How to stop a cat deserter

This is not a situation I am actively involved in, but it's one I have observed and I really want to know if there's anything that can be done.

My friend's father (whom I will call "Jerry") has a tendency of abandoning the cats he (Jerry) brings home. A lovely kitty they had for about five years was abandoned in an unfamiliar neighborhood because she kept peeing on the walls and floor despite having a clean catbox. Another female was tossed out the door because she would go into heat often and howl all night, keeping Jerry awake. One of the offspring of the aforesaid female found its way back to Jerry and ended up in the same position as her mother: dumped out like trash because she would loudly go into heat.

In fact, the only one of the cats in this house that did not get abandoned was an orange male that was altered - he was run over by a car because these people also cannot be bothered to keep the cats indoors when they live on a very busy road where people exceed the speed limit and intentionally try to hit cats and dogs.

Currently, the cat they've had for about 10 years is in danger of being abandoned. Why? She's been peeing on the rug. This poor cat had it bad enough already - I've known Friend for almost six years and that cat has had worms ever since I met Friend and his family. She's a very sweet and declawed cat, so I imagine she'd be stressed, afraid and defenseless when she's dumped out of the only home she's ever known.

And they have another cat that they got a few months ago - a male cat that will probably also get abandoned once he reaches sexual maturity and begins marking everything. These people are far too interested in substances to bother getting their cats altered or take them for a check-up when they do their business outside their catboxes.

Basically, Jerry brings home a new cat (almost always a kitten), complains about how annoying it is, and then dumps it someplace when it starts doing cat things. Doesn't even bother taking it to the shelter because that would be too much of an effort, and taking it to the vet would cut into the beer fund, and I guess Jerry figures that it's just an animal and abandoning it is free.

It's very heartbreaking. Jerry does not adopt animals from the shelter because that would cost money, so contacting local shelters to put him on a "do not adopt" list would be futile. He'll just find someone in the neighborhood who's giving away kittens and get one like that.

I don't want to see more innocent cats get kept and tossed out like movie rentals by Jerry, but I don't know what I can do. I personally cannot take in anymore cats, and no one else I know likes or can afford a cat (or more cats). Is there anything I can do to keep Jerry from perpetuating this awful cycle? I don't want to see another kitten get thrown out like yesterday's garbage because it starts acting like a cat in ways Jerry doesn't like.

Yes there is something you can do. Contact the RSPCA (or your equivelent of protection against cruelty of animals).

They will investigate and if there is substance to abuse claims , and I think it's a crime to dump an animal in the fashion you describe , then they will have him arrested, charged, and he'll go to court for animal neglect and abuse.

The court will then issue an order that will prevent him from aquiring or keeping any animal for a certain period of time measured in years, perhaps indefinitly, and if he breaks the court order, Jerry will end up in Jail.

The RSPCA can have some far reaching powers in the justice system.

If you sincerely suspect he will dump the declawed female, contact the RSPCA ASAP! because declawed cats have no defence in the outside world and she will probably end up dead if she's just dumped, because unless she forages for food or is given some, she not only has no defence, but how would she hunt?

The RSPCA will investigate, take the matter out of his hands, you never know, if you're right that he is about to dump her, then at least the RSPCA will save him the trip, and help the cat if he is willing to voluntarily surrender her, they'll take her.

It can be an anonymous call if your afraid of retribution from Jerry's family.

Back in his younger years my dad did the same thing. He didn't allow the cats to have worms or anything like that, but if they sprayed of peed anywhere he'd take them to the country (even the declawed ones) Someone called the RSPCA when he took my moms cat out to the country for spite when he and my mother divorced.

He went to court and they decided to put him threw an animal sensitivity course and also made him do community service at a shelter where he had to take care of abused and neglected cats and dogs for 1,000 hours. It was well worth it. My dad isn't a terrible man, he was just misinformed. His parents taught him that cats preferred to be outdoors and that declawed or not they would survive.

The class he went to taught him that cats don't survive well outside and also taught him cats habits and behaviors. It did wonders. He feels terrible about past neglect and has now been given the privilege of being able to take sick kitties home from the pound for over night care. His hours were over last year and he still volunteers.

Maybe Jerry just needs a wake up call.

I will contact the RSPCA - I've actually never heard of that (just the ASPCA/SPCA), but I'll look into it.

