From the LOLCat Bible:
Matthew 7: 1 = If u juj u wil be jujded. So don't.
John 8: 7 = d00ds, if yur so gud, n haz no invisivle error, u can haz rox for teh throwin.
Good evening, the Mad Macedonian here.
I get home from work at 1am, and find Nikita all in a dither.
Seems he found that story about Lucky Bess, in the LA Times, that I left laying around for him to spot, and blogged about it. ;-D
As he showed me, some of our fellow CatBloggers, feline, and human, were on this story before we were, and the response has been...interesting.
A sad case of a jinxed cat lover, or does a certain human need to learn how to better care for and protect her kitties?
Some of the responses have left this Cat Lover a tad troubled.
Karen Nichols/Skeezy, of The Cat's Meow, wrote:
So, I finished reading this, was feeling all warm and fuzzy and happy that Bess was okay, and then I started thinking that the Animal Welfare Society in London might have been wise not to allow Kim to adopt a cat. Just like humans who love kids but have no parental skills, Kim may be a cat lover, but it sounds like she comes up a little short in the caregiving department when it comes to cats.
Her readers had a field-day speculating on what happened, and why, explaining in hindsight what they would have done in the same situation, deducing what type of person, and pet owner, the writer is based on the story she tells, and how she tells it, and deciding that she doesn't deserve to have a Cat now, never should have had one before, doesn't deserve to care for one in the future, and is a menace not just to Cats, but to children, to boot!
A member of Meowsers from Missouri left a comment with an ending that seemed to sum up the general consensus rather nicely:
We are all in favor of throwing Kim off a balcony (twice) and then locking her in a window seat. permanently. really.
READ: Cat Survives 9 Week Lockup in Windowseat.
Over at the CatBlogosphere, KC's Mommie ML writes:
The guilt over poor Bess would do most of us in. But what about ALL the other kitties this "cat owner" has been involved with — to the detriment of the poor cat?And still she fanagles to get more cats, well-knowing her irresponsibility led to the demise of every cat she owned. Is there not a twinge of remorse anywhere in her being?She seems to treat the whole thing as if it is some humorous joke.
Everyone at Meowsers From Missouri, Feline, and Human, were so insensed that a letter was fired off to Kim, by their Mommy, Cheryl Pierce, and that's where we head to next on this tour of the judgemental.
You darn well oughta feel ashamed...
It would be a sin if you EVER get another pet...
Pitiful...
The Kitties were a tad surprised that their Mommy got a response, and such a lengthy, frank, and honest one as well.
Her short note essentially tells the same good news that Bess, herself, sent to Nikita last night, and a bit more.
It seems a lot of readers of the Times piece were also upset, but many also saw the story for what it was "a testimonial to the amazing spirit and power of one Small Cat".
The Kitties were not much happier after reading the longer, 2nd, note from Kim, but did seem a bit kinder in their response to what she wrote.
That can't be said for some of the Kitties, and Humans, in the comments, but 1st I want to share Kims essay in its entirety.
Kim wrote:
I have gotten many wonderful emails from people about my story of Bess, and a whole lot from readers who were shocked at what happened to Bess, and my lousy record of pet ownership.
I am sending this out in an attempt to explain what happened, and why I wrote the story as I did.
Many of you will dismiss this as a sorry attempt to make excuses. Well, it is.
Let me start by saying that none of these reactions came as a surprise to me. As a lifelong cat lover (I find I am someone who likes animals better than people in many ways) there is no way I would have put all that in the story without knowing how many people (such as myself) would react.
I can tell you that none of the horrors that have gone through your mind can match those that have inhabited mine. Why didn't Bess meow? I've gone through it a million times. Did she leap in there while someone was getting a blanket out and then get hit on the head as the door was closing? Did she run quickly out of oxygen and go into a semi-comatose state? Did one of the children at the barbecue accidentally close her in a door or step on her, and then hide her in the cabinet because they were afraid to admit what happened? (I can tell you that while I described these as "blowout" parties in the story, they were not as many of you seem to imagine alcohol-fueled orgies. They were big dinner parties with lots of laughter and kids and Van Morrison on the iPod, the kind of events where the cats usually get cuddled and played with and which one would hardly expect would be a menacing event.
