A neighbor has a male cat that lives out of doors; they put him out early morning, and (neighbor said) he comes home around 10:30 - 11:00 pm. The cat has taken a liking to us. He’s been visiting us every day; we let him in and he tries to make nice with our two girl cats, but they hiss and swat at him. (Although one of the girls seems to be softening toward him.) We feed him; he naps when our girls do. The only time he seemed to want out was to relieve himself. (We haven’t let him use the girls’ litter box.) This has been going on for two months. The neighbors also have two large dogs, and we speculate that the dogs harass the cat. Well, we didn’t see him for two days, then he shows up with his left rear leg lifted - he’s not putting any weight on it. I picked him up and felt the paw, which was sensitive and hurt him. There’s no wound that we can see.
Mr. Sycorax took him to the neighbor’s house and told them about it. He also told them if they ever wanted to give him away, we’d take him. One of the grown kids in the house said he liked the cat and would take him to the vet next day. That was two days ago. Today, I come home and there he is - apparently in the same condition - leg lifted and hobbling around on three legs. I fed him and he is now napping in his favorite spot. He didn’t approach our girls. I told Mr. Sycorax that I would take him to a vet. He said I shouldn’t - that that would be like taking someone’s kid to the doctor. I don’t think that’s a valid cmparison; most parents would take their kid to a doctor, but I have the feeling this cat’s parents don’t give a damn about him. What should I do? Visit the neighbor and ask if they mind if I take him to a vet? But then I’m paying for something THEY should be doing, and I’d resent that, but I will if this keeps up. Opinions please.
Well, I can only tell you what I would do…I would feel pretty guilty if the cat ended up permanently damaged and I could’ve done something about it. I would take the cat to the vet simply to alleviate my own guilt. I would also probably steal the cat and keep it inside, which I’m sure wouldn’t be the wisest thing, but I’d deal with it if it became a problem. I’m not advocating that you do that, since it really isn’t the proper thing to do. That just seems like it’d be easier than the option below.
The responsible thing to do would probably be to call a humane officer. I think they can make the owner take it to the vet and take the cat if they don’t comply within x number of days. Hopefully you have good laws (I don’t know if the animal laws are federal or local) and animal welfare.
Of course, you could always visit them again and tell them yourself if you don’t see that they’ve taken care of the cat, you’ll call animal welfare.
By the way, if I saw that someone’s child was injured and they didn’t get taken to the doctor, I would probably call someone on them, too. And if they weren’t responsive, yeah, I’d take the kid myself.
Let us know what happens.
I would take the cat to the vet.
I have no idea how an animal welfare organisation would work elsewhere in the world, but they would be worth trying if kitty is not being looked after.
If not, I’d be the last person to want to separate pet and human. But I’d be sorely tempted to take the cat to the vet’s, claiming it as my own and then send the cat to a sanctuary.
How do you know the cat wasn’t taken to the vet? A pull, a sprain, things like that just take time to heal. Honestly, I don’t take my pets to the vet every time they limp for a day or two. If they aren’t gushing blood and they’re eating, I give it a chance to heal itself, and it always has.
Call me cruel, but the last time I had a cat that was caught by a dog and I really thought it’s back was broken. I did take him to the vet and she told me to take Nick home and keep him confined for a couple weeks. No meds, not even any x-rays. He fully recovered and it sleeping on my bed right now. The vet said cats have enormous recuperative powers and often just need time to heal themselves. I’d give your neighbor’s cat a few more days before you start thinking the worse.
StG
What exactly would you expect to be different if the cat had been seen by a vet?
There isn’t a leash law there for cats? Sounds like the cat needs picked up by the pound and the owners fined for letting it roam loose. If they didn’t pay the fine, then you’d have a chance to ‘adopt’ it before they killed it.
*formerly Machetero
If you can afford to pay for his shots and neutering, I’d take them up on the offer to “adopt” the cat. That way you can take him to the vet’s. See if you can maybe get them to put it in writing though, saying something to them to the effect of “So the vet won’t come after you for money.” might work.
[SUB]Not all cities have leash laws for cats btw. They do for dogs, but not always for cats.[/SUB]
On re-reading, I see that there was no offer of adoption. 
That makes things harder. I might try convincing the parents to let you have the cat if you think it’s possible. Yeah, it kinda sucks for the older kid who likes the cat, but it would be better for the cat in the long run with such apathetic owners.
Being the owner of an indoor/outdoor cat all my life; I’ll ditto this.
Especialy since you said you couldn’t see anything wrong.
Hell, the cat I have now seems like he comes home with nicks, scrapes or bites on a weekly basis. I’d LOVE to be able to strap a mini cam on him to see what the hell he’s always get’n himself into.
He’s fighting with other cats. Am I missing something here? What else could it be?
