Dogs are known as "Man's Best Friend" for a reason.
If you think about it, both Man and dog would not have been able to survive prehistory without the other.
Both evolved together so it's safe to assume both will expire together.

Whether you're rich or poor, young or old, skinny or fat, pretty or ugly doesn't matter to a dog because they'll love you unconditionally.
Maybe cats are the same but they won't express their emotions like a dog does.

Not slamming the cat lovers here but if any animal deserves to go to heaven, its the dog.

I agree with yeahright. PetSmart is not required to keep a pet alive,regardless of what they think. Probably i should qualify "pet" first. If we're talking dogs and cats,definitely not required. For more exotic animals maybe,but even then, one can try to go outdoors and chase live crickets and such for your companion. Keeps you healthy, and the animal fed

Our family cat is a globetrotter. We've been al over Europe and now we're all in Canada. We travelled and eat together, and i don't remember me eating anything from PetSmart. A small animal doesn't require a lot of food, or special food. They can be taught to eat what you have.

I cannot think of a situation where i will have to leave her behind to save my own skin. Where I go, she goes, and that's that. I see her as being equal to any immediate family I have, so whatever happens to us will happen to her.

On a side note, i hope that your store will be allright so you can have a job.

As the "proud momma" of a cat and dog, I've made sure to include them in any long term plans we have made.

The cat is a declawed rescue with little to no hunting instinct, and the dog is a certified teddy bear. Neither one of them can take care of themselves for anything (although I do admit responsibility turning my dog into that).

We keep 6 months of food for the animals that gets rotated in and out. Extra litter for the cat (although we're trying to work him into "going" outside). We also keep a stock of toys and other treats for the animals. Any "leaving" plans include pet friendly accomodations.

And no, no eating the animals. While I'm sure I could get a couple bites off them, the thought of eating animals i've known and cared for makes me sick. I'm sure I may be persuaded to think differently, but I choose not to go there.

We have 2 cats that are scared of birds so if TSHTF they are coming with us. I dont care what I have to do but they will be taken care of no matter what! They are not pets but family members from a different species who rely on us to take care of them and that is exactly what we will do. THANKS OP!

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We have 2 cats that are scared of birds so if TSHTF they are coming with us. I dont care what I have to do but they will be taken care of no matter what! They are not pets but family members from a different species who rely on us to take care of them and that is exactly what we will do. THANKS OP!

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I'm glad to hear so many people have considered their pets in a SHTF scenario. I live in a city where animal welfare isn't exactly top priority for a good deal of the population so it's nice to see some like-minded people

As for PetSmart being recession-proof. I knew then that he was off his rocker and that was before it even got "bad" before the market crash and the bailouts...The only way we'd be recession proof is if we ONLY sold foods at very cheap prices, and still then, that doesn't guarantee it. Many people will switch out of our niche for higher-quality foods as time gets tough, they'll stop using our dog training classes and our groom shop. And for food, dogs and cats can always eat human foods, so the only real market we have to keep us going would be rabbits, ferrets, birds and other small animals, namely the strictly-herbivorous animals. And that's not enough to keep us going, especially considering those are the types of pets most likely to be "set free" because they once came from the wild. (people don't seem to realize that dogs and cats once came from the wild also!)

I wonder if dog food sales actually go up during a deep recession like this. You know what I mean.

If SHTF, is it wrong to feed failed intruders to the pets? JUST KIDDING!

Most field meat is edible by dogs, so if your bug out site picked out, hopefully you won't hunt it out too soon and have cool storage for anything bigger than a rabbit. Otherwise they'll have a diet of jerky. Also beware of lead fragments, you don't want your dogs eating that, so no shotgun pellets or hollow point ammo for hunting food. Reminds me, I should go shop for a new compound bow.

When my wife wanted another baby I came home with 2 1 day old puppys minpins so we all bottle fed them. cleaned them and loved them. my boy stepped on one by accident snuffed his life out.He felt bad for weeks.the other one is big and strong and has got a set of lungs and wont let no harm come to mommy.He dont eat much so well be fine, I hope it dont come to that.We would not leave him or let him starve.

Oh God, PetSmart is still claiming that? I worked a second job with them years ago and they had people who had been with the store five years who were being paid $7.25 an hour, maybe that is why they are recession proof (not)?

Speaking of which, does anyone in the Central Florida want a kitten? I am trying desperately to find homes for four female tuxedo cats who are six weeks old, we have too many and just can't keep them (mom was a feral we have since caught, all perfectly healthy well socialized).

Heh 9 cats, bigger than average property, farm land behind ours. Ample bird life, our cats do catch and consume everything from rabbits and rats to even a Tern(sp?) chick (found a large leg of one in the back yard one morning).

