Is it OK for an animal rescuer to take an obese cat away from an overfeeding owner?

In My Humble Opinion
21

(steering away from all of the related issues)

I have a fat cat. I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I don’t treat her well. She has a great life, she’s healthy. Just lazy. She has a little kitty eating disorder (she binges and yarfs if food is taken away, side effect I think of previously living with a dog.) Also our other cat is very underweight and needs all the calories she can get. We’ve decided that having them both content is worth more than having two thin cats. I did make an informed decision. In my kitty’s case, she’s a re-homed rescued feral, so I figure that life with obesity is a life of privilege. However she is active and has no problems grooming or getting around.

22

If the ‘animal rescuer’ is appointed by an official organisation (here in the UK we have the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), then it’s fine.
If you’re talking someone else then it’s a vigilante. And (I’m not a lawyer) it’s either theft or kidnapping.

Ah, death for stealing an animal.
Now that would be a felony.

23

My father has a Cocker Spaniel. A 50 lb Cocker Spaniel. Poor Charu should weigh about 20 lbs.

He dearly loves the dog, but is loving her to an early grave.

My Wife and I have two healthy dogs and two healthy cats. My Wife used to work for County Animal Control. Yep, a ‘Dog Catcher’. She has seen all types of animals, in all types of condition. And was on her colleges equestrian team. I’ve had dogs all my life. We know animals.

Whenever we visit my father, we do our best to take care of the poor dog. He doesn’t like it, but we put our foot down.

We have a special gym bag with all the necessary grooming equipment. The poor thing gets so matted that we end up using two electric clippers on her (not cheap toys, the real thing for dogs). They over heat. So we need two and switch off between them.

My dear Wife took the dog to get groomed many years ago. They shaved her. She needed shaved. My Dad was very upset. He said that the dog was embarrassed and will not allow us to take her to a groomer again. Well yeah. The dog is not embarrassed, my father is. The poor dog looked like an over stuffed sausage with legs. That I knick named her ‘Jimmy-Dean’ was probably not the best thing I could have said.

So now, my Wife and I do it. We can leave a little hair and not completely shave her. It’s a hell of a lot more work, but we do it.

The first time we clipped her (about 6 years ago) took us 9 hours. We where new at it. The poor thing was basically on big mat of hair. We can do it in about 3 hours now, if we keep up on her (twice a year is really the only opportunity we have).

We have talked to my Dad again and again about feeding the dog the proper food. Mostly, I think the dog lives on doughnuts, and take out. We buy him the proper food for the dog, and he will feed it to her, along with some pizza and General-tsa chicken. When we really put our foot down, he storms out, angry as can be.

With all that said, I don’t know what the hell to do. I sure as hell wouldn’t take the dog from my Dad. And the dog would never make it where I live unless it went on a diet first (lots of stairs and LOTS of deep snow).

It sucks.

24

I have a fat cat. At her largest, she weighed 26 lbs. She won’t eat anything but dry food. Concerned, we took her to our vet. “Yep, she’s a big one all-right… Less food… More exercise…blah blah… Wait. Is she from Jeannette X’s cat, Whiskers? Well there you go. All of Whisker’s kittens are at least 15 lbs when they mature. Huge cats.”

So we kept feeding dry food and leave out a bowl of water. But, since she’s nuts for running water, we got one of those cat fountain dealies and put it on the dresser. She has to jump on the bed then jump to the dresser, but she’ll do it for running water. She’s down to 19 pounds now and the vet doesn’t expect her to lose much more. She’s just a fat cat.

What would give anyone the right to take my cat, who is happy and healthy and sees a vet regularly? Animal rescuer just sounds like a PC way to say Thief.

25

Maybe. If she was stealing animals under the cover of darkness in Texas, then the her death would be legal. And in the US, it is not unusual for thieves, burglars, and robbers to be met with force, including lethal, whether legal or not.

26

There’s the difference then. Some animals are just big. Heck, my cats are tiny and some folks have queried what’s ‘wrong with them’. It’s just their size.

But overfeeding an animal until it cannot move is wrong. It’s also wrong for an individual to steal an animal but I’d have no problem with animal-rescue agencies giving advice and/or eventually removing the animal.

27

There are ‘cat rescuers’ who are willing take cats out of your home!?

I feel like the little boy in ‘Animal House’, who when interupted in his Playboy perusal by a woman flying through his window in a Playboy outfit, looks up to the ceiling and shouts out with unbridled joy, “Thank You, God!!!”

28

Oh, in that case, it is definitely stealing, and would not be okay.

29

Your cat is still active and healthy. You are working to keep her that way. Our cat Oscar ***** nearly starved to death as a kitten. (The only reason the bones in his tail were not visible was due to longer fur there.) He looooves his food dish, and his wettest fantasy is to [DEL]eat [/DEL] gorge out of the bin we keep the dry food in. He is a bit pudgy, but not badly so. He has actually lost weight because we caught on to the fact that he was conning the other human into giving him extra feedings. We keep track of when he gets fed, and he’s not as heavy as he was. One of our cats is a grazer, which makes it a bit more difficult. However, we put her bowl in a place where we can shoo him away if he tries to sneak an extra feeding in. He’s plenty happy, even without the overeating to console him. He’s actually quite the clown, and lovey guy.

