Cat Lovers, I need suggestions
@whimsystoryteller (1743)
United States
August 29, 2008 5:19pm CST
I have a neighbor down the hall who took in my neighbor's cats when she was evicted. The problem is that the males were not fixed and she didn't tell him this and snuck in one of them. Now, he has 9 cats and 5 kittens. Keep in mind that this man is not all there upstairs and he's on SSI, which means he doesn't have a lot of income. I've been helping to feed the cats and have been trying to get him to let me find homes for the kittens and some of the cats but he is delusional and thinks he's going to move to a bigger place and have plenty of room and money to care for them.
I don't want to call animal services about him for two reasons. One, I don't want the cats to be put down and secondly, it might put my own cats at risk. I'd love to find homes for the cats. They are all either all black or black and white. I managed to get him to let me place one of them with a family in the building but he's really stubborn and ornery and when he gets his dander up, he gets really ugly.
I cannot continue to feed both his animals and mine and I've told him this but I don't want the cats to go hungry, either. I can't go to my landlord because she would call animal services and that could lead to problems for both of us.
I've also talked to him about taking the males to Petco to get them fixed or take some of them there for adoption. He is just really stubborn.
Do you guys know of any organization that might help get food for the cats without causing a raucous? Unfortunately, there are so many animal activists who simply don't get it when it comes to reality and even though they think they are helping, sometimes they just cause more trouble.
If I could find someone in the area who might help without creating a problem, I'd love some help with this. My problem is that I don't trust a lot of these activists because one of them blackmailed me and the whole thing resulted in me having to board several of my cats for over a year and I don't want to put anyone else through what I went through.
If any of you have any practical ideas without making judgments, I could use suggestions.
1 person likes this
1 response
@rebekkahm (149)
• Canada
31 Aug 08
I have a few questions whimsy. Does your landlord allow pets at all? Based on the small amount of info you've given us, it's hard to determine what the best route is. If this man has Alzheimer's (which is what it sounds like), he needs to be placed under care and treated for his disease. As for your cats, do you have anyone that can take your babies for a few weeks while you straighten out his problems? It might be best to just remove your cats to a seperate location for a little while just to make the issue simpler. For his cats, is there a no-kill animal shelter? After you get your cats out to a friend's place, I would get a no-kill animal shelter involved. They will help out with food, spay/neutering and placing them in good homes.
@whimsystoryteller (1743)
• United States
31 Aug 08
Yes, my landlord allows cats but I have more than the legal limit. No, he does not have Alzheimer's. I wouldn't know what to call it other than a lot of anger and paranoia from years of not dealing with things realistically and preferring to blame other people for his problems rather than take responsibility for his own decision and actions. The best way I know to put it is that he is just not very bright and is super sensitive. He's one of these people who goes through life not wanting to take action but complains all the time about things. He's afraid of a lot of things.
And, I appreciate your suggestion for getting my cats out but that would be way out of the question. I have no place to take them and it was risky enough sneaking them back in after they were in a kennel to protect them.
I think I'm simply going to have to turn the whole situation over to God because He has better ideas than I do. I just know that I'm not able to feed his cats and mine anymore. Not with grocery prices having gone through the roof. I used to be able to get a large bag of cat food for $9 or $10 and now they are $13 to $15 regular price. I'm only making $8.50 an hour right now and I work two jobs six days a week and I'm still having to ask my family for money every two weeks just to buy food for me and my cats. I just can't take care of these other cats as well no matter how much I might want to do so.
That is why I'm starting Patches' Pet Pals. I want to be able to help people in these types of situations without the threat of losing their animals. In this man's case, if Patches' Pet Pals had been up and running a few months ago, we could have picked up the cats and had them fixed and returned them and there would never have been all these cats to deal with.
For you or anyone who would like to help with this effort, you can go to www.patchespetpals.com and my online store with animal designs under the Patches' Pet Pals section at www.whimsyoriginalsonline.com. I'm still working on both sites so come back again soon.
