HELP found stray, needs shelter now!

There was a cat locked in the mechanical room at my apartment building. It is totally emaciated and probably has every parasite known to God. We can't find any shelter within an hour's drive to take it to and we don't have a car. It is in a carrier in the kitchen right now, and my cat is locked in the bathroom because she HATES it, as its near dying from starvation. I've never heard her growl or hiss and she is doing both.
We can't possibly keep it, and while we can afford our cat can't afford this stray. He has food and water right now, but hates being in the carrier and I can't let him out.
And get this- he's declawed and NOT neutered!!!!!
What do I do???? If I let him out he's going to die, he's that skinny and sick. But I can't possibly keep him even tonight.
I am in Kent, OH if that matters. PLEASE somebody know what to do.
I am at my wits end here.
Thanks.

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

There was a cat locked in the mechanical room at my apartment building. It is totally emaciated and probably has every parasite known to God. We can't find any shelter within an hour's drive to take it to and we don't have a car. It is in a carrier in the kitchen right now, and my cat is locked in the bathroom because she HATES it, as its near dying from starvation. I've never heard her growl or hiss and she is doing both.
We can't possibly keep it, and while we can afford our cat can't afford this stray. He has food and water right now, but hates being in the carrier and I can't let him out.
And get this- he's declawed and NOT neutered!!!!!
What do I do???? If I let him out he's going to die, he's that skinny and sick. But I can't possibly keep him even tonight.
I am in Kent, OH if that matters. PLEASE somebody know what to do.
I am at my wits end here.

Thanks.

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Given the timeframe...you need to contact everyone you know and see if they would be willing to foster this cat...at least until he can be neutered. He should definately not be returned back outdoors. I would contact Humane Ohio on Monday and see if they have any suggestions.

http://www.humaneohio.org/

Katie

I don't know what kind of apt. building you are in, but is there possible a reasonably sized utility closest or small room somewhere with a door where you can put him with litter and food, and perhaps put a sign on the door saying there is a stray cat, to please not disturb it, and that it is waiting to be picked up by the shelter.

If it's cold, perhaps some kind of space heater just to warm the place for a few minutes every so often too, or a heating pad.

Could you care for it with food and litter until Monday that way? If so, it's a better solution than putting it outside, and perhaps you can go down every so often to keep it company and calm it down.

People will declaw a cat but not neuter it. Sigh.

Well, this poor boy was soooo sad.
I finally decided to just show up at the last shelter on the list. They happened to have a single space, and I gave them a 50$ donation.
The terrible part of this is that the vet who just happened to be there (we got there an hour after close) said that he had recently been on an IV since his forelegs were shaven, and that he may have cancer or something. He was apparently very very old (I don't know how to tell) and he figured that the people who owned him couldn't afford his care anymore and just ditched him. The shelter (no-kill, no-time-limit of course) may have to put him to sleep to put him out of misery.
I feel soooooooooooooooo terrible. I was so stressed out between his being upset at being in a cage, and being mad at the people who did this to him, and trying to figure out what to do with him, and Zissou freaking out about a dying stray moaning in the kitchen (she was in the bathroom) and everything else going on that I couldn't give the poor baby many cuddles or pets. My roommate gave him a little bath in the kitchen sink, and held him like a baby while he dried in a towel, and I just couldn't because I knew I'd get attached. It was so sad, I know he had owners sometime, and when I was putting his food in the cage he rubbed his little face on my hand, and never once tried to bite or "fake scratch" and my heart is just breaking for this poor baby. I just wish now that I had made him feel more loved in the small part of his apparent last days that we were in each others lives.

why would you spend the money to treat a cat that was so sick (vet said prolly cancer) and then just abandon it!!!!!!!!!! At this point, the best thing to do is for him to go with dignity, and I just don't get it. Leave him outside to die in winter???? TERRIBLE.

Please don't feel guilty! Don't think about what you "didn't do". Look at what you "did do". You gave a cat who was suffering terribly a chance, at least a comfortable, dignified, peaceful end, or at most, a chance at a new life. Much better than what that poor baby would have suffered if you and your roommate had not helped him!

Sigh. Yea, you are right. But to me what I did wasn't an optional sort of thing, so I did the bare minimum of what I would personally do in the situation.

The part that makes me madder the more I think about it is that the vet at the shelter didn't believe me that I found him as a stray, and no matter what I said he thought that it was our cat that we were dumping at the shelter because it was sick. I can't blame him, since we look exactly like the sort of people who would do that, but we aren't!

