Cat claws out

Kelley Tantau’s front-page coverage of Saturday, January 13, was a ludicrous prejudice discrimination against cats that was picked up from the Neighbourly websites trolling on this topic.

It is exclusively a personal viewpoint on something that has always existed and always will. The characteristics of a cat cannot be made into a human or a dog. Most people accept this. It is when it is given a forum and starts to gather momentum that it then starts to become an animal welfare issue and that is when what is trivial escalates into something serious.

The Waikato has a flight of animal welfare issues that are a shame to our region. We hear of all manner of cruelties and ill treatment, neglect and abandonment of animals. This does not get full front page coverage. There is a disturbing sector of the community that wrongfully thinks that if a cat does ablutions over their side of the fence it warrants them to take it to the SPCA. It doesn’t. They have far more serious issues to contend with.

So what does Joe Blow do with this cat? Chuck it out of his car, shoot it, put it in a trap and turn a high-powered jet hose on it causing it to go ballistic. These are more major concerns and deserve the utmost condemnation.

Toxoplasmosis, like salmonella, has always existed with or without cats. Infection can be picked up like any micro organism from a variety of sources. I have had toxoplasmosis and it was not from a cat.

Julie Burns Smith

Hamilton