family moved without taking cats they adopted last year

[Demovictory9]

https://www.sfgate.com/pets/article/Tree-sitting-cat-San-Mateo-animal-rescue-abandoned-14820231.php



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A microchip revealed that the seal-point was named Bentley. He and his brother — a flame-point Siamese — had been adopted by a San Mateo family as kittens in April 2018 from the Give Me Shelter Cat Rescue in San Francisco. The Humane Society chapter called Give Me Shelter and informed them that they had Bentley in the mandatory four-day "stray hold."

Give Me Shelter repeatedly tried to reach the adopting family by phone to let them know Bentley was found, but there was no response. Perhaps something had happened to them. At this point, shelter staff had no idea if Royce, his flame-point brother, was also missing, but they were beginning to get worried.

On Oct. 23, four days after Bentley was captured, a Give Me Shelter volunteer knocked on the door of his owners' house. No one answered. She saw empty dishes in the backyard. At least the family left some food out before evicting the cats.

"We were horrified. How could this family abandon these precious kitties?" shelter co-director Maria Conlon said.

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The volunteer looked into backyards, alleys and behind landscaping, and got lucky. She spotted Royce slinking about, but he was scared and crying, and wouldn't let her get close to him. The next day Give Me Shelter volunteers returned to the house and managed to trap him.

The family left no forwarding address or means to contact them. They were moving from the area and apparently decided the pets they had cared for a year and a half weren't worth keeping. Weren't worth the effort of finding them a new home. Weren't even worth driving back to Give Me Shelter which would have gladly taken them back.
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Although they don't know where the family moved to, Give Me Shelter is sharing "do not adopt" information regarding them with other shelters and rescue operations.

[LakeArenal]

1. Bastards.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. Exactly. In some jurisdictions, there are laws that stop this kind of behavior from happening...

perhaps there is such a law there? Abandonment of animals is cruel.

[LakeArenal]

5. Should be a felony.

Image if some bastards were cruel enough to steal children and put them in cages or sell them for “adoption”.

Now there would be some bigger bastards.

[Boxerfan]

2. Our neighbors left a cat behind after they were evicted.

They had totally trashed the house and I have no idea where they went. The property management spent over a month doing repairs.

We noticed a tabby living under a cypress in our backyard corridor. After a bit of observation and feeding we determined he was a homeless kitty.

We set our small dog crate out with food in it-no trap door. My wife saw him sitting in it and my daughters got the cage closed- a minor miracle. He was indeed chipped and luckily he was adopted a week ago after about a month at the shelter.

Good kitty & we would have taken him-but we have birds & small animals so-nope.

[MuseRider]

4. About a mile from my house

there was a family who had a yellow tabby. BIG cat and it was always out. They lived directly on an old highway, not used as much as before but still busy. I have worried over that cat for years. Their house went up for sale and they moved and I figured they took the big kitty, he had been there with them for years. Yesterday I drove by and found his body on the side of the road, he had been left and then hit. If only they had put up a sign or left notes for neighbors. If only. I would have taken him in in a heart beat. So would a bunch of the neighbors out here. Strays and ferals are the name of the game when you live in the country and we are not too far from another small community then the city so there are plenty dropped off out here. This did not have to happen. I hope they find the people you posted about and tell them what happened and that they were not getting anymore from them. I am glad their name is out to those organizations.

I do not understand people, not at all.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. How can you be sure these were not undocumented immigrants?

I bet this is happening everywhere. I wondered about the two dogs that a cliff climber found in one of the canyons.

[erronis]

11. Why would you think undocumented immigrants are the culprits?

I've known quite a few US citizens who are far worse on every social scale than people that are coming to this country to work and escape the problems back home.

Now, of course, if ICE just picked them up and shoved them into cages awaiting deportation, then maybe I see your point.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. That is exactly the point.

People’s lives have been turned over so suddenly. No time to make arrangements for the pets

[Ferrets are Cool]

15. Where did that comment come from?

Sheesh

[Baitball Blogger]

16. Because these people had lives.

They were integrated into the community and with little to no warning they had to run. Pets are another casualty in Trumps war against dark skinned immigrants.

[Ferrets are Cool]

24. There is, as far as I can tell, no mention of ICE in this article.

I still don't understand why you went there in this instance.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. Probably because I am latina and I empathize strongly with what is happening to

immigrants. My grandfather also crossed the border, but this was back in the day when farm help was much needed because there was a shortage of workers. It was not an issue. He became a naturalized American. This is how it should be. It's just a theory, but I don't think families are waiting for ICE to show up before they make a move. If an opportunity turns up, I'm sure some will take it hastily.