And unfortunately, Jerry is a bit of a jerk all around (names I would like to call him may not be appropriate for the forum) - he tells his kids things like he wishes they were never born and tells his wife he can't wait until she dies so he can go shack up with another woman. Basically, I don't think sensitivity classes would do a thing for him - I'd like to see him have to do 1000 hours of animal community service, but he's too much of a jerk to get anything out of the experience...and that's assuming he doesn't intentionally screw up to try and get out of doing it.

Also, there's no substance abuse...just these people tend to choose beer and cigarettes over the house pets. And yes, I would definitely have to make an anonymous call because I'm sure Jerry's father would seek revenge. Still though, I may be the most likely suspect in the event anything was done.

Thanks very much for the advice - I hope I can do something to keep this guy from abandoning anymore pets.

RSPCA is in the UK, Australia an such, where the poster who mentioned is located. In here, it is the ASPCA/SPCA.

Guess I'll be dating myself, but about 40 years ago we lived in an apartment in a military town just outside an army base here in the US. Most of the residents were young military families. One of my neighbors was a sargent about 40 years old and he lived next door to a young couple. I lived behind this young couple. The young husband would drink at night and beat his wife. Eventually the young wife got a tiny puppy and then the man would beat the puppy too. The sargent loved animals and would get very upset. He would knock on the door of the young couple when the man beat the puppy and there would be awful arguments.

One day the sargent and I couldn't stand it anymore, and while the couple were away, the sargent crawled through a window, rescued the puppy, brought it to me and the puppy was delivered far away from the drunken hands of that idiot. To my knowledge, never a mention was made of the incident by anyone ever again until just now!

For the sake of the puppy, there wasn't time to educate or reform the young man. All that could be done was to rescue the innocent animal. Today domestic violence is viewed differently, but cruelty to animals often is not. The sargent and I felt 'ya just gotta do what ya just gotta do!'

From your story it sounds like the sargent wouldn't need to crawl through a window.

Newt

Originally Posted by Noisette

He went to court and they decided to put him threw an animal sensitivity course and also made him do community service at a shelter where he had to take care of abused and neglected cats and dogs for 1,000 hours.

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1000 hours! Wow, that sounds much.
How much is it? If a full time week is 40 hours, so it will be 25 weeks=6 months if working full time, lowly counting? If he does it part time, it takes of course much longer in time.

Ie an alternative to 6 months in prison.

Sweden is supposed to be an animal loving country, but a animal marodeur would probably never get 6 months. A cat torturer and murderer did got lately 3 months prison and the court apparently though it as a harsh example....
And he even set up one of the poor bodies on the doors to the local police station..

And yes, we do have we too such a community service. But it typically goes seldom or never over 3 months service.

I see we are rather backwards here in Sweden, what is about animal protection by the high justice. *sad*

What to do about such abandoners, marodeurs and torturers?

Make it known. Let them feel the shame.
Many does it, true, but such behavior is not socially acceptable, so they do it almost exclusively in secret.
Let it be known preferably to all. His neighbours, his family, his co-workers.
But at least to the police and other animal protectioners in charge.

It is surprisingly how little people do report.

They can weep and write lenghy in forums about kittens left in the middle of the woods or at the trash station closed in, but apparently they DO NOT report to the police.
Although such cases would be easy: there are surely lotsa of finger prints on this box they were closed in.

RuneKeeper,

Since Stefan wrote in I reread my answer and your post, and realize that there are a couple of points I forgot to mention. Guess I was a bit nervous as I've never shared that story with anyone before, even after all these years.

I'm thinking you already know the answers and suggestions I'm going to give here, but maybe you just need to know that others are thinking the same way you are. You don't say if your friend lives with this man, but it sounds like he does, so that could be helpful as he could lend a hand in helping to prevent some of these situations. For instance, the cat(s) that howl do so because they are in heat. Having them fixed would stop that behavior.

