Gotta love all the people commenting to tell Scott to kill his cat by putting it down and to just donate the money...his money! And then proceed to tell him that he would feel better...
— Adam W (@AdamBoBadam3440) September 23, 2021
Wow just wow
September 24, 2021
People are telling Scott Adams to "kill his cat."
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73 comments:
Adams is rich. Compared to most of us, this is like spending a couple hundred dollars. Of course he should do it.
Tell people you bought a million dollar house and nobody will say you could have spent $900,000 and given the rest to the poor. They'll say, "nice house!" Tell people you bought a $50,000 car and nobody will say you could have spent $40,000 and given the rest to the poor. They'll say, "nice car!" But spend that money on an animal and suddenly needy humans are coming out of the woodwork and we're all armchair Mother Teresas.
What this is really about is people using someone else's money to feel superior without the messiness of lifting one of their own fingers to help anybody.
Pets are NOT the same as kids - yet ARE part of the family.
Many are so rich, that they can afford expensive treatment for the pet.
In most cases, the owner will feel far better spending money to save the life of the pet, rather than additional consumption.
A big part of life enjoyment is to enjoy life with those you live with.
For most of human history, most humans would, because of money, let their pets die. Sadly, but feeling "they had no choice". If you can afford the choice, you have the choice.
Choose life.
My Samoyed had a series of issues that racked up $36,000 of medical and rehab bills over the course of twelve months. He made it through two more happy but challenging years. Despite the hard work of caring for a partially disabled dog and the bills, my five year loan will be paid off next August, I don't regret doing everything I could for him. When I adopted him I made promise to take care of him. I kept that promise and it feels good to know I did.
Let me understand the complaint here. Adams decides to publicly announce that he's spending $20k on his cat. Then people publicly respond with their opinions. And then another person weighs in with his opinion about the opinions in response to the original publicly announced position.
If you don't want people commenting on your decision, don't announce it on Twitter!!!
Hah! I knew there was something wrong with Dilbert. However, didn't guess he was a cat lady.
I've got a cheaper solution to save the cat's life: put it in a box and never open it and the cat will live forever.
My first thought if I were faced with that kind of bill: I would not pay it. But I'm not actually sure. It would depend on how otherwise healthy the pet is, wouldn't it?
BTW -- is Zeus still around?
People will spend what they can, up to a point, for their pets. I see it all the time. In the case of Scott Adams, if he's got it (and he does) it's his call. Pets (dogs and cats, can't speak for iguanas) become family members. If you don't have a pet, you can't understand. His cat is his companion. Every cat or dog has it's own personality things. I'm sure the cat knows Scott as well as Scott knows the cat. People bond to dogs and cats and they bond to us.
Unlike, say...humans.
I wouldn't personally spend $20K on a cat, but I'm not him. I hope my dog isn't reading Althouse today.
I killed Schrodinger's cat. But then I didn't.
"A Long Island cat became the first to have a hip replacement, which was just several thousand dollars more expensive than the common practice...total cat replacement."
- A rare SNL funny...
If you have the money to save your pet, do it. It's a hard thing to hear the vet say, well, it's gonna cost two thousand dollars and you just don't have it...
Scott’s mistake was in putting out any information about any pets, and that goes times ten for the cost of the treatment. There has long been a streak of “busybody” in the American psyche. This has been true since Puritan preachers in the 17th century, to Temperance workers in the 19th, to the Klan (which enforced morality codes in its time, as well as keeping black people “in their place”) in the 20th, to affluent liberals and political correctness later in the 20th, and now to the evolution of liberalism into cancel culture in the 21st.
Lots of bloggers with pets write about them. They probably shouldn’t. And decent people should resist any impulse to stick their unnecessary nose into the relationship between a human and animal companion.
For an intimate look at the agonized decision-making that goes into the choice to put down a well-loved pet, read A Good Dog: The Dtory of Orson, by noted dog writer Jon Katz (available through the Althouse Amazon portal).
It's the sad thing about owning a pet. When they are found with cancer or other fatal disease, owners pay thousands for treatment, none of which is covered by insurance. And it only extends their lives a couple weeks and then they face the euthanasia anyway. It's happened several times in our family.
