The ZA and pets [warning]
This topic could get very dark for some regarding our pets during an actual Zombie Apocalypse. I advise some not to read it.
The non dark part:
I wanted to start off with the fact that a huge majority of humanity has some kind of pet. Dog, Cat, hamster, fish. Whatever it may be. Now, I'm not going to focus on the lesser pets such as hamsters or fish or what can be considered the less noise producing pets.
Instead, this is going to focus on the louder pets such as dogs, cats.
From what is known, when it comes down to a ZA one of the survival aspects is to draw as little attention to yourself as possible. Which means you should not make noise as we all know that Zombies will follow a noise for miles out of instinct. (note the horde following the train in ep4)
With that in mind I have no doubt that a lot of the louder pets, mainly dogs and cats would attract a LOT of attention!
Cats:
While cats can run they can't defend themselves. They can try by hissing, or scratching or biting.. But that wouldn't deter a hungry Zombie so the cat just became dinner. In a family atmosphere they can be relatively quiet they still will be a drain on resources over time. Like many animals it doesn't take long for a house cat to become a feral cat when they are pushed into it. Some cats do like to meow or cry now and then so those types are dangerous to have around in the ZA.
Dogs:
These animals are the louder yet more protective of the two. Dogs in a protective mode against a human can overcome most and get away or hurt their attacker enough to deter them. Unfortunately a Zombie does not have the same fight or flight triggers as a normal human being. So while the dog may attack it will be putting itself in danger to being killed and eaten since the dog can't do enough damage to a Zombie to deter it from it's meal. In my opinion, dogs are the first species to be killed off.
So here we are in the Dark part:
You have a dog or a cat that make a lot of noise. It could easily encourage a Zombie horde to you and your family by barking or chasing after them and then running back to the home leading them to your family.
What is done with the pets we love? Do you kill them off in the beginning if they get loud or do you just let them bark and give away your position. Granted a lot of pets can be trained to not bark or make noise but a good portion of them are not so well trained.
I have to admit that I have a very loud dog. She just doesn't listen when she is told to be quiet. A person can walk down the street and she is barking at them. She barks at everything even if there is nothing to bark at. I have to admit here and now and say that my beloved pet would have to be killed in order to protect my family for either to prevent them from attracting Zombies to my home or to provide as an emergency food source for my family.
So there en-lies the question. What do you do with your loud pets? Do you kill them off, do you spare them, do you eat them, what do you do when your family is in danger due to the pet simply giving away your position?
The non dark part:
I wanted to start off with the fact that a huge majority of humanity has some kind of pet. Dog, Cat, hamster, fish. Whatever it may be. Now, I'm not going to focus on the lesser pets such as hamsters or fish or what can be considered the less noise producing pets.
Instead, this is going to focus on the louder pets such as dogs, cats.
From what is known, when it comes down to a ZA one of the survival aspects is to draw as little attention to yourself as possible. Which means you should not make noise as we all know that Zombies will follow a noise for miles out of instinct. (note the horde following the train in ep4)
With that in mind I have no doubt that a lot of the louder pets, mainly dogs and cats would attract a LOT of attention!
Cats:
While cats can run they can't defend themselves. They can try by hissing, or scratching or biting.. But that wouldn't deter a hungry Zombie so the cat just became dinner. In a family atmosphere they can be relatively quiet they still will be a drain on resources over time. Like many animals it doesn't take long for a house cat to become a feral cat when they are pushed into it. Some cats do like to meow or cry now and then so those types are dangerous to have around in the ZA.
Dogs:
These animals are the louder yet more protective of the two. Dogs in a protective mode against a human can overcome most and get away or hurt their attacker enough to deter them. Unfortunately a Zombie does not have the same fight or flight triggers as a normal human being. So while the dog may attack it will be putting itself in danger to being killed and eaten since the dog can't do enough damage to a Zombie to deter it from it's meal. In my opinion, dogs are the first species to be killed off.
So here we are in the Dark part:
You have a dog or a cat that make a lot of noise. It could easily encourage a Zombie horde to you and your family by barking or chasing after them and then running back to the home leading them to your family.
