Opinion / helpful suggestions about what to do with a neighborhood cat needed. (LONG)

This is a little on long side but want to give a little background.

There is a neighbor that has several cats that roam the neighborhood
of which one of them is (He says) about 11 years old and this is the
one I am asking about.

Earlier this summer they started hanging around because I was feeding
strays (Which I found homes for all or took to shelters). Thing is
this old guy had fleas so bad that when I combed him I could go no
more then 1/2 an inch with out hitting a flea/tick bump. Over the
summer I got him cleared up plus treated his over issues.

When it started getting cold I got the owner to take him indoors
because he started getting colds and acted like he was getting aches
and pains from the cold and I felt sorry for him laying out in the
yard 24/7 even though I got him a dog house to use. I even got the
owner a couple cases of canned food that I had been feeding them
because he just fed him dry and I did not want him to go cold turkey
of the canned. I also got on his case about the cats condition and he
said he is moving in spring and wanted to get rid of some of cats
(which I am working on) but did not want to let the old guy go. That
was about a month ago.


Thing is the old guy got out and came down again and he is now covered
in fleas/ticks worse then before. I am thinking about taking him to
county shelter which is not non kill. The only other shelter only
takes younger animals that they can easily find homes for. I can not
take him because I already have 4 and with Michigan winter coming it
is too cold for him and if he goes back home I am afraid he will
suffer and slowly die from the fleas/ticks.

These people can not afford these cats. They are on food stamps and
WIC coupons (I seen them in the grocery store). They took the
aluminum siding off their house to sell and are over $300 in arrears
on their water bill (Found on city web site) which give you a little
info on them.


The only choices I can take is to send the old guy back to his LEGAL
owner to probably die a slow death :-( or let him spend the
winter in the cold or take to shelter (I tryed to find home for him
but could not).

The way I see it is the only humane thing for THIS cat is to take him
to the shelter and hope for the best.

Opinions??

Problem is, this is not your cat and from a legal standpoint, you could be
setting yourself up for disaster if you neighbor ever finds out you took his
cat. Maybe call the ASPCA and report this guy?

I certainly would not take this guy to a kill shelter. He has no chance
there whatsoever. I find it doubtful that someone is going to come along and
adopt an 11 year old cat (sad but true). My opinion would be to try and take
care of him as much as you can (and thank you for being such a wonderful
person) and see what happens. I mean, the old guy has survived 10 other
Michigan winters.

Good luck and keep us updated!

kraut wrote:
This is a little on long side but want to give a little background.

There is a neighbor that has several cats that roam the neighborhood
of which one of them is (He says) about 11 years old and this is the
one I am asking about.

Earlier this summer they started hanging around because I was feeding
strays (Which I found homes for all or took to shelters). Thing is
this old guy had fleas so bad that when I combed him I could go no
more then 1/2 an inch with out hitting a flea/tick bump. Over the
summer I got him cleared up plus treated his over issues.

When it started getting cold I got the owner to take him indoors
because he started getting colds and acted like he was getting aches
and pains from the cold and I felt sorry for him laying out in the
yard 24/7 even though I got him a dog house to use. I even got the
owner a couple cases of canned food that I had been feeding them
because he just fed him dry and I did not want him to go cold turkey
of the canned. I also got on his case about the cats condition and he
said he is moving in spring and wanted to get rid of some of cats
(which I am working on) but did not want to let the old guy go. That
was about a month ago.

Thing is the old guy got out and came down again and he is now covered
in fleas/ticks worse then before. I am thinking about taking him to
county shelter which is not non kill. The only other shelter only
takes younger animals that they can easily find homes for. I can not
take him because I already have 4 and with Michigan winter coming it
is too cold for him and if he goes back home I am afraid he will
suffer and slowly die from the fleas/ticks.

These people can not afford these cats. They are on food stamps and
WIC coupons (I seen them in the grocery store). They took the
aluminum siding off their house to sell and are over $300 in arrears
on their water bill (Found on city web site) which give you a little
info on them.

The only choices I can take is to send the old guy back to his LEGAL
owner to probably die a slow death :-( or let him spend the
winter in the cold or take to shelter (I tryed to find home for him
but could not).

The way I see it is the only humane thing for THIS cat is to take him
to the shelter and hope for the best.

Opinions??

