Lost and found

time for a rant: so it's the first time this has happened to me. I rescue a cat from possible death and 4 days later I get a call from a person asking if I might have taken in their lost pet. I was very taken aback when I heard her description of her missing cat, as my heart sank, I realized the cat I rescued could in fact be her missing cat. In most circumstances, I would be jumping for joy at the opportunity to re-unite a missing pet with it's owner. However, this "owner" admitted that her cat (only a 4 or 5 month old kitten) is primarily an outdoor kitty, and he has never been to a vet.

So I tell her she would have to repay me for all his vet work, which was over $100 and to email me photos ASAP, and she says she can do it as soon as she gets off work at 9pm that evening. I hear nothing from her that night or the following day. I finally get an email from her 28 hours later, no photo, and asking if I can accept a payment plan....

So I waited 24 hours before I replied to her, seeking advice from other rescuers about how to best handle this ethical problem. See below for what I sent her

The story goes:

On Friday, August 7th at 9:39am I received a call about a found cat at Fisherman’s Cove. I made inquires with the SPCA and Bide Awhile to see if a cat matching that description had been reported as missing. I went to the Cove to see the cat and took photos at 11:13am, assessed his condition; he appeared to have been on the streets for months, as his coat was greasy and he was flea infested. He was full of bite wounds and injuries I promised to come back for him with a carrier. I made an appointment at my vet for the earliest time they had available, 1:20pm. He was tested for Feline Leukemia and FIV, then examined and treated for bite wounds, worms, fleas, and a host of problems due to his life outside. He had his paw and tail shaved to treat the bite wounds, and finally he was vaccinated. We took him home and set him up in a safe cage with food and litter. He was ravenously hungry. The following day, after waiting 24 hours for the Advantage flea treatment to settle in, we had to bathe him to get rid of the hundreds of dead fleas and all the flea dirt. The grooming took well over an hour, but he turned out to be a clean and happy kitten in the end.



I sent an email to the person with the following information:

This is a link to the Nova Scotia SPCA website for Lost and Found Pets. http://www.spcans.ca/community/lostAndFound.html Then a similar link to the Metro Shelter http://www.metro.spcans.ca/lostFound.html This is from Animal Control for HRM http://www.halifax.ca/animalcontrol/LostPets.html how to get your pet back, if reported within 72 hours http://www.halifax.ca/animalcontrol/FoundPets.html#HowDoIRetrieve

I am still awaiting a photo of your missing kitten, to confirm if he looks like the kitten we rescued.

Firstly, I would like to ask why it took you over 24 hours, from our initial phone conversation on Monday, August 10th at 7:06pm, until Tuesday at 10:57pm, to get in touch with me regarding your missing cat. I had asked that you email me current photos as soon as you got off work at 9pm that evening. I think I told you when you called that I was in the process of interviewing potential adopters for him! I was waiting to hear back from you, before I could introduce the cat to the lovely people who were interested.

Here is our stance on this issue: as you have previously stated, your kitten was living in conditions that are obviously dangerous for him. If, in fact they are the same cat, then your cat is not being kept in sanitary conditions. When we found the cat, he was filthy dirty, horribly flea and worm infested, full of bite wounds and injuries, and last but not least, he was starving.
So again, if in fact they are one and the same, and you truly care about your cat, wouldn’t you rather know that he is going to live a long, happy indoor life, with the best of care? When interviewing potential adopters, we ensure they are planning to spoil the cat and can afford to take him to the vet regularly.
Or would you rather see him back with you, where you cannot keep him inside, and see him disappear again before he reaches a year old. Or worse, to find him dead in the street, if he gets hit by a car on your very busy road.
The infections from his injuries alone could have caused his death within a matter of days or weeks. This cat was found at Fisherman’s cove, where certain individuals have been drowning and killing cats through other cruel methods. His only saving grace was that the man who reported him found said, “this one was too nice to drown”. The Cove also has a colony of feral cats who would have surely beaten the stray cat up and maybe killed him.

If you wanted the kitten back and could provide concrete proof that he is your kitten, you would first have to re-pay me for all his vet bills and boarding costs. He has been scheduled to be neutered next week, before I can release him to anyone, whether it is a previous owner or a new adopter. We cannot accept personal cheques or any type of payment plan.
If we believed that this was an accidental loss of a pet and it was going to be returned to a safe environment, we would return that pet (still needing to be compensated for the care).
The vet bill on Friday was for $111.23, which includes a combo test for Feline Leukemia and FIV, a fecal analysis ( which discovered roundworms) and a full set of vaccines; FVRCP + Leukemia and Rabies. We also paid for the following medications: Advantage $12, Milbemax $10, Clavamox $25 ( an antibiotic for his bite wound injuries). We paid $50 for professional grooming on Saturday, since his fur was badly matted and he had to have a bath to clean all the fleas and dirt from his fur. We follow the same policy as the SPCA and HRM Animal Services, and need to charge $25 a day for boarding costs.

The total we would have to be re-imbursed so far is $358.23, plus he must still be neutered, so that’s an extra $90 on top of that figure.

Please call or email me within the next 24 hours if you wish to discuss this further,


Sonya Higgins
Cat rescuer extraordinaire
469-MEOW

so what do you think? Will I ever hear back from this person? Will she try to make a bad name for our rescue and claim that her pet was "stolen" ? Will she even give a damn, now that she knows how much she is on the hook for financially? Will she browse Kijiji for another free kitten? Will she learn a lesson about keeping her pets inside? Will she bother to spay and neuter her other 8 year old cat or her dog?
Worse thought, will I end up taking more animals from this person if someone el;se finds them on the streets and surrenders them as strays?
Can't she be stopped? There are millions out there like her, who leave animals outside all day long and THINK IT'S OKAY - not in my books!