"Moe DeLoughan" > wrote in message
...
> On 5/6/2014 2:49 PM, Ophelia wrote:
>>
>>
>> "Moe DeLoughan" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> On 5/6/2014 1:57 PM, Cheri wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "Moe DeLoughan" > wrote in message
>>>> ...
>>>>> On 5/6/2014 1:01 PM, Ophelia wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Moe DeLoughan" > wrote in message
>>>>>> ...
>>>>>>> On 5/6/2014 10:57 AM, jmcquown wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> A few years back a woman I know in England (from another ng)
>>>>>>>> was in
>>>>>>>> the hospital for a period of time. A friend was cat-sitting
>>>>>>>> for her
>>>>>>>> two cats. One of her cats was elderly but under a vets care.
>>>>>>>> One day
>>>>>>>> the cat was out for a stroll. Some woman saw the cat and
>>>>>>>> assumed it
>>>>>>>> was a stray. She picked it up and took it to the RSPCA. Without
>>>>>>>> even
>>>>>>>> attempting to find out whether or not the cat had a home, they
>>>>>>>> euthanized it.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Imagine coming home to that. IIRC it took quite a while for
>>>>>>>> her to
>>>>>>>> find out what happened to her cat.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A year or so ago in my area, a family's cat ran away from its
>>>>>>> home. The
>>>>>>> family searched to no avail. Several weeks later they discovered
>>>>>>> on an
>>>>>>> online bulletin board that their cat had been found and given to a
>>>>>>> no-kill
>>>>>>> shelter in a nearby town. They called the shelter, described their
>>>>>>> cat and
>>>>>>> the shelter confirmed its distinctive meow. But they refused to
>>>>>>> give
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> family their cat back. They refused to let the family _adopt_
>>>>>>> their cat
>>>>>>> back, even when the family offered to pay the adoption fee.
>>>>>>> Instead,
>>>>>>> they
>>>>>>> placed it with another person. The shelter told the press that it
>>>>>>> was the
>>>>>>> family's fault for letting their cat run, and they had
>>>>>>> absolutely no
>>>>>>> intention of telling the family where their cat was now living.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> That sounds like theft! How dare they refuse to give her property
>>>>>> back to here (because leaving aside the affection, that is how it
>>>>>> would probably be seen in law!
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Turns out the law here says that after holding an animal for five
>>>>> days, animal impound facilities are free to dispose of pets as they
>>>>> please. The shelter said they had the cat for over two weeks. So
>>>>> they had the legal right to hand off the cat to whomever they chose,
>>>>> and they were quite obnoxiously adamant in their opinion of the
>>>>> cat's original family unfitness to own a pet (because the cat wasn't
>>>>> neutered, wasn't chipped, wasn't collared, and was found straying).
>>>>
>>>> I agree 100%, love your pets, give them what they need, or let
>>>> somebody who will do the right thing, do the right thing.
>>>
>>> The family claimed the cat was collared, but it had a habit of
>>> slipping its collar, and it had escaped outdoors. As for being
>>> unneutered, they said they just hadn't taken it to the vet to be
>>> fixed yet.
>>>
>>> A place I used to work at was a warehouse on the edge of a
>>> residential neighborhood. One spring we had a problem with a
>>> neighbor's cat. It had a collar, but no tag. It was very, very
>>> sociable - so much so, it kept sneaking into the business and ending
>>> up getting locked in overnight. I wrote a note and taped it to her
>>> collar, asking her owners to take better care of her. After all, she
>>> could've gotten injured or poisoned in the warehouse. Nothing
>>> changed. Then one day she came into the store but was limping and
>>> shying away from everyone. She had a couple of good-sized wounds
>>> that were infected. I had my sisters come pick her up and take her
>>> to my vet, whom I'd phoned and assured I would pay for the kitty's
>>> care. The vet said she'd been attacked by another, larger animal,
>>> and the wounds hadn't been treated, so they got infected.
>>>
>>> She stayed with me till she healed up, then I gave her away to a
>>> very good home. She lived a very long and pampered life, and I'd
>>> visit her occasionally.
>>>
>>> Oh, yeah - several days after she'd showed up injured at the
>>> warehouse, a woman came asking about her. The owner told her the cat
>>> had been badly injured and an employee took the cat to the vet and
>>> then gave it away. She begged for the return of her cat. She said
>>> her kid was crying for it. The owner said they weren't crying after
>>> the cat had been injured and the wounds got infected, so they didn't
>>> deserve to keep it. And good day to _you_, madam.
>>
>> Yes, I would want to remove an animal that was injured and uncared
>> for. Was that the case with the cat that was given away by the animal
>> centre?
>>
>
> The shelter said the cat had been brought in by a man who'd found the cat
> hanging around his house for the past several days. The shelter said the
> cat was in 'terrible condition', but did not elaborate. In fact, they hung
> up on the reporter who called them in an attempt to mediate the dispute
> and hopefully get the family's cat back. (It's one of those newspaper
> columns where people having a problem with a local business ask the
> columnist to intervene on their behalf.)

I guess they must have cared then. How awful for everyone concerned. I
have no experience with cats (I am allergic to their dander) but I believe
that many are allowed out at night to wander? I know my dog doesn't go
anywhere without me.

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