Would you have been able to say no?

United States
July 13, 2009 5:28pm CST
We were driving around the other day when my husband pulled over to the side of the road. He'd spotted it before I did... A crate at the side of the road, in front of a house. On the front of the crate, a big yellow sign. It read: "Free Kittens" As soon as I spotted the kittens I yelled at my husband for pulling over!! "Why are you doing this to me?" I got out and picked up a loud mouth kitten. Unfortunatly, the little gray kitten was a female. I don't like female cats, I will only bring home a boy, and the boys were all orange. Thankfully I can say no to orange cats, I already have an orange cat! It was still tough, as they were so tiny and cute. I just kept reminding myself of the vet bills, the fact that the cat would need to be fixed and get it's shots, plus the fact that we currently have a flea problem. I eventually walked away empty handed! Can you say no when you see little kittens?
7 people like this
24 responses
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
14 Jul 09
no, I can't, that's why I have as many cats as I have now, including those 3 feral kittens we are just waiting until they are old enough to fix and then they can go to a barn We heard from the lady that took their mom to the barn and they love her, she's catching TONS of mice!
2 people like this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
14 Jul 09
Awww..no I don't think I could walk away..I love kittens and they are so adorable but yeah when money is tight you have to think of the kittens health first. But it would have been so fun to have gotten a new one. We are actually looking for 2 kittens don't matter if female or make. I prefer females most times. For me anyhow.
2 people like this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
15 Jul 09
Yes I can. However seeing them on the side of the road in a crate I don't think I could. I would desperately want to find homes for the cats, and in this case I'd cart the girls atleast off to a friends of our's house. The others I might ask my aunt if she'd want, but then I'd take and go to freecycle.org and offer them for free on their. There's been cats offered for free on the site, and I'd feel better meeting the people and knowing they'll go to a good home. Although if I don't think they'll go to a good home, it'd really make me feel nervous saying "No! You can't have the cat!" Lol, sorry for the rambling.
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Jul 09
They already had a home... the family they belonged to were trying to find homes for them, that's why they were in the crate on the side of the road... in front of someone's house. I wasn't clear enough in the discussion, that's my fault.
1 person likes this
14 Jul 09
With kittens I could have said no, because I am allergic to cat hair, but still find them adorable and would have wondered whether I could have had one with out any issues. Puppies would have been a big struggle for me as I find playful puppies a big weakness. Like you the financial cost would have reverberated loudly in my mind and would have been a huge factor in making the decision to walk away even if the allergy factor hadn't come in to play. I always believe that unless you are prepared for the huge financial responsibilty a pet can be then you should wait until you are in the position to be able to look after one properly.
1 person likes this
• United States
22 Jul 09
Add Brewer's Yeast to their food, and you may discover that the flea problem has gone away.
1 person likes this
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
29 Jul 09
Really? Brewer's Yeast? That does the trick?
• United States
14 Jul 09
I currently have 3 cats, although they've already had their vet visits and they're all fixed. Mostly I just have to buy them food and litter and flea meds. But that's the problem right now, flea meds are so expensive and right now things are tight. I can't give the cats the flea meds they need, and I feel badly about it. I'm not bringing another kitten into this home when I can't take care of the ones I have.
1 person likes this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
14 Jul 09
To be honest , I could have said no and walked away as when all my family have left it would only be me alone in the house. I would not leave a pet alone for up to 14 or 15 hours in the tourist season when I work so late. I could leave my parrot and enough food and drink and put her near the TV and she would chat all day to whoever was speaking in whatever programme was on! Also the kids nearby would come and talk to her too through a window so she was fine. I can understand how hard it must have been though. Blessings
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 09
Cats are actually a good pet to have if you work long hours. So long as their food and water dish are full and their litter is clean, they're okay left on their own. A dog certainly couldn't be left alone for too long!
1 person likes this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
14 Jul 09
I did not know this. I would never want to neglect an animal.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 09
We have a female gray medium hair tabby with a white nose. She is such a sweetie. She is my daughter's cat and is 17 years old. She sings with my daughter when she sings. She cuddles up with her and follows her everywhere. I have a short hair gray kitty that looks like a Blue Russian. She is my pal. I have a little bed for her next to our bed. It is a plastic lawn chair that I put a pillow in and then a big towel over. My kitty curls up in her chair next to me and I dangle my hand next to her and we both fall asleep. Sorry but we just love little gray female cats. We do have a black cat that is such a boy. He is such a hoot to watch. I never thought there would be a time in our lives that we had three cats, but we love them so much. It never gets boring around here. At this point I don't have a choice. We have to say no to a little kitten, but I always say a prayer that God will send just the right person to them to take care of them before I walk away.
