Moral Question?

As you know, Shadow is an abandoned cat.

I'm taking her to TED tomorrow (and abusing the credit card) because her
night time opera is too much for any of us to take, and her
passive/agressive thing is confusing Suki no end (ie, she yowls for a
boy-cat's attentions and then hisses & baps when he* come to close).

The idea is for her to be spayed, innoculated and otherwise poked where the
sun don't shine.

One little hitch: if they find a microchip, they are legally bound to try to
contact the owners. She still *technically* belongs to them.

So, the question is, if they find a microchip, do I delay the spay?

The reason being I can't afford all this vetinary stuff if she isn't my cat,
and no way do I want to spend the $300 or so I can ill afford if I just have
to surrender her to irresponsible human beings a few days later who could
very well just abandon her again.

Grak, evil people. Couldn't they just surrender her to the RSPCA? Its
free...

(Come to think of it, why didn't I take her to the RSPCA as a found animal,
and put myself first on the "adopt if owners can't be found" list?)

Yowie

Kumani and Tyche are microchipped around the shoulder blade. The chip
is invisible.

If you are forced to surrender Shadow, I would delay the spay.
Proceed with the spay when Shadow's stupid people don't answer the
vet's call, or say they don't want her any more.

But it seems to me that if she's not spayed, she's likely not chipped
either. Who would pay for a chip and not pay for a spay??

I think taking her to the vet and taking the risk is a better idea
than not vetting her. Good luck (and hopefully she's not chipped and
gone from her stupid humes* forever!)

--Fil
*Nocturne invented this word as a "Species-al" slur and I think it
applies here!





Yowie, I dunno where they stick those microchips in Oz but in USA I
thought
they put them around cats' ears....maybe I'm wrong.

On May 18, 9:26*pm, "Yowie" wrote:
As you know, Shadow is an abandoned cat.

I'm taking her to TED tomorrow (and abusing the credit card) because her
night time opera is too much for any of us to take, and her
passive/agressive thing is confusing Suki no end (ie, she yowls for a
boy-cat's attentions and then hisses & baps when he* come to close).

The idea is for her to be spayed, innoculated and otherwise poked where the
sun don't shine.

One little hitch: if they find a microchip, they are legally bound to try to
contact the owners. She still *technically* belongs to them.

So, the question is, if they find a microchip, do I delay the spay?

The reason being I can't afford all this vetinary stuff if she isn't my cat,
and no way do I want to spend the $300 or so I can ill afford if I just have
to surrender her to irresponsible human beings a few days later who could
very well just abandon her again.

Grak, evil people. Couldn't they just surrender her to the RSPCA? Its
free...

(Come to think of it, why didn't I take her to the RSPCA as a found animal,
and put myself first on the "adopt if owners can't be found" list?)

Yowie

I think it would be perfectly moral to go ahead with the spay.
(keeping in
mind that the US has such a horrid overpopulation problem).

But the *practical* thing to do, is to delay. $300 is a chunk o'
change, and I'm
not sure I'd do it, either, for that kind of money. (If I were
wealthy, it would
be another deal altogether).
I suspect she isn't chipped. Again, speaking of experience with
homeless
animals here in the US, generally the people who chip pets are the
people
who care very much about them and are responsible pet owners. If she
belonged to said responsible pet owner, she'd already be "done."
Good luck, Yowie. Hope it goes well. You're doing a good thing.

Sherry

you could still take her, or get her spayed, pay the bill and tell the new
owners that you will only release her if they pony up the cash for the spay,
and a boarding fee, make it half what the vet charges, and then they will
freak and let you keep a=her, Lee
Yowie wrote in message
...
As you know, Shadow is an abandoned cat.

I'm taking her to TED tomorrow (and abusing the credit card) because her
night time opera is too much for any of us to take, and her
passive/agressive thing is confusing Suki no end (ie, she yowls for a
boy-cat's attentions and then hisses & baps when he* come to close).

The idea is for her to be spayed, innoculated and otherwise poked where
the
sun don't shine.

One little hitch: if they find a microchip, they are legally bound to try
to
contact the owners. She still *technically* belongs to them.

