Ye old skeleton in the closet has awakened...
BirdInFlight
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02 Sep 2014, 3:57 pm
So a family member did tell you that the cat was never let out of the room even when they were not out of town? Because I can see maybe them going away for a weekend, and wanting the cat -- who may be an indoor cat to begin with -- to be kept in the room and fed just for those couple of days. Then when the family comes home, the cat has the run of the house again. I and my husband had to leave our cats with several litter boxes, and we got one neighbor and one other friend to both have keys, feed the cats daily, make sure they're okay, but don't bother with the litter boxes as we were going to deal with it when we got back -- we put fully eight pans of litter there and when we got home everything was fine, they weren't even all used/messed.
The cats were fine, and they were "locked" in our smallish apartment and had daily visitors to feed them. But if you say that even when the family were home the cat never left that room, then that's more like abuse. However, was there a health reason? Was it just for the weekend away? How do you know someone didn't regularly visit the cat or bring him or her out occasionally, or change the litter box?
The thing is, on very scant knowledge, you can't jump to the conclusion that abuse is happening, as that's a serious charge. For all you know the cat may have had an illness that needed it quarantined or sequestered for a while. Unless you have the full facts you don't really know what was going on.
Sweetleaf
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02 Sep 2014, 4:24 pm
The cats were fine, and they were "locked" in our smallish apartment and had daily visitors to feed them. But if you say that even when the family were home the cat never left that room, then that's more like abuse. However, was there a health reason? Was it just for the weekend away? How do you know someone didn't regularly visit the cat or bring him or her out occasionally, or change the litter box?
The thing is, on very scant knowledge, you can't jump to the conclusion that abuse is happening, as that's a serious charge. For all you know the cat may have had an illness that needed it quarantined or sequestered for a while. Unless you have the full facts you don't really know what was going on.
It was always in there when they where there to...also judging by the smell of the room, litter boxes or piss/poop was not cleaned and cat was being neglected in there my mom gave the cat the food and mentioned there where a lot of empty cans of food just scattered about admittidly did not keep the door open too long due to the smell hence why i don't know if there where litter boxes or just crap all over the floor and walls....had kinda ratty fur the few times I saw him/her in the window of the room from outside. If the cat had to be kept away for health reasons giving it up would have made more sense, or if it had some bad contagious disease effecting it then maybe putting the cat down.
I am sure the only health risk in relation to the cat was the toxins from the pee and poop, though I am sure for the cat suffered much more health risks/problems from that then the family not stuck in that room. They where not quarantining it and if it was that bad I'd think the'd need to take it to a vet who could quarantine them in a clean environment.
It's not scant knowledge I knew what was going on and saw it...I just don't have any photo proof or anything like that with which I could use to prove it in the legal sense.
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Sweetleaf
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02 Sep 2014, 5:12 pm
You should move on from this....and be VIGILANT if you ever see animal cruelty again.
Yeah, I just really had not thought about it till shortly before I posted this and somehow it came to mind, and I was already in kind of a grumpy mood last night/early morning didn't get to sleep till 6 and then slept till around 11, but didn't get up for a while after that....so did not take that memory well.
If I see any for sure animal/abuse neglect again I will report it...but of course I would be careful since people who abuse animals might not be so kind to people trying to interfere either.
And something sort of funny but sad is I brought a cactus I had for a while to my college dorm my first year and on break had to leave it....and I should have put it upstairs in the large window/wall but left it in my room and shades had to be at least down because of some policy but they are the blinder ones so I left them open some to try and let enough sunlight in till I got back and could open them all the way....but it died anyways. I still sometimes feel bad about that even. I even named it.
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BirdInFlight
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02 Sep 2014, 5:29 pm
Okay, well the information you've given now clarifies things more, and it does sound like an ongoing situation of neglect going by that further description
There are some reasons why a cat may be briefly segregated to ideally a clean room with clean litter etc, without neglect being involved, and reasons for it to be ill and under treatment without just "putting it down" -- it may be in the middle of treatment, it may need rest and calm, it may need to be kept away from the other pets in that household while the owners are not there to supervise all the animal's behavior. If the dog in the house regularly chased or harassed the cat when not supervised, I can totally see having to keep the cat separate while the owners are out of town, for example.
But if this was all the time, the smell was bad, the coat was unhealthy, it looks more like what you thought it was -- I just wanted to clarify as there wasn't that much information and everyone on the thread was getting hysterical without full facts.
However, kraftiekortie is right, it was a long time ago and you might be better off trying to move on from this.
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