I certainly believe that Scott Adams has the right to spend his money how he chooses - and if feline surgery is the way, then fine. But why he would voluntarily post this and offer himself up to the predictably horrible pushback from the Twitter mob....that part I don't get.
Why so surprised? We live in a country where people routinely kill thousands of human babies for convivence.
I think it's fair to acknowledge that a cat would not spend that kind of money on him.
I grew up as the "tail holder" boy in my dad's veterinary practice. "All Creatures Great and Small" as the song and book and TV series has it. Large animal -- cattle -- work paid the bills and small animal -- mostly dog -- work was public relations, or perhaps public service to those who needed emotional support companion animals in that time and place before the concept had a term. Large animal work, even for the helpers, is demanding, physical, dangerous, hard, messy, sweaty, unpleasant, and is often done in terrible conditions. Nights and weekends, literally down in the dirt and the muck, surrounded and bitten by flies and mosquitoes, ... The risk in small animal practice is that the practitioner (or helper) may get scratched or bitten. The risk from large animals is that humans may get their bones or spine broken. The pay for hard risky work is higher than the pay for easy work in any industry.
All that for background on my perspective of trends the past two generations.
Sometime in the 1970s the university veterinary schools pushed to include more women in the program. By the 1990s and into the current decade, they've succeeded. At least half the graduate veterinarians from, for example, Texas A&M are now women.
Women are certainly not stupid. Any many are themselves "large animal" enough to take on a beast much larger than themselves. Such vets tend to specialize in horses. Hobby animals for rich owners.
Women, still not stupid, also tend to collect where the money is, in cities where lots of people have companion animals. Small animals. Biters and scratchers. There are lots of pets, and lots of pet practitioners, in Dallas Texas and the suburbs.
Men, ALSO not stupid, then tend to find themselves best and most lucratively applied to the large animal veterinary industry. It turns now, nowadays, to be a wide open field, to make something of a pun. About half the number of vets in service in the rural areas as in the past. Hmmm.
The men in the practices where they are scarce earn their pay for their hard messy risky etc work, PLUS a premium for economic scarcity. Supply and Demand, right?
Their former classmates, in the cities, look at the industry reported figures and see what a "vet" makes in an "average" practice, and sets fee schedules accordingly. There is also pressure from the "equal pay for equal work" media to ensure that the women in veterinary medicine clear as much each year as men in the same arena.
Which tends to drive up the price of services for cats ...
I don't really care what Scott Adams does with his cat. But when he said he's going to spend $20,000 on medical care for the cat, he shouldn't be surprised at pushback. That is a lot of money to the overwhelming majority of Americans, even if it isn't much to Adams.
The money doesn't matter, it's what the cat's day will be like further on. You're supposed to be taking care of the cat, and if it looks good, good, if not, put the cat down.
Used to love Scott Adams but watched his ego blow up like a Disney balloon at the Macy’s Day Parade. His podcast has become insufferable to me: the self-satisfied chuckling as he looks down on us children, the selective listing of prophecies he twists into being right, the “If I’ve taught you anything …” mantra … he has truly fallen head over heels in love with himself.
Hope I’m wrong but I predict his trophy wife will be off the mantle and out the door in three, two, one ….
Vicki Hearne on the same matter for dogs Oyez a Beaumont, pdf
I think Scott Adams is collecting material for his blog/book/school et al.
There are a lot of people who produce nothing and have mediocre at best talent.
But they think they are awesome and like to tell people what to do.
So they go work for a leftist NGO. Or HR. Or the Government.
Taking money from productive people who produce things people actually want is their life's work.
Scott Adams has a net worth of approximately $75M. My net worth doesn’t require a letter to represent its value. So this is like me paying $100 to save my cat. I don’t have a cat but I’d probably chip in a hundo to save my neighbor’s cat. It’s all relative.
I can’t wait for phrases like “It’s a free country” to come back into vogue. Would social media exist without people trying to tell people what to do with their own time and money?
