I ran an adoption event today. The star of the show was Fuzzy, an eight-week-old, long-haired, buff-colored kitten. He came from a stray litter of four; the other three kittens passed away of unknown causes (possibly something congenital), leaving adorable Fuzzy as the sole survivor.
A woman filled out an application for him, and we started chatting, and she said that two years ago, she had a ten-year-old cat who started peeing outside his litterbox.
She did not take him to the vet to see if there was a medical reason. She did not try adding more litterboxes, or changing the type of litter, or trying a different type of food, or spending more time with him.
She took him to the local SPCA and gave him up.
"Well," she said, "He was an old cat anyway. And he was really my boyfriend's cat, not mine. And I can't stand the smell of cat pee."
No Fuzzy for her.
Maaaaan, it can be a judgement call on these things, and my decision is not the one that counts (I'm not the one who makes the final call), but I strongly recommended to the FC that her application be denied. I explained the situation; it wasn't so much that she gave the cat up (OKAY YES IT WAS), as it was that she didn't even TRY to solve the problem first. And she expressed absolutely no remorse about the decision she had made.
Fuzzy is a kitten. He is eight weeks old. The odds that he is going to pee outside the litterbox occasionally for a few more weeks is virtually guaranteed.
No Fuzzy for her.
I don't know, you guys. What do you think? Did I make the right call?
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Absolutely.
I have to wonder what made that woman think it was ok. Obviously she did, or she wouldn't have told you the story.
Adoption centers I've been familiar with ask if you'd had beasties before, how long did you have them, what happened to them, etc. My stupid ex-brother-in-law bragged of his vast experience with many prior cats, which he had "set loose in the woods" when he moved to apartments that didn't accept cats - and then wondered why no one would let him have a kitten. He ended up getting his kitties from "free to good home" newspaper ads.
Oh, he named them all "shy-theed" - spelled shithead. Told ya he was stupid.
You absolutely made the right call, without a doubt!
~~Silk, I'd like to "set loose" some whoop-ass on your ex-BIL.
Robyn, thanks for the affirmation.
I was really glad that the woman was up front with me, and I was also dismayed that she thought what she did was okay. I can understand that random peeing can be vexing, but surrendering a 10-year-old cat to a shelter? I hope to heck and back that that cat found a loving home.
And Fuzzy will be attending TWO adoption events NEXT weekend. We'll find him a fine home.
Yep, good call. Diego had been peeing all over the place--everywhere but the litter box. After thousands of dollars at the vet's office, they still didn't come to a solid conclusion about it (along with a host of other symptoms). I thought it might be time to put him down, but it turned out not to be my call because of the divorce, and I'm not sure what his last months were like, but my goodness we gave him a chance!
Kate, sounds like Diego had a bunch of stuff going on. THANK YOU for trying to help him. As I found out today, some people don't even bother. :(
Absolutely you made the right call. There are better homes for Fuzzy. You just saved him from what could have been a horrible future.
Absolutely! And let me add that 10 is not old for a cat. Fuzzy deserves better.
I am starting to think that my Sammy dog has the same problem, every once in a while he will go inside, usually if you are not super vigilant. BD did not take him out one night last week and he got up and peed. It was not his fault it was BD's and adopted animals need extra help in breaking bad habits. My next to the last dog was given to me because he peed in the house once. People that don't think animals have accidents are not worthy of being custodians.
Sounds like I made the right decision.
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