--
Message posted via CatKB.com
http://www.catkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx...ealth/200611/1

Also, if you don't mind spending just a little bit of money on the old guy,
you can order Advantage from Petmeds.com. It works wonders on fleas and one
application lasts for 3 months I believe. I want to say that a pack of 4 is
around $40. You can use the others on 3 of your own cats if any of them go
outside.

MoMo wrote:
Problem is, this is not your cat and from a legal standpoint, you could be
setting yourself up for disaster if you neighbor ever finds out you took his
cat. Maybe call the ASPCA and report this guy?

I certainly would not take this guy to a kill shelter. He has no chance
there whatsoever. I find it doubtful that someone is going to come along and
adopt an 11 year old cat (sad but true). My opinion would be to try and take
care of him as much as you can (and thank you for being such a wonderful
person) and see what happens. I mean, the old guy has survived 10 other
Michigan winters.

Good luck and keep us updated!

This is a little on long side but want to give a little background.

[quoted text clipped - 42 lines]

Opinions??

--
Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

On Mon, 27 Nov 2006 15:34:07 +0000, kraut wrote:



This is a little on long side but want to give a little background.

There is a neighbor that has several cats that roam the neighborhood of
which one of them is (He says) about 11 years old and this is the one I am
asking about.

Earlier this summer they started hanging around because I was feeding
strays (Which I found homes for all or took to shelters). Thing is this
old guy had fleas so bad that when I combed him I could go no more then
1/2 an inch with out hitting a flea/tick bump. Over the summer I got him
cleared up plus treated his over issues.

When it started getting cold I got the owner to take him indoors because
he started getting colds and acted like he was getting aches and pains
from the cold and I felt sorry for him laying out in the yard 24/7 even
though I got him a dog house to use. I even got the owner a couple cases
of canned food that I had been feeding them because he just fed him dry
and I did not want him to go cold turkey of the canned. I also got on his
case about the cats condition and he said he is moving in spring and
wanted to get rid of some of cats (which I am working on) but did not want
to let the old guy go. That was about a month ago.


Thing is the old guy got out and came down again and he is now covered in
fleas/ticks worse then before. I am thinking about taking him to county
shelter which is not non kill. The only other shelter only takes younger
animals that they can easily find homes for. I can not take him because I
already have 4 and with Michigan winter coming it is too cold for him and
if he goes back home I am afraid he will suffer and slowly die from the
fleas/ticks.

These people can not afford these cats. They are on food stamps and WIC
coupons (I seen them in the grocery store). They took the aluminum siding
off their house to sell and are over $300 in arrears on their water bill
(Found on city web site) which give you a little info on them.

Snip

This is not only poverty. He could keep his cats inside in
the cold and the heat. He could invest a dollar/euro on a fleacomb, two
dollars/euro on a fleacollar (and check the cats for ticks). In my part of
the world no-brand canned complete food is 20 cent and 3 kilo store-brand
dry complete food is 2 dollar/euro. He could take better care of the cats
with little or no cost. The owner is (partly) irresponsible.


The only choices I can take is to send the old guy back to his LEGAL owner
to probably die a slow death :-( or let him spend the winter in the cold
or take to shelter (I tryed to find home for him but could not).

The way I see it is the only humane thing for THIS cat is to take him to
the shelter and hope for the best.

Opinions??

Perhaps the country shelter is best. I do not think you would have problems with
ownership (he gave his property no proper care) or you could just deny
everything. But a cat of 11 years is mature, not old. You could comb him
and take care of his other problems so I think he is friendly and social.
There must be working people (single/couple) who want a friendly,
mature and calm cat.

Best of luck

I would approach him again and ask if you can take the cat in and find him
another home. Just tell him he's too old to be outside in this cold at 11
years old he's not going to make it through the winter if he's gotten colds
already. If nothing get resolved this way then contact the SPCA and see if
they can't do something.

The thing is unless you take him in or someone you know does if he goes to a
shelter chances are he's going to be put to sleep.

Celeste

"kraut" wrote in message
...


This is a little on long side but want to give a little background.

There is a neighbor that has several cats that roam the neighborhood
of which one of them is (He says) about 11 years old and this is the
one I am asking about.

Earlier this summer they started hanging around because I was feeding
strays (Which I found homes for all or took to shelters). Thing is
this old guy had fleas so bad that when I combed him I could go no
more then 1/2 an inch with out hitting a flea/tick bump. Over the
summer I got him cleared up plus treated his over issues.