I feel bad for Adams. Not for the money, but rather that he has a sick pet. My partner and I talk about dealing with a dying pet (our cat). She was traumatized, growing up, when her mother kept their dog alive to the bitter end. He had open sores and was in a lot of pain. We have agreed to not prolong our cat’s life needlessly, if he is in pain. Right now, at 3 years old, I am expecting excess weight to be the major health issue he will face, and it’s because she can’t tell him “no”.
The ones telling him to kill his cat must be dog lovers. (Or members of PETA.) If he has the money to pay for the surgery, that's his choice. I'm sure he will still have enough money left to donate to whatever.
Other people's money--other people's pets. There's a lot of free advice about what to do with both. Unfortunately Congress critters spend your money, and there's not much that you can do about it. But as for your pet--well you can tell the free advice giver to simply sod off.
If you have Scott's kind of money, it's a no-brainer. If you have decent money but not his kind, it's a quandary. Depth of love for a being finds number of legs irrelevant. Those decrying or mocking Adams' intention to save his beloved pet only demonstrate their lack of scope.
$20,000 for a cat. Could be OK. Depends on how old the cat is. Our current cat got a $1,800 operation which has added 7 years to her life (so far), so its worth. Sidenote: I had to laugh when I saw our Cat after surgery with an I-V line hooked up.
BTW, the USA Government is considering a $3,500 Billion dollar spending bill. take that $20,000 that scott is spending and times it by 50 and you get $million. Times that by 1,000 and you get a $billion. So, 50,000 x 3,500 = how much more the USA spending bill is compared to Scott's Vet bill.
Does anyone care about the $3.5 trillion spending bill? Does anyone even know what's in the $3,500 Billion spending bill? No. So, I'm supposed to care that Scott wastes 20,000 on cat? No can do.
Under BidenCare, cats would be fully covered.
Twitter is a sewer full of shitty people. Scott is just there to tweak their beaks. By the way the math-literate may have already realized that $20K for Scott is like $5 or less to most of us. And let’s face it even cat surgeons deserve to make a living.
Why donate the money? He can just put the cat to sleep ("kill it") and get on with his life. It's a freakin' cat. Get another one. He'll feel bad for a couple days, maybe weeks. Then he'll get over it like an adult.
Being neurotic about putting a pet to sleep is what Millennials do. Adams is a Gen Xer. We're better than that.
Not sure what the Twit comment means. "Wow just wow"? Does that mean he really thinks it's a good idea to spend $20k saving a terminal cat? Or does he not understand that IT'S JUST A FREAKIN' CAT!!
(Now get off my lawn)
$20K for cat life extension. Certainly not something I would do, but it is his money.
$20 maybe. Lots of cats out there. Just get another instead.
Now apply it to a human. $500K to extend lifespan of grandma by a year. Through insurance pools shared by others. Lots of people out there.
Life in the aggregate is cheap. Individually priceless. It's a conundrum.
Last year our vet told us our cat was suffering from two opposed conditions - treating one would exacerbate the other. Both were pretty terminal if not treated. One had onset recently and rapidly, and would be terminal within a few days at most. It's primary symptom could be treated with minor surgery, but that would still be a major event for a cat her age. It would also only buy her a few months at most. Months of extreme discomfort and deterioration. So we made the decision to euthanize. It was an easy decision, but not a pleasant one. The question of cost never came up. I think if we could have paid $20k to give this cat another year or two of happy, healthy life, we would have moved heaven and earth to raise the funds.
A few years ago, I had to pay about $3000 to have the dog repaired. (He had torn something in his leg and couldn't put any weight on it, so he needed surgery.) The dog has been happy and healthy ever since. I remember thinking at the time that, if this had been a human, the cost would probably be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Reality says that the procedures involved in saving Boo cannot guarantee that the cat will be saved at any price. As happens with humans, advice should start with "check with another doctor" before this money-hungry veterinarian gets the chance to fail. My humble advice to Scott Adams is simply "call The Incredible Dr. Pol".
If he euthanizes the cat, he should donate the 20k to the National Rifle Association or the National Taxpayers Union Street or the Foundation for Economic Education. Screw you and your pets, statist scum!
