[RayOfAsh]

Well a few months ago my mom and dad forced me to put my cat Wanda outside and keep her out there. She is NOT an outside cat btw. Well she spent the next few days trying to get back in.

Now sometimes she dose make it back in when i go out in the backyard sometimes, and when she dose, she starts running arround SCREAMING at everybody, she yowls and yowls and yowls and doesnt stop and i cant figure out what she wants.

When she is inside she wants out and when she's out she wants in, like she cant make up her mind. Also she has lost her possistion among the inside cats so she goes around pee'ing on everything.

And before we made her an outside cat she was VERY overweight, now she is VERY skinny. She used to be very protective over the food, now her mom(cleo who was also forced to go outside but doesnt have ANY problems) doesnt let her eat any, i have to poor htem seperate bowls.

Not to mention i thnk she may have diabetes =/.

 

[Bean]

I doubt it's depression, but it does sound like a problem. Maybe she's attention starved?

 

[Jeanie]

That's so sad. I would take her to the vet. Something's wrong, and it may be physical and emotional. I believe we confuse our animals when we make drastic changes in their lives.

 

[Annissa]

And before we made her an outside cat she was VERY overweight, now she is VERY skinny. She used to be very protective over the food, now her mom(cleo who was also forced to go outside but doesnt have ANY problems) doesnt let her eat any, i have to poor htem seperate bowls.

Not to mention i thnk she may have diabetes =/.

Weight loss is a sign of diabetes, but only your vet knows for sure. Sabby was peeing on everything before he was diagnosed. He couldn't help it; he had a raging bladder infection from all the sugar in his system. He also lost seven pounds (!). Please go get Wanda tested. Diabetes is not a death sentence. There is a particularly helpful forum for parents of "sugarcats" on the web. If you've got a diabetic kitty, there is a lot of help and support available.

 

[RayOfAsh]

My mom says "we'll keep an eye on it.". But its like, she's an outside cat, all we do for them is feed them and pet them when we go outside to do something temporarally. We never keep on eye on them!

Not to mention she usually never dose anything for my sick cats except wait for them to die.

She didnt take my sick kitten to the emergancy hospital just because it cost to much. Its a kittys life for crying out loud, i would gladly pay all my lifes savings to save it .

*sigh*

Goodbye my wanda .

 

[Jeanie]

This problem is always upsetting. The question is "If I am willing to spend my hard earned money to feed strays and ferals, am I also obliged to spay, neuter, and pay vet costs for them?" I have read posts at other places where people were raked over the coals for not taking the strays to the vet. Then the people say, "Should I let them go hungry then? I don't have the money to care for their medical needs."

The answer lies, I believe, with the need for more voluntary help from vets and the general population. Here are several sources of information for you. I would also call every vet in the area and ask for help from the Humane Society and the No-Kill Shelters listed at the top of "Cats in Need." This problem needs an answer, not just for you, but for other families who are doing what noone else will do for strays and ferals. Perhaps a letter to the editor would be helpful. I wouldn't call the police; the cats might be put down as a nuisance. I wish you the very best.

Please understand that parents often don't tell their children and teens the extent of their financial difficulties, and they are probably right, in my opinion. "I can't afford it." is the most I would ever tell my children. No use worrying them or telling them your most private business. (Children have a way of telling other people things that are noone else's business.)

www.alleycat.org.org/

http://amby.com/cat_site/feral.html

http://www.felinerescue.net/index-dir.php

I hope others will comment on the rhetorical questions I asked in this post.
We know how high vet bills can be. What is the ethical thing to do-in your opinion?

 

[Ioana]

First of all - Ray of Ash - Jeanie gave you the best piece of advice - try to get in touch with as many organizations that deal with feral, stray or unwanted cats. Put in a motor search for such places in your area. You will be surprised of how many you will find . The ones Jeanie mentioned are but a few. But it won't be easy to get in touch with them because most of these people work as volunteers and have limited ressources of time and finances. Whenever you can get in touch with them plea for your kitty - I am sure somebody will help.

