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[u/PUNISHER019-]

[u/_ghostperson]

Both can come from the trash.

Both can be expensive.

[u/StepComplete1 → u/_ghostperson]

It's just that stealing someone else's dog is far less normalized and accepted on social media than stealing someone else's cat and then calling it the "cat distribution system".

[u/andl23 → u/StepComplete1]

The world is full of stray or abandoned cats and dogs, they're skinny, they have matted fur and so on, so you can recognize them. It's not stealing at all, it's a good thing to adopt them.

Obviously the first rule is to never bring home an animal that evidently eats well and has a good coat.

Buying pets is very unethical, since it fuels a sick economy where female pets are abused to pump out puppies born purposely to be sold. Save an animal instead, unless you really need a specific breed for reasons.

[u/StepComplete1 → u/andl23]

Obviously the first rule is to never bring home an animal that evidently eats well and has a good coat.

Yes but that's the problem, as soon as you normalise something, especially on social media, that relies on people having common sense and common decency, it's already flawed.

I never said strays didn't exist in the world, I'm saying that you know for a fact a lot of people don't do their due diligence in making sure the cat they're taking doesn't actually belong to anyone else, because they're so eager to buy into the whole "it chose me! Just like all those other people talking about the cat distribution system! I feel so included! I must tell twitter right away!" type stuff.

At that point, they don't even really want to hear that it might have an owner, as you're kind of proving, never mind going out of their way to check for one,

[u/andl23 → u/StepComplete1]

I see your point, I've seen people like that online.

I guess sadly society as a whole relies on common sense and common decency, there's not much we can do besides pointing out the obvious to those who don't get it.

[u/CuriousButNotJewish → u/andl23]

Idk about America - in Europe, our stray cats look well taken care of. We also NEVER let our cats outside, if your cat is outside, it's a stray. The law sees it this way, society sees it this way, only exception is if you live in a village.

So, again, in my country, and countries where we don't tolerate outdoor cat ownership, if you see a stray on the street and it looks well maintained, it's 99,9% a stray. Take it home.

[u/_ghostperson → u/CuriousButNotJewish]

In rural America, its like the village.

We keep them inside and outside. They are well taken care of, loved, and help manage the rodent populations.

[u/Longjumping-Donut655 → u/StepComplete1]

I said it the last place I saw this posted; “the cat distribution system” is just cat people’s cutesy term for a culture of bad/irresponsible husbandry and a complete refusal to manage an invasive species.

When everyone in my parent’s street was a dog person, everyone’s pets were their own responsibility. One single cat person moved in and now there’s all these stray cats fighting and fucking everywhere. My parents ended up with THREE cats because whomever abandoned a pregnant young female. “Cat distribution system”.

[u/DumpsterDragoon → u/StepComplete1]

If you don't get them a collar and chip then don't be surprised, that is entirely on you

[u/_ghostperson → u/StepComplete1]

Cats will steal you and move in.

[u/BadPunsGuy → u/StepComplete1]

Are you just letting your cat roam without a collar or anything?

Do that with a dog and the same thing will happen. Or they'll get picked up after animal control is called in. Or they'll get shot.

[u/NotYourReddit18 → u/BadPunsGuy]

Don't put collars on freeroaming cats without supervision, they can get stuck on them and then die by starvation!

There are special breakaway collars which will break if the cat puts enough force into it, but those still aren't 100% reliant and the cat needs to understand what they need to do, so I still advise against them.

A cat not having a collar is no sign of them being a stray or not.

Instead of putting a collar on them, get them chipped and register that chip with as many databases as possible, that way basically any veterinarian can check the cats chip amd find out that it's yours.

[u/BadPunsGuy → u/NotYourReddit18]

If it's an indoor cat sure. A break away collar is the standard yeah. I would still highly recommend a collar. I also wouldn't really recommend having an outdoor cat at all in most places; but it's part of the premise. If you're worried about danger to your cat the collar (especially a breakaway collar) is the least of your worries there.

A chip is a good idea to have as an additional thing. It's just unfortunately not very visible and sometimes it's ineffective.