Also we have a store cupboard in the garage and we lost about 100 kilos of rice to mice last year, which we've fixed with thick plastic containers and our cats catch at least 1-2 mice a day that i know of around the property, even though ive basically eradicated every mouse nest in the garage i could find, prolific little buggers. not to mention 4 of our cats are from domesticated ferral kitten stoke so are pretty much expert hunters. not to mention all of them seem to be partial vegans they steal and attempt to eat every thing from corn, pumpkin, beans, peas, oat meal, rice even cabage and thats just plane cooked as is, ie with no oil or butter on em. not the best for their diet since a cats alot more protein dependent than a dog for the most part but still it'll keep em alive in a pinch.

Given all that we've still got at least 2 months of tinned cat food in our store cupboard which we rotate and were getting alot more soon. I can do 9 cats per meal from a single tin 2 times a day, in a pinch id reduce that to 1 meal a day.

If TSHTF id kill to keep my pets from harm since im sure if it all goes down you'll have nutters who'd kill anything just to get their bloody meat fix. Id even protect the old nag of a pony we have in the back half of the section hes a ill tempered beast but still a family member

Least we can do in hard times is look after the little things of the world.

Oh and as for Alxandros cats wont express their emotions as well as dogs comment. You obviously havent live with many cats before their just as expressive emotionally, its just a different set of language compared to a dogs... i dont understand dogs well, but ive never owned one and have only ever had cats my entire life (never had less than 3 in the family). Its like humans, once youve lived with every type you learn real quick there all the same on the inside and thats what counts. Dogs in my mind are a little to dependent on humans however.

Oh and Cats through out history have saved the grain stores of all the empires in the world and in many places still, still do. Heck theres even the idea that it was the cat culling in the middle of the last millennium that may have caused the black death, ie unchecked rat populations. Karma's a bitch aint it we massacre cats simply because their of the devil and witches familiars and soon afterwards swaths of Europe die from a rat flea born plaque.

I think in the end its at least a ray of hope for humanity that pets ARE pretty much recession proof. Shows people are able to have some love even if its for another species rather than their own in hard times.

Originally posted by secretagent woooman
Speaking of which, does anyone in the Central Florida want a kitten? I am trying desperately to find homes for four female tuxedo cats who are six weeks old, we have too many and just can't keep them (mom was a feral we have since caught, all perfectly healthy well socialized).

And a Star for someone helping to control the ferral cat population humanly, have you had the mother de-sexed? We did this ourselves with 2 females as catch and release, our 4 domesticated ferral cats where their kittens, couldnt give em away in the end, to damn cute.

[edit on 30-6-2009 by BigfootNZ]

Originally posted by Maya00a

I brought one of my dogs with me when I moved here and the other is a stray I took in about 5 years ago and they're both part of the family. We also have 3 cats and as much as they like being pampered they're also fairly self sufficient.
[edit on 30-6-2009 by Maya00a]

I would be in such a pickle, as you probably would. It's one thing to have a dog who can follow you around and possibly protect you also, but cats?

I also have 3 cats (no dogs unfortunately. I just live in an apartment. I'm not a crazy cat person either, I just can't turn away a cat that needs a home) and I have NO IDEA what I would do.

When I imagine SH'ingTF, I think of being "on the run" or constantly on the move looking for shelter, supplies, food, etc. How do you tote around 3 cats in those circumstances.

Other than that I would most certainly do whatever I could to take care of them. They are family and I love them. I often think about what I would do should the apt. catch on fire. After the thought of "get the hell out of here" crossed my mind, the very next one would be, "Get the cat!!!". It sounds ridiculous but I couldn't live with myself knowing that I didn't do anything and just thought, "Hey man, it's me or them!".

In either circumstance, of course I wouldn't risk my own life but I would most certainly do anything with in my ability to keep them from harm.

As far as choosing euthanasia over roaming free. I don't think I could do that. I think that is giving them far less credit than they deserve and believing that they depend on us more than we do them. Because they don't. The only reason euthanasia would cross my mind was to spare myself the torment of wondering how they were at every minute of the day. But that would be selfish.

When I imagine SH'ingTF, I think of being "on the run" or constantly on the move looking for shelter, supplies, food, etc. How do you tote around 3 cats in those circumstances.

I worry about this for my birds. How practical will it be to go on the run with a parrot in a travel cage, or even on your shoulder? As you said, cats can typically fend for themselves. A parrot cannot. The climate alone is often enough to kill an escaped bird. I'm unsure, but I will try my best to make it work if that is the case.

My brother owned a pet store during a previous downturn in the economy.

Pet stores are not recession/depression proof.

My brother's experience was that people kept buying pet food but they virtually stopped buying the things that rack up big sales. No more fish tanks, expensive cages toys etc.

So his level of success came to a screeching halt.

As for my pets, I'll take care of them as best that I can.