EDIT: This is just an update today (March 13), to hopefully uplift some people feeling down right now. See my post from today (threadmarked).
Kind of a long story, but I'll try to summarize.
I'm in Canada. It's getting cold.
Two nights ago, I'm sitting on my second floor balcony (with stairs leading up), having a smoke, and a a little kitty (probably 1 year old), walks up the stairs and starts cuddling up. I've seen this cat roaming around in the "courtyard" the last couple days, but figured it belongs to one of the other tenants. Regardless, it's taken a liking to me, and when I open the door to go inside it runs in ahead of me. I think it's cute, let it wander around a bit and then go to put it back outside.
Well, I'm outside again a couple hours later and it's up here again, and it's just standing by my front door now wanting to go in. This time I'm thinking, "It's getting late now, it's getting cold (below freezing temps) and maybe this cat doesn't actually live around here". So I go see the building manager and ask him if he knows if this cat belongs to anyone in the condo complex. He says he thinks it's a stray that a previous tenant took in and they just moved out and abandoned her. They weren't here for very long though, so we all thought maybe this cat belongs to somebody in the neighborhood. We say, "We'll look after her for the night and post some ads and try to find the owners." It's too late to call the shelter, but we post some Facebook ads on the "Lost and Found pets groups" and ads on the other free sites and eventually someone clues me into the fact that she might be chipped, so I should take her to a vet to check.
So I did that this morning and they managed to get ahold of the owners. Now, here's the part that makes me upset. I have to wait for the owner to show up to the vet clinic. Great, I understand. The vet's can't take in strays. The problem is the owner shows up, and literally barely says a word to me. Just takes the cat, puts it in her cardboard kennel and starts walking it out. No "Thank you for finding our pet", no emotional reunion. Just kind of like "Yeah, that's mine" and starts walking out. I try asking like "How long has she been gone?" "Oh, I don't know. A couple nights I think". Meanwhile, based on what I'm hearing from the building manager she's been in and around our complex for at least four or five nights, not to mention what he said about some other tenants taking her in. And again, it's getting COLD out here. Like this is a house cat. This cat's not going to make it outside in snowy weather. But the fact that there were no ads up searching for this lost kitty. No calls to the animal shelter saying she was missing...and no even remote sense of gratitude for us finding her, bringing her in from the cold, feeding her, literally buying a litter box, food and toys for her (for just two days).
I saw ads where people were offering upwards of $1000 rewards for having their pets returned. I don't want a reward. I don't want to even be reimbursed for the money we spent on food and litter for her. I'm just mad they didn't even post an ad looking for her. I'm mad that I may have sent this cat back to live in a home that doesn't even care about her. I don't know if I could have kept her either way, but I feel like I could have found a better home for her than that. Am I wrong in feeling this way? Or should I just be happy that I reunited this cat with her owners?
Come at me Era with all your "You're being selfish", and "You just wanted the money" shit. I just needed to get this off my chest. If you have a pet and you don't even know where it is for days at a time and you're not doing anything about it, you shouldn't own a pet. Period.
Kind of a long story, but I'll try to summarize.
I'm in Canada. It's getting cold.
Two nights ago, I'm sitting on my second floor balcony (with stairs leading up), having a smoke, and a a little kitty (probably 1 year old), walks up the stairs and starts cuddling up. I've seen this cat roaming around in the "courtyard" the last couple days, but figured it belongs to one of the other tenants. Regardless, it's taken a liking to me, and when I open the door to go inside it runs in ahead of me. I think it's cute, let it wander around a bit and then go to put it back outside.
Well, I'm outside again a couple hours later and it's up here again, and it's just standing by my front door now wanting to go in. This time I'm thinking, "It's getting late now, it's getting cold (below freezing temps) and maybe this cat doesn't actually live around here". So I go see the building manager and ask him if he knows if this cat belongs to anyone in the condo complex. He says he thinks it's a stray that a previous tenant took in and they just moved out and abandoned her. They weren't here for very long though, so we all thought maybe this cat belongs to somebody in the neighborhood. We say, "We'll look after her for the night and post some ads and try to find the owners." It's too late to call the shelter, but we post some Facebook ads on the "Lost and Found pets groups" and ads on the other free sites and eventually someone clues me into the fact that she might be chipped, so I should take her to a vet to check.
So I did that this morning and they managed to get ahold of the owners. Now, here's the part that makes me upset. I have to wait for the owner to show up to the vet clinic. Great, I understand. The vet's can't take in strays. The problem is the owner shows up, and literally barely says a word to me. Just takes the cat, puts it in her cardboard kennel and starts walking it out. No "Thank you for finding our pet", no emotional reunion. Just kind of like "Yeah, that's mine" and starts walking out. I try asking like "How long has she been gone?" "Oh, I don't know. A couple nights I think". Meanwhile, based on what I'm hearing from the building manager she's been in and around our complex for at least four or five nights, not to mention what he said about some other tenants taking her in. And again, it's getting COLD out here. Like this is a house cat. This cat's not going to make it outside in snowy weather. But the fact that there were no ads up searching for this lost kitty. No calls to the animal shelter saying she was missing...and no even remote sense of gratitude for us finding her, bringing her in from the cold, feeding her, literally buying a litter box, food and toys for her (for just two days).
I saw ads where people were offering upwards of $1000 rewards for having their pets returned. I don't want a reward. I don't want to even be reimbursed for the money we spent on food and litter for her. I'm just mad they didn't even post an ad looking for her. I'm mad that I may have sent this cat back to live in a home that doesn't even care about her. I don't know if I could have kept her either way, but I feel like I could have found a better home for her than that. Am I wrong in feeling this way? Or should I just be happy that I reunited this cat with her owners?
Come at me Era with all your "You're being selfish", and "You just wanted the money" shit. I just needed to get this off my chest. If you have a pet and you don't even know where it is for days at a time and you're not doing anything about it, you shouldn't own a pet. Period.
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