An update on all this. The people next door have continued to allow these kittens to be outdoors, despite their young age. Neither of them have collars or tags. They’re always looking for affection and food.
The woman who got them for her kids went on vacation with the kids and left the care of the cats with other family members. The grandparents also went on vacation, leaving their dog and cat and the two kittens in the care of the one remaining daughter and granddaughter, who also have a cat and a dog. The mother has a baby with developmental issues, so abdicates that responsibility to her five-year-old daughter. So the kittens have been let loose all day long to get into mischief or die or who gives a shit.
Yesterday, both of them were playing out in front of our house, being cute. A couple of young women/older teen girls were walking by and started gushing over the kittens. As they walked out of my field of view, I saw the kittens run after them. A bit later, the orange one was crying outside our door and black one was nowhere in sight. Then the remaining woman and kids departed town on their vacation, without bothering to make sure the orange kittie was inside the house. We took it in, figuring it was going to have to stay the night with us, but yet another person showed up to spend the night in the house and we turned it over to her.
It’s now 24 hours later and the black one is still missing and obviously was taken home by someone. The woman and two kids came home this afternoon and of course they’re upset that one of the kittens is missing. She sent the kids over to find out what happened instead of coming herself :rolleyes: probably knowing she’d catch hell from me.
I’m actually glad somebody else has that kitten. Perhaps it’s somebody who actually ought to own a pet instead of this fucking moron next door. I hope somebody steals the other one. :mad:
Is there a chance you can offer to take the orange one off her hands since she obviously doesn’t have the capability of taking care of it? The five year old can still play with the kitty; it’d be right next door!
Now that it’s become habituated to being an outdoor cat, I would not be willing to take it on. I would worry about it all the damn time when it’s out (I do as it is). In the three years we’ve been here, they’ve had three cats and a dog (just this part of the family; there are still two other dogs and two other cats in the house). The first cat was killed in traffic. The dog was a collie that was never trained, and which was confined to their tiny yard, which drove it to psychotic barking and lunging at passers-by. She finally had to give it away, or at least I’m assuming that’s what happened to it. Now the kittens, one of which has been taken. I fear its brother won’t last too long. It makes me irrationally angry at them, which is not good for my blood pressure.
Both. I told them what I saw and they seem spectacularly disinterested and unconcerned. I mentioned putting up fliers on this block in hopes the person who took the kitten would see it, but none have appeared so far. So…fuck it, I guess.
We got our last cat in about the same way…negligent parents left the kitten outside while they took a trip, without any real care taken to make sure it was fed and watered.
Chaos spent most of her life up til then as an outside kitty who was occasionally allowed inside. She is perfectly happy to be an inside only kitty now, and has never shown the slightest interest in going outside. She LIKES having a steady supply of noms and fresh water and pettings.
However, it would be hard to take in a neighbor’s cat, if the neighbor has kids who like the cat.
Outside cats can become good inside cats. All of mine were strays who don’t even look at the door anymore. Out here, the laws about roaming cats says that if they come into your yard, they are yours if you want them. Just saying…cause that orange kitten makes me want him, and I have sworn off kittens for the rest of my life.
Just to throw this out there - Once kitten is neutered and kept indoors, he will be a perfectly happy indoor kitty. The rescue I work for takes in nothing but strays, that all get spayed/neutered and turned into indoor-only cats in short order. Once a cat is getting all he/she needs inside the house - food, attention, removal of reproductive organs - they’re perfectly happy to stay in, and the “need” to go outside to get said food, attention, sex, is gone.
Left outside to do whatever, there will be more kittens soon.
We have two cats that have been nothing BUT indoor cats. And they sure DO want to go outside! They don’t go far when they do escape, 'cause they’re too busy smelling every bush and leaf, but still, I think it’s a little much to say cats will never want to go outside.
I do agree that outdoor cats can become content indoor cats, though, and won’t eat you in your sleep if you keep them in even though they want to go outside and chase things.
At least, mine haven’t…so FAR.
Next month we move to a house with a yard, as opposed to the tiny condo they’ve known their whole lives. They’d have a lot more room in the house alone, but things are going to be interesting regarding the yard. I’d be happy with keeping them in the house, but something tells me that the puppy we are also receiving when we move is going to pique their interest, especially when HE gets to go outside and THEY can’t!
Well, the final scene has played out. I saw the orange kitty two days ago playing in the bushes outside the house. Yesterday, the moron who owns them came to the house with one of her kids: “Have you seen Sunny?” Not since yesterday, why? Well now he’s missing too. Dead silence while I stared at her in disbelief, then glanced down at the weepy child and decided not to say what was on my mind. I have a bad feeling about this kitten. It was out all night, apparently, and there are feral cats, urban coyotes, raccoons, and stray dogs to deal with, not to mention traffic. Honest to god, this woman needs a warning sign hung around her neck to keep her from adopting more animals. Whenever I mention collars and tags, I just get blank stares from everyone who lives there.