What is done with the pets we love? Do you kill them off in the beginning if they get loud or do you just let them bark and give away your position. Granted a lot of pets can be trained to not bark or make noise but a good portion of them are not so well trained.
I have to admit that I have a very loud dog. She just doesn't listen when she is told to be quiet. A person can walk down the street and she is barking at them. She barks at everything even if there is nothing to bark at. I have to admit here and now and say that my beloved pet would have to be killed in order to protect my family for either to prevent them from attracting Zombies to my home or to provide as an emergency food source for my family.
So there en-lies the question. What do you do with your loud pets? Do you kill them off, do you spare them, do you eat them, what do you do when your family is in danger due to the pet simply giving away your position?
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I'm sorry.
... did you just equate eating a dog with eating a human? With that sort of reaction I can only assume you've never spent longer than a week on a farm. If you have to kill an animal you do it, it's hard but if it has to be done then it has to be done.
My dog passed a few months ago. She was very sick so it was her time, but I don't know what I'd do if she was still alive. She was a collie, sweetest thing, but especially in her old age she got grouchy and would bark/growl if she was annoyed and went crazy around squirrels and people who walked up to the house without greeting her. She never bit though; she nipped at ankles because she was an alpha dog, but nothing beyond that.
She was my first dog and probably my only dog. If she was still alive... well, I guess it depends if we're taking her illness into consideration. If things went to shit and didn't get better within a few weeks, if she had survived but was sick, we probably would have tried to put her down as peacefully as possible and dispose of her body. If she was healthy... she was a smart dog. The first few weeks would be rough but she loved us and wanted to please, so we could probably teach her to be quiet. And even if we couldn't, I'd keep her. If there was a disagreement within my family, I wouldn't let them kill her and convince them to let her loose.
My cats are quiet so would be fine also.
If you have kids killing and eating your family pet isn't good for your (or kids) mental health. I would do it if we were starved but then eating the fucking dog will only help for about a day with food then what??? kids next? I mean I know it's a dog and not a person but I AM A PERSON and eating your dog IS just as bad as eating some survivor thats a stranger. Tell the military you killed and ate your dog...they will proly put you down with the walkers cuz it's not ok....NOT! whatever I'm dumb and would proly die but at least I would still have my humanity....jesus.
This is my last post on these forums. what the fuck. Not having fun talking about killing my dog...gave me fucking nightmares. Hope you all enjoy the 5th episode and have a happy thanksgiving. Peace out;)
I will not kill a pet, the fate of a life is not for my hands to choose.
My vote would be to keep a large quiet breed of dog, even if it means taking a friendly neighbor's dog. In the beginning of the ZA, food and water will be plentiful, so feeding is less problematic. The protection and companionship more than outweighs any downsides.
To me killing an animal, pet or not, is different than a human -- hunters kill animals all the time and as one I have to keep to the mindset that animals are not people. Even if my family would hate me for doing what needed to be done, at least I would know I did the right thing to keep them alive.
EDIT: Doing that to my dog would break my heart, and if I was on my own or in a group of four or less I would keep him alive despite whatever issues it would bring on.
to hell with PETA and humane society. In the hierarchy humans are on top and all others must bend to our needs and will.
I couldn't set my pet free, they are house animals, no front claws, incapable of killing a lot of things and I would never want a zombie to grab them and rip them to shreds. It's just an extremely difficult burden, and I don't want to force them into a cold world where they slowly starve to death...
The proper big dog might be workable however, or if you're able to quickly find a safety zone that is capable of harboring animals (but we all know how often that works out...)
Tbh I am shocked that so many people would slaughter their own pet.
OK first off, provide proof of your first sentence. That's a statement that absolutely requires evidence to back it up. Provide peer reviewed studies, show that you're not just being reactionary and talking out of your arse.
Also really nice to know that you consider your fellow Humans as little more than dogs. Great showing of that "Humanity" you mentioned.
