My neighbor threw his cat away.

The BBQ Pit
1

Hey you. Neighbor.

Yes, you. You big jerk. You got annoyed with your cat, so you threw her away. WHY!?!?!

Backstory: My neighbor had a cat. He didn’t like her all that much. She didn’t have a great personality (hates girls, only seems to like my neighbor, etc.), but the two of them got along OK. But when she’d do typical cat things, like meowing loudly, sniffing at cups of liquid, or whatever, he’d retalliate with things like throwing balled socks at her or cutting/shaving her hair. He somehow had this idea that she was doing these things to annoy him or in retalliation for things he’d done to her. Never stopped to think, Hey, this is a cat. She has a much smaller brain than I do. She is completely dependant on me for everything. Maybe I should cut her some slack.

Recently, she started chewing on his computer cords. He got tired of replacing them, so instead of reorganizing his furniture in such a way that she couldn’t get to the cords, he dropped her off at the shelter last week. Just left her there and drove away.

Now, I can understand he got annoyed with the cord-chewing. But did he ask for advice/help from anyone who understands cat behavior? No. Did he take her in to the shelter, tell them about her personality and what kinds of environments she’ll get along best in (dogs OK, other cats not OK, she likes to play with these kinds of things and make sure to keep cords/wires out of reach, she prefers men to women, etc.), thereby helping her get adopted by someone else more easily? No. He took the coward’s way out. ASSHOLE. You adopted this pet. You were completely responsible for her well-being. As the human, YOU are the one who should change the environment so the CAT cannot get to the computer cords/poke her nose in the glass of water/whatever. The CAT has no control over what you do, and you were a GREAT BIG JERK to her on a regular basis. No wonder she had issues. And when you gave up on her, did you make it easy for her to get adopted? NO. She’s a pretty cat, so I hope she’s got a decent shot at getting a new human, but for pete’s sake, it just isn’t fair. I’ve got an amazingly wonderful cat - cute, smart, playful. And she’s been sick for two months (finally figured out what was wrong and she’ll be OK soon - for details see my MPSIMS thread). And my neighbor has a beautiful, healthy cat who loves and depends on him, and he just tosses her away when he finds her inconvenient.

My neighbor was a friend before, but I don’t know how I feel about him now that he’s done this. In some ways, I’m glad he gave her up just to give her a shot at a human who treats her well. But he didn’t go about it in a very good way.

:frowning:

2

That’s how my mom wound up with one of her cats.
Charlie is the most wonderful, loving little cat in the whole world.
However, he chews stuff.
His first owners paid to have him fixed and declawed, and then gave him away five days later because he was “destructive” His little paws were still swollen when mom got him.
And, although it is occasionally a challenge to keep him from things (he actually managed to cause a minor flood by chewing through some of the tubing on top of the water heater) she wouldn’t give him up for the world.

3

Sounds to me like the kitty just got a chance at a better life, and will be much better off without that abusive asshat around. I hope she can recover spiritually and emotionally from this, and that she finds a good home. :frowning: Do you know what shelter the cat went to? Maybe you can clue them in as to what happened so they can work with her, and she has a better chance to get a home? There are ways to help a cat (even one that has a compulsion) stop such behavior.

4

Someone should take him to the shelter.

5

Right. Let us not forget that it could be much, much worse.

6

How does you neighbor giving up his cat concern you at all?

You must not be really good friends if you are considering ending the friendship over something so insignificant.

7

pool It’s not an insignificant thing. This person made a commitment, to care for a creature that would be dependent on him for the rest of it’s life. Instead of relinquishing his commitment in a repsonsible manner, by taking the cat INSIDE the shelter, and turning custody over, he DUMPED it outside, where it could be eaten by a predator, run over, etc. It is not uncommon for dogs that have been dumped outside the animal shelter to remain uncaught for a time, and they will hunt and kill things like a cat. (I really hope that the cat is found safely, and that it is adopted into a loving nurturing home.)

This is a good reason to be upset, becuase it reveals an ugly side to this person’s character, it shows them to be somewhat merciless, and cold IMO. It’s telling, when you find out that a person can be cold, and show no mercy to something that’s smaller than they are, and dependent on them for survival. It also shows that he doesn’t take his commitments/tacit promises seriously when it becomes inconvient to him.

A person with integrity, when faced with the realization that they can no longer keep a commitment that they have made, will seek to remove themselves from it keeping the best interests of everyone involved in mind. To rephrase, a person with honor won’t crap on the beings they made a commitment to when bowing out of the commitment, they will see to it that no harm is done when they do so. This is not what the OP’s neighbor did.

8

You could not be more wrong. This issue speaks to character a great deal. I could, naturally, go on but will leave the new one that you are about to have torn to the tender ministrations of others.

9

I fail to see what’s wrong with throwing a sock at a cat. It’s not like he was throwing rocks or anything that would hurt the cat. I throw stuff at my cat all the time. He likes to carry stuff around. Does that make me an ass, no wait don’t answer that one! :wink:

10

Edward The Head Throwing things at a cat that likes to fetch etc. in an invitation to play is a different matter. (My kitty Rhiow LOVES to fetch, she’ll “kill” the thing, and eagerly bring it back for another chase.) Throwing things aggressively and yelling or cursing at a cat that is doing catly things like being curious, instead of gently teaching it the house rules, is abusive.