For perspective Medicare and Medicaid waste $20 billion and not a peep from the Twitterati.
Why announce what you're spending on your pet's surgery? To me, it looks like Adams spent $20k on getting people to talk about him.
Hmm. It might be closer to $20 for Scott, assuming a reasonable ROI in this financial climate.
I remember the big health care debates, back in 2009. Megan McArdle mentioned that health care expenses have been rising around 4% a year, in every developed country (including the US, only the US starts with a baseline 50% higher across the board). And then pointed out that health care for _pets_ is following exactly the same trajectory, around +4%/year, though of course the baseline there is way lower. All sorts of human surgeries and stuff were getting retargeted for pets.
Scott Adams virtue signalling:
1) I’m rich
2) I have great compassion
I actually prefer my neighbors with their “We love all people” signs. On second thought, no, I don’t. They’re all the same.
READ MATTHEW 6.
J Melcher - My Dad was also a vet. First job was cleaning the kennels, then I got to move up to handling fecal samples and billing. Neuters, spays, and euthanasia put my sibs and I through Catholic school and college. I credit that experience with my utter lack of sentimentality for people and their pets.
He did small and large animal, gave up large animal when he was kicked by two cows the same week and then a horse stepped on his foot the next. Of course, he was then bit on the upper arm by a German shepherd the week after that.
We stayed out of his way for a couple weeks. For some reason he was in a foul mood.
Which of the nine lives will be ended?
if this is first ?>>>eight more to go!
A poem I wrote about our dog.
Dog, Dying
He lies on his good side
Half-asleep under blankets
We draped against a chill
This Indian Summer day
Fourteen and some of our years
Gives him a hundred plus
In math that is harder for us
Than ever before
Every day of his life here
I have asked him
In absolute seriousness
What do dogs think
And he has always
Answered me
In his own language
Wagging his whole body
These same people- the very same people- would have castigated Adams had he put the cat to sleep rather than spend the $20,000 to save it. It has nothing at all to do with the cat, the cost of saving it, or Adam's ability to shoulder the cost- it all has to do with the fact that these people hate Scott Adams.
All things are relative- for Adams, saving the cat at a $20K cost is the same as me having to spend around $200 to do so. I would not spend $20,000 to save my cat that I like very much, unless I was as wealthy as Scott Adams is. If he wanted to spend $2 million to save the cat, I would also be ok with that- it is his money and his cat.
And to some of the commenters above- don't discount the possibility that Adams put this out on twitter just to induce his detractors to respond. It is the sort of thing he likes to do.
I would spend the twenty grand if I were Adams. Better than to have the government steal it from his heirs which is what happens when you have a high net worth.
I'm taking two jobs and mortgaging my house to save that Chevy truck cat...
People who wonder or can’t understand why Adams would put this out publicly do not listen to his podcast. Obviously, he put this out for the entertainment value of seeing what kind of responses he would get. As regards pushback, he couldn’t care less. He’s a guy who publicly talked about and supported Trump for years and took on all comers.
A lot of Adams' critics seem not realize that spending $20k to heal the cat -- or spending it on anything at all -- is not the same as throwing $20k down a sewer. Money spent doesn't disappear, it merely changes hands. Whoever gets the $20k in return for the surgery or whatever's being bought has that much money in their pockets to spend or to give to the poor. To talk about spending $20k money in this case as if it's somehow wasteful doesn't make a lot of sense.
It reminds me of a few years ago, when there was a push to go after rich people who were buying luxury helicopters for personal use. Voices on the left were outraged at the idea that rich people should be allowed to spend their money for such a thing. But the people working in helicopter factories obviously weren't rich, and trying to destroy that industry or market sector really constituted an attack on a lot of working families.
This is the price we pay by not upholding high educational standards.
In over thirty years of living together my wife and I have always had pets. Between teeth cleanings and cancer treatments I'm pretty sure we have Adams beat. Our dog and I were both diagnosed with cancer at about the same time. The dog got more attention.