When it started getting cold I got the owner to take him indoors
because he started getting colds and acted like he was getting aches
and pains from the cold and I felt sorry for him laying out in the
yard 24/7 even though I got him a dog house to use. I even got the
owner a couple cases of canned food that I had been feeding them
because he just fed him dry and I did not want him to go cold turkey
of the canned. I also got on his case about the cats condition and he
said he is moving in spring and wanted to get rid of some of cats
(which I am working on) but did not want to let the old guy go. That
was about a month ago.


Thing is the old guy got out and came down again and he is now covered
in fleas/ticks worse then before. I am thinking about taking him to
county shelter which is not non kill. The only other shelter only
takes younger animals that they can easily find homes for. I can not
take him because I already have 4 and with Michigan winter coming it
is too cold for him and if he goes back home I am afraid he will
suffer and slowly die from the fleas/ticks.

These people can not afford these cats. They are on food stamps and
WIC coupons (I seen them in the grocery store). They took the
aluminum siding off their house to sell and are over $300 in arrears
on their water bill (Found on city web site) which give you a little
info on them.


The only choices I can take is to send the old guy back to his LEGAL
owner to probably die a slow death :-( or let him spend the
winter in the cold or take to shelter (I tryed to find home for him
but could not).

The way I see it is the only humane thing for THIS cat is to take him
to the shelter and hope for the best.

Opinions??

kraut wrote:
This is a little on long side but want to give a little background.

You have already answered your question. The cat is roaming so is fair
game. Take him to the shelter where he will have a better life.

-L.

But she is going to bring him to a kill shelter where he will have almost no
chance at survival.

-L. wrote:
This is a little on long side but want to give a little background.

You have already answered your question. The cat is roaming so is fair
game. Take him to the shelter where he will have a better life.

-L.

--
Message posted via CatKB.com
http://www.catkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx...ealth/200611/1

I can't agree more. The "owner" has shown that he can't or won't take
care of the cat, even knowing that he's jeopardizing the cat. The cat is
going to be a lot better off at a no-kill shelter. He's certain to die
otherwise. I also would NOT advise the owner that you're doing this on
the off chance that he kills the cat out of irritation or does something
else ill-advised.


"-L." wrote in message
oups.com...

kraut wrote:
This is a little on long side but want to give a little background.

You have already answered your question. The cat is roaming so is
fair
game. Take him to the shelter where he will have a better life.

-L.

"-L." wrote in message
oups.com...

kraut wrote:
This is a little on long side but want to give a little background.

You have already answered your question. The cat is roaming so is fair
game. Take him to the shelter where he will have a better life.

-L.

And I really don't see how they can prosecute as they are selling the
aluminium off their house....give him a better life while he still has a
chance. If they cared for him they would at least keep him indoors

kraut wrote:

Opinions??

hell, as poor as the owners are i bet they'd appreciate a nice store
bought cake as a gift
( a gift in secret pacifies anger)

THEN... tell them your hearts troubles

poor ain't nothing brutha! poor is poor...
so poor? so what.. don't let poor be a stumbling block
bebeath the lack is the same heart you tout

anyway

HELL YES!

you think they wouldn't BRIGHT UP at someone spending money on dey cat?

I say approach them with a few bux to spend on the cat

I mean that's what it comes down to right?

or hell.. slowly educate them.. OR show them what they are missing

thing is.. if you just cart cat off to no-kill shelter little ****er is
out of his element
no no.. live an let live

cats got more fur than you imagine
dont anthromorphosize, don't shiver for the cat
(btw how cold is it in your hood these days?, lol)

NO you don't owe then nothing.. but I like the part where IF
you can afford to do good and you find a way to do it

WHOEVER SAID THAT DOING GOOD WAS EASY
WHOEVER SAID THAT DOING A GOOD DEED WOULD PRESENT ITSELF
maybe it's ok to make way to do good..

I like what you're doing, walk over there right now, it's only 7:30pm

i bet you sleep with a big **** eatin grin on your face tonight

stop pretending the cat is a human, give the cat some credit for
durability (except the fleas).. otherwise.. CARRY YOUR ASS DOWN TO THE
SUPERMARKET AND GET SOME FUNKY FLEA MEDSIN...

stop bucking up at dey poverty.. their lack is a stumbling block for
you

this post is not about what is right, your post is you telling how
their poverty is a stumbling block

or.. you're scared that if you do what you know is right you won't get
no credit

seeing they are poor ass mf's...

carry your ass down and get some flea spray yo!

and a cake