I have to admit this pitting is presumptive - I may be wrong in my assumptions.
Last week, when I was coming home I found an orange/yellow tabby cat in the front hallway of my apartment building. I assumed it had simply walked out of someone’s apartment, and thought nothing more of it - then.
It is now Thursday of this week. I was coming into the apartment building again by the back way, and saw the same cat, now without the flea collar it had had on last week, and yowling, either wanting out or in somewhere. I tried ignoring the silly thing, but couldn’t do it. I got out a bowl of milk and seduced the cat into my apartment. Then set up ‘Found Cat’ notices, hoping I’m wrong - and the former neighbors who’d just moved out didn’t simply kick the cat out of their apartment and leave.
However, I’m a pessimist.
If I don’t hear from anyone about the cat w/in 72 hours (maybe less - I don’t have a litter box or anything else for keeping a cat) I’m going to have to take the cat to the animal shelter. I’m just pissed that the former owners (if that’s what has happened - I may be wrong.) didn’t have the decency to do it themselves. Asshats.
I see something like what happened to margin’s cat, or anyone else who’s lost a pet through someone else’s carelessness… then this nonsense - taking on a pet is a life-long commitment. If you can’t keep it, you don’t abandon the animal. That’s just the coward’s way out. Leaving other people to clean up after you.
You’d like my mom. She once trapped a stray kitty, took it to the vet, had it neutered, brought him home, then ultimately found a good home for him. Then, when our apartment complex started charging pet rent, and our next-door neighbor decided to deal with the situation by shoving their four-month-old kitten out the door (cat? no, we don’t have a cat), and it climbed up on our balcony and came in through the pet door, she did the same- the two kitties ended up in the same home. Of course, Mom bonded with the first one, and was sad that we had to give him away, and I bonded with the second one, and didn’t want to give him away, but we already have two cats, who bonded with them both and wondered for a while if they really had a stable home, because they didn’t understand the concept of kitty foster care.
That was back when we were both making enough money that we could afford it. Now we trap abandoned cats and just take them straight to the shelter, which makes me sad, because they’re such sweet kitties. I pray that they find good homes.
I can’t tell you how many people drop off cats in our yard. We HAD two but now we have four. Several times a year we have to take strays to the vet and find homes for them. Some we can never catch so they just wander off.
Sometimes the cats are so sick that we can’t save them and they need to be put down. It’s nuts the things people do when they get tired of caring for a pet.
I know what you mean. At one point I’d shared a house near a major intersection and we’d had some asshats dropping off their ‘used’ pets there. I ended up making a few runs to the animal shelter from there.
The good news here, at least, is that one of my neighbors has adopted the cat (a neutered, declawed male :rolleyes: yeah right it’s an effing stray…) and is hoping to keep and care for him. And I no longer have to worry about trying to keep him out of my clean laundry. (I don’t know why, but whenever I share space with a cat they always use my clean laundry for a litterbox. And people wonder why I am not fond of cats…)
My cat Thomas was a discarded stray, probably by a college student (I lived between two large student apartment complexes when I found him). He had a ripped ear, all canine teeth broken, horrible ear mites, covered in motor oil, and infected with FIV. He was clearly someone’s pet because he was so sweet and grateful to be brought in my house. He got really fat and happy, and I loved him, but he only lived 7 years. :mad:
All of my cats were discarded, and one of them also has FIV from his life on the streets. I think the attitude that pets are disposable is reprehensible (which is how I had 7 cats at one point; I couldn’t turn them away). At the very least, get them sprayed or neutered, and if you decide you don’t want them, please bring them to a shelter or find them a home.
I like you, OtakuLoki . You care. We need more people who care.
I think people who treat pets as disposable playthings should be given the same justice as people who abandon their children. Pets are just as dependent as a child. I can’t believe the idiocy of people who abandon a pet in a field, forest, etc. thinking, “They’ll fend for themselves; a cat can catch mice, etc.”. Abandoning a domestic animal will not take the domestication out of that animal. It’s no wonder that these poor feral cats that you see are always dirty and injured in some way.
My pets are like my kids. I couldn’t imagine just giving up on them and leaving them somewhere. And I can’t imagine how anyone else could.
The cat sounds sweet. I hope he finds a good home.
You always hear about people telling their kids that they took the cat to the farm as a euphemism for death. Sometimes, though, they really do take the cat to a farm – only they just toss it off in the front yard and drive away at high speed, while the poor little kitty is still shocked from being so cruelly evicted.
It happens all the time on our farm. :mad: Sometimes they drop off bags of garbage at the same time. Treating a kitty like trash. :mad::mad:
One of our housecats was a garbage-dropped cat. Mcdonnel Douglas was about ten when he was dropped off and we had him for about eleven more years. He had so much loving in him. Even when he got so old that he just couldn’t get around anymore, he still purred when you entered the room.
We can’t take every kitty that gets dropped off, but we feed our barn cats and take care of them if they get sick. Usually the ones that are abandoned get adopted into the herd and live out happy, bouncy outdoor years. (Not if they’re declawed – then they get whisked off to someone who can care for them.)
Stupid people. The country does not equal Cat Paradise.
All of our girls are throw-away critters. Actually, most of the animals I’ve had over the years have been dumped or given away. My parents live in a rural area about ten miles out of town, far enough out to count as country but close enough to be convenient, so their place is a prime dumping ground. It’s a horrible, disgusting, sickening practice, but Mom and Dad’s dog greatly benefited from it. She was absolutely skeletal and terrified of everything. That first night, she was even afraid to eat. I had to lay in the floor (she freaked out if you were over her) and put kibble right next to her muzzle before she’d take it. Judging by the way she’d tense up her abdomen and scuttle away at the slightest thing, I’d guess her previous owners made a habit of kicking her in the stomach. And people wonder why I like most dogs better than most humans.
(On a brighter note, all that was nearly twelve years ago, and she’s been fat and sassy and running that house for a very long time now. I don’t know what my parents will do when they lose her.)
One thing – if you actuall did get the cat a bowl of milk, that’s not a good idea. I am speaking as the former ownee of a cat who could produce the most amazing stench-emanating diarrhea if he got into any dairy products whatsoever.
But that’s a Good Thing you’re doing. All the household critters were from rescues, except my betta, and if you knew how badly stores took care of those little guys you’d count him as a rescue as well.
I am right now dealing with a drop off pup. He is adorable and currently living in our house, but is a terrible escape artist. He’s so used to roaming about unleashed and free that he hates being walked on a leash or asked to do his business on it. He’s escaped several times (and I have experience with escapee dogs- this one is really good), but just an hour ago he came back and is in the house playing with my other mutts. As soon as I can keep him overnight and make sure he hasn’t eaten, he’s off to the vet to be neutered (which is why he’s roaming, I believe) then we’ll see if we can keep him or not. He’s the snuggliest dog evah.
Otakulaki, I think you deserve major bonus points for doing this, especially considering that you don’t even like cats! We definitely need more people in the world like you.
Zette, I just spent five minutes saying “That’s the cutest puppy ever!! He’s SO cute!” How could anybody not want to keep him?
:mad: