sidd
It's not often that I disagree with you.
Perhaps house cats that were snatched from the wild react as you've described. My previous felines had all been quite similar to the "barn cats" you've accurately portrayed. My house was a large part of their territory, but they demanded access to all of their domain.
This pair were never exposed to the wild, or even our backyard. They had no knowledge of, nor attraction to anything beyond the bounds of our residence. An open door, even one leading out to an apartment hallway was something to avoid. Windowsills exposed to full sunlight were prefered places of repose, but the cats never displayed more interest in the outdoors than they did to scenes they viewed on television.
They weren't predatory, probably because they'd never observed predation. A few neighborhood cats in Vegas would come to visit from time to time and neither of our's showed any interest in defending their food. Probably the only "natural" instinct they displayed was in the territorial defence of a favored chair or carpet.
They certainly weren't cats that could have survived on their own at any stage of their existence, and as nanning mentioned their 'purpose' was ornamental, but they also provided and appreciated companionship.
Just as there is much more to human life than being productive, companionship is something that mammals at least require. These animals might not have protected our grainery, but they provided companionship that was as important to us as a rat free grain might be to a farmer.
My wife claims that she was attracted to me in part after meeting my dog. She was not much larger than a good sized cat, but without the excitability that so many dogs of her size display.
She'd also been separated from her mother far too early.
She naturally house broke herself and had never been trained nor expected to do anything but what she wanted to do. The wife had raised a succession of dogs with her previous husband, they were well trained dogs that would follow any number of verbal commands. Carole had never before met a dog that had been allowed to simply be a dog. One that interacted with people without fear or any sense that people needed to be appeased or appealed to, she was her own person, as a dog, and she viewed us as companions, rather than as masters. No alphas to fear, resist, or to acquiesce to.
She too was a wonderful companion that lived a happy life.
If feeding and caring for these companions was immoral, I'm afraid you'll have to live with the knowledge that you've been conversing with an unrepentant sinner. My interactions with these animals certainly increased their longevity, and if the quality of their life was somehow negatively affected they gave no indication that this was so.
Terry
