Happy Ending to a Crummy Situation for Toby the Cat

[TooPatient]

We have 3 rescue cats. I had a 4th, an elderly Siamese named Boo who passed recently. He was a sweet old cat...and now I'm crying thinking about him.. His owners were moving and didn't want to take him. WTF. Who does that? I could barely look at this woman when she dropped him off.

I could never move and not take all of mine. I get so upset seeing all the owner surrenders due to the family moving.

Our senior girl is one of the very few I can see an exception for anger at previous owners. She was 13 years old and her family was moving out of the country (opposite side of the world) to care for a sick elderly relative. They found a great no kill rescue for her because they didn't think the stress of an around the world flight followed by quarantine would be good for her.
I don't know what I would do if faced with a situation like that.

 

[737liz]

I read that too, and cried. He didn't know he wasn't wanted. I feel like something needs to change in the system though; I see a lot of stories where an animal is surrendered because the owners won't/can't pay for treatments. The animal is then 'rescued' by the organisation and put in a shelter. Just wish there were ways to subsidize medical treatments for families and owners who love their animals but are poor/irresponsible with money or whatever, so that these animals can stay with their humans who they love. The thought of an animal spending even one day in shelter unnecessarily is heartbreaking.

We have fancy insurance for our gutter cats, because I don't ever want to be faced with a situation where I cannot pay to keep my babies alive. But up until recently, pet insurance wasn't a thing. With my previous cat, who we picked up from a farm overrun with cats and kittens, my ex and I had to discuss what our financial limit would be on vet bills. It was an awful conversation to have. Luckily we never had to put a value on his life.

I am not very well off by Ps standards, but I think we PSers all are lucky enough to have disposable income. Some people have much less but still (rightly or wrongly) want to have a pet/give an animal a home. I'm conflicted about the whole thing. In an ideal world, pets are for life and money is no object.

 

[rockysalamander]

When I was a vet-tech in college, I wanted to get a cat. A woman came into the clinic with two cats (really a cat and kitten). She had been in her yard with her family in a rural area and saw a car stop and two things go flying. Her son discovered that it was two cats. It took her 2 days to grab them and she brought them in. They were clearly previously well-taken care of house cat and kitten. I adopted the momma and my mom the kitten. In spite of that car experience, that momma cat would happily come on car-rides with me, travel to friends homes, accept all dogs (that knew she was queen bee), and kids. That wonderful kitty lived for 21 years and was the pet love of my life. I get teary as I write this and she's been gone for 7 years. While she had a truly bad experience, she remained a sweet, gentle and loving friend for her whole life.

Some people just suck as human beings. But, I got a wonderful gift from their suckitude.

 

[missy]

In an ideal world, pets are for life and money is no object.

Yes, but the same could be said for having children. IMO the point is if you do take on the responsibility of having pets (or children) one has to follow through with necessary medical care and food and support and housing. It is not a responsibility to be taken lightly and it is not OK to treat them as disposable. Many people who struggle financially have kids but it wouldn't be OK to abandon them right? So it is not OK to abandon an innocent helpless animal either. You adopt the animal it is part of your family and not a disposable living being. If one cannot handle it financially or emotionally or whatever else the reason is the very least one can do is find the animal a safe suitable loving home. The animal is a living being. For most animal lovers and animal "owners" money is an object. Very few of us have no money concerns. That is real life. Money is not limitless for any of us. It all comes down to priorities. And if one decides to adopt an animal you have now made a promise to make that animal a priority.

And to all you wonderful PSers who rescue animals and give them or find them loving safe warm homes THANK YOU so much.

(and @737lizakg just want to be clear I am not talking about you-I know you wouldn't abandon an animal-just expanding upon points in your post).

 

[737liz]

very least one can do is find the animal a safe suitable loving home.

Missy I totally agree. Dumping or even dropping them at a shelter that isn't safe and clean is awful and lazy. From the original article it sounds like they tried to rehome him, but when it didn't stick, just patted themselves on the back and said 'well we tried, off to be put down you go'.

But I do think there's a (case by case) defense for people who take in a stray and then don't have the means, financially or otherwise, to care for it. My current cats came from a young woman who's equally young husband passed away and as she travelled extensively for work, the cats were miserable. After a year of hoping they would adjust, she had to accept that they felt neglected, despite paying house-sitters, and paying a vet to come see them and play with them whenever she was away. She comes over every few months and takes them back to hers when we go on holiday. I think she did the right/responsible thing rehoming them with us. Should the day ever come when I feel like the cats are unhappy because of a situation that I have no control over but that is my fault, then I can see myself possibly looking to rehome them. At the moment I can't see any situation where that would happen. We wouldn't even consider a job move if it meant quarantine. They are our babies, and as we plan to NOT have human kids, this is it for us... until I convince SO that we need to rescue MORE fluffballs.

I love that so many bling obsessed posters here also have a pet obsession!