The cats that spray do so for many different reasons. One could be because they are marking their territory. Other reasons could be because they are not fixed, because other cats before them have sprayed and they are trying to cover up the scent, possibly because the litter box has not been cleaned and is full, probably because of all the psychological trauma in the house (cats are very sensitive to this) and possibly because they might have a health problem. Spay or neuter would be helpful here. After that a thorough clean of all sprayed areas with something like Nature's Miracle (the red bottle) would be helpful to get rid of the smells. The cleaning may have to be done more then one or two times. Feliway spray can be used to help calm the cats after the clean up so they are less likely to spray. Here's some helpful sites about the behaviors you describe including not using the litter box.
http://www.littlerivervetclinic.com/cat/spray_cat.htm
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/308945
http://www.aspcabehavior.org/article...-in-Cats-.aspx
http://www.aspcabehavior.org/article...Problems-.aspx
http://www.aspcabehavior.org/article...-in-Cats-.aspx

Giving a cat a worming pill inside a pill pocket will help to get rid of the worms. If your friend can't or doesn't want to do it, then maybe you can do it when visiting or if you happen to see the cat outdoors and it comes to you. Get permission from your friend.

Another option would be for your friend to remove any kitty brought home and place it with a no kill shelter or rescue so it doesn't meet the same fate as others before. This is best done while it's still a kitten and has a better chance of being adopted. Maybe your friend could bring the kitty to you to bring to a shelter or rescue. Any idea where 'Jerry' gets these kittens from? Stopping that source might also be helpful if it's a feral or semi-feral colony. Maybe we could help by getting a group to spay/neuter the colony so there would be no more kittens for him to bring home.

Please let me know what you think of these ideas. I hope they are helpful.
Newt

I'm sorry if I come across as pessimistic but I'm not so sure that it would be helpful or possible to contact the SPCA in this case. (The ASPCA are a New York organization so unless you live there there is no point in calling them). Not every area has an SPCA that has investigators or field workers with or without law enforcement capabilities. Things like that is usually just seen in larger cities. Many SPCA's only run shelters (there is no one SPCA but a number of different organizations that all call themselves SPCA).
Most areas, especially rural areas and small towns, only have animal control to lean on for things like this and unfortunately they can be pretty useless.

I've dealt with several county animal control agencies that are made up of two or three animal control officers that only work there because they needed a job after the local factory closed down. They could care less about the animals. Even those that do care are often times limited by local and state laws. Abandoning animals is illegal in most places but there is little they can do about it other than taking the animal to the shelter if they find it. I was at a court hearing for a woman who had moved and left her dog behind in the house without food or water. By the time the dog was discovered several weeks later it was skin and bones and very lethargic, almost dead. What was the punishment for doing this? A $250 fine!

In this case it's a matter of cats having been dumped outside in the past. It's not a current situation where animal control would have any evidence to have Jerry charged with a crime. I believe that at the most they would be able to give him a warning and tell him not to do it again. If they have a decent shelter they may try to convince him to give up the current cat if he's planning on dumping her too. But if Jerry lives in an area that isn't well off chances are that the shelter is a little cramped shack where 95% of cats coming in goes out in a trash bag. That is reality in large parts of the US. So compared to that Sweden isn't that backwards at all.

I don't know where the OP lives. There are of course areas with good animal laws, good shelters and people who care, like the area where Noisette's dad lives, but sadly it isn't the norm.

It doesn't hurt to call your local SPCA or Humane Society to see if they do any kind of field work or if they can offer help in any other way. It doesn't hurt to call animal control either and let them know that you fear that they will dump their 10-year old cat. Even if they can't do much just a visit from them may have some impact on Jerry. One can always hope. Of course I don't know Jerry but I know the type and I wouldn't get my hopes up with a piece of s*it like him.

I unfortunately don't have any good advice for RuneKeeper. I don't think there is much you can do about Jerry's habit of getting disposable kittens. There are way too many irresponsible people who let their cats have kittens and then they give the kittens away to anyone that wants them. He's always going to be able to get a kitten when he wants one. Stopping that is a much larger problem.

The only thing I would advice you to do is to see if you can help these cats yourself somehow, maybe with help from local rescues and animal welfare organizations. Can you take the new cat to be neutered if you could get help with the cost (if that's an issue)? Could you take the 10-year old to the vet to see if there is anything physically wrong with her that causes her to pee on the rug? She could have something like a urinary tract infection which is fairly easily treated with antibiotics.

Would it be possible for your friend to deworm her? You can buy dewormers at pet stores and online. There are liquid wormers that are pretty easy to give to cats. I use strongid on my rescue cats and it's only one ml for a ten pound cat so it's pretty easy to get it down. Heck, I could even send you some so you wouldn't have to buy it. If you buy it make sure it contains Pyrantel Pamoate and to give kitty two doses at least two weeks apart.