I wish I'd given him a name. I keep thinking of him as Nutter-Butter, like the cookies, but I know he had a real name so I felt weird putting it on the surrender form.

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

Sigh. Yea, you are right. But to me what I did wasn't an optional sort of thing, so I did the bare minimum of what I would personally do in the situation.

The part that makes me madder the more I think about it is that the vet at the shelter didn't believe me that I found him as a stray, and no matter what I said he thought that it was our cat that we were dumping at the shelter because it was sick. I can't blame him, since we look exactly like the sort of people who would do that, but we aren't!

I wish I'd given him a name. I keep thinking of him as Nutter-Butter, like the cookies, but I know he had a real name so I felt weird putting it on the surrender form.

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Don't beat yourself up for it. You did nothing wrong. The owners who declawed it without neutering, then ditched it when medical issues came up are the ones at fault here. You at least took it somewhere where it will be cared for, or barring that, have a pain-free exit from life.

People can be fairly judgemental. You know he was not yours, so ignore it. They're most likely so used to that actually happening that they can't help but assume it of everyone a little.

You did the best you could with the cards you were dealt.

Thank you for the support. I just feel... sad still. I know it was the right thing to do, its just sad that it'll be put down and not understand what happened to it. I'm sure whatever happens is better than being in the mechanical room all alone, but I just can't not be a little sad.

Oh man that is so sad? Did you find him in Kent? Where did you end up taking him? If you don't want to say on here then PM me please, I am curious if it was the APL because that is where I would have recommended to take him since they take sick and injured cats no problem. Poor guy...people are just awful...

He could have been taken or the owners could have been stupid and let him outside even though he has cancer.

Too bad, poor little kitty.

Jen, I'll pm you with details in a minute...
The maintenance worker (a student who works in exchange for rent, like almost all of them here) found him and said he thought the people ditched him when they moved. I don't think they realized he was so sick, I think just that he was really skinny and weak. They had been feeding him nearly every day, but kept him in the maintenance room (no windows, just a bunch of mechanical stuff) because it had heat.
Nobody's put up any signs anywhere, or even asked at the office because they would have known right where he was.

Good new on this poor lil guy!!!
I was reading the Stater (Student Newspaper) today and his owner took out and ad with his picture, which we recognized immediately, and a description, contact info, etc.
His name is Harvey, and he ran away from his mommie on April 4. We found him on April 8 and took him to the shelter. I called his mommie right away and told her where he was and she said she was on her way.

Harvey and his mommie are reunited!!! Harvey has a home!!! I am so happy. Apparently he was sick and has been on / needs medicine, and that's why he was so skinny and ill looking. And the vet at the shelter said he was old, but he's only 5. Everyone wish Harvey the best in the rest of his life with his loving mommie!

What a happy ending. I am SO HAPPY TOO!
Thank you so much for going the extra mile for this guy. Sometimes it does always feel like you could do more, but in the end doing something to make a suffering animals life better takes a LOT of effort(physically and emotionally not to mention financially).
But it is all worth the joy you felt when you found out he had a home and was going there to be loved again. what a wonderful feeling.


I went through a very similar scenario 2 weeks ago at an apartment building. The previous owners moved and left their kitty behind. She had been locked with no food or water in a vacant apartment for 2 months with only water out of the toilet for substance. The owner of the building REFUSED to even open the door to confirm what we could see in the window. that there was a cat in there.
I dont know who to be more mad at, the previous owners who are now out of state(at least they have a warrent for their arrest in NY now)
or the idiot landlord who decided to be difficult.
It wound up costing the landlord for a new door frame (someone broke it down imagine that) plus possibly his own set of abuse charges.
it would have cost him 5 mins to let us resuce the cat.
its a shame. But the kitty is at a shelter now. We are watching her close and hope to have her up for re-homing soon.

What happy, HAPPY news!! Who knows why Harvey went out on his big adventure, but hopefully he's an INSIDE ONLY cat from now on!! And I hope that the vet repents his previous judgment that the owners turned the cat out to die - that negativity is soooo unproductive!! I shudder to think of what might have happened, if you had not seen the owner's ad!!!! nfire2: Surely God was looking out for Harvey - and you, Zissou's Mom, have saved Harvey's life, not once but TWICE!