I might have told her in no uncertain terms what was likely to have happened, the kid is going to get lots more of this anyway given the stupidity of the mother, maybe the child in tears and asking a few questions in only the way children can would have concentrated her mind.
I’ve avoided confronting her in order to maintain good relations with the other people that live in the house. But this is becoming close to animal abuse, or at the very least, gross irresponsibility. While I don’t think animal control would have responded to this situation, if I see her with more replacement cats sans collars and tags, I’m going to call them anyway. And Mr. Niceguy will be taking a vacation.
I had an evil thought: kneeling down to look the kid straight in the eye and saying quietly,
“I’m sorry your mommy doesn’t love you enough to even put a simple tag and collar on your kitty.”
That said, I 100% understand wanting to avoid confrontation to people who live right near you. I wonder if the Humane Society or local SPCA might have ideas for you?
I’m thinking I might be able to sell a neglect complaint if I see the same thing happening again. Thing is, they’re fed and have access to shelter, and are reasonably groomed. There’s no law about letting your cats stay outdoors, so I pretty much only have the fact that they’re not tagged to hang my hat on. Perhaps I should just mind my own business.
I can’t imagine laws for cats being different than for dogs, so being outside all night might not be against regulation, but being out all night with no tags and loose probably is.
Sorry you have to deal with all that, Chefguy.
And we are definitely getting collars/tags for our cats before letting them even in the yard in the new place. So far they really HATE even the fairly lose, breakaway collars we’ve attempted many, many times, but they definitely are not going anywhere without a collar. Period. They can just stay indoor cats forever, albeit with a lot more room than they’ve had, if they can’t tolerate a collar.
Maybe after seeing the puppy running around outside with a collar will change their mind about it.
Do you know where the kittens came from? If she did adopt them from a shelter, I’d be surprised if there isn’t an indoor only clause in the adoption contract. They would be very interested to hear about what happened with these kittens.
If the shelters in your area work anything like the ones around here, we all talk to each other, and when someone’s on a “do not adopt” list at one shelter, they quickly get added to all the other shelters.
That doesn’t help if she acquires her animals from “friends,” as people who treat them as you’ve described often do. The only other thing I can think of is whether you’re sure your area doesn’t have leash laws. People often assume leash laws apply only to dogs, but if you pull up the actual written municipal code, the law applies to all pets, which includes cats. Sometimes the language includes “running at large” being against muni code, and would apply to any family pet allowed to run around outside without either fence for containment or under control of a leash. Getting a cop to come by and actually issue a ticket for someone letting their cat outside is, of course, another matter entirely!
Craigslist. Relieves them of any responsibility, apparently. There is a collar/tag law here, but few people apply it to their cats. There are a lot of loose cats in this neighborhood and we know a lot of them by name. But any time you see a kitten out loose, it’s not long before the “Lost Kitty” posters start appearing.
Awww. A sad, but not unforseen ending to the story. I had hoped that the wee kitties would end up with you, **Chefguy. ** I really wish kittens weren’t so easy to come by and perceived by so many as so disposable.
Yikes. I’ve been seriously considering moving to Portland when I retire. If the animal welfare laws aren’t similar or better than here, though, it might not turn out to be much of a retirement, going to work on the city/county codes! It’s tough here as it is, and the leash laws are in place, though the newer TNR laws allowing ferals to belong to managed colonies might be confusing people again…
Your neighbor sounds like a real peach. I honestly probably would have handled things similarly to how you have. Especially without laws in place to back me up. There’s not much worse than hatred between neighbors, to trying to stay civil is important. Too bad her children are suffering for it as well as the pets. Hopefully they’ll learn better, and it makes me feel better to think maybe someone just took this little kitty home like the other one.
People here are generally rabid about pet and animal welfare. The cats that we see in the 'hood are well-cared for, and most have collars/tags. Some were rescue cats and won’t tolerate a collar. Dogs are almost always on-leash, and people are very good about cleaning up poop. In fact, yesterday our neighbor was out working on his trailer (which looks like something the Joads would own), and his damn dog was loose. Someone walking by stopped and asked if that was his dog. Yes. “Well, you need to go clean up the load he just dropped over there on the grass. And by the way, there are leash laws here.” I wanted to applaud.
I’d be happy with keeping them in the house, but something tells me that the puppy we are also receiving when we move is going to pique their interest, especially when HE gets to go outside and THEY can’t!