On edit: My grandfather also left his Mexican village because he supported the opposing political party and they came for him.

[TDale313]

27. Quite a leap without much evidence.

Possible... but sadly this happens way too often, and most people who abandon their pets don’t have those kinds of desperate circumstances. People move, it’s inconvenient to find a place that will let them take the pets, so they just leave them. It is animal cruelty and should be treated as such. There are options if you really can’t take your pet- but keeping them safe, and if at all possible with you, is the responsibility you took on. Fuck, these assholes got these cats at a rescue shelter. At least be humane enough to surrender them back.

[Baitball Blogger]

32. It was just one possibility of many. And it's an issue that is never far from my thoughts.

It is a cruel thing to do to an animal. It's the story of my rescue dog. Tenants abandoned her and she was left alone for several days on her own on the coldest days of January of that year. She was so thin that she acted like she never could get enough to eat for the first several months. It would be nice if we could get all the details about people who abandon their pets, because it is an easy thing these days to find a no kill shelter. It would be helpful to find out what reservations they might have just to make it easier for them to surrender their pets properly.

[TDale313]

33. Sadly, I think a lot of times

They just can’t be bothered. Not always... but too often. It’s unnecessary. There are options. Also, I think particularly with cats, people assume “they’re self sufficient. They’ll be ok” But cats who have always had a home and owner and food and shelter and suddenly find themselves homeless? No, they’re usually not equipped to deal with that unless they find a new home or are taken in by a shelter.

I know it’s hard. I am a grown woman who moved back in with her parents for a while, in part because finding a place that I could afford in my area that would also let me take my cat was incredibly difficult. But this is part of the responsibility we take on when we get a pet. Circumstances change, you still need to take care of their needs. They’re living beings who rely on you. They aren’t disposable.

[Baitball Blogger]

36. Wel, if those states that are passing laws against cruelity to animals add abandonment

in their legal definitions, it might be a step in making owners more responsible.

[Maraya1969]

7. The people behind me did that with their cat and she started coming into my house through my dog

door. It went on for a couple weeks until one day I woke up and she was under my bed with kittens.

She was on my side of the bed and she wasn't completely hiding herself. When I looked she cried at me. I realized one of them was not alive so I took that one away and she calmed down.

I waited for a few days; she was eating my cat's food anyway and then I took her and the liter to the shelter. I could not keep all of those cats. But they were all white and the shelter told me that they would probably get adopted.

I hope they all are OK.

[IcyPeas]

8. "they were adopted as kittens"

kittens are cute and funny. they don't stay kittens though. once they are grown up some people don't think they are cute and funny anymore.... they become a chore.

they should've returned the cats to the shelter -- that would have been the best option. I don't know how people can just abandon animals.

[FuzzyRabbit]

9. A happy story.

My sister's neighbor moved away and left his cat behind. The realtor selling his house re-homed the cat, but a few days later she reappeared at her old home.

The realtor re-homed the cat again, about 20 miles away. She ran away again. Two months later she reappeared at her old home again, skinny and bedraggled. My sister started feeding her and made a little cat house for shelter.

Then a few weeks later the cat followed my sister home, went inside with her and never left. They are both now in love with each other and very happy.

[Demovictory9]

19. great story

[I_UndergroundPanther]

30. Yayy

Hurray for them both!

[Duppers]

10. I hate people like this. nt

[More_Cowbell]

12. I got my cat 9 years ago

Dropped off at a shelter as a stray. He was chipped and the owners never answeted, so I assume that it was his owner who dropped him off. Even after all this time, he still sticks pretty close to me.

[Demovictory9]

20. lovely!! their loss was your gain

[Ferrets are Cool]

13. We have adopted several ferrets that were "left" behind

when their owners moved. Pisses me off every time I hear about it.

[Demovictory9]

21. yeah....

[Midnight Writer]

17. I have a "left behind" Tomcat sitting on my lap as I type this.

From a rental house, college kids had a cat, and when they moved on, they turned the cat out. He has been my friend for 13 years now.

As a mail carrier in a small town, I know the practice of people moving and abandoning pets is common.