*****That chair is 18 inches across, he’s a big fellow. We took the picture on the basement stairs.

30

I think Large is the only cat in history to lose weight after being neutered…and he was nearly two when that happened!

31

With all due respect, but if I were in your shoes, I’d call the ASPCA on your dad. They can check in with him and give him a warning or citation that states that he needs to improve the care of the animal or it will be taken away from him. Since your wife used to work for animal control, and he still ignores her advice, then, as hard as it might be, I would get the power of the law on my side. What he is doing sounds selfish and abusive, and any pet deserves better than that. Maybe the life of a dog isn’t worth permanently alienating your father, but I would be afraid about the level of care (or lack thereof) that will be provided once serious health problems set in (which sounds inevitable, from your description). If your dad is as stubborn as he sounds, he’s not only going to eventually kill the dog through his treatment, but allow it to suffer needlessly before then as well. I’m sorry about the circumstances but there is a solution to this problem, just not an easy one. :frowning:

32

I had a cat who was 28lbs. at his fattest. Beese was a street cat who was eating out of garbage cans, filthy, and diseased when I got him. He, like Zabali’s cat Oscar, was a compulsive eater and also big boned (I’m not just saying that). Even with a diet, he was always pretty huge, and that was it. If someone tried to steal him, they’d have ruptured a vertebra, so no worries there.

However, I have stolen other people’s cats. Yes, I admit it and I do not care what anyone thinks. Achmed was a kitten who lived in the local house of ill repute (cops were there weekly). He had fleas, ear mites, and intestinal parasites. I walked by that house every day and pet him, until one day I realized just how ill he was, so I just took him to my house. I cured all his ailments and he seemed to doubled in size in a month. Turned out to be the most wonderful cat and friend I have ever known. No regrets.

33

Your link fixed

34

People should not be able to take away your pet for overfeeding them. I have a friend whose mother is severely abusive to her but treats the dogs pretty well. She goes through the Whataburger drive-thru and buys 5 burgers, 2 for herself and one for each dog. She seriously feeds them fast food. The dogs aren’t obese (yet), but she takes them for regular vet checkups and keeps them inside if it is too hot or cold out. She provides them with food and love. She feeds them shit people shouldn’t even be eating, but if that is the worst she does she can’t be blamed for that. Now smacking the crap out of her daughter is something she should be punished for but no one stops her from doing that either.

35

Awwww! That’s a nice kitty!

Hey…maybe we can start the Straight Dope 2007 Kitty Weight Loss Club. Naaah. I don’t think we could get that baby off the ground. Literally.

36

Absolutely.

Real only in the sense of “existing only in your overactive imagination,” man. I defy you to show me a single example of someone killed or felony-prosecuted for stealing a non-purebred pet.

I worked for a humane society for six years, and saw more than my share of abuse cases. The central crieterion for animal abuse is this: are you causing an animal to experience severe and unnecessary suffering?

I suppose that someone with way too much time on their hands could make a case that overfeeding a cat qualified, but I think it’d be extremely difficult to find a judge who would let such a case go to court–and rightly so. If we allow prosecution under this standard, we get on a weird, slippery slope. WHat about the people who walk their little dogs without putting a sweater on them, thereby increasing their risk of a lowered immune system? What about people who feed off-brand food with lots of fillers? What about people who don’t obtain vaccinations for their pets against diseases like feline leukemia?

There’s a difference between the person who lets their dog’s collar bite into her neck until her muscles are exposed and inflamed, never obtaining vet care for the pooch, and the person whose cat is obese. I think we need to respect that difference.

As a person strongly in favor of animal welfare enforcement, I’d be very opposed to any legal or extralegal attempt to take away someone’s fat cat.

Daniel
owner of two skinny, useless cats

37

I can’t cite you a case, but I have a feeling that the sight of someone attempting to make off with a beloved pet for some unknown purpose could well incite some pet owners to violence. I’d say the risk was definitely there, just judging by the emotional attachment many people have to pets.

38

Hmm, maybe you’re right; I guess i overreacted. Sorry, Bull.

Still, though, I’ve heard of a fair number of pet vigilantes, folks that solve real or imagined animal abuse situations by stealing pets. What I haven’t heard of is anyone getting hurt in the process.

Daniel

39

blushes

That would be me then. Nearly anyway.

When I was about 12 or so I had our family pet out on the grass area in front of our garden. She was just sniffing around and peeing against the occasional tree while I sat on the steps at the top of the slope and watched her do her thing. In case you are wondering this is perfectly fine for where I lived - no laws about leashes etc.

Along comes Mr Dog Catcher who tries to pursue my innocent mutt. I screamed bloody murder, called him a few choice words my mother hadn’t taught me and **launched ** myself at him. He had the sense to back off in the face of my pre-pubescent fury and rather shamefacedly admitted that he was out because there had been reports of a large black dog roaming the streets. Why he wanted to take my lil black and brown pooch I don’t quite know and he didn’t explain but he definitely would have been injured if he had tried to get her in the van.

40

Huh. On the one hand, I was specifically talking about vigilantes, not dog catchers who are legally empowered. On the other hand, our humane society gave up animal control because of the number of times our unarmed officers got threatened with guns. So my mistake earlier is even more wrong than I initially thought.

Daniel