Look, in the late 70s my parents took one of our Dobermans to the vet, found that she had a melanoma on her muzzle, and then took her to Sloan-Kettering, where she got rounds of chemo. I am not making this up.
"Liebee" (her name was "Liebling" originally) lived years after anyone had predicted she would. There was no hesitation from my parents. And now that they are retired, but still working for a dobie rescue, they are still taking dogs up to cancer-treatment centers in PA and NJ (not Sloan-Kettering any more). Because these are ill dogs that can nonetheless be treated. They are in their 70s and 80s now, my parents, but that does not mean that they can do nothing.
I overidentify with this post, having had a cat named Boo at one time - may she rest in peace. Ours is a Cat Household - current cat Dexter runs our lives.
We have never been the type of cat people to put large sums into vet care, largely because the treatment and daily routine of the cat would be miserable - in our case. Depends on the cat, depends on the disease. If you have had both cats and dogs you know they are very different in terms of cooperation. I had cat with kidney disease that was ok with getting a sub-Q twice a day (inserted needle puts water under the skin to help with kidney flushing). Another cat, Houdini (may he rest in peace as well) took pills 2x a day for his condition, and he was the easiest cat in the world to pill. Others are simply not having it. They freak out the minute they get into the carrier, turn into demons if you have to give them a pill, etc. I would not impose a stressful life on a cat with invasive treatments and frequent vet visits that make them miserable. You can't explain the necessity of the treatments to them, and unlike dogs they don't have the motivation to please.
So it all depends and its more about how will the treatment impact what life my cat has left? Not the money.
My cat Alice was being killed by a cancerous tumor. Surgery may have saved her life, but the cost was far beyond my reach. I held her while the vet euthanized her.
A very wealthy friend spent $30,000 to save her cat from bone cancer. Cyrano had the surgery and lived a few more years. However, in the process of saving the cat, methods and materials were developed by university engineering researchers to 3D print very small bone replacements that are now used for human injuries. Many of America's injured warriors have benefitted from my friends' simple desire to save her cat.
It is very hard to say goodbye to a beloved pet. I have had several euthanized because I sensed that they were no longer enjoying their lives, or had lost their basic dignity (no longer able to stand up to poop etc). I also had a dog euthanized after a complicated leg fracture that would have cost $600 or more, when I was severely undermployed. Recently I spent $400 on a "free" cat who developed kidney disease at two years old (probably my own fault as I let him eat dog food). Now I have to buy an expensive prescription diet for him every month. When I adopted him I feel that I took on the responsibility to pay for his health care. Anyway, Scott Adams can spend his money however he wants, it is no one else's business. I'm sure Rush Limbaugh spent a lot of money on his cat Pumpkin.
The Human Resources Department was probably involved in this decision.
"I named my cat Boston."
"That's an odd name. Why'd you name him that?"
"Because he's more than a feline."
(Apologies if this is an old joke. I just heard it.)
My spouse (girlfriend at that time) once spent about $20k on medical treatment for her dog Lucky. She absolutely loved the dog and he needed immediate surgery to live. The 1st surgery was a couple thousand dollars so she agreed. Unfortunately, the dog required several additional surgeries and specialized care. For the 5th surgery, the surgeon discounted the bill by 50%. He said he felt bad that he hadn't been able to fully fix the dog's issue and he was quite cognizant of the total expense.
She was not rich at that time but she loved him and every time we visited Lucky at the hospital post-surgery, he was so happy and excited to see her. She said that, because he seemed to happy, she couldn't possibly deny him the needed medical treatments.
Lucky lived 3.5 years after the 1st surgery. My spouse still really misses him and its been close to 10 years now since he passed.
Not only are these twitterheads cruel, but they’re illiterate. Kill the pig. Fix the cat.
Unless Scott Adams is a complete idiot on money or has a severe gambling problem he has MUCH more money than I do.
Yet, about 6 weeks ago we began medicating and caging (to limit movement) one of our two dogs because of a spinal issue. The option if that did not work was surgery. $1,200 for the work leading to that.
$6,000 for surgery if not.
Thank goodness she healed.
