HELP: My Neighbors Abandoned 2 Cats...Take them to a shelter?

My next-door neighbors were renting the house next to mine and their owner sold it, so that had to leave. They moved out early this week, and I saw one of their cats last night, and the other one this afternoon. I'm concerned that the cats will starve, but I'm not sure if my neighbor has lied to me about giving the cats away.

Today I asked my ex-neighbor (she's in one of my school classes) if she kept her pet birds. She had told me that at her new apartment her family can only have one animal, and she said she was keeping one of her cats (She had a dog, 2 cats, and 2 birds) so I wanted to know what would become of her birds since their dog was given to a co-worker, and one of their cats to a neighbor. She told me she's keeping her birds instead of her cat as she had planned. I asked her what she did with her cats and she said one of them was given to a neighbor down the block.

Last night I saw Kitty (the cat supposedly owned by a neighbor) sitting outside by their house late at night. This afternoon I saw their other cat Sandy sitting on my driveway.

I want to take them to the local shelter, but if they really do have new owners, I'll feel bad if they were re-adopted. My ex-neighbor has an ROP class and volunteers 3 times a week at the shelter, and would probably see her cats if I brought them in. What should I do?

I personally think that the family left the cats because they were too lazy to look for them when they left for good (Not to mention they hated spending money on them and never took them to the vet. If one of their pets got sick, they didn't do anything extra for it). And if someone is caring for them, I highly doubt they actually want the cats, but are feeding them because they pity the cats.

Not to mention that my ex-neighbor found it AMUSING that her cats returned to their empty house.

Rhapsody..that's a tough one....I am very suspect if the neighbor simply left the cats behind and outdoors that they have new owners. Does your shelter have a hold period?? You could take the cats to your shelter and post signs around the neighborhood.

Katie

I'm thinking about posting signs up or aquiring the "new owner's'" phone number and address (it might be difficult to fake a number or an address) I'm going to wait a few days I think

Do the new owners live on the same street? Is it possible that your former neighbor did give the cats to the other neighbor and the cats are just hanging out at their old house? It strikes as very odd that someone who apparently cares enought to volunteer at a shelter would simply abandon her pets...

The new owners live a few streets away. Apparently they were carinf for the two cats AND the dog. My friend felt kinda bad so she returned to get one of her cats. She says the person who has her other cat and dog really likes them. I'll be keeping my eye out to see if either return though.

Yes, she loves animals yet she doesn't care about her own pets that much. Her parents don't think of pets as family members, but as beasts. :/

Originally Posted by Rhapsody

Yes, she loves animals yet she doesn't care about her own pets that much. Her parents don't think of pets as family members, but as beasts. :/

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that's just bizzare

Ya know, the way I figure is that if a cat is hanging around for an extended amount of time and isn't wearing an identifying collor or tags or something to show he belongs to someone this is what I would do: Put a sign up at the nearest, mort convienent place where people would see it. Have it say "I have a cat hanging around and call if it belongs to you or else I will take it to a shelter. Give a date and if no one calls by then, take it. Obviously someone is incapable of properly caring for their pet and I think it would be better off going to a (NO-KILL) shelter that will care for it until it finds a home. If you can't catch it then trap it. Thats just what I do.

Except one time (and I probably shouldn't have done this) I found a cat and the neighborhood kids saw me with it and showed me where it lives. So I went there and the (drunk) guy is like "uh, ya that looks like Toby, I think its him" and grabbed him and shut the door before I could point out that he had fleas and ear mites. So a couple days later I found him again and same thing happened except this time I told him that he has fleas and ear mites. The guy just said oh and shut the door. So when I finally found Toby again I kept him and took him to the shelter I work at and, get this, they named him Toby! I didn't even tell him that was his name. I just said I found him cuz TECHNICALLY I did. And he was adopted right away.