I am an animal lover and very dedicated to my pets and three years is way more time than I could have given to a cat like that.
Don’t discount the shelter right off. There is a chance that you two just aren’t a good fit for some reason.
My Samantha was in and out of the shelter 3 times (apparently, she was abandoned all three times) and was there for just over a year when I adopted her. It is still a puzzle to me why she was repeatedly abandoned and why no one adopted her for so long. She is just the cutest, sweetest, most cuddly little spoiled brat anyone could ever ask for in a cat.
So it’s very possible that while she’s a hellcat to you she might just be a cuddly sweetheart to someone else. (No reflection on you, of course, sometimes it just works out that way).
Okay, where do you live? I can’t stand the thought of a kitty cat being euthanized or taken to the pound, no matter how heinous she is. I think I’d be willing to try and work out any emotional problems. I no longer have my cat Miss Fritters as she went to live with my boyfriend, who no longer lives with me. Miss Fritters was pretty bad… bitey, scratchy and generally disfunctional, but we got along okay. I still love her very much and enjoy visiting. If you want to send me your kitty, she would be the only kitty in the house and would be really spoiled.
Would this kitty transport easily? I’m serious. I live in Maryland.
Or the suburban thing: Drive out to the boondocks and leave the cat at the side of the road. Ta-da, you can say you took him to the farm and it’s technically not a lie.
Sad story: When I was a kid, people used to do that quite a lot on our road. We took the cats; the people across the way took to dogs. One day, we got a call from Mrs. Across the Way, telling us not to be alarmed when we heard a rifle shot. They’d found a dog in the forest, you see, and a day later, determined he was hurt too bad to save. So they had to do the country thing, as you say. But at least the dog was fed and watered before he died. He spent his last night indoors, and was cuddled and had his ears scratched before the final curtain.
Otaku, why do you mention revenge? Do you know of some history between nevermore and the co-worker?
Thirded. I’ve put down an animal for behavioral problems (after quite a bit of work with her first, so get off my back y’all.)
I put her down for several reasons:
I do not believe in passing my problems along to someone else. I accepted the responsibility for that animal, and if I failed in raising a decent pet, then it’s also my responsibility to take care of that.
I’ve worked in shelters. Many, many pets get killed in shelters too. That’s a cop-out if it’s an unadoptable animal, and takes the place of an animal that may have a chance at a good life.
The animal was miserable, I was miserable, my family was miserable… life’s too stinking short to live like that.
You put the animal down, it’s an uncomfortable decision, but opens up room for a good pet. I’d rather spend my limited resources on a pet that makes me happy. YMMV.
We had one “bad cat” put down at a shelter - bitchy kitty from Hell. But he wasn’t even made available for adoption. Took him in, explained he had litterbox issues and behavioral issues, they said “we can’t adopt him out, he’ll be put to sleep today” I said "that’s reasonable. They charged me a “donation fee” that covered the blue juice and disposal. I added on a donation to double it.
I don’t know if she’d do anything easily, but I’m sure it could be done. We could figure something out, I’m sure, and if it wasn’t outrageous I could probably take on whatever it costs.
If you are serious about this, I will love you for life. I have some pictures of her if you’re interested:
We never had a bad cat, but we did have a Bad Dog. My brother’s first dog, a samoyed, turned out to be totally incompatable with my family. Mostly because we wanted living chickens and ducks, and she decided to go on a spur of the moment killing spree.
We lost 5 ducks, half the chickens, and gave the dog to a new home within 3 days. I wouldn’t have been torn up if we’d had her put down instead, but we did manage to find her a bird-less home immediately, so she lucked out.
I was just thinking of revenge for the asshatery of her comments on the situation. More a matter of letting the ‘punishment fit the crime,’ rather than any other actual crime.
I hope this long-distance adoption thing works out.
If it doesn’t, my $.02 is that it would be cruel to give it to the shelter, even a no-kill shelter. The thing is obviously unhappy and probably mentally ill. In addition to passing the buck, as vetbridge said, you’re also going to be putting the cat through stress and confusion by sending it to a new home, possibly a chaotic stressful one, for the rest of its life (whether that life ends in a few weeks, at a regular shelter; or for years at a no-kill shelter). Or what if it (somehow!) gets adopted from the shelter by someone who is less patient than you were when the problems emerge again, and they abuse it, or abandon it somewhere?
