Cat's being left a door

I was at the shelter last night to take a cat out to it's new home. Well we had a cat left outside in a box (again) not even in front of our door, luckily the first person there decided to check it out. Three out of the last four Thursday nights we've had cats left at our door. I'm in Wisconsin & it's the middle of winter what is wrong with people The topper on this one is that someone said they had seen another cat outside that was not in a box. So we were worried, then latter in the evening someone else came in & said there's a cat sitting outside next to your window. So someone went out there & sure enough there she was. They are two girls who we are preety sure are sisters & are front paw declawed. I just don't get what people think is going to happen to a cat left in the cold??? GRRRR I just get so mad, at least in the spring they stand a chance, but in this cold weather an indoor cat has no protection from the heat. We were lucky last night that the second girl stuck around, we figure she got out of the box. We are located off a major street & things could have ended so badly. I just had to rant for a second, but I am wondering what other shelters do to try & stop this from happening? We've got a sign on our door explaining how there aren't always people there.

That so sad that they leave them out like that!

I was at the SPCA last weekend and I saw a lady giving up a greyhound due to moving overseas, but I also saw her hand over an extremely large sum of money to the SPCA. Another thing whilst I was there (It is kitten season here in NZ) a couple had came in to adopt a kitten, and they were told that they were all booked and they would have to come back for an app! That made me happy, because that means they aren't getting put down but they are getting new homes.

I don't understand what makes people tick - how they can think that doing this is OK! Lily is a purebred from a breeder, but our other three cats are rescue cats. When we got Felicity from the RSPCA we were told she was abandoned in a box with her little brother - but they didn't even bother to take her to the RSPCA (which is staffed every day). Instead they were abandoned in a box AT THE SIDE OF A ROAD!!! Two tiny kittens - they obviously just didn't care whether they lived or died.

Skip this one if you don't feel like getting madder...

I once knew a girl who had adopted a kitten and then had the mother dumped on her as well. I very much disapproved of her taking on pets since, as a college student ,she could barely afford to keep herself and was living in an apartment that did not allow pets. What a surprise - come the end of the school year, it dawned on her she couldn't take the cats home with (bad scene at home).

I found out after the fact that she took the cats to the local shelter, but that night there was a huge thunderstorm and she had a huge guilt trip about leaving the cats in a box outside in the storm. So she took them back to her apartment for a few days and then released them out in the country near a farm, her rational being that "the farmer could always a barn cat". I chewed her sorry @$$ out six ways to Sunday.

I'm still mad at her for it and this happened about 8 years ago. Sorry to vent all over everyone, this has been bugging me for a long time...

We have volunteers at our shelter who lived on farms growing up & they said new cats would appear in their barn all the time. It's just so upseting because people think nothing of getting animals & then just getting rid of them like they were just junk. When my Smokey was dying of CRF I would get even more upset because I would have given anything for more time with her but these people with healthy animals just threw them away. Now I look at my boys & I wonder what Levi & Jordan went through before they came to me & where they would be if they hadn't been brought to the shelter. (Isaac is a differnt story he was raised in what I think is our best foster care home so he's never known hunger or abuse) I just don't get how a person can not love something so sweet & loving.

I live in the country and am constantly receiving those "barn cats" and "country dogs". I can always tell a city dog that was dumped - they walk on the pavement rather than the grass and are the ones that get hit by passing cars. There are a number of folks out here that recognize that and stop to rescue them.

Back to topic: our shelter is only open on weekends for adoption clinics and the rest or the week the pets are fostered in people's homes. This doesn't prevent the occassional box dumpster in front. The worst case was last spring when someone put a boxful of kittens in the garbage dumpster across the street from the center. Thankfully somone heard the kittens, pulled them, and they were all adopted out.

What we did was to look up the laws in the area about dumping animals and posted them on a poster by the door. It is illegal here, and our sign tells them that they are under surveillance and can be arrested for doing it. It doesn't completely stop it, but will make some folks think twice about doing it.

Most of my cats had the same experience: Christy, my daughter's cat was orphaned at 4 days old (her mother was poisoned) and appeared on a neighbor's woodpile; Cinders was dumped off at a rest area on U.S. 395; Icy was duct-taped inside a box & left alongside a campground's dumpsters! In your situation, do you think that maybe your facility could put an insulated box and leave emergency rations, just in case a cat does need shelter? Maybe you could put the shelter as out of sight as possible, along with big signs announcing penalties for abandoning an animal (just in case, because those dump offs will happen, unfortunately). Sometimes people can't help out. For example, my husband & I were exploring the Fort Henry area of Kentucky last summer and came across a lab/bloodhound mix puppy. The puppy was soaked from head to toe, from falling or being thrown into the Tennessee River. We inquired at the state park & were told that obviously the puppy was a dump off into the river. We encountered a whole pack of stray dogs, emaciated and riddled with ticks. At the nearby town, the police told us that there's no shelter in the area, and if we gave them the puppy, it would be taken to the vet & immed. destroyed (they said KY has no mandatory holding period). So, we took the dog back to Tennessee, prolonged our trip an extra day, rented a motel room that accepted pets, bought supplies & kept the dog overnight until the shelter opened and relenquished her, with a $20 donation & donataed $20 of items from the cats' wish list. Had that same situation happened when my girls were young & I was single, there was no way that I could have done what my husband did (he's an attorney) - so I try to remember that sometimes there are no alternatives out there. Years ago, when my girls were young, I couldn't afford pets either, but I always gave shelter to any cats that needed it. I have worked 2 jobs, and hitchhiked the 10 miles to town, because I couldn't afford car repairs; I let another homeless mom live with us & babysit, other wise, childcare for my disabled daughter was about $1.00/hour more than I earned. Until I started waiting tables, and earning tips, things were harsh; so please, don't waste too much time being angry, just give the fools the benefit of the doubt, and pray that more people become enlightened to the cause of Stewardship of the Earth and all our fellow creatures. And I say thank you for being the caring persons that you are - your efforts comfort so many wonderful kitties, that's why I love this TCS site - all these cat lovers are so awesome!! Sincerely, Susan

Originally Posted by Rang_27

I was at the shelter last night to take a cat out to it's new home. Well we had a cat left outside in a box (again) not even in front of our door, luckily the first person there decided to check it out. Three out of the last four Thursday nights we've had cats left at our door.

I'm in Wisconsin & it's the middle of winter what is wrong with people

The topper on this one is that someone said they had seen another cat outside that was not in a box. So we were worried, then latter in the evening someone else came in & said there's a cat sitting outside next to your window. So someone went out there & sure enough there she was. They are two girls who we are preety sure are sisters & are front paw declawed. I just don't get what people think is going to happen to a cat left in the cold??? GRRRR I just get so mad, at least in the spring they stand a chance, but in this cold weather an indoor cat has no protection from the heat. We were lucky last night that the second girl stuck around, we figure she got out of the box. We are located off a major street & things could have ended so badly. I just had to rant for a second, but I am wondering what other shelters do to try & stop this from happening? We've got a sign on our door explaining how there aren't always people there.

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