Why in the hell didn't I look in the windowseat? I went on every possible lost cat website, and every one of them told you to search your own house and outbuildings immediately. We looked under beds, in closets, in the kitchen cabinets, and called her name all over the house.We open the windowseat perhaps twice a year. It just never occurred to me that she could possibly be in there, particularly since she had been seen the night of the barbecue. I was simply SURE she had escaped the house, because of the open window in the guest room, and I knew those coyotes were in the woods very nearby.
As far as my history with cats, I have no appetite for making excuses, other than to tell you that I have always been a loving and careful steward of my cats.Amanda's foray hiding behind the dryer happened at the home of my friend while I was gone on vacation, and of course she was none the worse for her period of seclusion. Mario was locked out on the balcony by my husband, after I had already gone down to the car. We had an iron-clad rule in the house not to leave the balcony door open when the cats were roaming free in the house, and my husband violated that rule one evening when I was at the office, thinking Peter was asleep in my daughter's room. We got screens the next day--miserably, lamely, a day too late. Marie was closed in the dryer by my idiot Russian housekeeper, again, while I was at work (she, too, was OK despite it.) Katya was allowed to go outside and did escape our yard and got hit by a bus, and I am single-handedly responsible for this. I shouldn't have let her go outside. I let her and Kolya out in our garden in London because they literally begged at the door, and seemed gloriously happy when they were let out, miserable when they were not. Nonetheless, I made a decision after that to never again let my cats go outside.
I included the litany of cat tragedies in my story about Bess as a means of full disclosure.If I was going to write about what happened to Bess--which happened in my house, to my cat, and which ultimately, like all of it, was MY FAULT -- then I needed to face up to what had happened in the past.
I didn't include it to minimize the tragedies that had befallen our cats in the past, every one of which brought unending tears to my family, I can't even tell you how many, though I wrote about it in a glosssed-over way for purposes of this Christmas story.
I needed to include evidence of our family's past sins, I think, to show just how big a miracle happened to us.
We deserved the grace of Bess's survival less than anyone I know.
And yet it happened.
I am humbled and awed and deeply, deeply thankful.
Some of the comments, even after reading the above, were just more of the same as I described earlier, even though everyone was happy Bess was OK:
She should never have another pet! Jeez - what would it take to learn?
We think it is important that this woman is truly made to understand that she is wrong. She says it, but we aren't sure she believes it.
I would have checked the window seat anyway, not once, but again and again.
I want to punch her in the boobies...
My mom's BS meter was in the red zone when she read this...my dad's too.
And you did not smell anything during those weeks?
In fairness to the comments there were also some good observations about Feline behavior, as well.
The post, and the comments, in their entirety, are here.
Ok, with the preliminaries out of the way, let me weigh in.
My, my, but there sure are a bunch of Angelic, Pure as the Wind Driven Snow, Kitties, and Kitty Lovers, out there!
It just boggles the mind!
Nikita, and I, are not worthy of being counted among the Fraternity.