Granted, it’s not the worst abusive thing a person could do, but it’s definetely ungentle, and could lead to a cat with behavior/emotional problems depending on the nature of the individual cat. It’s just not a good way to house train a cat. I’ve seen cats that got cursed/yelled at, and had things thrown at them turn into timid fearful little things, that would scratch the crap out of you in fear.

11

Spoken like an asshole who can’t figure out why his/her friends abandon them every now and again. :rolleyes:

12

lol
I don’t know I was reading dropping the cat off at the shelter and driving away as actually taking it inside, and if the person who started the thread cares so much why didn’t they adopt the cat

13

Forget it Jeff! There’s no way I’m clicking on that link.

pool, part of the problem has to do with how the cat was mistreated before she was given up.

14

Bolding mine. If it’s a long haired cat, then it’s not adviseable to shave her fur casually, unless it’s to get rid of mats etc. If you do shave your longhairs fur, you should have a professional groomer do it, if you don’t have the know how yourself, to avoid knicking skin and potential infection.

To shave the hair as punishment? That’s one fucked up individual. He’s got issues with females IMO. (Don’t know if psychological research still supports that theory or not, but my life experience does. In my experience guys that show a need to dominate, and impose their will on cats, and that behave hatefully to them, are also cruel to thier girlfriends.) It shows a need to dominate, and his reasoning is that of a bully. Distance yourself from this man mlerose.

On preview pool That would be for one of several reasons, the top reason being that the OP does not know where the cat is now, or if it is alive and in the shelter. They also may not be able to due to the rules of where they live, or they might not have enough money to commit to the care of another pet. When you take on such responsibility, you are commiting to several hundred dollars right off the bat at least, for vaccination shots, nueter/spay, check up to make sure there are no potential health problems etc. The OP might not have that kind of money to spend now.

15

Reading. It’s a good thing.

…and I don’t even like cats…

16

It’s the end of John Carter’s mail order bride & sour honey thread.

17

Thanks, Jeff! You had me scared.

18

Pool are you aware that how people treat animals is generally a window into how they treat people? Too many people in this world go and get pets of all kinds because they like the ‘set decoration’ of their lives, not realizing that it’s a living creature with at least physical feelings if not emotional (I believe they DO have emotions, but I can’t offer proof). Neglecting or hurting or abandoning something that is alive is…a poor reflection of character.

Perhaps Melrose didn’t adopt the cat because he knew he couldn’t take care of it or give it the proper attention it needed. Don’t ever adopt an animal spontaneously or out of momentary pity. WEIGH THE PROS AND CONS.

I walk every year in a 5k for an animal shelter in town. i have a cat that was abandoned because the wife “decided” she was allergic to him, and I found my dog abandoned on the side of the road, taken from her mother two weeks too early. She was fairly sick and maladjusted for a long time as a result.

It IS worth ending a friendship over. Best you realize who someone is before you invest too much time.

19

The way he treated the cat was terrible. I think dropping her off at a shelter is better than continuing to abuse her or worse, though.

20

Wow, I go to lunch and this thread explodes!

First of all, I’m a girl. Second of all, I didn’t know he had taken her in to the shelter until a couple of days after it happened (our other neighbor, who volunteers at this shelter, told me about it). Third of all, as far as I know he DID take her inside, but DIDN’T tell them she was his cat or anything about the cat.

I know how he treated the cat because of things I saw while visiting, and also from what he told me. All of us in this story live in an apartment building on the same floor, with a common open hallway space. Often many of us have doors open and the cats have all become friends. One time I popped my head in to say hi, and saw that his cat looked a little weird. I asked what had happened to her fur, and he said he cut it because he was mad at her for something she had done, so to get back at her he cut her hair. Granted, he was also very affectionate to her (at times) and she wasn’t neglected at all, so I didn’t feel right about admonishing him about his behavior toward the cat. I never liked it, though. And it’s true that the cat herself doesn’t have the best personality. Still doesn’t make it right for him to do what he did.

Last weekend, when I was talking to the other neighbor (the volunteer at the shelter), she told me that the neighbor in question had taken in his cat, and why, and that she had already yelled at him about it. Since she volunteers there on weekends, she was planning to see if the cat was still there this weekend and providing some information herself about the cat’s background and personality. I don’t know what’s happened since then, because the shelter volunteer was moving out while I was talking to her.

pool, other people have answered your question better than I could have. Let’s just say that I don’t feel it’s in my best interest to be friends with someone who abandons a pet that he made a commitment to, a pet that is wholly dependant on him, when he suddenly decides she’s inconvenient. According to the shelter volunteer, he didn’t want to actually tell the shelter anything about the cat because he didn’t want the people at the shelter to yell at him for abandoning his cat. I haven’t seen or spoken to this neighbor since this incident. I know I’m not going to be as friendly as before. He and my boyfriend are good friends, and even my boyfriend is seriously questioning his relationship with this guy.

And yes, he does have issues with women (commitment-related), but I’m not close enough with him to know much more than that. The really sad thing is that this cat really loved him and would valiantly defend him from any female that came around trying to win his love away from her.