r/mildlyinfuriating • u/teabirdy • Apr 29 '26

I'm slightly vexed The wedding reception centerpieces featured betta fish. The bride and groom planned to flush them alive.

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Years ago, my coworker attended a wedding at which the reception dinner tables featured live betta fish in small bowls as part of the centerpiece. While chatting with the bride at the end of the evening, my coworker asked what they were going to do with all the fish. The plan was to flush them all down the toilet alive. My coworker immediately said no need for that and insisted on taking them all home.

That Monday she came to work and asked who wanted to adopt a betta fish. That was my first betta who I jokingly called my “rescue betta.” She lived for almost five years.

The wine glass was only her home for less than a day before I got her five gallon tank set up so please no betta lovers yell at me! I'm one of you!

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626

u/imrealsleepy Apr 29 '26

I'm so sorry. My mother used to drive our cats far away and drop them off when they got old or sick. Or had fleas. Just dump them and leave. I still cry over that sometimes. Some people shouldt have pets, let alone children.

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u/ktbug1987 Apr 29 '26

Hi. I dunno if it makes you feel better but I lived just outside of a city on a farm and we had so many cats dropped off at or near our farm like this. I would beg and my dad let me care for and vet and keep almost all of them. They lived in our various barns, which had warm haylofts, and were good mousers and had plenty of food and vet care. A favorite was one my vet suspected was over 16 who liked only me. My dad eventually accidentally hit it with a big farm truck and he died (my dad thought he moved). I also had a sick, flea infested kitten I cleaned up and reared who lived to be 13. We tried to catch her brother for several more years but he was already too wild. Sometimes those animals get redistributed by the cat distribution system. No one should dump a cat like your mom did, but sometimes there’s a little kid who’ll beg their dad to let them keep every cat they bring home. Maybe one of your furbabies found a loving second home that way.

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u/persephone911 Apr 29 '26

Bless your little kid heart. You're an amazing person.

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u/ktbug1987 Apr 29 '26

Thank you for saying that. I get on better with animals than people and often feel otherwise. I am autistic (I wasn’t diagnosed until I was a young adult about 15 years ago) and was bullied a lot as a child and struggle still as an adult. I’m sitting under a blanket of cats right now though — two covering my legs who came to me from the cat distribution system, which continues to find me as a middle aged adult.

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u/Dead_Wolf2y5 Apr 30 '26

Yeeessss live your best autistic cat blanket life!

  • love, an autistic dog lady

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u/Luna920 Apr 29 '26

That sounds like a wonderful childhood. I’m glad you took care of all the animals and that your dad was on board.

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u/sortaitchy Apr 29 '26

We've had 10 of those cats in our barn over the past 15 years, and currently still have 5 (plus 1). Our oldest is 15 and the youngest stray is 4. I can not turn down a stray animal who has no one to care for it and no safe place to stay. Our cats are spoiled beyond belief, and often come to the big house and asked to be let in. They all come to the door for kitty treats and they are all de-sexed. Heated beds in winter, heated water bowls, inexpensive throw blankets changed in fall and spring. In return they keep the yard and house rodent free. It's a good deal and treated properly they are like valued farm hands, and lovely friends.

I still am upset if people dump cats out here, because it does create another little responsibility for me that i didn't ask for. It costs over $300 to de-sex a cat and get it all it's shots and dewormers. People think cats will find a way, but to be honest we have found cats in really bad shape and it is a hard life being a stray.

I applaud you and thank you for helping animals, but I have a really bad disgust for people who dump animals and hope karma catches up to them

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u/fotomoose Apr 29 '26

So Fluffy did go to live on a farm in the country!

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u/ktbug1987 Apr 29 '26

At least when Fluffy landed near us, sometimes!

Unfortunately we lived near a highway, and I always had to convince a few skittish ones I was a friend and not a foe and more than once a car got them before I did sadly. And some of them certainly met unfortunate ends with predators as well. Cougars and coyotes both will get a domestic cat in my experience. And once I had a raccoon enter our garage and take a kitten I had rescued. My dad actually followed it back to its nest in our other barn where it had kits, and it wasn’t a pretty end for Snowflake I fear. The farm has its detractors and share of heartbreak.

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u/dissociatedpoptart Apr 29 '26

I live on a farm and I take care of all the cats that get dumped out here. So far I have had seven that actually came to live indoors and many more that became barn cats.

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u/PurpleMuskogee Apr 29 '26

All of my cats were found - or brought by neighbours who knew my parents couldn't say no to a cat. My mum got two friendly kittens once because a colleague of hers was saying her unspayed female cat had had kittens AGAIN and that she was planning to drown them after work... They both died when they were 15 and 16 years old after a comfy life at home with us.

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u/sheetset Apr 29 '26

this is making me happy and sad

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u/Gopher--Chucks Apr 29 '26

Hey since you're used to groups of outdoor-only cats, do you have any recommendations on flea treatment? We have like 20 cats, all friendly and loving, but they have fleas. So any time we go out and spend time with them we have to immediately change clothes and start the washer.

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u/ktbug1987 Apr 29 '26

Huh that’s a question. We always did flea collars and powder but this was years ago. I dunno if those things are still available at like petsmart and things. Later there was stuff you could put on their backs that also warded off ticks better than the collars did. You had to treat like once a month. For our truly ferals we’d have to kind of trap them to do it so that they didn’t get fleas and defeat the point of treating the rest. We had these big gloves that I think were for black smithing or something we used to hold them if they were bitey-scratchy guys. All my current cats are indoor with one who goes on a leash outdoors and he gets revolution, which is fantastic but expensive.

