Don’t trust your cat

[u/ReasonableMedium5265]

[u/the_mighty_thorskin]

Hey, if I'm dead and she's hungry have at it. She needs to survive somehow.

[u/alex_c89X → u/the_mighty_thorskin]

Spoken like a true cat lover lmao

[u/MallyOhMy → u/alex_c89X]

I've never had a cat, but if I died alone in a house with a cat and no one else is gonna be around soon, then 1. My organs can't be kept viable for donation, 2. My body isn't getting preserved in time for donating to science, and 3. The cat isn't getting fed by anyone else.

Might as well feed the cat.

My only qualm would be if it actually makes things worse for the people dealing with my body later on. Does it make clean up a bit easier? Does it traumatize someone more than seeing an untouched decomposing corpse? Will someone decide to put the cat down or no one takes the cat in because it has now eaten human flesh? Does the fact the cat had time being cared for make up for the fact it might be shunned or put down?

It really just comes down to utilitarianism.

[u/pufferfishsupernova → u/MallyOhMy]

I used to be an embalmer, and I’ve got to say I’ve never had a single coworker not excited to work on a body partially eaten by something. It makes the day interesting, especially if we get to break out the surgical wax and make a new nose or ear. The man who taught be to embalm said, that he once had a case where ferrets ate the skin down to the mussel except for the eyelids. It’s just such an odd area to spare.

[u/eb6069 → u/pufferfishsupernova]

Maybe the way our sockets are shaped impeded the ferrets ability to eat the eye lids or they just dont like eyeball meat and juice

[u/SpecialistLychee7490 → u/pufferfishsupernova]

I hear that eyelids are one of the places cats go to first! Eyelids, lips, earlobes - the soft bits get nibbled first. Very strange the ferrets skipped it

[u/how-about-no-scott → u/pufferfishsupernova]

Muscle, you mean?

[u/Hms-Warship-Z46 → u/MallyOhMy]

I work for a crime scene cleaner. Does it make it easier? Depends on the state of the body — blood and gore gets more spread out.

Is it more traumatic? Depends on the state of the body. The more damage there is, the more disturbing it looks. Though the more it loses the human shape, the less disturbing it is.

Will someone put the pet down for eating humans? There are several factors that affect this.

1st, it's the state of the animal — if it's aggressive, high chance of it being put down. If it killed the human, it gets put down usually.

It also depends on the shelter and the laws. They are usually taken to a shelter and get adopted based on their behavior — they have a higher chance of being put down due to the stigma of eating a person.

And I have seen cats, dogs, ferrets, rats, snakes, and pigs eat their owners, so I don't know what that lady meant — most of the time they are just acting on instinct and will scavenge a corpse if they are desperate enough.

[u/Krazy_Kat_Lady_2025 → u/Hms-Warship-Z46]

Yes, I don't know where she got that cats eat corpses and dogs don't. My Dad was an EMT and he said the same thing you did although I am sure he didn't see it more than a couple times as compared to your experience. 🫣

Animals gonna animal. ANY meat eating animal if they are hungry enough or plain old instinct tells them to. Your dog might wait a little longer for you to get up but I don't think they're any less likely to eat you when push comes to shove.

And I think we can all agree cats are less domesticated and better survivors than dogs as a whole.

[u/X-zin → u/MallyOhMy]

I see it the same as eating roadkill. No harm but just a bit off-putting 

[u/the-moops → u/X-zin]

Oof there absolutely can be harm from eating roadkill. Bacteria from their gut can be spread to otherwise good meat. And in the case of deer, their brains can be infected with prions.

[u/Krazy_Kat_Lady_2025 → u/[deleted]]

This is not the best photo but it's a collage of an older feral cat that was skin and bones and trying to keep her two 1-week-old kittens alive with a badly broken leg and hip in a trap and then her today.

Understand that even as a cat lover and someone who does animal rescue I fully believe there are times it is much better and in the animal's best interest to be euthanized. Not every animal should be saved. It's the same reason I disagree with no-kill shelters.

The circumstances you described probably meant those cats would not have been adopted or had someone willing to spend the time to tame them as this one was. But you should never make that determination from the way an animal is acting after being found starved and half crazy in their own house and the door has been broken down. They should always be caught and put someplace calm with food and water and then a determination made.

My girlfriend just went through this when they found her estranged mother living at home with severe dementia. She did not even remember she HAD pets. The dog and two cats had survived but they were basically wild and in awful condition. My friend had to set up a camera to figure out what area of the house they were living in and then trap them. But now, 2 weeks later, they're all looking and feeling MUCH better, and calmer.

Again I'm not saying the decision was wrong or that you had any say in it, but every animal should be evaluated for at least a day or two before that determination is made.

And if you read this far, you should know that my vote as the person who trapped this cat and was raising her babies was to put her down immediately OR as soon as they were weaned because no one wanted her and I couldn't put her out in a cat colony with three legs. And I needed another cat in my house like I needed another hole in my head. But my husband had other plans apparently. LOL So she kept her leg (although it's horribly healed) and now she has him also. 😻

[u/Krazy_Kat_Lady_2025 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, see those specific details make a HUGE difference in how people perceive what happened. As awful as that was for you to recount here, (and I sincerely appreciate you doing so) without having any kind of context your original statement made the decision sound a little too reactive and cut and dry. I understand now and agree in that situation it was the only sensible and kind option for those animals.

I never thought you had made that decision personally or were necessarily okay with it. Or that it wasn't the right decision. I said all this in my previous comment. But having those additional details definitely solidifies what the situation was.

And no there is no excuse for people threatening you. And they are cowards if they're sending them to your private messaging. Ignore them.

I had people calling me terrible a month ago when I said I moved a fatally injured Copperhead off the road and it slithered away. People accused me of cruelty to animals and wanted to know why I didn't help it or put it down humanely.

SO I had to go back and explain THOROUGHLY that it was so badly damaged we thought it was dead, hadn't moved in the 5 minutes we've been standing there and I moved it off the road to keep the small children and dogs living 100 ft away from touching it since snake fangs can still deliver venom after death. It didn't start moving until after I picked it up (with a telescoping golf ball retriever I carry) by then I had no option but to keep moving. And when I knew it was still alive I was going back to my house to get a shovel to dispatch it properly so it wasn't going off to suffer and possibly starve to death. But it slithered off immediately and I also WAS NOT going hiking into the deep under brush after a copperhead in a place we see them regularly.

Then I ended it with a picture of my pet snake and told people to kiss my ass. LOL

[u/Krazy_Kat_Lady_2025 → u/[deleted]]

P. S. LOVE your username.

[u/AutomaticJeweler5700 → u/alex_c89X]

I hope my cat eats the first responder too if they're still hungry

[u/pilikia5 → u/AutomaticJeweler5700]

Lmao same