Harassment from adoption agency over a found cat

[bikkaqwertyy]

I'm not sure if this belongs here, so let me know if I should move this thread elsewhere. I just wanted to vent and see if people had any thoughts.

I found a cat a day or so ago. We thought it was potentially a missing cat on some flyers we saw earlier, but turns out it wasn't. Took it in to get scanned for a microchip, which led us to the rescue the cat is from. I gave the woman my number, but then I looked into her rescue and realized it was kind of sketchy.

Some red flags I noticed:

1. Has 6 cats under the same name and wasn't sure which owner it was, so she had called all of them yesterday?
2. We were able to find a potential owner on Next Door yesterday, and she kept asking me for their name and phone number.
3. She'll start off with a justification or talking point that I agree with as an avid cat lover, but then it'll derail into a very extreme direction. For example, she kept talking about abusive owners even though we already told her that this cat was uninjured, street smart, and seemed extremely happy and calm.
4. Calls the cat "my cat" or "our cat"
5. Wants us to bring the cat back to her so that she can tell the owner that they've been irresponsible
6. Spamming me with texts and calls
7. Photos of her rescue online show that they don't have kennels, so the cats are just free-roaming, and some of the reviews mentioned that it smells..
8. Lot of one star reviews online from people saying they were rejected for arbitrary reasons
9. I'm getting some hoarder vibes, although I don't really want to diagnose a stranger. It's just a LOT of cats, and the rescue basically seems like her house? I don't want to be classist and say that rescues can only be a specific type of building with the fanciest cat trees, but I feel concerned with everything else going on.

Questions: I'm wondering if she has any legal claim to the cat since the microchip is linked to her name. I am also curious how these situations normally go? Do people typically give the cat back to the rescue? Or does the rescue connect them with the owner? Are free-roaming shelters a good or bad practice?

 

[bikkaqwertyy]

LOL, how do I delete a post? I think I realized I have answers to a lot of these questions and just needed to write it all out.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. You can't delete the post, but go ahead and add a new post with the extra information you want to add.

 

[bikkaqwertyy]

Thanks, that's good to know. I guess the only lingering question I have is what role shelters typically play in reuniting the cat in situations where the owner forgot to update their microchip.

 

[fionasmom]

How did this all work out? It sounds like it is somewhat resolved (?) but if you want to write more, you are welcome to. This forum is fine for a question about a stray cat.

Some rescues do microchip all animals to themselves, then change the ownership when the animal is adopted. Some breeders do this as well, mostly to make it easy to remember who purchased which puppy. Ownership is transferred at purchase.

I am guessing that this woman registers all rescues to herself. Technically, that makes her the keeper but not the owner; however, it can also take you down a long path. If she adopted the animal out, the microchip should have been transferred, but maybe it is the new owner who did not do so. I know that some companies will add on other contacts, such as someone goes into the hospital and wants to have a friend be the contact in case the pet gets out in the meantime. For animals whose microchip ownership is in question, vet bills or photos will often suffice to show ownership.

In the event that a microchip is a dead end, the shelter will still hold the animal and probably post it on their website. Individual shelters may have other options that have worked for them.

Some of this sounds sketchy, but it is hard to tell. It mostly sounds like she gives people a hard time, which some rescuers are known to do as they advocate for the welfare of their animals.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Are you saying this 'rescue person' has the chip on this cat registered to her - but knows who the original, now 'unofficial', owner is? That to me is the sketchy part. I guess I am confused, and maybe you do have more things to clarify.

As mentioned above, shelters will contact the owner on record to try and re-unite them with their cat. But that is not likely possible at this point if this 'rescue person' has been able to have the chip ownership changed to her name.

You could call your local ASPCA and talk to them about this whole issue, perhaps they can shed some light, informationally. Maybe even call some 'real' rescue centers/shelters to see if they can help navigate you through what is going on, they might be able to explain some of what has happened in this case so that you better know the situation you might be dealing with. A key thing mentioned above, is that ownership can sometimes be declared by a person who can provide proof of care, especially vet care - so, keep that in mind as you move forward.

I have a neighbor who took on the care of a stray cat - long time outdoor cat that no one will claim - got his injuries taken care of and had him neutered and vaccinated, then set him free again because that is all this cat has apparently known. She is not a rescue center/shelter. She just does things like this out of the goodness of her heart. However, she also had him chipped and registered to her so that she can maintain some control over what happens to him down the road should someone call Animal Control or that he gets injured again. So, there are all kinds of strange scenarios out there.

 

[bikkaqwertyy]

Hi all, thank you for your responses. I just reunited the cat with the owner a few hours ago and have been decompressing. I think my original post might have been a little unclear just because it has been such an odd and confusing situation to me.

The rescue is run by one woman. The owner adopted the cat but never updated the microchip information. I had hoped the rescue would help me contact her, but it became clear after a while that the rescue woman was convinced this was an abuse situation and would only be satisfied if I brought the cat to her. I felt uncomfortable bringing the cat to her based on the reviews of the shelter online, as well as my interactions with her. There were some photos of the place that raised red flags, lot of cats crammed in a small space, as well as reviews mentioning that the cats seemed sick and that the place smelled bad. Despite being outside, the found cat really had no signs of abuse. It wasn't particularly hungry, had a very glossy coat, was friendly, no injuries.

I was able to locate the owner via Nextdoor who showed me photos of the cat and confirmed the name of the rescue the cat was adopted from. I feel confident that this was her cat, and I suspect I actually may have seen her with her furry sister earlier in the year.

I originally thought the rescue's records were just haphazard because the rescue woman wasn't sure who the owner was and had been trying to contact everyone who had adopted a cat from their shelter with the same name. But then later she mentioned that the cat was adopted 3 years ago and it seemed like she did know, but just really wanted me to bring the cat to her instead of putting me in contact with the owner. However, at the end of the day, I won't presume to know what was going on exactly. I do know that she would spam call and text me from two different phone numbers until I picked up. And, yes, she was never the owner, but she was once the keeper. It wasn't a situation where it was ambiguous on paper but she does seem to have a pattern of getting extremely attached and giving people a pretty hard time. I know animal rescue is not for the faint of heart, but it felt like she was using it to justify her poor boundaries.

Just to do my due diligence, I passed on the rescue woman's contact information to the owner and mentioned that she should update the microchip information. I also updated the rescue woman about the reunification, but told her that I was blocking her. Less than an hour later, she proceeded to call my vet (they helped me scan the microchip originally) and tried to strongarm them for my personal information. This experience has been extremely confusing and stressful. I think I may take FeebysOwner's advice and reach out to a more established rescue in my area and ask them how these sort of things usually go or if they are familiar with this rescue.

 

[fionasmom]

Thank you for recounting the story to us. It may help other members down the road. No apology needed for not being crystal clear the first time as these situations are often fraught with confusion.

I think that taking the advice of FeebysOwner is a good move. From reading the entire account, it does seem that there is something amiss, on some level, with this rescue. If nothing else, calling your vet to try to get your information attests to that. You did the cat an incredible favor by finding the owner and, if possible, maybe check to see if they did update the microchip.

Some rescuers walk a line between true rescue, hoarding, or working out unresolved personal issues. This place does not sound great and the fact that it is a rescue might be in name only. Just this week, Los Angeles Animal Care and Control did a bust at a rescue in the desert, a rescue that was operating with a non-profit license at that, and confiscated all the animals.

 

[bikkaqwertyy]

Thank you, I have really appreciated the listening ear and thoughtful responses from the two of you It is confusing in these situations because we all care about cats, but I think what you said is very true.