Someone called Animal Welfare and made a false claim - advice?

[oklawhit]

Hello!

I came home from work Friday to find that Animal Welfare had left a courtesy notice on my door claiming that "Caller reports 14+ cats here not being cared for" and instructions to call back (I have, and left voice messages, and still have not been able to make contact yet). This is an egregious lie and I'm not sure what to do about it. My disabled mother and I care for three community cats who we successfully did a TNR on last summer. I provide food for them twice a day in Styrofoam bowls, leave water out at all times, and our garage has been converted into a safe haven for them. They are incredibly spoiled, even being ferals, and are all three healthy and chubby from the food we provide. I am utterly at a loss as to who would have made this report.

We do have our own, 100% indoor cats, and in researching this report I found out that we do have over the legal limit for our area (still certainly not 14+!), which has me extremely nervous that AC is going to barge in and take them away even though they are healthy, spoiled, and very well cared for with plenty of space - since it's just us 2, we converted our other 2 bedrooms into cat rooms filled with toys, cat trees, extra litter boxes, etc. That being said, I don't know how anyone could know how many indoor cats we have, and again they are most certainly not neglected - our saying is always that their needs come before our own. Whenever Animal Welfare gets back with me, I am prepared to provide my vet's office and information about the TNR done on the ferals, but beyond that I am not sure what to do. I really wish I could know who has done this, because they have robbed me of my sanity the last few days and I have not even been able to sleep.

In my googling attempts I found out a lot about mean-spirited individuals making false claims about dogs, but not as many on cats. If anyone has any experience or advice, I would dearly appreciate it. Right now my biggest concern is I don't know what to do if AC asks how many indoor cats we have - I don't want to lie, but I don't want to tell the truth if it means they will come take our babies away. Sorry for such a long post - thank you for your time.

 

[Hellenww]

I'm sorry you're going through this. I imagine AC gets a lot of these type of false calls and they have to check it out. It sounds like you a great set-up for the TNR's you care for. They are busy people so try to hold it toghether even if you don't hear from them today.

A second thought. Have you looked up Animal Welfare to make sure the # on the notice is correct and not just something from an annoying neighbors printer.

 

[amethyst]

I wouldn't worry too much about them taking the cats away, it sounds like you can easily prove the cats are no neglected and they are well taken care of. I don't know what the laws are in your area but from what I've heard/seen from other people most places do give you a warning and tell you you have X number of days to re-home the extra cats over the limit. I realize that is still not what you want to hear but just saying they aren't going to just come to your house one day and take them without warning. Also I would look into if caring for ferals counts towards your limit or not, some places consider simply feeding a cat as it being yours other places don't since they aren't living in your house.

What I would do is say how many indoor cats you have but also say you do care for 3 ferals that you have TNR. In some cases if everyone is being cared for and the cats aren't causing issues in the neighborhood (destroying gardens/property, getting into fights with other people's pets, etc) and you aren't way over the limit, like say you can have 3 but currently have 4 or 5, they do tend to be more willing to look the other way. They have better things to do, like going after cases of actual animal welfare issues, so they don't really want to waste their time to taking non issue, well cared for pets away from loving homes. They may put a note in a file but that's likely as far as it will go, unless something changes with your situation. I'm not saying that is a guarentee, but I have seen that happen to someone I know before.

 

[KittyCat_chitchat]

I agree with all the above. Honesty is the best policy. Show them what you are doing and how the cats are treated, and explain that you didn't know there was a limit on the number of cats.

You sound like the best sort of responsible pet parents who are doing everything for your cats. By TNR'ing the ferals and giving them a home, you are actually doing your local Animal Welfare enforcement body a favour by preventing their population from growing and potentially taking up shelter spaces (but don't point that out to their faces if they get confrontational).

If they see that you are doing all this, and if you are polite and nonconfrontational with them, any reasonable Animal Welfare inspectors should recognise you for the loving cat people you are. So don't worry and don't lose undue sleep over it. If you are polite, honest, and cooperative, they are very unlikely to do anything that you're worrying about. You only need to start worrying about it if they do do this, which IMHO would be very unreasonable of them, not to mention counterproductive for the reasons I and others have already mentioned. The most they'd usually do if they felt anything needed correcting would be provide education.

 

[oklawhit]

Hi everyone! Firstly, thank you for your support, guidance, and wisdom - I have been a basket case over this situation, but I have some happy news to report.

Animal Welfare returned my phone call and the officer I spoke with was an absolute gem. I guess the complaint was for our outdoor kitties, but she even noted that when her partner came to our home, she saw no evidence of it being overrun with neglected cats. I spoke to her about our situation and the TNR and she was genuinely enthused and appreciative of us having them spayed/neutered and providing food, water, and shelter for them. She said she saw no problem at all and she closed out the case for us. I am still a bit on edge wondering who would have placed this false call, but I am relieved to have this behind us and I can finally sleep again.

Thank you all, again!

 

[DeesCats]

Wonderful news and I'm so glad the animal welfare officers gave you a big thumbs up on the work you are doing with TNR.

 

[FeebysOwner]

That's good news!! If the complainant calls AW again, it will most likely be disregarded since they have closed the case due to 'no cause'. Another piece of good news!

 

[Cat McCannon]

Ha! A few years ago, we started receiving notices from Animal Control concerning complaints about our dogs. After receiving a third notice in as many weeks, I contacted Animal Control to find out what was going on. They said they’d received complaints about our dogs barking, running loose in the neighborhood and had no record of their licenses or their rabies shots.

I told them they were welcome to come check our home and to seize any dogs they find because (at that time) we had no pets, not even a goldfish! I was astonished when they insisted I put up a fence to keep our dogs in the yard and get them vaccinated and licensed. They thought I was lying about having no dogs!

 

[di and bob]

The only problem I see for the foreseeable future is that you obviously have a cat hater close by, be very vigilant and hopefully your outside cats can escape any violence. It is obviously someone very close to your house to even know teh cats go to your residence. Please be careful and keep close tabs on your outside cats. I know it is impossible to contain cats, but try to see where they go and the neighbor's reactions when they go in their yards. Somebody worked up enough to call AC is worked up enough to cause harm, even poison. I will pray they remain safe.......

 

[KittyCat_chitchat]

When my mother was a child in the sixties, her favourite cat died from ingesting rat poison and she was 99% sure a neighbour had given it to him because of the sick way he spoke to her and her family afterwards. Some people just beggar belief. If I had a neighbour like that now, my cats would be confined to a catio ASAP - mainly to keep me out of prison for what I'd do to said neighbour if they hurt an animal, especially an animal of mine.

All this being said, if you have reason to suspect a neighbour of having any ill intentions toward your cats, once again, do not be confrontational. In this instance, since you cannot control a suspect neighbour or the movements of the cats, you can't do much... unless something happens that gives you sound reason to believe that person is harming or is intending to harm the cats. Then you have a solid course of action: report THEM to the animal welfare people!

On a happier note, I'm so glad this has worked out for you. You could not have asked for a better outcome.