I need some opinions. I can't imagine this could be considered humane, but maybe it's "mommy" instinct since my cats are like children to me.
My boyfriend and I moved into a new apartment complex about 4 weeks ago, 3 stories. We're on the 3rd story.
We kept hearing a cat at all hours of the day and night meowing, until a few days ago, we figured it was a stray since we'd seen 1 or 2 wandering around.
My boyfriend happened to be out on the patio late the other night about 3 nights ago and started hearing it. He put our patio light on, and on the patio at the 2nd story level, the neighbors put their cat out!! This is NOT a screened in patio, they just have some about 3' high lattice stuff like you use in the garden around the patio to keep her in I guess? I could probably get a picture... my boyfriends camera has a good zoom on it.
I've been monitoring the situation - I live in Florida so it hasn't been real cold lately - but it seems like they just keep the cat outdoors on the patio. We saw the cat outside at 8 PM last night, I heard it meowing last night over night so I'm pretty sure she/he was never brought in, and it's 10:30 now and the cat is still out. I can't see any food/water put out, both sliding doors are closed, I just see a small litterbox on the patio.
I've been thinking about putting a note on the door saying "it makes me very sad to be left out all day and night, would you please bring me in sometimes?" or something to that effect to see if they change anything... The night before it was storming terribly and I could see her out on the patio.
Opinions? Would you say something? Am I over reacting?
ETA: I just went back outside and there are TWO cats on the patio actually.
Picture of one of the cats..
My boyfriend and I moved into a new apartment complex about 4 weeks ago, 3 stories. We're on the 3rd story.
We kept hearing a cat at all hours of the day and night meowing, until a few days ago, we figured it was a stray since we'd seen 1 or 2 wandering around.
My boyfriend happened to be out on the patio late the other night about 3 nights ago and started hearing it. He put our patio light on, and on the patio at the 2nd story level, the neighbors put their cat out!! This is NOT a screened in patio, they just have some about 3' high lattice stuff like you use in the garden around the patio to keep her in I guess? I could probably get a picture... my boyfriends camera has a good zoom on it.
I've been monitoring the situation - I live in Florida so it hasn't been real cold lately - but it seems like they just keep the cat outdoors on the patio. We saw the cat outside at 8 PM last night, I heard it meowing last night over night so I'm pretty sure she/he was never brought in, and it's 10:30 now and the cat is still out. I can't see any food/water put out, both sliding doors are closed, I just see a small litterbox on the patio.
I've been thinking about putting a note on the door saying "it makes me very sad to be left out all day and night, would you please bring me in sometimes?" or something to that effect to see if they change anything... The night before it was storming terribly and I could see her out on the patio.
Opinions? Would you say something? Am I over reacting?
ETA: I just went back outside and there are TWO cats on the patio actually.
Picture of one of the cats..
They don't look malnourished and researching local codes/laws, they have to have only water if they're going to be left outside. No mention of food, and the code isn't specific in reference to food. So I don't think I could make a case for neglect/cruelty.
