard to get a great home had he not been put on blast.

And, yes, at the risk of angering some- I DO think it's abuse to take in an animal and agree to care, love, support it- then when it becomes too inconvenient to give it away. Some may disagree- but yes, I think that is cruel and selfish. Especially with an older cat who you have lived with for many years. like (the cat was 15 years old)... wtf?? Sure- like Ginger said, there can be real issues that become impossible. In cases like this- you work hard to do the best you can for the animal who you have been entrusted to care for- if that means finding an even more awesome home- ok. You don't post on Twitter: "hey guys: anyone want a cat??"

Oh- and then there's him supporting an actively anti LGBTQ church... and there's his support of Trump. Yeah- not hard for me to pass on this winner. : /

eta: GingerI was not aware of his current animal sanctuary doings ;p I will look into this and refine my views as needed- Thanks for the links! It actually gives me hope- makes me really happy to see someone I thought show callousness towards an animal to maybe be much more caring and involved than I realized!! I appreciate the info and will have to think on my opinions.

[lea1977]

If anyone else had made this comment, not much would have been made of it, but he just seems to rub people the wrong way now. I like the Guardians movies because I like the supporting cast around his character, much like the Mission Impossible and Tom Cruise. I like the supporting cast.

[Ginger]

Mar 14, 2005 2:10:14 GMT -4 dragonflie said:

Pratt was not trying hard to find a good home for this cat. He posted on Twitter- to his followers: "Hey- anyone want a cat?". When people gave him heck for it his response added to the vileness: 1st, he and his wife were "trying to start" a family... so no, they had not had Jack yet- they had had the cat for 15 years... but hey, who cares about that. Because of the want for a family they couldn't have a cat "shitting all over the place". Not sure what he thinks babies do?

Anna was pregnant at the time, but they had not yet announced it. Cat poop is potentially lethal to pregnant woman and their fetuses (unlike baby poop). Toxoplasmosis is real. It doesn't matter if the pregnancy is high risk, pregnant women are not supposed to come into contact with cat feces or surfaces that cat feces has touched. If you are pregnant and your cat is pooping all over your living areas, that's a real problem.

Until relatively recently, the common way to rehome a cat was to put a sign up in the grocery store that said "free cat". Doing something similar on social media - if indeed it was even serious in the first place - does not mean there will be no vetting involved- unless one chooses to always assume the worst, as Twitter always does.

Pratt did himself no favors by getting so worked about the backlash and responding so flippantly. But I definitely share the opinion that some people, especially on Twitter, have higher standards for how to treat cats than how to treat their own human family members (who do move to care facilities in their old age when needed, which is sad but it's also life).

And the fact remains, in the end, was an animal ever abused? No.