If the cat is going to be kicked out she's going to need some place to go. Would it be possible for you to foster her until you find another option for her? I'd check with local no-kill shelters and rescues to see if someone there could help. Check with friends if they may be able to foster. I know from experience though how hard it can be to find help for a cat in need. I don't know how many cats in urgent need that I've tried to find placement for with no luck at all. There are so many of them and nowhere near enough people and resources to help them all. So if you want to help a cat you have to put in a lot of effort and use your imagination. She's lucky to have you to care about her though.

Sorry to be so pessimistic. I just wanted to relay what the reality is in many places and that sometimes there is no real help to get so you have to work from there if that's how it is in your area. Even in areas where there are good shelters and resources it's still hard to find placement for cats. It's really, really sad.

Unfortunately, I live in Smalltown, America where there is little more than animal control and a shelter. I found out recently that there is a Humane Society shelter in the town over, and I'll be sure to let Friend know about this before Jerry abandons the cat.

Honestly, nobody in this town cares about someone who dumps a cat. The local police hate cats; at one point, the neighborhood was so overrun with strays (from irresponsible people not altering their pets) that traps were set. These were not meant to be part of a catch-neuter-release program...just catch. Send all the cats to the nearest shelter, and that plan actually failed pretty hard because the neighborhood trash (I mean the cats' "owners") were destroying the empty traps and breaking open the ones containing cats and freeing them. So the stray issue was not curbed at all.

And yes, Friend does live with his parents due to severe financial issues. When he is working, he has money to get the house cats altered, but right now he is not employed and has absolutely no money to his name. Otherwise, I might suggest he put up an ad in the paper to see if anyone would take the threatened cats, or at least take the current ones to the vet for altering or a checkup. Could he leave the cat off at the local vet's office and say the cat will get dumped otherwise? There used to be a cat sanctuary about 45 minutes away, but it was closed down many years ago, unfortunately.l

The 10-year-old kitty does get a de-worming medication once in a while; whenever someone decides to buy one, and it does get administered. But I think either the cat keeps getting re-infected or the treatment is not strong enough to get rid of the whole infestation because she constantly has live worms stuck to her bum, but she's happy as a clam and is not underweight. It's weird.

And I don't know if anyone would adopt the kitten because Jerry plays a bit rough with him and pretty much you can't pet him without him getting defensive or swatting at you. He's a cutie pie and has such exotic markings, but he's very wily and I don't know if someone would adopt him if he swats so much.

Like I said, he gets cats from co-workers and from people in the neighborhood who are giving away kittens because they were too lazy and cheap to fix their cats. Shaming this guy and the useless slobs he gets these cats from probably wouldn't do any good because around here, it is relatively socially acceptable to dump a cat. You say someone abandoned a cat out in the country and people shrug as if it's nothing at all.

I cannot take in another cat - I do not have the funds to support another kitty for (likely) months. I would love to help her, but I haven't the space or the funds. All of our friends and relatives either don't like cats, have no room for them, or can't afford more. It's just a lame situation all around, and I do not have much hope for Jerry being "rehabilitated" in the ways of cat care, even if threatened by the police.

I do thank everyone for all their advice, from info on how to help the cats find homes to how to deal with the worms. I'll take as much of the advice as I possibly can and will update if there is anything to update with.

I had a feeling you lived in an area like that. I've lived in places like that too and I know how sad and frustrating it can be seeing suffering animals all over the place and idiot owners that don't care. It's going to take a long time and a lot of resources to fix that problem but the resources just aren't there. The residents don't even think there is a problem that needs to be fixed.

I can tell you what the problem is with the cat's worm issue. It's not that the dewormer is not strong enough. It's that it doesn't treat for that type of worm. OTC wormers just treat for roundworm, hookworm and pinworm (the cheaper ones just treats for roundworm and not very well). What this kitty has though is tapeworm. When you see worms, live or not, sticking to the butt area of a cat it's always tapeworm. The little nasty white suckers you see are not really worms but part of one tapeworm. The tapeworm is made up of links and sometimes it sheds links from its tail that come out looking like little worms. Sometimes you see them moving. It's really nasty.
Tapeworm has to be treated with a different drug containing Praziquantel that is usually bought from the vet under the name Droncit. You can buy them OTC too but those are not as strong so you may have to give several pills.
Tapeworm is caused by fleas. The pet get it when they ingest a flea, usually while grooming. So if the cat has tapeworm she most likely also has fleas. To get rid of the tapeworm you have to treat for both the worms and the fleas. Of course the best thing is to keep her on flea preventative but I doubt that Jerry and family wants to spend the money for that.

