Thread: Melbourne, loving pigs.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Not quite Bob, more like The Bronx.

Ian, more like Central Park West. Ippy is South Bronx but with white faces.

I grew up on a wheat and sheep farm and we also had cattle, as well as a couple of milking cows. Lots of dogs, and cats all over the place, of varying levels of domesticity. I had an Aussie Terrier, still miss him. Also, chooks, ducks, geese, turkeys. Anyway, fast forward 40 years and I'm living in the inner city and after looking after a stray cat we decided to get a kitten. Got a rescue kitten from the RSPCA. I mentioned to them that the kitten would be an outside cat (lots of bells on its neck and proper fencing or a cat run, so it won't be wandering around) and was surprised to be told that that was too dangerous. Sure, I said, while it's small ... no, not at all. Hmmm, OK. Took the kitten to the local vet for its check-up and was staggered to find that they referred to the owners of the animals there as the animal's "parents". Nice people there but ... really? I thought the "fur child" thing was a joke - apparently not. My kids pretty much won't let the now half-grown cat outside into our large garden, so now when I come home the cat comes up to me meowing, and running to the back door - because I'm the only one who lets her out and she obviously wants to get outside.

My kids are doting on the cat but I hadn't realised how different their world is until, not long after we adopted the kitten, my university-age son came to me concerned that the cat was unwell, because she was vibrating in an odd way. I explained that she was purring, and realised that my kids really had had very little exposure to animals. And therein is I think the crux of the problem - Australia has always had a big gap between the country and the city, but now that gap is even wider - the cities are bigger, the country smaller, backyards often non-existent. And even being in a country town doesn't mean that much - my classmates in the nearest town to us were as ignorant of where their milk came from as any kids in Melbourne. I have no issues with vegetarians or vegans, but there is a strain of extremism now that probably will cause problems for farmers from now on and it feeds on that distance from and ignorance of animals and farming.

Edit: oh, and the reason why we had so many cats on the farm was that we were an ideal distance from town for people to dump their cats ... not too far to drive but well clear of the town itself and our house was visible from the road.

Don't let the cat out at night if you want to have birds in your neighbourhood.
Last time the daughter's cat got outside she got a shellback tick and nearly died.
Speaking of funny terms, the daughter messaged today that we are 'feathered grandparents' as six chicks have hatched.

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