2 people like this
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
14 Jul 09
It is very hard to do, but I can do it most of the time. I actually just did recently. My sister had gotten a kitten recently. But then she left her husband and moved in with us. He was keeping the kitten but we had to cat sit last week. We've been talking about getting kittens soon, but we were still not sure if we were ready. The kids actually did really well with it. My nephew however pulled it by its tail, picked it up and threw it around and kicked it. He is only 2, but so is my son and he knows better to do that. But my son was starting to pick it up a little bit and it was just too much to think about having a cat full time and 4 kids running around. At least for now. I'm just not ready to deal with all that comes with it either.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 09
Aydan was sort of rough with this one cat we had, and the stupid cat would just lie there and let the child abuse him. I'd always rush over to stop Aydan, but at the same time I wouldn't have minded if the cat swatted him a bit, might have taught him a lesson. The cat apparently liked the abuse!!
1 person likes this
@dreamr802 (985)
• United States
14 Jul 09
Kittens are cute but if there were puppies I would definitely have a very hard time saying no. The only dogs that I would say no to are pit bulls because I really do not want one, even though I know that they aren't vicious if they are raised in a loving home...but if it was a puppy I would've taken the whole box lol.
1 person likes this
@ersmommy1 (12588)
• United States
20 Jul 09
Yes I can. I know it is hard. But we had to give up our cat a few years ago. My daughters asthma was made worse. So no more cats. I know it is hard, especially when they fit in the palm of your hand.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 09
My hubby can't!!!! A co-worker of his would bug everyone under the sun if they wanted a kitten as her cat had a couple litters a year. So all 3 of our cats are from that woman but of seperate litters. I know what you mean about having cats the same color. I was hoping #3 would be a diff color but no, I have one striped tabby & two black cats. I didn't want a 2nd black cat nonetheless a wild lil shiot either, but hubby said those where the only color of kittens that survived. I kinda wish he would of said we'll skip til you get another color with the next batch. Heaven forbid that woman gets her cat fixed!
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
14 Jul 09
I love orange cats. And my kids were bagging on me to keep the female the last time when we were fostering kittens. I'm a sucker for them, but I "drew the line" at three cats and yet somehow I have four. So I'll help find a home for kittens, but I really, really can't keep any more. Really...
• United States
14 Jul 09
Aww! i probably would have had a pretty hard time saying no to free kittens. If my husband were with me, he wouldn't have even pulled over. He hates cats. He likes to pick up my moms cat sharkbait and throw her across the room. I always get mad and yell at him, and his answer is always the same, "what? cats always land on their feet! she's fine". I swear, and him doing that, my daughter likes to chase after the cat and pull on her tail and grab her like my husband does! She's only 9 months old, so she learns by seeing what we do. I can't have a cat in my house, my husband would torture it so bad it would never be happy.
1 person likes this
• Japan
14 Jul 09
This is such a sad story. The person that left those poor kittens is so bad. Everyone of us will have our own personal financial suitations. So dont feel bad that you walked away empty handed. However, if given the chance, I will drive the kittens to a shelther.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 09
Nobody left the kittens, the family was giving them away.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 09
I could say no. I don't really like kittens. I love cats, but can't stand hyper kittens running around attacking everything.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 09
I know how many pets I can take care of at one time, and I would have no trouble walking away from those kittens. For one thing, you have no idea how healthy they are, whether they're covered with fleas, etc. I've always gotten my pets from a breeder or from an animal shelter. That way, I have a better idea of what I'm getting. Kittens are so cute an appealing that they can make you do things you don't want to do, like take on responsibilities you can't handle or expenses that you can't afford. I've always had pets, but that has never kept me from using common sense.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 09
oh god.. there's no way.i have no doubt i would have a new kitten or two,and..my older cats would be very angry with me. they'd get over it though.i would have gone for the boys,this house only supports 1 female,already in residence.she does not 'suffer' new queens well.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jul 09
i have been good till recently when i brought home a grey kitten i thought was a female but turned out to be a male lol.. but yeah im bad about it but i had just lost my cat to complications of diabetes so i didnt think i was ready till i saw the sweet thing
1 person likes this
@Fortunata (1135)
• United States
14 Jul 09
That would have been hard for me, 'cause I love cats, lol!
1 person likes this
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
14 Jul 09
My weakness is puppies. Kittens are cute bu I love dogs. So I would have no problem walking away. Now like I said if it was shih tzu puppies I would have probably walked away with one. Especially if they were minature shih tzu's.
• United States
14 Jul 09
No.See I just said no.No.I did it again!No.No.No.No.No.No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no.I feel like I can go on forever!No.
1 person likes this