Most heartbreaking is seniors who have a pet that has been their best friend. The senior dies or goes into a nursing home, and the pet goes on the street or in the dumpster. Another thing is young couples having a child and deciding they no longer need a pet, or that the pet may be dangerous to a baby (the old "cat sleeping on the baby's face" legend).

[Demovictory9]

22. an apartment owner I knew... all his pets were "left behinds". After renters move out, he would go

in the unit and find his next pet. He kept them all.

[Midnight Writer]

23. Good for him. It is heartbreaking to see a loving pet lose it's home.

[Skittles]

18. I have a cat who was left behind at my apartment complex

I had fed her for years but could never adopt her because she would viciously attack my cat. When my cat passed this last summer, she moved right on in. I will never understand how people can just leave their pets. It is disgusting.

[Demovictory9]

34. I'm glad you took her in.

[Skittles]

38. I work night shift

almost every morning when I came home from work she would climb down from a tree and escort me to my apartment for a chicken dinner......I mean, she EARNED it

[Lefta Dissenter]

26. Years ago,

The woman who lived next door sold her house and moved. Later in the day that she moved, we saw that her cat was still sitting up in the children’s play structure in the back yard where she spent a lot of time. We tried to get hold of the woman, assuming that she couldn’t find the cat at the time that she packed up and drove off, but didn’t really know how to reach her. The next morning we went outside and saw that the cat had died, curled up underneath the play structure. It was so sad, and I always felt that that kitty died of a broken heart. We buried her underneath the play structure, and let the new homeowners know that this was sacred ground. I’ll never forgive that woman.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

28. Bunch of fuckers

I fell in love with the kitties I have adopted,in the shelter From than on it's you and me,kitty forever.

[Tumbulu]

29. Oh how awful !!!! A new cat showed up in my barn about a month ago

this cat is used to eating canned cat food, and milk. I can tell. But has scratched me, not drawn blood, and I wasn't even close. Just putting the food up high away from the chickens, so he/she could eat it undisturbed. I have no idea if it has had a rabies shot, so I am not daring to get close enough to be scratched again.

But by the way this cat acts, it as clearly a former house cat. My barn is 1/2 mile from the highway. And the closest town is 3 miles away There are 2 other.barn cats that I feed and keep vaccinated.

If I can catch him/ her before my vet comes out next, I will make sure at least rabies is up to date.

It is so weird and awful how people behave. Way worse than a cat scratching at you for no reason, except maupybe I am feeding the wrong brand.

[spooky3]

31. Support your local rescue organizations. I am a volunteer foster and the OP's story is sadly common.

Rescues are always short of people's help and money. If you can, please help.

I currently foster two love bug cats who were dumped by their owner after 4 years.

[Rhiannon12866]

35. I found one, too.

I had no idea that this kitty was on her own since too many people let their cats outside to roam the neighborhood. But when the weather got bad, I started feeding this kitty outside, finally got desperate and borrowed a have-a-heart trap from the animal hospital to bring her in - turns out this was a spayed female. I learned from another neighbor that she'd gotten away from the lady who lived in the house behind them when she moved. They had fed her as well. I only wish that she'd told me since she was grateful when I rescued her small dog who got loose more than once. It sure would have saved this poor kitty a lot of hell. When I found out who the owner had been, I learned her name and age - turned out she was 12. She was terrified and hid most of the time, had to get a friend who had caught cats for the SPCA to catch her for for me in my house so I could bring her to my vet. After necessary dental surgery - she must have been in pain - she calmed down a lot. Though she was never a lap cat, she had a safe home for the rest of her life, liked to sit in the window and watch the birds at the feeder.

I found my present cat - also black - as a small kitten in a supermarket parking lot one night on my way home. That was 5 years ago and my vet said he was about 7 weeks old.

[MrsMatt]

37. I still wonder about a cat I rehomed

right before I got married 32 years ago.

Adopted by my roommate - who chose her because she was hiding in her litter box at the shelter. As it turned out, this beautiful black cat bonded with me rather than my roommate.

When I had to move out (fiancé was attending graduate school across the country), roommate decided to get rid of Cleo because there was no bond.

I found a home for her, with a work friend's Aunt Kitty. Two weeks before my wedding, Aunt Kitty tried to return Cleo - I couldn't take her since I was moving the day after the wedding. I couldn't rehome her with family since they all had cats that were not cat friendly.

It broke my heart to refuse, and I still don't know what happened to Cleo.