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Somewhat related, there is a vaccine for cats in the works meant to prevent feline chronic kidney disease. If successful it could massively increase the lifespan of domestic cats.
That killed my childhood cat. Would be awesome for future kids to not experience what I did.
Kind of seems like losing a pet is an important part of growing up tbh.
Kind of doesn’t.
I dunno accepting death as an inevitability seems important since since we otherwise struggle hard to ignore it in western culture and by extension can create a lot of suffering.
A pet doesn't need to die for that. If you look around... Death is everywhere!
[Starts singing and dancing a musical number down the street]
What a heartless thing to say.
Accepting death is an important part of growing up, but no animal deserves to die just to be a goddamn teachable moment
That would be amazing. They can already live so long. To think, you might be able to have a cat with you for most of your adult life.
Unpopular opinion: There are already way too many domestic cats and they are responsible for the extinction of various species, mostly birds. They are amongst the most problematic invasive species in the world. Its probably not a good idea to increase their lifespan...
Popular opinion: I love cats
In your country perhaps, cats aren't a problem everywhere. Even the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds maintain that cats are not a major cause of bird decline (in Britain).
I'm not only talking about my country, but you're right: The location matters. It's a fact that cats have a noticeable impact on global biodiversity. There is an interesting article on the matter here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42766-6
Forgive me if I don't treat Britain as an expert on biodiversity, given their history of hunting most of their wildlife to extinction.
Well the RSPB shockingly are quite against hunting animals, who'd have thought it? And careful throwing stones from your glass house, didn't your lot hunt the bison almost to extinction the moment they landed?
You can get them fixed.
The reason birds are going extinct is humans. Hunting, habitat loss, and climate change are far, far more impactful than cats. As much as they kill, cats shouldn’t even be making a dent in bird populations in most of the world (yes, there are islands and a few microbiomes where they have an outsized impact, and that is an issue that needs to be addressed).
Cats only have such a big impact because we drove those species of birds to the edge of extinction already.
One of my family cats is currently at the end of her life due to kidney disease. It really sucks, glad they're doing something about it. Now if only they could do the same for dogs.
This makes me very happy, thank you for sharing!
If successful it could
Wanna bet what capitalism is going to say about that?
I'm literally having my 19 year old cat put down tomorrow due to kidney disease and I very much wish for him to feel young and healthy again. It sucks.
Sorry for your loss mate