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As long as you continue to put food out you are going to attract stray cats. The solution is simple as far as any new cats when you come back. Stop throwing your garbage outside.
The ponds attract stray cats too as this is a hot climate and they need water. Do you suggest I hire someone to remove the ponds? Garbage goes into the trash can. Leftovers and meat trimmings go outside.
FYI: I have taken quotes from the OP and deleted some content and rearranged other comments to form my own narrative. IN some areas I have added my own content/comments.
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Originally Posted by =^..^=
When she went out the door for the last time we were both close to tears. She desperately loves my husband and he became very attached to her. She loved to sit in his lap when he watched TV in the living room. She clings to his side when he's doing something outdoors or working in the garage. I too have become attached to her and this is bumming us both out knowing she would have a good forever home with us until her life was through if only she would adapt to the other cats. course. We have both tried everything possible and cannot find anyone anywhere to take her.
This cat we call Sheba was dumped here we believe. One day she just showed up out of the blue. These cruel/lazy/cheap/heartless (take your pick) people don't want to drive to the shelter in the nearby city about 20 miles away. They drive out here a little past where the town ends, open the car or truck doors and toss the dog or cat out - and drive off.
The black cat dumped with her (or close to when she was dumped) which is either a fixed male or spayed female, has become totally feral. We can't get within 20' of her/him. We make no special effort to make friends with it or feed it. Sometimes it comes for the scraps. But now I noticed, just today, that something ripped it's left ear off just above it's head leaving a ragged bloody edge of what looked like cartilage.
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Originally Posted by =^..^=
Sheba is a dark colored tabby-tortie, FIV+ <deleted comments > She had been dumped with 4 other cats - or at least they all showed up together. There have been so many since I moved here I can't keep track or remember them all anymore. <> The cats disappear on their own.
CONTEXT, "The cats disappear on their own" [comment] came from the post [by the OP] below,
Thanks and thank the powers that be I wont have to worry about poison. The few rural neighbors we have here know the 3 outdoor cats and don't bother them, even the cat-from-hell next door who disappears for weeks at a time. A real PIA. One neighbor shoots problem aggressive dogs people dump out here. But the nicer ones he's been known to adopt. He doesn't bother cats because cats don't attack his dogs. He was a sharp-shooter in the army so kills them with one shot. No misses and no suffering.
<My Comment: NO MISSES, NO SUFFERING >
This section of road is well known for dumped cats and dogs. We'd be overrun with dogs if this neighbor hadn't taken it upon himself to do something. The cats disappear on their own.
The ponds attract stray cats too as this is a hot climate and they need water. Do you suggest I hire someone to remove the ponds? Garbage goes into the trash can. Leftovers and meat trimmings go outside.
No. I suggest you stop putting food out. It belongs in the garbage. "Left overs and meat trimmings" created by humans are garbage.
It is not nutritionally complete for any creature, and it is not helpful to them or the environment. There is no good reason for you to do this, except the possibility that you don't want your trash to stink. And that is a selfish reason to put your food trash outside to the detriment of wildlife, and the detriment of your own life, since it attracts stray cats.
The pond is there, you have no control over that. You DO have control over your food trash. Stop putting it outside. It's littering, and it is not good for anyone.
FYI: I have taken quotes from the OP and deleted some content and rearranged other comments to form my own narrative. IN some areas I have added my own content/comments.
I am stunned that you would suggest your "cat psychic," who actually gave you a "transcript" of a "conversation" between her and your dead pet, as the solution to little Sheba's aggression. This is a very serious and sad thread, but some IDIOT who preys on the gullibility of some people (like you, alas) is the answer?
I know you meant well, but good g-d.
OP, I am heartbroken over this story. I would love to adopt Sheba myself, but she would have to live her life out in a room by herself, given that I have other cats. This is just so, so awful.
So that makes it okay to abandon her. Now that she has bonded with you, and gotten used to a regular supply of food. You think she will be "fine" once again being abandoned. I do not.