If you think that would be better spent elsewhere, let me look at all your expenses this year and I'll tell you where you should have spent that cash.
But we'd have paid it.
What happens when these people learn what it costs to send a kid to college?
Beautiful Owen. My wife assures me I am not a wussy as tears roll down my cheek.
Cats are a freely available commodity.
So is keeping one's nose out of other folks' choices.
Amy writes: "But why he would voluntarily post this and offer himself up to the predictably horrible pushback from the Twitter mob....that part I don't get."
Oh! Oh! Mistah Kottah! I know!
1. Because his interest in what the Twitter mob thinks is infinitesimally smaller than the conscience of Mark Zuckerberg.
2. Because he gets leftists and progressive -- who hate what an individual does and who particularly hate Adams -- looking like fools.
3. Because he's a public figure, and it gets people talking about him.
In his book "Win Bigly," Adams brags that he can say anything he wants because he effectively can't be canceled. He has more money than he knows what to do with, he has a successful comic strip, and he can speak online through various platforms. And this, after he lost nearly all his speaking gigs for promoting Trump.
Win-win-win
Adams' Tweet may or may not be true in any or all respects. He tweeted what he did in order to generate and read the reactions and discussions, all for his own education and benefit. No other reason to share that info if true.
You can decide to play or not.
Here ya go JAORE:
to the one I love...
early in the morning, she gets up to let me out
and when she hears dogs barking, "be quiet!" she will shout..
by instinct she steps over me, though I'm no longer there,
my bowl is in the kitchen, my leash hangs by the stair.
when she comes home from work, empty silence will prevail,
no happy barks, no prancing paws, no wildly waving tail.
she will not walk the dark streets, without me by her side,
for years I did protect her, it was my joy and pride.
betrayed by failing senses, no longer could I hear,
the footsteps of a stranger, or friend, as they drew near.
when I succumbed to illness, too weak to stand or eat,
she looked into my eyes and saw surrender and defeat.
she lay down right beside me, upon the cold, hard floor,
and realized i had no joy in living any more.
she sent me on one last trip, from which I won't return,
to breathe one final, peaceful sigh, and then to brightly burn.
I hold no grudge against her, for I had lost my pride,
my life was pain, not purpose, and so I gladly died.
although my life is over, I'll watch her from above.
I always will be near her, she is the one I love.
now I will stand and wait here, alert by Heaven's door,
'til once again we can be together, evermore.
and when at last i see her, my joy shall know no end,
my only goal in living, was to be her faithful friend.
on earth, her days are saddened, from grieving over me,
but I am grateful that, from my suffering, I am free!
Barney
December 31, 2004
ALP has it right. Cats are hard to treat, and if the treatment is too much of a hardship for them, its best to have nature take its course. Our $1,800 cat had no problem with the Antibotics but fought like the Devil against the pain pills. Who knows why. IRC, they were bigger. Finally, I decided to stop giving it to him. My wife was upset, but then she wasn't the one doing the pilling.
Anyway, the cat behaved the same after I stopped giving him the pain medicine, and who knows, maybe he suffered for a couple days, but he suffered having that pill jammed down his throat too. And alls well that ends well.
Dogs hate going to the vet. But they happily follow orders. But with some cats its a fight every damn time.
I'm glad we're getting some good comments. I was afraid all we'd get were:
1) Scott can spend his money on anythng he wants
2) Cats aren't worth 20 thousand.
3) Wow, he's so dumb. I fixed my cat for much less
Scott Adams
Gives not one shit about inadequacy of VAERS and resultant harm via mass vax.
Has FU money for kitty who walks throgh his blog frame while proposes a ridiculous face catheter to exhaust rona between his legs.
Fuck Scott Adams and his "Golden Age".
"Because he's more than a feline."
It took me hours to get this joke. Now I'm pissed.
But I'm going to use it myself.
One of the downsides of having ample disposable income is that when the vet tells you it will cost $20,000 to keep your cat alive, you really have no option other than replying, "Damn it! I have that."
Adults have become infantile.
It's an animal. You don't try to save them, you replace them.
It's the circle of life.
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