Animal Abuse Prevention is Everyone’s Responsibility

by Linda Hall, Cat Behavior Expert

Animal Abuse is a secret too many people have in common… No one likes to talk about unpleasant things. There are things that are so awful, I would rather not think about them. Unfortunately, to help with a problem, we must admit it’s there and learn how to fix it.

I’m talking about Animal Abuse, specifically of cats as they seem to be a “popular” target…

I am an active part of Quora, answering cat-related questions daily. People often request that I answer their questions personally, and some questions are really fun. Some are not so fun.

I have seen quite a few recently dealing with the urge to hurt an animal. I can’t imagine it! My stomach churns at the mere thought of it. Still… if there are many people admitting they have this urge to commit animal abuse, and they are asking for help, I can only imagine how many deal with this urge silence.

Whether you have felt this, or you know someone who seem angry with their animals, we all need to understand a few things about the pain animal abuse causes to those helpless and terrified creatures.

One Quora user started her question with, “I know I am a despicable person but…”

I adore cats, so my gut reaction to hearing someone harmed an animal would probably be to think that person is a bad human who needs to be punished. But, there’s often more to it, and labelling a person as “bad” won’t get them help, and more importantly it will not help the animal.

We are all under an incredible amount of stress these days! There are so many things that add to our anxiety levels, and the pandemic only made things worse. We had fear of this unknown virus. People got sick and some lost their lives.People lost their incomes. People lost their homes. It was bad and a lot of people are still dealing with the results of what started over a year ago. Relationships, money, jobs… it all causes stress and stress takes a tole on our bodies and our minds. All of those feelings become toxic in us. We have to find safe outlets to deal with it. If you don’t, they will find their own way out and it won’t be a pretty sight.

When you have to blow, where do those feelings go? If you blow up on your boss, you could lose your job. Erupt on your partner and they could leave. Our cats (and other pets) are easy targets. We love the cat. We know it’s not right. Still… we gotta let out our anger somehow. If we seek help for our urges to hurt our pets, we fear what others will think of us. It might even cost us legal trouble if got out, so we keep it a secret. No one knows and the cat suffers as well as the human. If you know someone who is acting out like this and abusing their pets, labelling them as evil will not help the human or the cat.

So what do you do?

First, we need to protect the cat! Is there someone who can take the cat in while the human gets help? The cat may need to be surrendered to a no kill shelter or rescue if no family or friends can help. I know that stinks, but we have to take care of the kitty. He deserves to be safe and happy! Once we get kitty safe, we can work on the human!

We need to find out where these feelings are coming from in order to put and end to those urges. When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I like to make a list of all of the things that are adding stress to my life and then consider which ones I can control. Is your job is driving you over the edge? Maybe it’s time to look for another one. Reduce all of the things you possibly can that add to your negative emotions.

It’s very important that we reach out when we are struggling! Reaching out to a qualified therapist is the best thing to do. They can help unpack these emotions and find better ways to deal with them. They may determine that meds for depression and/ or anxiety could help. There are a lot of great books on dealing with emotions. There are support groups. We should reach for every tool we can gather to improve our lives.

If you, or someone you know, is dealing with feelings of hurting an animal, it’s important to keep animals out of our home while we handle this. Animals are defenseless and we must work to protect them! We have to put their protection above our desire to have them with us. There is help.

As quoted from the website of Humane Society of the United States:

“If you witness suspected cruelty to animals, call your local animal control agency as soon as possible or dial 911 if you’re unfamiliar with local organizations. If you make a report of alleged animal cruelty, the responding agency is required to investigate.”

Together, we can help put a stop to animal abuse.

***PLEASE NOTE: These cute cat photos are for your viewing pleasure. None of these cats have ever suffered from abuse of any kind.