need advice about unwanted kitty :(

[SnowyShiloh]

Ooooh I am MAD!! Just got an e-mail from my dad saying his cat is spraying the curtains in the dining room and his wife won't allow her in the house anymore and they're taking her to the animal shelter if they can't find a new home for her in the next couple of days. This is a cat that my dad paid $1,000 for as a kitten 8 YEARS ago! Oh, I'm SO mad. His wife has always hated Zoe and just wants to get rid of her. I e-mailed him back and begged him not to abandon her at the shelter and to at least find a Bengal rescue instead of ditching her at the shelter.

If we could, my husband and I would adopt her, but we live 3500 miles away, live in an apartment that doesn't allow cats, and most of all Zoe is an excellent hunter and would try to kill our birds and bunnies. She even used to stalk and attack their Sheltie puppy when he was little and he was a lot bigger than a bunny. If we lived in our own house, I would fly Zoe up here in a heartbeat and work something out but we just can't. I even thought about flying her up here and having her be an outdoor cat (not ideal but better than her being euthanized) but come on, we live in Fairbanks! It gets 40 below 0 here in the winter and she'd literally freeze to death.

What can I do?? Does anyone have ideas? They are adamantly opposed to keeping her now. Won't take her to the vet to find out if health problems are causing it, won't go to a cat forum to ask for help, nothing. They just want poor Zoe gone

One thing's for sure, I like his wife even less now and my personal opinion of my father has gone down too.

I made a thread about Zoe spraying several months ago, she stopped doing it and they decided to keep her but it's different now. Here was the original thread: http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=66134&forum_id=5

 

[TinysMom]

Bengal Cat Rescues

Oh wow - I love bengals - we wanted an Ocicat for a while - never did get one - but I love the looks and personalities of the ocicats and bengals.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Peg, I just e-mailed that list to my dad! Thanks! Zoe is such a pretty girl- she's a marbleized Bengal. Very lovely and a very nice cat.

I actually e-mailed a cat rescue here in Fairbanks to ask if a cat could survive in winter here if we put a litter box and space heater in our unheated entryway and kept her in there when it's really cold and let her out to run around the rest of the time. We would feed her too, obviously, but she would have to be an outdoor cat other than coming in the entryway. Dad says Zoe loves being outside and prefers that to being inside. I don't know why they can't just keep her as an outdoor cat but they won't do it!

 

[mmfh]

Would the breeder take her back?

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[SnowyShiloh]

MMFH, that's a good question. I'm going to ask my dad. I seem to recall that the breeder was having some serious mental health problems at the time and desperate for money and was about to close up shop and my dad picked that breeder just to help her out.

Also a friend of mine or her boyfriend are possibly interested in Zoe if my dad can't find her a home in Louisiana.

 

[BrittanyandFruFru]

We live in Kentucky and temps can be quite cold here and we have an outdoor cat who just refuses to come inside for warmth so we provide her with a box and blanket but most of the time she gets in the garage and stays warm in the rafters. For years we were so distressed about her refusing to stay inside we even asked our vet and he said "cats are very good at keeping themselves warm." But I think the poor kitty would do better with your family even if it is a bit cold, then in some shelter. maybe introduce him to the bunnies my cat and rabbit get along great even if he does attack smaller animals, or has your dad considered neutering to stop some bad behavior?
Good Luck.
-Brit and Fru

 

[SnowyShiloh]

A bit of a kitty update. My dad is keeping her outside for now. He's feeding her and setting out water and he put her kitty bed out there. He says she sleeps in her kitty bed every night. I'm glad they're still taking care of her but it makes me really sad to think of poor Zoe sleeping in her cat bed out there! He said she seems quite happy and at least it isn't cold in Louisiana.

He's going to try just keeping her outside and then rehome her if it doesn't go well.

 

[jeanluc_pippen_merry]

Poor Zoe, i really hope everything works out for her. Poor little kitty.:hug2:

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Just thought I'd update! My dad kept Zoe after all but now she's an outdoor cat. They live in Louisiana so it doesn't get very cold. He bought some kind of heated bed for her so she has somewhere cozy to curl up if she wants, and he feeds her every day. Apparently there's a gigantic stray black cat in the neighborhood that he's now feeding too. He puts out two bowls and everything! Dad stupidly had poor Zoe declawed- far from ideal for an outdoor cat- but the big black cat is her buddy and protects her.

So not the happiest update one could hope for, but it could be worse, right?

 

[MiniLopHop]

Did your dad ever take the cat to be checked out to make sure there weren't any health problems?

I have a friend that lives in LA and loves cats. If he still wants to get rid of her I can check into that possibility.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Brandy, unfortunately, he did not. I told him that he needed to but I can't make him do anything and I can't just nab her out of the yard and take her in myself since we live thousands of miles away.