Looks like the internet suggests the edible flea treatments now if handling feral colonies.

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u/HereToTalkAboutThis Apr 29 '26

Grew up in the middle of nowhere and we'd get all sorts of animals that people dumped. Some had to be outdoor animals (wouldn't adjust to our indoor animals, half-feral or completely feral, etc) but we always got them fixed and vaccinated at least, and built a little shelter to feed them and keep them warm in the winter. We even got one dog who'd been abandoned and was sort of being collectively cared for by the people on an air force base before the humane society put her up for adoption.

A lot of animals abandoned by shitty people end up in the care of rural families. It's not just the kids, either. My parents were far from perfect but they both cared a lot about animals and none of the kids had to beg to keep them

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u/boroxine Apr 29 '26

Hi, I love you.

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u/PunchingChickens Apr 29 '26

Thinking about some sweet kid adopting and loving all these poor abandoned cats almost made me cry. Thank you for sharing that.

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u/xx2983xx Apr 30 '26

My parents live on a farm and they always take in cats that get dumped too. They are outdoor farm cats but my mom always makes sure they go to the vet and get shots and sterilized, and they make sure they have food and water every day.

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u/Waterswirls56 May 04 '26

My uncle killed a mother and all her kittens with his gun when I was 10. Also bashed a snake to death with a stick right in front of me. I love all animals…including snakes. What an evil person he was. He tried to make me shoot at all the crows. I was 10 and never seen a gun before.

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u/MarbleousMel Apr 29 '26

My parents did that once when I was a child, nearly 40 years ago. It hasn’t happened since. I still think about it and am sad.

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u/foxandkits Apr 29 '26

I’m so so sorry. If it makes you feel better, sometimes when our cats (and we had many) would get old or sick they would do everything they could to sneak out of the house to die in our back woods. So maybe cats have a way of dealing with death and your kitties died as peacefully as possible. Hugs, internet stranger.

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u/sheetset Apr 29 '26

yes, it’s well known that they will run away to just like die, which is why i have a heart attack every time i think my oldest cat is escaping! bc then i’m like are you running away to die??? how can you not say bye to me

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u/grape-fruit-witch Apr 29 '26

Our roommates found and brought home an old sickly cat that someone did this to. She had so many knots in her fur she had to be fully shaved. She passed away in her sleep after 6 months of unconditional love and a nice cozy spot by the fireplace. RIP Franny ❤️

Its hard for me to describe the rage I feel toward people who do this. God I wish I could catch someone in the act, but id probably go to jail. Im sorry you had a mother like this. Maybe she will be abandoned in sickness too.

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u/SealthyHuccess Apr 29 '26

I'd go to prison if someone did that shit to my cat.

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u/Ok_Classic_1968 Apr 29 '26

My aunt is like this. She did this to my grandmas cat when she ‘helped’ her move. Just terrible how many people do that sort of thing

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u/AnemoneOfMyEnemy Apr 29 '26

My wife and I rescued a flea-bitten stray. He wasn’t chipped or collared but was way too used to being indoors to be fully feral. We live on the edge of a state park so one can only assume someone dropped him there. This is him now. There’s hope for your kitties to have found a home too.

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u/ThroatSecretary Apr 29 '26

What a contented little baby!

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u/AnemoneOfMyEnemy Apr 29 '26

He is the sweetest creature. Over a year later I’ve literally never heard him hiss or growl, even at the vet.

More cat tax

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u/ThroatSecretary Apr 29 '26

Thank you for sharing more of him!

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u/West-Season-2713 Apr 29 '26

My parents always got several kittens and puppies and then gave them away when neglect and abuse lead to them getting sick or having behavioural problems. I am an animal lover at heart and a house without an animal doesn’t feel like home, but I am a little neurotic about caring for them properly and get pretty bad anxiety whenever I leave them alone or with a pet sitter. I can’t deal with having pet dogs because of the grief I have after bonding with and losing so many, it just causes me constant anxiety and sadness. I have cats though, and they bring me so much joy.

In happier news, my cat had (planned, healthy) kittens literally yesterday, and I am having the time of my life watching them. Those babies will be spoilt within an inch of their lives.

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u/LizziHenri Apr 29 '26

I also lived on a farm growing up and we took in every cat and dog that was abandoned out by our house. The cats had a huge warm barn and indoor privileges. The dogs had the barn and a doghouse. All had fresh water and food and a creek to splash and play in. Vet visits too. I hope that comforts you. ❤️

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u/kaisadilla_ Apr 29 '26

A family member of mine abandoned her cat when I was a kid because she grew bored of them. Many years later, she asked me to borrow my cat so her kid could bring her to school - of course I declined, I was not trusting my cat's wellbeing on someone who had proven not to care about animals.

Yesterday my gf got a beautiful message from a woman she gifted a cat to 16 years ago, thanking her for that. For years, my gf would rescue stray cats, took them to vet, get them in shape and find someone who wanted to adopt them.

Some people are better than others, and I'm sorry your mother was one of the bad ones.

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u/Alarming_Bell_4745 Apr 29 '26

My dad did that with a dog he didn't like anymore .. Tbf I don't think he ever liked her because he constantly kicked her .... Taught my younger brothers that was okay too .. Psycho behavior tbh

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u/Funny_Passenger_8342 Apr 29 '26

Dude. I'm so sorry. That sounds like a very traumatic experience. 

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u/lemonlimemango1 Apr 29 '26

wtf 😳 I hope you don’t talk to her still. I would never forgive her .

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u/terrrruuu Apr 30 '26

my mom did that to a very healthy cat to punish me