So, the question is, if they find a microchip, do I delay the spay?

The reason being I can't afford all this vetinary stuff if she isn't my
cat,
and no way do I want to spend the $300 or so I can ill afford if I just
have
to surrender her to irresponsible human beings a few days later who could
very well just abandon her again.

Grak, evil people. Couldn't they just surrender her to the RSPCA? Its
free...

(Come to think of it, why didn't I take her to the RSPCA as a found
animal,
and put myself first on the "adopt if owners can't be found" list?)

Yowie

Don't tell the vet that she is an abandoned cat, he/she will assume
that the cat is yours and ask no questions about it. If your vet
already knows then maybe find another who does not know the situation
to do the spay. They don't routinely scan microchips anyway.

Dewi

It may be that if she is microchipped, the vet may refuse to do the spey
until the 'owners' have been contacted.

Yowie wrote:

One little hitch: if they find a microchip, they are legally bound to try to
contact the owners. She still *technically* belongs to them.

I think it's extremely unlikely they'll find a chip TBH - if they do, I
would delay the spay, ensure that Shadow is kept in, give the owners a
chance to respond and if not then go ahead next week.

Deb.
--
http://www.scientific-art.com

"He looked a fierce and quarrelsome cat, but claw he never would;
He only bit the ones he loved, because they tasted good." S. Greenfield

Yowie wrote:

One little hitch: if they find a microchip, they are legally bound to try to
contact the owners. She still *technically* belongs to them.

So, the question is, if they find a microchip, do I delay the spay?

The reason being I can't afford all this vetinary stuff if she isn't my cat,
and no way do I want to spend the $300 or so I can ill afford if I just have
to surrender her to irresponsible human beings a few days later who could
very well just abandon her again.

Yikes, $300 for a spay? Is that normal? In the US, charging half that
amount would be considered expensive. Especially since it's not hard at
all to find services that will do it very cheap or even free, as a way
of encouraging people to neuter their pets.

I don't know if Australia has the same kind of cat overpopulation problem
we have here, but I do know that cats are a threat to the environment in
Australia, so I would expect neutering to be a popular idea. Of course,
just because that would be logical, doesn't mean that's what's happening.
But if it is, maybe you could find an organization that does inexpensive
neutering? Some rescue groups in the US provide coupons for low prices
at participating vets, maybe you could look into that? I had Roxy
spayed for $20 using such a coupon, and I'm not even poor. They just
want people to neuter their pets!

--
Joyce

To email me, remove the triple-X from my user name. ^..^

As you know, Shadow is an abandoned cat.

Abandoned how exactly? - do you know the abandonment was intentional
or irresponsible, rather than an accident?


I'm taking her to TED tomorrow (and abusing the credit card) because
her night time opera is too much for any of us to take, and her
passive/agressive thing is confusing Suki no end (ie, she yowls for a
boy-cat's attentions and then hisses & baps when he* come to close).
The idea is for her to be spayed, innoculated and otherwise poked where
the sun don't shine.
One little hitch: if they find a microchip, they are legally bound to
try to contact the owners. She still *technically* belongs to them.
So, the question is, if they find a microchip, do I delay the spay?

I don't recall the story behind how you got her, but that seems the
obvious thing to do. Isn't it more likely than not that the original
owners would want their cat back?

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === http://www.campin.me.uk ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
As you know, Shadow is an abandoned cat.

I'm taking her to TED tomorrow (and abusing the credit card) because her
night time opera is too much for any of us to take, and her
passive/agressive thing is confusing Suki no end (ie, she yowls for a
boy-cat's attentions and then hisses & baps when he* come to close).

The idea is for her to be spayed, innoculated and otherwise poked where
the sun don't shine.

One little hitch: if they find a microchip, they are legally bound to try
to contact the owners. She still *technically* belongs to them.

So, the question is, if they find a microchip, do I delay the spay?



I would delay the spay.

Chances are pretty remote that anything will be found. But even though you
know she was an abandoned cat, you don't know that she wasn't a lost cat
before she hooked up with the idiots that abandonded her. Maybe a very
much loved lost cat.

Shouldn't take very long to contact the owners that chipped her if they
exist.

Jo