As I sit here writing this I've checked my e-mail, and discovered a comment submitted to Nikita's post about 20 minutes ago, that I hearby promote to inclusion here:
Yes, we got PRETTY upset with that stupid human of Bess' too. A Hoax? Christ! Look, I am a life long reader of The Los Angeles Times, knowing full well that it is a member of the Liberal MainStream Media Choir (I find much to like about the Times, so sue me!), but even I don't believe that a fake story would be allowed to see print by its Editors. This is NOT the NEW YORK Times, thank you very much!;-D Blogging, in my mind, is one of the greatest gifts to ordinary creative Humans, and their Animal Companions, that we could ever wish for. It allows us to give "Voice" to our precious Cats and Dogs, based on our experienced daily interactions with them. In the past such a thing was the sole province of the writers of books, and the creators of cartoons, and movies. A "language" has sprung up that is used in whole, or in part, and in different styles, and variations, by many CatBloggers, and is used in translating the King James Bible, too. I have had Animal Companions since I was a teen in the 70's, Cats and Dogs. I didn't become a full convert to the Cats Belong Indoors view until the mid-90's when I took responsibility of Nikita's mentor Tom, an old, scarred, Yellow Warrior, the one he calls The Old Man, from one of my Sisters. Giving "Voice" to my beloved Nikita, in his youth, was the 1st creative thing I did when I 1st went online over a decade ago, and I regret to this day that I only was able to preserve the last 2 chapters of his "Memoirs", because those 22 chapters were some of the best things I've ever written. Let's face it, though, folks, if we are not around to see our little darlings do something, it's not so easy to "get into" their pretty little heads, and give "voice" to what they have done, or were "thinking" when they did it. ;-D Some Cats are talkers, some not, most are smart, some are, um, well, less so. ;-D The same with Humans...some are smart, some not so much. ;-D The good news is that all of us, Human, and Feline, are capable of learning, though for some it might take longer than others. I read the story Kim wrote, and her follow-up, and I saw a little bit of myself, and Nikita, in her, and Bess. Who among us, Feline or Human, is without sin? Come on, speak-up! Nikita and I would like to meet such paragons of virtue! Come on, Kitties, is it so hard to believe that Bess would, for reasons only she understands (and so far she ain't talkin'!), keep silent at all the wrong times over her long confinement? Come on, people, without fully knowing the size, and thickness, of the space involved, or understanding the biology of Cats, is it so hard to believe that any smell might be minimal? Since you don't know these people, or their Animal Companions, and how they daily interact, or the lay of the land in their home, should you be so quick to pass judgement? Fess up, Kitties, you've done things that you maybe should not have in your lives, some you may be proud of, others you should be ashamed of, and that got you in trouble of some sort or another. Nikita admits it, so can you. ;-D Some Cat Behavior is just plain strange, and un-explainable, even by Cats themselves. Fess up, my fellow "Beans", you, too, have done things related to your Animal Companions that you maybe should not have in your lives, some you may be proud of, others you may be conflicted about, or should be ashamed of, and that got you into trouble of some sort or another. So, next time, you feel the urge to cough up a hairball, or pick up a stone, and toss them at some Human Companion of an animal...pause, look in the nearest mirror, and consider your actions very carefully. As for Kim and Bess, I, too, hope this experience leads to a better future in the relationship between them, and among any other Animals the family may have. Beating herself over the head for the past, and feeling the need to explain herself to all who find fault with her, every time such complaints might occur, serves no useful purpose. The only ones deserving of any apology for what happened are Bess, from Kim, and Kim, from Bess, and I am sure they are busily working things out between them, if Kim's letter above is any judge. ************** Nikita and I welcome, and encourage, comments to this post, and to all the stories of ours that are linked here, and all that can be found in Nikita's "Blog within the Blog", the scrollable archive that we call Nikita's Place. I imagine what I've written here might not sit well in some quarters of the CatBlogging World, and that I, and Nikita, may no longer be a welcome participant in some parts of it, because of it. Because of our faith in the capacity of the CatBlogging World to accept the variety of cultures, lifestyles, critters, writing styles, and viewpoints, among us, that is a risk we are prepared to take. 2008 has been a complex year for us, just as it's been for most ordinary Americans, starting off with lots of CatBlogging, participation in Catster, and later as a host of The Carnival of the Cats, and the regular, full-throttle, no-holds barred, let's explore the CatBlogosphere, round-up "Events" that were the 1st 7 Editions of Nikita's Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat!, and ending with far less CatBlogging by the end of the year. Nikita wants me to let everyone know that his New Year's Resolution is to return, as best he can, to the glory of those early days, with his future postings in 2009. ;-D Now, as Nikita would say... That's it for this evening...It's time for my nap! ;-D ***UPDATE 12/31/08*** The story continues here: Hairballs to the Right of Her, Hairballs to the Left, Volley and Thunder!