Both fleas and tapeworm can be harmful if left untreated so it's definitely something that should be dealt with if possible.

If anyone is willing to go out of their way a bit for this kitty there is a way they can treat her for the fleas and keep her on preventative (Frontline) fairly cheaply. Some people frown on this method claiming that it could be dangerous but I've done it for years after my vet told me about it. The vet at a TNR organization I used to work with did the same thing.
What you do is to buy one dog size dose of Frontline and using a syringe you divide the Frontline up in cat doses. It's 0.5 ml for a cat. Since a dog dose contains more Frontline than a cat dose it will last you for several months or for several cats.
It's the same amount of the ingredient that kills fleas in Frontline in both the cat and dog versions. The dog version contains a bit less of the other ingredient, the one that kills ticks, so that part of it may not be as effective for a cat.
You can get single doses of dog frontline at some vets and on Ebay. On ebay they also send you instructions on how to divide it up.
With the size I buy each dose of Frontline for the cats costs me about $2.

I really feel bad for the old kitty with the fleas and the worms. Is she fixed? Even if she seems healthy there may still be problems. Cats are experts of hiding their illness or pain. If Friend is willing to take donations for both kitties I would really like to donate some tape worm meds, Strongid and some Frontline so that he can treat them at least once. Please let me know if that would be possible.

About the kitten I don't think he would be unadoptable at all just because of his current behavior. He's probably under stress and if put in a different environment he would change.

Has the kitten been fixed? If not, is there any local place that offers low cost spay/neuter? If you could tell us where you live we may be able to let you know of any local programs.

If the older cat is on the verge of being dumped please post here and maybe people here can help. If the Humane Society in the next town is an option you may want to make sure that they have room and take owner surrenders. Some shelters have limited intake so they may not be able to take her.

RuneKeeper,

You've gotten some wonderful info and suggestions here. I've even learned something new from Ziggy'sMom about the Frontline. Thank you for that! I too understand what you are dealing with as I also have been witness to it in many areas, not just rural ones. Often the difference between the rural and urban areas is there are frequently more programs available in the urban ones.

Do let us know where Jerry and his kitties live so we can try to find low cost s/n and vet clinics. Often when someone is unemployed, disabled, low income, senior citizen, has HIV/AIDS or in some type of social program such as food stamps, these services will either be discounted or even free.

Newt

I'm sorry if I come across as pessimistic but I'm not so sure that it would be helpful or possible to contact the SPCA in this case.

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Ziggysmom, it's not about getting him prosecuted for past offences, it's about saving the current declawed cat and giving him choices for the future OTHER than dumping them.

My suggestion was to call the SPCA/RSPCA whichever it is for her area, because they can at the very least pay him a visit, and see if he will VOLUNTARILY hand the cat over.

Which, if he is having problems with it, and if it's just plain laziness and stupidness and not so much nastiness he'd probably rather give it to them a "door to door service" than spend fuel taking the cat himself.

How does this help? Well. It helps the declawed cat from being defenceless and dying from a predator or from starvation. It also gives him something for the future if it happens again and it also puts him in their radar for future offences!

Sorry, but I dissagree. Calling an animal group to go talk to him at the very least, is better than doing nothing. It might save the cat from a lot of grief and pain.

So far, the cat is still with Jerry and his family. Which is good - I'm guessing either she stopped peeing outside the box or Jerry is just delaying getting rid of her like he did with their calico cat (took about a year for him to finally make good on his threat and toss her out). And from what I hear, the male cat is getting altered soon, so I guess they're going to keep him...until he starts misbehaving, in which case, he might get thrown out too. Or if they let him outside and he gets run over like the last male cat they had.

Something I was wondering about, though...if I were to get Jerry in trouble for abandoning animals, could he just get more and say they belong to his son or his wife? All three of them live under the same roof and while it's the parents' house, could Jerry avoid punishment by saying the cat belongs to someone that is not him? He just really seems like the kind of person who believes the law is being mean to him when he does something wrong and will try anything to get around what's coming to him.