What an idiot!

eilcon

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I just heard something from one of my neighbors that has me furious at another neighbor, named Mark. Mark has an absolutely gorgeous, fluffy gray/white female cat named "Come Here." You guys may remember that I helped get her fixed over the summer, after I found her roaming around outside and learned she hadn't been spayed.

I've always thought of Mark as a nice guy, although he's not the brightest, and he really seems to care about Come Here. I don't agree with him letting her outside, even now that she's fixed, because we live near a busy street, but at least he's taking good care of her.

Well, I just found out that today he took Come Here down the street to a strip mall (it's about 2 miles away) and left her there as an experiment to see if she'd find her way back home!
Fortunately, the neighbor I was talking to said the cat made it home safely. He swears Mark didn't intend to abandon the cat. Still, to do something like that is beyond stupid and, I think even cruel.

Thank goodness she's safe. I've held my tongue on Mark's letting her outside, but he just took this too far. Once I calm down that idiot is going to get a talking to, in as reasonable a way as I can muster, because I don't want to alienate him. He's actually a good neighbor and, as I said, I've seen how much he seems to care about Come Here.

Please send vibes I can handle this well. I don't always deal well with idiots!
 

satai

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Of course you can have vibes to handle it well - obviously it's important that you do.

You leave the fuming to us - we'll be fine - and go handle this all professionally.
 

yayi

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It sure looks like abandonement to me. He LEFT CH for crying out loud!!!

I have nothing against people with outside kitties (I am one of them) but I certainly would not do what your neighbor Mark did, even as an experiment.
 

kittenkiya

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I'm glad that you are going to be talking to him and not me. I would start with a baseball bat across the head to get his attention.


Make sure to ask him how he'd like to be driven some miles away from home and dropped off to see if he could find his way back.
 
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eilcon

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Originally Posted by gailuvscats

How old is Mark? He sounds pretty immature.
I'm guessing in his 40's, old enough to know better regardless.

If this was anybody else but Mark I'd be over at his apartment right now ready to rip into him or I'd just take the cat the next time I saw her out. You guys would have to know Mark to understand why I'm not as as furious with him as I would be with anyone else. The guy is just kind of goofy or wacky. He just doesn't have a whole lot of common sense. Honestly, if it was anyone else, I'd believe he intentionally abadoned the cat. But, Mark really is wacky enough to try something like this. That's no excuse, though, and I'm still shocked and furious that he would do this!

I really believe the best, most productive approach is to go at this reasonably and kind of lay a guilt trip on him. Mark is very much a gentleman and is very respectful of my downstairs neighbor and me because we're nuns. I'm hoping if I tell him that I'm worried about Come Here and would feel awful if anything happened to her, he'll really take it to heart.

If not, she WILL be finding a new home.
 

natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by eilcon

Well, I just found out that today he took Come Here down the street to a strip mall (it's about 2 miles away) and left her there as an experiment to see if she'd find her way back home!
Fortunately, the neighbor I was talking to said the cat made it home safely. He swears Mark didn't intend to abandon the cat. Still, to do something like that is beyond stupid and, I think even cruel.
The next time I saw her outside I would quietly take her inside and find her a new home. If he asked me if I saw the cat I'd tell him no. I'm not above cat or dog knapping if it means saving the life of a pet. And I've done it too.

That guy doesn't deserve the honour of being responsible for any other living creature.
 

kittenkiya

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Shhhhh.....don't tell anyone, but I was a catnapper too. Would do it again in a heartbeat.
 
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eilcon

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Just got to thinking, what if what the other neighbor told me about Mark and the cat isn't true?

You guys are going to think I have some seriously weird neighbors and that wouldn't be far from the truth.
The guy who told me about this, who's name is Jim, is a bit wacky himself. He's the one I've mentioned on here before that's kind of a dirty old man who liked to watch me cut the grass and make comments about how he "likes to see women sweat."

During the same conversation in which he brought up Mark, Jim also wanted to discuss the sexuality of my cats. I've told him before that I have three females and one male and that they're all fixed, but tonight he starting talking about how Peter must love "living with all the girls" when they go into heat. Jim wanted to take the conversation further, but I put a stop to it.

He loves teases me and getting me all riled up and knows I'm passionate about cats, so what if he just said what he did about Mark to get me going?
Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him.

This doesn't change anything. I'm still going to talk to Mark, but this why I need to be careful what I say.

Geez, I live in a nutty neighborhood!
 

satai

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That's cause you do have seriously weird neighbours.

BTW Jim's probably trying to freak you out cause you're a nun. He probably expects you to run screaming everytime he hints at s-e-x.
 

rapunzel47

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So, perhaps then your approach to Mark is "Mark, do you know what I heard? I can hardly believe it, but I heard that you took Come Here way down the street to see if she could find her way home. Tell me that's not true! I'd be really worried about her, if it were." ...or something like that.
 

silentnate

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Originally Posted by rapunzel47

So, perhaps then your approach to Mark is "Mark, do you know what I heard? I can hardly believe it, but I heard that you took Come Here way down the street to see if she could find her way home. Tell me that's not true! I'd be really worried about her, if it were." ...or something like that.
I'd say that is best approach as I'm feeling that Jim is a pretty unreliable witness..
Sending good vibes to Come Here in any case as it sounds as if the cat is stuck in the middle of all of this neighbourhood dispute
 
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eilcon

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Originally Posted by rapunzel47

So, perhaps then your approach to Mark is "Mark, do you know what I heard? I can hardly believe it, but I heard that you took Come Here way down the street to see if she could find her way home. Tell me that's not true! I'd be really worried about her, if it were." ...or something like that.
That's exactly along the lines of what I was thinking. This is a really weird situation. Honestly, if it wasn't for Come Here and wanting to be sure she's safe, I wouldn't have the patience to deal with Mark and Jim.

I'll let you all what I find out. Thanks for the vibes!
 

katiemae1277

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Weird, just weird
I have the utmost confidence that you will handle the situation the right way.... sounds like you need to get an attack cat for Jim. oh wait, just sic Gracie on him the next time he gets a little fresh with you
 

katl8e

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Originally Posted by rapunzel47

So, perhaps then your approach to Mark is "Mark, do you know what I heard? I can hardly believe it, but I heard that you took Come Here way down the street to see if she could find her way home. Tell me that's not true! I'd be really worried about her, if it were." ...or something like that.
This sound slike the most reasonable approach. As for Jim, throw a bucket of cold water on HIM. Sounds as though HE needs to be neutered, too.
 
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