I'm sure someone has already posted about this, but it cracks me up/infuriates me how so many Chileans view fixing your male cat (and dog) as cruel and unnecessary.
This morning I had an early private class and then I went to return my friend's cat carrier that I had borrowed last week to take McNulty to get the big snip. I brought the empty carrier to my student's apartment and naturally, he was curious about it. When I told him what I used it for he said, "PLEASE tell me it was a gata and not a gato!!". The look on his face when I told him McNulty is indeed a gatO was that of excruciating pain. He just couldn't understand why on earth I would do such a thing to an animal I supposedly love, especially since he's not the one who would make the mistake of getting pregnant. This CRACKED ME UP and made me want to give him a little refresher course on the birds and the bees. Hello! It takes two to tango.
This student is otherwise very intelligent, but he just can't grasp why it's necessary to both spay female cats AND neuter male cats. To him, it's not my problem if McNulty sleeps around the town because we won't have any of his illegitimate kittens to deal with. When I brought up the fact that other people would have to deal with them he said, "wow, that's very considerate of you to fix him for other people." And then he went back to the fact that it was painful to even think about what I had done when in reality, it is much more invasive and painful for female cats than it is for male cats to get fixed.
Now, I don't want to single just this one student out because I've heard it from so many people, which explains why so many Chileans prefer male pets to female pets; because then they don't have to "worry" about anything. This is one of those cultural differences that I can laugh at, but when I really start to think about what's behind that thinking it's upsetting.
I won't get into that (in this post, at least), but come on Chileans. Take animal balls for what they are! In fact, take all balls for what they are: 50% responsible for offspring.
4 comments:
I really don't understand what the big deal is... its a cat and the vets do make the pets comfortable while they are getting snipped. Why is it ok for a girl cat to be spayed?? I wonder what they think that when a guy goes out for a one night stand if its the girls responsibility to make sure she doesn't get pregnant?? Like you said, it takes two to tango....
It is also a cultural no-no to spay your female cat before she gets to mother her first litter.
WHAT ABOUT HER DESIRE TO BE A MOTHER?!? HOW COULD YOU?!?! come on. one little could be like 9 extra cats running around!
Yes, it is insane how much projection goes on when it comes to spaying and nuetering pets. Also very disturbing are the reflections of Chilean male/female relationships in commentary about pets... i.e., "why worry about your male dog, you wont' have any babies around" kind of attitude--remarkably similar to attitudes regarding human sexual relations.
Ha! I totally wrote about this with Obi. Except I was a lot meaner to Chileans with that post.
I like to say CASTRATE with a lot of emphasis so as to freak them out even more!
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