reply to kiril, nitika's human:

(see post below if you are wondering where this comes in . . .)

i am surely not without sin in respect to co-existing with pets, nor did i ever claim to be. but no single cat or dog i ever had ever came close to such danger and tragedy, let alone several of them. luck? probably some. concerted effort on my part and that of my family? certainly.

and on the subject of "judging", these phrases are in the christian bible, too:

# 1Cor. 6:2-3 Do you not know that the saints [the saved] will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

# Prov. 3:21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight;

# John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. (NB: while i no longer advocate debalconization or immurement, i still feel my judgment--as a peer [cat owner and human]--was valid).

# Jer. 22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness...

having had more than one cat (like kim), i can truly say i've learned more than a little about how they think and where they hide (or can get into and not out of). and because the lid is shut or the door is closed or whatever does NOT mean the kitty is not in there; the lid or door was not always closed, no matter what you think.

yes, of course we irate kitty-bloggers realized from the git-go that kitties are endowed with "amazing spirit and power"; from what i construe by considering the responses of the cat blogosphere folk is that we collectively decried the fact that poor bess had to live through such a horrible experience to demonstrate it, and that the story was presented in a light manner, rather than as a cautionary tale.

oh, and by the bye, ed, nitro and xing lu are "The MEOWERS from Missouri".

cheryl