I pit my fucking cruel neighbours - Part 1

The BBQ Pit
1

Last Thursday night my girlfriend from the street knocked on my door about dinner time. “Do you know who owns this cat?”. I did not know the cat but was astonished at such a tiny bag of bones, and promptly took custody of waif, which apparently was yowling about my front fence, obviously distressed. I proceeded to take in the most undernouished cat I’ve ever seen. Pretty little tortoishell, tattooed ear, so obviously de-sexed, holy shit! This pathetic sad little bundle was obviously someone’s pet. Coaxed kitty to eat some food, drink watered down milk, and promptly put her in front of the heater (winter has set in). She didn’t move until the next morning. When I let her out, she did a peculiar thing, she dragged herself to my neighbours house.

Mid-morning at work, something twanged in my brain - this was the normally sleek robust cat of my neighbours. Now, last time I saw this skittish cat, it was sleek, fat and happy. The cat I took care of the night before was a severely anorexic version of same cat. I went next door after work and visited neighbour, whom we shall call Sheridan, to protect the guilty. “Ummm, is your cat sick?” I ask. “Oh yeah, when my husband’s home next week (he works OS for 5 weeks of every 7) we’re taking her to the vet to be put down. She’s dying, she has cat AIDS.”

And I said “She’s in pain, you probably need to keep her in the house, warm and with comfort, but seriously, I don’t think she’ll last the week.” and SHE SAID “I can’t abide pets inside, and if she dies, she dies. I don’t like cats anyway.” Showing extreme control for the hothead I am, I said, “Well, she’s living with us until Monday.” Neighbour shrugs.

Last night, same kitty yowling at my front door, so brought her in, tried to feed her and she was content on my husband’s lap whilst we watched a movie together. Tiny, weak, struggling, in pain little puss. She actually purred until pain started her mewling again for a bit. Then quietened down as we stroked her and fed her water with our fingers.

Late this afternoon, I rescued her from the neighbour’s woodshed, where she was yowling. Neighbours not home. Kitty at this point at time of writing is again warm and settled in front of heater with much love and affection lavished upon her. I have made an appointment after hours with a vet to have her put to sleep. All I can hope is that her last hours, if she dies tonight, (and I believe it likely) are going to be comfortable and warm.

I add at this point, my neighbours can get fucked. I’ll pay for the procedure rather than have this little creature endure another day or night of pain. The only reason I haven’t done it yet is because I can’t get a vet after hours for this, and I don’t know anyone with a gun.

Keep you posted. BTW - I have decided that if they try to replace her, every single living creature other than mould will mysteriously disappear. :mad: :mad: :mad:

2

How utterly heartbreaking. Thank goodness this little girl had you to make her last days a bit better. Thank you so much for being a good person.

3

I cannot abide abject cruelty. She’s comfy as I can make her at this point. I even considered giving my own cat’s pain relief (arthritis) to her, but without a measured dose it can mess up their kidneys, and I don’t want to distress her anymore than absolutely necessary. I expect a showdown when the husband returns about what I’m about to do. My husband and I wanted to adopt her up to the point where I discovered she was incurable. We lay in bed fantasizing about how we’d make her like our cat (weighs 7 kilos, sleek glossy marmalade and 17 years old) by hand feeding her KFC and cheesecake.

4

That is so sad. I do not understand people that take the time and money to have their cat spayed and tatooed and then let it die such a painful death.

At least she has someone to care for her in the end.

I would add more but I am to pissed off and upset for words.

5

There are no words to describe the useless waste of skin that is your neighbour. Thank you for caring enough to put down this kitty. She deserves a peaceful painfree death. The bitch that owns her doesn’t.

6

Cats get AIDS? :confused:

7

Oh, now THAT is abject cruelty! Cheesecake for pussies?? :smiley:

Seriously though, if you can get the kittie to the A/H Vet, please do so. When animals get to the point when they express their pain, they are in REAL FUCKING PAIN, and the kindest thing you can do is help her out of it. Worry about the neighbours and their punishment later. They’ll keep.