When I was eight my step dad brought home two calves. Over the next twelve months I fed them, I talked to them, I played with them, I got into trouble with them. I remember after we weened them off their bottles the way each one would drink from their buckets, one did it fine but the other would always practically drown himself in the milk, head all the way in until he'd drunk it all. They were more pets to me than the two pups we had at that time. After those twelve months my step dad slit their throats, gutted them, skinned them and hung their carcasses up right next to my swings behind the chicken shed.
I thought I'd put this out there so others can see where I'm coming from. Growing up on a farm that's just one of many animal deaths I witnessed. I learnt to get over the initial shock horror and knee jerk reaction that people here are displaying, as a child.
Don't mistake my ability to put my dogs down to anything less than necessity. A little over five years ago I watched my pet dog, one that I got soon after the two pups I mentioned (they drowned in a sewage pit BTW) get very sick. She was 17 so it was getting to the time where quality of life starts going down hill. I was in tears when I took her to the vet to get put down, but we'd already had her checked up and the vet told us it was that or watch her slowly die. As much as it hurt to see her eyes close that last time I couldn't bare the thought of putting her through all that pain and suffering just so I could selfishly have some more time with her.
Now, given the choice between killing a loud dog or letting it go I'd kill it. I want those of you who have outright condemned that decision to stay up there on your moral high horses for this next bit. Consider this, your dog is more than likely domesticated. You let the dog go and you've justified your highly moral actions and are still living in a happy-go-lucky zombie apocalypse. You kept your warm moral feelings so that dog could then run out, suffer and starve before it's unable to run from a group of zombies and spends the last ten or so minutes of life yelping and whimpering in pure incomprehensible agony as they angrily tear it limb from limb and eat it alive. Would that thought wake you in the night, or would your morals be happy with "out of sight, out of mind"?
I don't know about you, but this "sick, disgraceful, inhuman, thoughtless bastard" as you "moral" people all labelled me, couldn't sleep with the mere thought of that happening to them.
Although I couldn't even comprehend having to kill a healthy dog for the sake of survival. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. In my eyes, killing a dog is the same as killing a member of your family. I understand your reasons for wanting to kill it, but there must be another way surely. I couldn't live with myself if I had to take the life of my own dog.
This is my 2yr old labrador who is my 7yr olds first dog, we got him at 9 weeks old and his name Christian(but if you look at the pic you will see his true identity:p)Attachment not found.
Wasn't trying to be so harsh but turning cannibal to survive zombies is hardly surviving at all IMO
Sorry if I offended anyone but I took offense to people eating their pups;)
NOT dying for them
However just thought I'd point out, if you had a small baby in your family, one that couldn't defend itself or help your family, would you kill it because it makes a lot of noise and wastes food for those that can help? I sure hope your answer is no, as that would be mine. It's exactly for that reason that I wouldn't kill my cats.
If I need to, it's either him or me.
It will be him.
Why resort to violence?
Let's say you are inside a burning building, and you notice a human baby in one corner, and a box containing who puppies in another. Your time is running out and you have to choose whether to grab the baby or the dogs.
Which one do you go for?
baby every time, i would think it would be disgraceful to even debate who to save, i love all animals and think they are amazing but humans are more important, that doesn't mean i think humans should be allowed to be cruel to animals it just means that in a situation like this humans win
Baby of course, and I wouldn't kill my own pets even if they do make a racket
or would it preferable for a zombie or human to sneak up on you?
so the question is. would you gut a baby because it was crying? its not useful, it puts the group in danger, it eats all your supplies...more reason to kill that than the dog. least the dog gives you warning of danger...be at least 10 years before the baby is of use to the group
I think she'd be a perfect ZA partner (if she didn't bark?) (hence I wrote her in as a pretty nifty sidekick). And she's in shape and listens to commands well. She can run with me without a leash and still stay close.
As to draining supplies...one ziploc baggie (sandwich sized, filled) would feed her once a day for probably two weeks. She could possibly have scraps too?
Eh, just ball parking the food situation.
Keeping a barking/meowing/hissing pet during a Zombie Apocalypse is like covering yourselves in bells and doing the chicken-dance at town hall's courtyard.
You couldn't ring a louder dinner bell, and it's a two-course meal at least for the zombies!
People keep mentioning getting muzzles for their animals during the Zombie Apocalypse but...finding a muzzle probably isn't the highest of my priorities...just sayin'.
You know what I can find? Toilet paper. I'd eat my own dog and I look forward to eating all of yours when you get yourself made into human Happy Meals!
I will grow fat on the flesh of your beasts!
I feel like this is a bit of an ignorant statement. Dogs can be trained quite well to do pretty much anything, so your sweeping generalization is really wrong. It's also under my impression that animals can't be turned in the walking dead universe because the z-virus is human specific.
Also, even a relatively untrained dog can outrun some of the fastest human runners - so a trained dog could even be used to 'cull' a zombie herd to specific positions and then run back. If you had a pack of dogs you could use one to distract and train the others to attack the ones that fall behind. I think honestly though, they'd probably be better used as distractions.
Dogs also can hear tones that the human ear cannot, so a dog whistle could be used to coordinate over short distances.
Most domesticated dogs aren't trained for survival situations though, so yes - many probably would die off.
The box of puppies.
Being human isn't a license for superiority. In fact it is the human idea that they are somehow more important than other life forms that is the reason our planet is so screwed now.
What good does the average human do? 99% of humans are already zombies and would lie cheat and steal from you just to advance their own materialistic greed.
Look at these animals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOm8giTUOXs
This is over cheap chinese slave goods. Imagine what they would do if SHTF.
Box of puppies everytime. Box of puppies.
It wouldn't be openly wrong to let your pet be out of sight out of mind if it means you'll be in the right mind to think about your own survival. I know if I had to put a bullet in my perfectly fine pet, I'd have a hard time dealing with the demons trying to kill me due to my weakened mental state. By having an unsure fate, one can at least reason that the pet could very well be alive, and therefore have a fact to take comfort in, allowing a much more focused and able survivor as opposed to one that is a sobbing train-wreck.
Humans developed penicillin, landed on the moon, invented every device you use through your day, and generally can eat any other creature on the planet.
When your box of puppies cures cancer, then your argument will be valid.
Until then, I'm not "pretty" sure I'm superior to animals, I know I am.
...man, when the ZA hits, there's going to be a LOT of hippie zombies...
Edit: Oh, and fact: if you were to die in a contained space, your cat would start eating you within twelve hours. Fact.
Beat the cat to the punch...
As far as we know (going by TWD zombies) only humans are effected by the virus that causes zombification after death. The animals are immune to the bites and quite a lot of dogs should be able to escape a human or two if they need to with the cost of getting a few injuries. Some dogs are intellegent enough to know when it's time to fight or run and I think you could probably teach a dog or it will learn on it's own that barking or growling at the dead humans has no effect and will only cause more danger so will avoid doing so and most likely stay quiet if it's owner or whoever it's protecting is staying quiet.
I think it's possible you'd be able to have a dog with you in a ZA depending on it's breed, Chihauhuas would most likely not be all that much use even if it's trained to be quiet but a larger protective dog like a Retriever, Doberman, German Shepard or Rotweiller would not only have a more fighting chance and better odds of escaping but if it's got a close enough bond to it's group it would do just about anything to help by protecting young children or being able to alert it's owners of danger due to being able to smell or hear the dead much earlier than we'd be able to.
I am Legend is probably the closest thing we'd see to as an example to how helpful a dog would be in a ZA, I know the creatures in I am Legend were not exactly zombies but you have the remember that the main character managed to survive in a world with (FAST) zombie like creatures for 3 years by himself with only his dog companion until sadly the diseases that caused humans to be effected started crossing the species barrier and effected his dog. So long as the animals are still immune and were smart enough to know how to survive for the sake of your group and not to make noise then theyed be useful but if I found out a new strain started to effect animals then I'd treat it like I would any human who was bitten and just end it's suffering before it turns.