Yeah, but a cat cam would still be really, really cool. Especially the fight scenes…
And sometimes a ripped tendon will leave a permanent limp or take a very long time to heal. I have a limping cat. There have been x-rays (no broken bones), there have been casts (to immobilize the knee joint). He still limps.
He used to be an indoor/sometimes-fast-enough-to-get-outdoors kitty. Now that he’s slower, he’s completely indoors.
Quiet time indoors is probably what Neighborkitty needs most, and you’re giving him that. Hope he gets well.
Same here. I would…
On second thought, I better not…
Thanks everyone for your comments - I didn’t get an email from SDMB after the first response. I took Squeaky (our name for him) to the vet this afternoon. Vet said it appeared to be an infection (swollen paw and leg, enlarged lymph node); didn’t see any wound, but she was reluctant to examine the paw closely because it was so tender and painful. She (the vet) said he hadn’t been neutered, and estimated his age at about 13 months. Since she had asked about his history (what shots, etc.), I confessed to her that he wasn’t my cat, but a neighbor’s. She had experience with this type of situation and said that if the cat spends most of the time at my home and I feed him and take care of him, he’s mine. She said she’d back me up if the neighbor got ugly about it.
Anyway, the vet figured that since he wasn’t neutered, he probably hadn’t gotten his shots either. She gave him a rabies, plus a injection of an antibiotic. Tested him for the really bad stuff (feline leukemia and FIVl), and he was negative. Gave me a liquid antibiotic to give to him twice a day.
So, now my spouse is being difficult. He loves Squeaky and wants to keep him, but he’s worried (1) about Squeaky spraying on our furniture, and (2) that the neighbor will cause problems. After I told him what the vet said, he said, “the vet doesn’t live here, we do and I don’t want a war with a neighbor.” In the meantime, he doesn’t want Squeaky in the house because he might spray. I’m considering putting him (Squeaky, not spouse) in the garage for the night.
I suppose hubby has a point - you don’t want to have to live near people who have a grudge against you, but I told hubby that the neighbor isn’t getting Squeaky until she reimburses me for the vet expenses – $166.00 so far, and he still needs to be neutered.
how long has squeaky been with you now?
has the neighbour come looking for him?
if the neighbour doesn’t put up signs, come knocking at the door, i’d say, “you’ve got cat”.
No, neighbor has shown NO interest in him. Squeaky has been visiting us for about four months – we feed him in the morning and in the evening. He spends most afternoons with us – trying to make friends with my two girl cats, and sleeping. I just let him out – he’s been an outdoors cat, and maybe he’s gone “home.” but I expect to see him in the morning. I need to give him his medicine. I thought I might keep him in our garage, but he’s so used to being outdoors, we probably won’t see him till morning. Thanks all.
Some male cats never spray, even if they’re unneutered. Some neutered males and some females do spray. It’s best to neuter males, though, because it will decrease the likelyhood of spraying. Also, unneutered cat urine is extremely pungent.
When I brought my latest kitty home, she had an upper respiratory infection, and the Humane Society gave me liquid antibiotic to give her (yes, I adopted a sick cat, I had fallen in love with her). I put the liquid on wet cat food, or bits of ham or turkey, and Sapphire gobbled it right down. I didn’t have to restrain her, and she got just about all of her dose every time.
I think that Squeaky has adopted you, and your neighbor and spouse are just gonna have to learn to live with this.
I had a roommate once who had a cat, who was tending to become more like my cat. I was the one who bought and kept a stash of dry food for the cat when his owner was too lazy or inconvenienced to go buy more food if he ran out at some point late in the day. I was the one who was giving the cat fresh water. I was the one the cat was sleeping with. One time, I discovered a weird mass on the side of the cat’s face. I pointed it out. The roommate shrugged it off. I pointed it out again. He decided maybe he would take the cat to the vet. Days passed, he did nothing. I was upset about it so I called a mutual friend with cats, and they suggested I go with them to the vet, with the cat, to pay for a check-up. The vet said it was probably cancer, and might even be in pain. When we said it wasn’t our cat, the vet said (not yet knowing the circumstances) that if I cared enough about it to take it in for a check-up, perhaps I should just keep it, knowing it would get the care it needed. Suffice to say, obviously, circumstances wouldn’t really allow it. But the sentiment here is similar – neglectful owner, cat coming to someone else for attention and care, someone showing responsibility toward the cat. If your neighbor doesn’t seem to care, as if they think the cat is completely self-sufficient (a too common, messed-up attitude among bad cat owners), I say keep the cat. It’s obvious you care about it, and I’m doubtful that without punishment towards their neglectful behavior, the neighbor probably would have no reason to ever treat the cat any better. But, I would suggest, turn the cat into an indoor-only cat, and you know, don’t ever invite the neighbor over for tea lest they discover your furry little secret.
The Feliway diffuser is supposed to be good for helping introduce a new cat to a household… 