Claire is right about one thing... this is getting boring, so it'll be my last post in this thread too.
This is how I interpreted this discussion, if I interpreted it wrong, then apologies in advance (but I don't think I did):
It started with me making a sarcastic remark about cats behind bars in breeding programs. Claire made the counter remark that (in so many words) that if I felt that was cruel would I also feel that shelters were cruel for keeping cats behind bars. And to me that assertion essentially boils down to "well it clearly isn't cruel for shelters to do that, so it's ok for breeders to do that too... right?"
And I pointed out that, gee, why would a breeder want to be compared to a shelter in terms of their treatment of animals? Not because I have a problem with shelters (I got two previous cats from shelters, and I donate to quite a few shelters because they are doing great and important work) but because they have an opportunity to do a lot better and offer that differentiation between themselves and shelters. And of course the thing about shelters is, they of course hope they get the cat in there, put them on display in a temporary living arrangement, and then ship em off to a nice home. Those cats where that doesn't happen to them is a real tragedy.
As far as why I bought 3 cats from breeders then, honestly this bit about keeping studs and/or queens in cages is news to me. Naive? Yea, probably. I honestly don't know whether my breeders did that or not. My strong suspicion is that at least my Oriental breeder did not, but I don't know that for certain. So maybe I made a deal with the devil so to speak? Not that I have any regrets about getting the 3 cats that I have now. But in terms of the breeder selection process next time, I've definitely learned many many things here in this forum that will factor into the selection process next time around (hopefully many years in the future). And the treatment of the cats (all the cats, not just the kittens) will be something I'll be looking closely at next time around. And who knows, maybe someone having a breeding program reads this thread and it causes them to introspect a little bit about their methods... one can hope.
Nobody here is arguing that a cat would prefer to be kept in a cage... right???
Oh, and on a personal note, this discussion about breeding techniques, doesn't change the high regard I have for Claire and Lolo's breeding programs. If you two lived around here, you'd definitely be the type that I'd look at first for new kittens next time around.
_________________ The little monsters 3
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