I am not getting anything out of this except deep distress that you plan to abandon this cat in the winter. You did indeed "ask" for her, because you throw your food garbage outside. That attracts animals, including stray cats.
She is not "perfectly healthy" she has a fatal disease that makes her highly susceptible to infections. A little scratch or bite can kill her.
Your comment about throwing "garbage" outside is insulting and uncalled for. The meat trimmings and leftovers are fresh and not sour, moldy or rotten. Garbage goes into the trashcan and is hauled off to the town dumpsters. A bite from her can/could have killed my indoor cats but that didn't concern you at all. Yes, she can be killed as can any cat who lives outside. Fighting with other cats around here hasn't killed her so far. She's had to deal with the cat-from-hell, a real aggressive cat and she's still alive.
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Yes, she is a living being. One you took in, fed, showed affection to, and now plan to leave on her own. How many times do I have to say this. I believe there are worse things than death. And being abandoned in the winter with a fatal disease that has the likelihood of causing a slow death is one of them.
And it may never happen either. Why are you so negative, always looking at the worst scenario? Better a chance to live than be murdered and have no chance at all.
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She's is going to go to her dish day after day looking for food and water and it won't be there. She is going to go looking for you and your husband and you won't be there. She will be abandoned, again. It is breaking my heart. If she meant nothing to me I would not still be trying to talk you out of leaving her there.
I have no choice. She is too aggressive to be around other cats. You are the type to have a cat killed who is not sick and not dying, a cat who survived on her own while we were gone last winter. I can't do that. Better a chance to live than no chance at all by being murdered. Killed. Her life robbed from her.
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I disagree. Euthanasia is mercy killing. Sometimes it is mercy to prevent a cat from dying a slow agonizing death, including starvation.
Not yet.
It's not euthanasia as it was for Lucky with no hope of recovery and zero quality of life. It's premeditated murder of a healthy cat that can live 20 more years.
I can't see how we can take her with us. She would die in the van (tow vehicle) of heat stroke and there is no room in the RV for a large cage.
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Yes she is living, and she does have a soul. One that you are going to leave to fend for herself. How can you even think of doing it? I don't understand.
Because thinking of murdering her, a living soul, is worse. I have a conscience and have to live with myself. Stop being so negative. She lived through last winter as did the black cat who just lost an ear. Why wouldn't she make it trough this winter?
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Your plan is no different. You are leaving her to fend for herself. It's cruel, it's illegal. Where is this conscience you think you have?
And she fended for herself all last winter and was still here when we came back. Why do you keep ignoring that fact? Killing her is also cruel. She wants to live like any other being with a soul. So far you have offered to do nothing for her but make suggestions to have her murdered.
She hasn't touched cat food these past 3 days because she is so full of mice and moles, her favorite food items. Fortunately she doesn't seem very interested in birds.
It was illegal for the person who dumped her here with the black cat - no mention of that though.
The meat trimmings and leftovers are fresh and not sour, moldy or rotten.
It is garbage. It is something you are not using yourself. My words are not meant to insult you, I am stating facts. it is something you cannot use, and it belongs in the trash, not out on the lawn, causing nutritional deficiencies in wild animals and attracting stray cats. I cannot understand why you do this, the only explanation I can think of is to keep the food from smelling up your garbage can It makes no sense to me.
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And she fended for herself all last winter and was still here when we came back. Why do you keep ignoring that fact? Killing her is also cruel. She wants to live like any other being with a soul. So far you have offered to do nothing for her but make suggestions to have her murdered.
It was illegal for the person who dumped her here with the black cat - no mention of that though.
Indeed it was illegal and heartless for those who dumped these cats in the first place. But I am not speaking to them, I am speaking to you. Since you are planning to do the same thing, there is no difference.
Last winter, she was not bonded to you. Last winter, she had not got used to your food, and your love. This winter, you are leaving her bereft of both. Yes, she is a living feeling soul, who loves you. And you are going to just...leave her. Do you think she will understand that you are "only" gone for a few months and you love her just as much as ever? You really think it is okay to break her heart like this? Do you think she won't suffer from the loss of YOU?
