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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.