 

[Ioana]

Jeanie - I believe that the problem that involuntarily feral, stray cats or other colonies of "unwanted" animals cause are a responsability to us all , as a human race.
It is very sad to hear that some people just want to erase them from the face of the earth . Like it is equally unfair to see injured or dead wild animals on the road.
Things used to be different but the "civilized world" expands more and more and there is no room for creatures that actually play an important role in the ecosystem.
The best thing to do - for the people that actually care for the stray animals in the vecinity of their homes is to get in touch with organizations like Catnip + Feral Cat Friends that help (in my case) with spaying/neutering + basic shots. Luckily it is free but of course they encourage donations - which is more than understandable. But see - as I stated in the beginning it is not solely the person's that cares for them responsability. There should be a united effort in order to be succesful at a larger scale.
I was mentioning in older posts about the importance of Ethics - being a compulsory subject matter in schools. I would like to add to that the importance of teaching children what a positive influence pets have in our lives. This way more people will adopt pets - therefore less strays, abused ..animals in the streets

 

[Jeanie]

I'll put this question out for everyone. If you feed stray cats, is it your duty to give them medical care? What if you can only afford to feed them. Should you? (You know how I feel.) Thanks to Ioana for a well thought out answer.

 

[AngelZoo]

It is a real shame what happened to these poor cats. I hope your mother is not planning on getting any more cats whom might meet the same problem.

Pets are a part of the family, you don't just kick them out into the cold do you? I hope your mom can come to realize this.

Your cat needs to go to the vet right now, if she's not spayed then get her spayed, this cat is your families responciblity and if she has kittens those will also be their responcibility too.

I think the best option for this cat is to release her to a no kill shelter/rescue group, where she can get the care she diserves, please find one and call and make arrangements today if you can, this is the responcible thing.

You can find many rescues (make sure they are no kill) here, look up the shelter/rescue group listings by state on the banner of the site.

http://www.petfinder.org

 

[Lilly]

When I moved in to a new house in August, I moved into a situation where the previous owners were feeding feral cats. However they were older people who just thought they were doing a good thing by feeding the cats. They never considered the cats theirs or pets. They never took them to the vet,
So when we first moved in I was feeding them as well. However I can not even afford to feed any more animals! Honestly I just do not have the money. The cost of cheap food for these cats was going on 20.00 a week. I could never afford to take all the cats to the vet! Even to a low cost clinic.

I did not know anything about feral cats at this time. Being from the city we had never encontered ferals at all. I did not know about Alley cat alleys or feral freinds anything. So I called te humane society, thinking I was doing the right thing. The Humaine society did not even really care. They offered me no advice at all on where to find recources to help with the cats. They did eventually bring a trap and caught a good number of the cats. I would say they took 20-30 cats. They told me if I continued to feed the cats I would go to jail.

I have stoped feeding them. I hate to, but I dont think it helps the cats situation. I have tried so hard to find a sponsor or group to adopt the cats and take care of them, with no luck. Because I am in a tiny remote town, there are not alot of reesources.

Most of the time I do not see the cats around my house anymore. A family down the street also feeds the cats (I have been told) and they have a couple large out buildings the cats can get into for shelter.

So I know I took the long way around your question...but my answer as much as I hate it...dont feed the cats unless you can afford to take them to the vet to get spayed or nutered. If yoiu do, they multiply so fast and it does not help anything. Try instead to find resources that can help you by providing low cost assistance.

 

[RayOfAsh]

I think you guys are missunderstanding. My cats are not feral, they were all home raised(Cleo was a kitten from a stray cat that was braught in thoe).

Cleo and Wanda now spend all their time in the backyard. But they are not stray. They are just not inside (like they should be :evil: ).

I will try to talk my mom into taking Wanda to the vets thoe. But recently thoe, Wanda seems to be adjusting (wich i find weird), she was laying on the porch, and didnt yell at me to let her inside... :shock: .