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I was visiting my friends this weekend and while at their house we discovered a pretty bad case of cat hoarding in the neighborhood. The neighbors talked about them refusing to let anyone adopt the seasonal kittens the group produces and proceeds to not care when the kittens get hit by cars. They didn't even pick up the body of the most recent death  All the cats were super thin and one we could see had a pretty bad eye infection. We decided to call the ASPCA and the day after I left I was told all the cats had been taken. Now I'm all worried about those cats and keep thinking we might have just gotten them all killed instead of helping at all. They were very scared of humans and most were adults so their chances of getting adopted are low. I wish I could take some in but I don't think I'm in the right place to be taking care of an animal right now. I feel super awful over this and I hope I'm just overreacting, but I keep getting the feeling I could have done something better. Rip me
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Jul 1, 2015 05:06
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 00:53 |
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If you hadnt called, the hoarding would have continued which means more kittens getting put on the streets getting run over, etc. This way at least the ones that can be rehabbed and adopted out get a chance, and a hoarder hopefully gets help.
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Jul 1, 2015 05:45
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Personally, I would rather see the cats put down than see that particular cycle continue. Did the right thing, imo.
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Jul 1, 2015 06:12
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I personally probably would have gotten some people together and attempted to TNR the cats as if they were a feral colony since they were getting outside. But what you did certainly isn't wrong either.
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Jul 1, 2015 07:12
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Topoisomerase posted:I personally probably would have gotten some people together and attempted to TNR the cats as if they were a feral colony since they were getting outside. But what you did certainly isn't wrong either. It's a nice idea, but that wouldn't make much of a dent in a hoarder's cat collection. OP did the right thing and probably got a seriously mentally ill person on social services' radar.
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Jul 2, 2015 01:24
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I've been dealing with something similar here thanks to the neighbors down the street not spaying their outdoor cats, and my stepmom thinking that she's doing god's work by feeding every feral cat that shows up on the porch, which led to 10+ feral cats and kittens on the porch and all of the nuisances associated with that. The most recent batch of kittens trapped have all had really bad upper respiratory and eye infections. The animal control person was kind of a dick about it, accusing us of trying to pawn off our sick animals on them. Honestly, my stepmom needed to hear that, because she didn't understand why I had such a problem with feeding strays on the porch. After three rounds of trapping, we're down to two kittens and a couple of unaltered males that are likely too large for the trap. It's been rough. I feel better knowing that if I've shipped them off to an inevitable death, at least it was swift and less painful than the alternative of dying on the streets here. There is zero TNR funding here. Even if there was funding to spay these cats, people don't watch for animals in the street here and almost always keep driving if they hit an animal with their car. So OP, I know what you're going through. You did the right thing, even if it's lovely knowing that some of these cats might not make it. The young ones have a better chance than you might think as long as they're able to be socialized. Scared cats often relax after they start to feel comfortable, so more may be adoptable than you think. I checked the shelter page earlier and saw that my favorite one of the bunch that was trapped this week was on the adoptable list, as were some of her kittens. 
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Jul 2, 2015 02:33
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 00:53 |
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TNR's a fantastic program but it can take a while to work and like Grape Soda said, sometimes there's like literally no funding. The OP's situation sounds like less of a hoarder issue and more of a feral cat colony issue with somebody throwing out food for them out of pity (or maybe not since they were all thin). It might've started as a hoarder situation, but if they don't give a poo poo it's usually not. OP, sounds like you didn't do poo poo wrong. All those cats are probably dead but they'd have been dead anyway. At least this way they went out with a meal in their gut (or at least the option of it).
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Jul 2, 2015 15:07
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