8

We used to have a sweet cat, Chloe, who was a foundling and a runt. By the time she was about 17 yo, she was looking pretty scraggly. The vet said she was basically just old and sickly. Oh, and beginning to be incontinent. But she loved to be outside, and would let you know it until you let her out., so we let her just be as happy as we could, for we knew she probably didn’t have all that long.

So, we let her out. She generally would just sit out on our steps in the sun. One day she was doing just that, and somebody stopped and took her. My neighbor across the street saw it and immediately called, but the perp had left. A few minutes later we get a call from a phone booth. It was some woman who said “you don’t deserve this cat” and hung up before we could say anything. That’s the last we saw of Chloe.

So, Chloe spent her last days/weeks/months with strangers who kidnapped her.

While I realize DellieM’s case is a lot different, (I think you’re doing a good thing!) I’m still kind of leery of cat vigilantism, or whatever this might be called, because of what hapened to Chloe.

9

You bet, here’s a wikipedia article on it. It doesn’t seem to be quite the death sentence that full blown AIDS is, but it is the feline equivalent of HIV.

One wonders if the poor thing had proper care from the beginning, whether or not she’d be in this state.

10

If in fact the cat DOES have Feline AIDS, then a vet must have diagnosed it in the first place…which leads one to the question why the owners bothered to take the kittie for the diagnosis, then disregard all the latter advice re care of their pet etc.

Something’s not right.

11

I can’t believe the type of person who would treat a pet like that even got themselves a pet in the first place.

Have you told them that you’re planning to have the cat put down yourself? It might go better if you tell your neighbours that you’re willing to take the cat in and pay for it, rather than just doing it and telling them afterwards. Even if they have no real affection for their pet, they might get whiny (in a legal sense) on you - if they decide to take offense at your acknowledgement of their lack of compassion. They sound the sort of people that would.

12

Odd. Someone got the cat desexed, tattooed and diagnosed… Is it possible that it’s the husband’s cat and he has no idea how bad it’s gotten?

13

it sounds like they were caring for the cat with food and water (and presumably a vet visit) as long as it could survive outside.

The main issue is that she will not let the cat inside.

14

Cats get tattoos? :confused:

15

Linky.

This is definitely current practice in Canberra and I am fairly certain it is nation-wide in Australia.

16

:mad:
Good on you for giving the cat some few happy days.

And boo on the neighbor. I like the theory that it’s her husband’s cat and he has no clue how the poor thing is being treated. Even if she doesn’t like cats, there NO excuse for wanton cruelty to any living thing.

And another boo on her - if the cat has FIV, it really should NOT be allowed to run loose. Not only is there the cruelty factor (poor thing needs better care than that), but hellOOOOOO, the cat has a CONTAGIOUS DISEASE and has doubtless infected other cats with it. Then again, the neighbor probably would be delighted to hear that. :mad:

We had a cat with feline leukemia, many years ago - he had it when we brought him home from the animal shelter - and you’d better believe that his 2.5 years with us were as comfortable as we could make them. And that he was strictly an indoor cat for those 2.5 years.

17

Holy crap. Getting a cat sure is a process over there, isn’t it? I got a kitten last week. The American process goes:

  1. Find someone who’s giving away a litter for free.
  2. Get one. Buy food and a litterbox.
  3. Enjoy!
18

Too bad you don’t know someone with a gun. Not to put down the cat- for the neighbor! :mad:

19

Good on you for taking Kitty in. And fuck your asshole neighbors.

Our next door neighbor, who’s actually a pretty cool guy, just pretty much let his cat roam-he’s not really an animal person. So he was fine when we took him in and let him live on our porch. My mother rigged up a very cozy little shelter in a box with lots of blankets and plenty of food and water. (We had five cats of our own, so we really couldn’t let them in)

He lasted almost a year and then for about a week he disappeared. We found him in our back yard. :frowning:

(IF we had been able to find him, we WOULD have taken him to the vet’s)

So, at least you kept Kitty comfortable and gave her some love and care before she died.

20

I think the OP is incredibly kind for doing what she is doing to make the cat comfortable and feel better. However, just as a matter of diligence, you should consider the above. Neighbors, especially dumbass ones, can get really “funny” and even nuts about things. Putting to sleep their cat without their express permission could be hazardous from a legal standpoint.