But meanwhile we actually tend to believe the whole story might have been a hoax. To what extent - who knows...
If true - we hope that human will NEVER ever again get another animal!
I am surely not without sin in respect to co-existing with pets, nor did i ever claim to be.
But no single cat or dog I ever had ever came close to such danger and tragedy, let alone several of them.
Luck?
Probably some.
Concerted effort on my part and that of my family?
Certainly.
And on the subject of "judging", these phrases are in the christian bible, too:
# 1Cor. 6:2-3 Do you not know that the saints [the saved] will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
# Prov. 3:21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight;
# John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. (NB: while I no longer advocate debalconization or immurement, I still feel my judgment--as a peer [cat owner and human]--was valid).
# Jer. 22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness...
Having had more than one cat (like kim), I can truly say I've learned more than a little about how they think and where they hide (or can get into and not out of). and because the lid is shut or the door is closed or whatever does NOT mean the kitty is not there; the lid or door was not always closed, no matter what you think.
Yes, of course we irate kitty-bloggers realized from the git-go that kitties are endowed with "amazing spirit and power"; from what I construe by considering the responses of the cat blogosphere folk is that we collectively decried the fact that poor Bess had to live through such a horrible experience to demonstrate it, and that the story was presented in a light manner, rather than as a cautionary tale.
Oh, and by the bye, Ed, Nitro and Xing Lu are "The MEOWERS from Missouri".
cheryl
Posted by: meowers from missouri | December 29, 2008 at 11:33 AM
None of us is perfect.
I had a cat who was 7/8ths of the way out an 8th story window before he was caught and hauled back in.
It was my fault for opening the window in a strange place without checking to see if there was a proper screen.
The fact that he never in his entire life jumped up on a windowsill is not an excuse.
He's a cat.
Cats do that.
Cats hide when they are stressed.
And boy, can they hide well.
As a cat owner it is our responsibility to check everywhere (I check the oven, the dishwasher, dresser drawers, locked trunks inside closets. Heck I once even opened every suitcase I owned to find one of my cats, only to turn around and find her there behind me looking at me like I was crazy).
My cats don't generally meow when they are hiding or trapped either.
That is not an excuse.
When I am home, if I do not see a particular cat for an hour or two, I go an an all out red alert cat hunt.
Is that over reacting? Maybe. But so what.
Our whole issue with her story is that it was put into the light of "oh hahahahaha yet another cat tragedy in our family".
Her response to the criticism was even worse and shows that out of all the tragedies that have befallen her cats, she only took responsibility for ONE.
It was always someone else (husband, maid, whatever) that was home when something happened.
If YOU are the one who wanted the cat and YOU are the one who got the cat (even though some insightful SPCA people would not let you adopt one), then YOU are the one responsible for said pet, and training people to look DOWN when opening a door. Or look inside dryers. period.
If one of my cats is hurt or injured or becomes ill when in the care of a pet sitter, it's MY fault, not theirs.
I'm not perfect.
But when something happens to one of my cats, my first reaction is to cry and feel guilt.
NOT write a light hearted article on the tragedies that have befallen animals who trust me to care for them.
Posted by: Meezer Mom Mary | December 29, 2008 at 02:28 PM
No, you would not only raise hackles in the cat Blogging or any animal lover but also in your so Called "journalistic" approach to the story...
You did not even read it did you?
Umm can I just say...DUH?
YOU seemed to focus on just one the thing about the lady making a mistake with Bess.
Did you read about all her other "bad luck" stories with the zillions of "other kittehs" she had?