As for hunting and fending for herself. FIV is an immunodeficiency disease. Survival last winter doesn't guarantee survival this winter. Because of her lack of immune defense, eventually the parasites are going to overcome her body's abilitlity to defend against them, since she will be hunting, and not likely to hunt enough to keep her in prime health. Cats riddled with parasites eventually starve to death, because the parasites take everything the cat needs to live. That is, of course if she survies all the other things that can go wrong, with her lack of immune system.
Last winter she wasn't yours. This winter she is.
I hope you will think about these things I have said, (both about Sheba, and putting your discarded food outside) it seems like you only want to face the things that make you feel better, not the realities.
I will not trouble you again about this. Perhaps you better re read the things I have said, I beg of you, please do consider my words, because you are glossing over it all to make yourself sound noble to yourself. You, as you have said, have your own conscience to live with.
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Why are you so negative, always looking at the worst scenario?
Because you are ignoring the worst case scenarios. And because this cat has bonded to you and now you are going to just leave her to grieve (and starve.) It breaks my heart.
Last edited by catsmom21; 09-28-2014 at 01:26 PM..
I am stunned that you would suggest your "cat psychic," who actually gave you a "transcript" of a "conversation" between her and your dead pet, as the solution to little Sheba's aggression. This is a very serious and sad thread, but some IDIOT who preys on the gullibility of some people (like you, alas) is the answer?
I know you meant well, but good g-d.
OP, I am heartbroken over this story. I would love to adopt Sheba myself, but she would have to live her life out in a room by herself, given that I have other cats. This is just so, so awful.
You either need to actually read my thread, or up your level of reading comprehension.
Agnes didn't give me a transcript. The pet I started the thread about, MEEKO,wasn't dead, [then]. Meeko had been actively trying to KILL Alfredo for over a year. VERY Serious, very sad. OUR session with Agnes put an end to Meeko's aggression towards Alfredo, immediately. I had tried everything else, they have not, YET.
And don't call Agnes an idiot.
Added, so you'll be adopting Sheba? A room by herself sounds perfect. You can divide your time between her and your other cats, and Kitty (OP) has a network of other people to transport Sheba to you. Congratulations on your new cat!
I am stunned that you would suggest your "cat psychic," who actually gave you a "transcript" of a "conversation" between her and your dead pet, as the solution to little Sheba's aggression. This is a very serious and sad thread, but some IDIOT who preys on the gullibility of some people (like you, alas) is the answer?
I know you meant well, but good g-d.
I'm sure she did mean well. This is an upsetting thread. Think how my husband and I feel. We're both very much attached to Sheba - but having her killed is out of the question. If she were sick or suffering in some way it would be different. But she appears healthy as a horse and is a happy cat as far as we can see. She is definately peditor wise and hides from sundown to sunup when they are not out hunting. With it getting more built up out here we have not seen fox or coyotes in several years. I haven't heard bobcats in at least 20 years now. But we do have large owls hunting at night.
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OP, I am heartbroken over this story. I would love to adopt Sheba myself, but she would have to live her life out in a room by herself, given that I have other cats. This is just so, so awful.
Thank you for sharing your feelings. That would be no life for her. She likes being outside all day and is a very active cat. We have a real mole problem and she delights in hunting them - and she eats them. Being right in the woods and next to fields we have plenty of field-mice also. If we kept her in our house she would have to live in one of those Midwest cages. That's no life either and we would still have the dilemma of what happens in the winter.
I wish we could take her to FL but there is no way. The RV doesn't have rooms that can be closed off. She would die of heatstroke in the van. I don't know anyone here to take care of her, take her in until we get back. People are not real friendly in some of these southern rural areas. They tend to keep to themselves. I guess they can be called acquaintances and they never become closer than that.
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This is a very serious and sad thread, but some IDIOT who preys on the gullibility of some people (like you, alas) is the answer?
