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I know it has been a while, but I don’t know who else to turn to!
About a year ago, an 18 year old couple bought the house behind mine. One night last winter, my hubby and I were sitting on our porch and a sweet little grey kitty came up on the porch and demanded pets. We played with him for a little while and when we turned to go back into the house, he came right in! He snuggled my little boys and even colored pictures with them by batting crayons around on some paper! We took him over to the new neighbor’s house and asked if he belonged to them (if he didn’t we were totally prepared to keep him! We already have our own indoor cat). The teenager said, “YES! He keeps getting out through a hole under our sink. My girlfriend would be so upset if she lost him!!” The next time he got out we took him back and the boyfriend took him back in and said that he will eventually seal up that hole. The third time he got out the girlfriend refused to answer the door. The next 10 times that we tried to take him back they refused to answer the door. (These teens also have a husky, a Chihuahua, this cat’s sibling, two other cats, and cages upon cages of reptiles and rodents. And that is JUST what we can see from the front door! Who knows what else!).
Summer rolls around and we find that he’s been living in our old chicken coop. On a 90+ degree day, he came up to us panting like a dog! They haven’t even given him so much as clean water in months!! So we start setting out fresh water daily for him. Then he starts bringing bunnies up on our porch and eating them. EWW! So we started feeding him daily and the killing of bunnies came to a halt. It has been two and a half months since he has left our front porch. He even sits on the steps and waits for the school bus to drop off his playmates everyday and they all chase a soccer ball around the yard together! We call him Shadow because he follows my oldest boy everywhere he goes.
Well, yesterday the unthinkable happened: he appears to have been hit by a car. He can move his back leg, but the foot just dangles there completely limp and useless. He’s been under the porch since yesterday morning and just now he came out so I could feed him and look him over then he went back under the porch. Would his leg need to be amputated???? That’s like $3000! We’re still struggling since my hubby was laid off for 8 months. I’ve tried to come up with any way possible to come up with the money, to sacrifice anything we can live without, but there just isn’t any there. Would a vet even help us since he isn’t ours but we feel he SHOULD be?? The teens had him fixed, did they micro chip him to prove he’s not ours? The only solution I can think of is to rush him to the Humane Society in the morning and tell them the whole story. We’ll never see his sweet face again, but they can help him, right? I’m so mad I could go over there and break both of their legs!!!! I wish we never would’ve looked for his owner and just kept him in the house the first time he came over, but if my kitty ever got out I would hope someone would give her back to me. I didn’t know they were irresponsible *******s who didn’t care about him! Now the kitty is in pain and my little ones will be heartbroken and those jerks don’t care, I feel like crying my heart out!!
Is there any hope???? What are your thoughts??
Sorry to hear about the kitty and what happened. That makes me angry they would treat a cat like that and probably should be reported in case they are neglecting other animals. I am a little confused though, if you knew they wouldn’t answer the door or take him back, why didn’t you take him in as your own instead of leaving him to fend for himself out in the elements? I think it’s possible the foot could heal but you can’t leave him in pain. Vets would probably charge a lot to treat him although I am not sure if surgery would be required. If I were you I would take him to a vet or humane society and tell them you found him abandoned and hurt. If they can trace and contact the owners and they can’t afford to treat him or take him back, the humane society will certainly treat him and find him a new better home.
Looking for rainbow or pink & teal grab bags!
Just because they won’t answer the door for me doesn’t give me the right to take their cat. My husband has tried on multiple occasions to ask them if they don’t want him just to say so and maybe give us his vet records and we’ll happily take over from there. We’ve been trying to figure out what to do for the past two months, but the least we can do is make sure he’s got fresh food and water.
My perhaps unpopular opinion: I strongly feel that anyone that willingly (as in, the cat didn’t accidentally get out) let’s their cat outdoors to roam loose relinquishes their rights as an owner.
That said, that doesn’t really help you. The cat needs to see a vet, so sadly your options might be to either claim ownership for him, or surrender him. Please make sure that if you surrender him that it is a no-kill shelter, otherwise… 🙁 I’m sorry you are in this situation.Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comBecause this has been an ongoing issue for you and to all appearances the owners seem to be refusing to feed/shelter the animal, I’m fairly sure that it can legally be considered abandonment on their part. At the very least, it’s criminal neglect. That’s right: animals have rights too!
Here’s two links discussing animal neglect [edit: I don’t know why links automatically converted to clickable named links without showing the html…or why they formatted funny…but se la vie, I guess]:
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/qa/neglect_faq.html
http://aldf.org/resources/laws-cases/animal-neglect-factsThe fact of the matter is that cat would have suffered more if it hadn’t been in your chicken coop for shelter. Granted it was eating bunnies for sustenance but you also took up the mantle of feeding him. I’m assuming the cat is still staying in your chicken coop and that you’re still feeding it…which, if so, gives you good leverage for claiming legal rights over him should your neighbors piss and moan about this.
Considering the jerks won’t respond to you and never seemed to shell out money to fix the alleged hole the cat was sneaking out of, I highly doubt the cat is microchipped. You could take him to the vet without fully explaining the situation: simply say the cat has been living in your chicken coop and you’ve been taking care of it, and it got hit by a car. I doubt the vet is going to make a huge deal of it because you’re actively seeking aid for an animal on your property; this has the added benefit of creating a paper trail SHOWING your willingness to look after the cat’s well-being should the neighbors try to claim him.
As for the injury…unfortunately only a vet could tell you what’s to be done. It will likely require an Xray at the least. If it’s a clean break on the foot, it might be solved with a cast. If it’s a compound or really bad fracture, it might require surgery for either pins or amputation. It’s a pretty sucky situation regardless, particularly if you’re strapped for cash.
Were I you, I would see about taking him to the vet or a low-cost care clinic (these places are few and far between, and can’t necessarily help in all cases, but if there’s one even remotely near you it might be worth a shot). Following that, I’d bring the cat in and officially adopt him. If you really can’t afford any vet care, the only other thing you can do is surrender him to a clinic and hope he finds his way to a good home.
Sidenote: I would honestly consider making an anonymous call for animal neglect about your neighbors regardless of how this turns out, particularly if there are any other obvious cases of it in their yard. If they have that many animals and can’t even afford to fix a hole, I really doubt they’re able to properly care for so many beasts.
I had a very horrible incident happen to a “neighborhood cat”. I took ownership and rushed him to my local vet. After the vet asked what had happened ect they treated the cat for free(I live in a small town). They also called the police and filed charges on the person who abused the cat. Sadly, the cat didn’t make it but the owner was fined. I would call around and see if any organization will help with vet care.
The cats well being comes first! You can’t leave him suffering with that injury regardless of what’s going on with the neighbor. If they concern you that much, try once when they are home to notify them that the cat was hurt and give them a chance to be responsible owners. If they refuse to answer or get him treatment…seek medical help for him directly. Their refusal to seek medical help in this situation on top of their past refusals to reclaim him qualifies as abandonment and fair game for you to keep him I’d say.
Most vets offer payment plans and are very willing to work with you. Also, many vets offer deals or discounts to those willing to seek help for and then adopt ‘stays’ and abandoned animals. Just tell the vet your neighbors abandoned him/refused to claim him or help get him treatment, you don’t know his medical history, and you would love to adopt him, just will need assistance paying for his treatment if it’s very much. Most vets are very supportive in these situations and will happily work with you.
So take him in to a vet and get him the help he deserves. No sense panicking over cost or “what if” things like amputation until the vet sees him. But waiting never makes any injury or it’s treatment better. So take the poor furball in asap!
Good luck & let us know how it turns out!
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