Don’t do that to your cat. I think it is kinder and more humane to have it put down. Not because you’re a mean person, but because the cat is clearly not happy, not capable of being a pet, and deserves a peaceful end to its misery.
This sounds like a job for…KITTEN RAILROAD!!! I suggest you or Creaky start a thread looking for Dopers to pick up, transport, and hand off the kitty from Austin to Maryland. (We’ve discussed this idea in previous kitten threads - here’s a great chance to see if it could actually work!)
lolz. Only dopers could come up with something like this.
As a general update, I talked with my girlfriend last night, and we decided that putting her down is not a viable option for us. When she’s bad, she’s very very bad, but when she’s good, she’s… not so bad. She has a few redeemable qualities (she does not hiss ALL day, and she does occasionally purr when petted), and I really do think she could make a good pet for someone with more patience and/or experience with grouchy cats. I think also that her elimination problems would get a lot better in a household with either no cats, or cats that are brought up from day one to use a different litterbox.
So, we’re going to try really hard to find her a home here in Austin. I’ve posted an ad on craigslist and in one of the local publications, and I’ve already gotten a few responses. If the free stuff doesn’t work, I’ll pay for an ad in the actual newspaper, which probably gets higher readership than any free alternative. If that doesn’t work, I’ll move on to stuff in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and other places.
If after all that, I still can’t find someone who wants her, well, maybe Creaky and I will be the first to try the kitty railroad!
I’m in for 250 miles in the Southeast- anywhere from the Carolinas, Tennesee, and Virginia if you can’t find a local home. (Maybe you could explain the same behavior issues in your local ad- there are plenty of crazy cat ladies (and fellas) who might step up to the challenge of making friends with demonkitty.)
I had a female cat that was a total bitch, even had the sneer down pat. When I moved into my new house I asked my mom to take her for good, which she did. My mother has three other cats, and kitty was a terror to them, plus she would pee on clothes or beds.
Finally, after about a year, my mom caught her peeing (she’s pretty covert) and noticed the pee was pinkish, so she took her to the vet. Turned out she had a pretty nasty and long lasting bladder issue that medication fixed up, and now she’s a doll.
So maybe consider taking it to the vet to check it for health issues as well.
Well, actually, my wife was involved with a loose group of volunteers who drove “legs” of long interstate journeys to move kittens from kill shelters to places where adoptive families had been identified. I can’t remember the name of the group. I myself got asked to drive a leg or two when things got super busy. We called it the Kitten Underground Railroad…underground because some shelters are quite picky about adopting, and would have frowned on the interstate aspect.
I was going to suggest a kitty railroad, but I see it was already suggested. From the pictures, it looks like said cat is a Siamese/Siamese mix. That’s really just their personality – they’re bitches. Takes a certain kind of person to live with them. I have had a couple, and I loved their hateful nature – so much like me. They do make excellent mousers/barncats given the chance, though, so keep that option in mind.
Do you remember the one where Bucky was caught snuggling with Rob? I’ve been reading the strip for years, and I think that was the one time that Bucky was anything less than a little psychopath. I love the depiction of Bucky as having no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
nevermore and I have been exchanging emails. I was so relieved to know that Shady will be given another chance! I wrote nevermore the tale of my kitty, Miss Fritters and how my boyfriend and I had a similar experience with our poor antisocial kitty (and rightly so; she’d had a lousy life until Jeff adopted her). We too were really frustrated, but for a variety of reasons we were able to modify her truly heinous behaviors enough to uncover her really cool spunky personality. So we kept her and we get along great. My boyfriend and my parents and I share custody and Miss Fritters loves the attention.
So… three cheers for nevermore for first trying to find a home for Kitty locally, because she also wants to make sure firsthand that Shady gets a good home. She also wants to be able to visit.
I can in all seriousness stand by if things ultimately don’t work out. The Kitten Railroad is a cool idea. If Shady needs to come to Maryland in the end, we’ll find a way.
Also, nevermore, I can split the cost with you of any advertising you end up doing if need be. You have no idea how wonderful and compassionate you are and that is a small price to pay for such kindness.
