Pray for the healthy and happy life for the kitties

Hi, 

I am new to the site, and created an account here for my roommate's five cats. 

I moved into a townhouse about two months ago and my roommate has five cats (the mother cat, father cat and three kittens). They are lovely kitties and I love them a lot. In the beginning, I knew nothing about cats. My love to the five kitties motivated me to google and learn about them. Then, I find out that these lovely cats deserve a better life.

My roommate basically feeds them and cleans their litter boxes. Then, nothing else. As early as three-month old or earlier, little kittens played outdoor a lot (now they're five-month old). As I know, they've never been taken to the vet clinic for vaccines. I learned from online websites that it is not healthy for little kittens. I've seen kittens ate raw meat (bird) and found fleas on their bodies. There was once a little kitten stuck in the chair, and I helped her and pulled her out. Then, she cannot walk normally with her head falling on one side. I worried a lot about her and tried to call my roommate, but he never replied. Three days later, he told me that, "the kitten looks fine now." I doubted he really loves her. There was another case when the mother cat was sick and vomited something (not the hairball) on the bathroom rug. He didn't do anything and let her recover by herself. 

Also, I didn't observe any other care from my roommate. No brush, no shampoo, no flea prevention, no claw trimming, nothing. I bought a brush, toys and some dental treats for them. I think taking care of these things for kitties are not too mean to my roommate. 

Recently, the mother cat is missing because my roommate failed to take her to be spayed. Mother cat had hissed and hit her baby kittens for more than a month. She sometimes stayed outside for about two days. After she's missing, my roommate told me that, "I was mad that whenever I want to take her to the vet clinic, she was not home." I was the first one searching for the mother cat at night when he told me that the mother cat might be missing. I miss her a lot and feel sad that if she were spayed, she shouldn't have been missing now. 

I share this story because I want to know that if the owner feeds the cats and cleans the litter boxes, is it my business to say something for the well-being of the kitties? The more I learn about how to take care of kitties, the more I feel sorry for the kitties. I am an international student, and I don't know how much I can "intervene" in other people's ways of treating their own pets. The three kittens are going to grow up soon, and they might be missing once they're in the heat in the near future. I only hope that they have a happy and healthy life. 

Thanks for reading this long post.

What you describe is irresponsible pet ownership. All pets need routine vet care, and any cat that is allowed outside MUST be vaccinated and spayed/neutered. Otherwise, they are very prone to illnesses and will breed non-stop. There are already way too many homeless cats who end up being euthanized at shelters because there aren't enough homes for them.

You don't say where you are, but if you are in the US, here's a site that can help locate low cost spay/neuter clinics in your area. http://spayusa.org/ Maybe you could gently provide this site along with some information here http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/top-10-reasons-spay-or-neuter-your-pet about the benefits of spay/neuter to your roommate. If that doesn't work, unfortunately there isn't much you can do unless you're willing and able to pay for it yourself OR call Animal Control which may or may not help the cats and cause problems with your roommate if he/she learns or suspects that you're the one who called Animal Control.

Thank you for caring about these cats and kittens and recognizing that they are not getting the care they deserve.

vball91 said:

 
You don't say where you are, but if you are in the US, here's a site that can help locate low cost spay/neuter clinics in your area. http://spayusa.org/ Maybe you could gently provide this site along with some information here http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/top-10-reasons-spay-or-neuter-your-pet about the benefits of spay/neuter to your roommate.

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Thank you so much for the information. Yes, I am living in the US now and I will definitely share the information with my roommate. Hopefully he will be more aware of it and take some actions. Actually I am willing to take them to spay/neuter if he pays for it. Thank you again.

vball91 said:

 
 OR call Animal Control which may or may not help the cats and cause problems with your roommate if he/she learns or suspects that you're the one who called Animal Control.

Thank you for caring about these cats and kittens and recognizing that they are not getting the care they deserve.

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I want to add/stress that, while it is not okay how your roommate is doing things, I would call animal control as an extreme last resort.  As vball91 says, it may or may not help the cats :/ Unfortunately they may just be put to sleep especially if deemed unhealthy (and as you say they do/may have fleas and one of them is hurt, this sounds likely to me).  I think the life they currently have is better than no life at all :/

Also unfortunately I wouldn't hold my breath about your roommate being willing to pay to get them spayed.  When talking to him I'd stress the long term financial advantages in doing so- less mouths to feed.

Good luck and thank you for caring about the cats.

Thank you, tulosai.

I will never want the lovely cats put to sleep.

I think the best way is to help them to find a responsible owner. Unfortunately, my roommate is not willing to give them away.

Now three of the cats are sleeping in my room. I mentiond the fleas problems to my roommate last night. I hope this is a start of the coversation to get the cats to the vet clinic.