I believe when you are on trial these things are brought up, so being that this woman is on trial, by us who respect and love animals, should these things also not be taken into consideration when trying to determine a verdict, or are you just like every other dumb ass story writer...
make this post as controversial as you can, so you can get the ratings?
Or maybe you are one of these do-gooders that think even mass murderers should be treated nicely and have creature comforts?
Yeah it's a big dive from the story, but it gets the point across...
I am ashamed for the world we live in now days...
If this had happened to a human baby there would be hell to pay, but as this (what happened to Bess) and all the others that came before with this lady, because they are animals they can be "oops, made a mistake".
This person looked for people to justify her sins, hoping that people would be all like you were..."Oh it is ok, we all make mistakes, you are not a bad person"...
Bullshit, do a little research and you will find that the bad people out there live off this.
You see, no person is entirely without conscience and want to justify their "sin" as you call it yourself, they look to other people, cry a sob story about how sorry they are then go on to do the same thing over and over...
Anyway I am done...
The way you have written and not done any research into the story other than our reactions proves to me that you have not one lateral thinking spark in your brain, so know that this is not directed at you but more at the people that might even think your story had some cred.
There will always be bad people, it is where they go when they die is the upside.
Everything you do on this earth will be remembered and NOT forgiven, just remember that.
Fighting for what is right is harder than...
I give up, I am done here.
Posted by: Evie | December 29, 2008 at 05:51 PM
You open every conceivable thing that can be opened inside a house no matter how unbelievable or impossible it may be that a cat could possibly get into.
Cats are masters of hiding and opening.
Posted by: Laila and Minchie | December 29, 2008 at 05:52 PM
Nice post, but we still smell a rat hidin in the closet (or perhaps we should say "windowbox".
We cats are amazing and we cats are tough.
But not for 9 weeks in an enclosed box with not food or WATER, and we would not suffer quietly if we were enclosed like that for long.
We don't believe the story at all.
It reeks of fictional documentary designed to get a careless insect of a human a few minutes of fame...
Hiss, hiss, hiss.
Posted by: LC and Ayla | December 29, 2008 at 11:04 PM
You used one of our comments in your 'analysis', and we stand by it.
We don't think that this woman really believes she didn't do the right thing by Bess.
It's in lesson 1 of having a cat as part of your family-
When there are people around who aren't necessarily cat people, and you are concerned about people accidentally letting your cat out with the coyotes, shut them in one room with their food and water.
Don't leave it to chance.
That she mentioned wondering if children had hurt Bess and then hidden her only emphasises her oversight.
When a cat is missing, you search everywhere.
She tells her readers that she knew this, but found an excuse not to.
When your dealing with a small, clever, flexible animal, there is nothing that is not a possibility for hiding.
We know she keeps saying that she is sorry, but we don't believe her.
The way she presented the story puts her 'sorries' in a light that doesn't ring true.
When you are dealing with a community of people who adore their cats and are hyper careful when it comes to their care, what do you expect as a response?
'Better luck next time'?
Especially when you consider what has happened previously.
This was a horrible story, about a truly appalling experience for Bess.
We hope that someone will learn from it, even if the author doesn't seem to have.
Posted by: forever foster | December 30, 2008 at 04:41 AM
I found the following statement on the Purina Cat Chow site (http://www.catchow.com/catcarecenter_3_adult_1.aspx?combinedID=21275)...
"Cats can live for weeks without food; however, they can only live for several days without water."
I will have to extend that to "a week" by personal experience.
I had a cat who disappeared that long and was shocked to see her run out of the toolshed of a neighbor who had been on vacation.
But even then, she was staggerring as she came home.
But 9 weeks? No possible way.
Are you sure you want to keep supporting Kim Murphy in her claim that Bess was locked away from water for 9 weeks?
Posted by: Mark Spencer | January 04, 2009 at 06:03 PM