Should I neuter? It's not my cat!

lubie76

The story is there is a youngish ginger tom in my estate. I know he belonged to a Polish family as I was speaking to one of the kids in the family a few months ago. He has started to hang around my garden and wall all the time which is really upsetting one of my cats (a neutered male) who starts throwing himself at the window to get out and if he is already outside when he turns up has serious fights with him with both of them getting badly injured.

He is a friendly little fella and will come up for a rub though I try not to encourage this out of fear he will hang around even more.

The problem is they haven't bothered to neuter him although he is probably over a year old at this stage. I was going to have a word with the kid or the parents but I haven't seen him around and someone was telling me a few Polish families have moved back home so I am really hoping they haven't left him here to fend for himself :mad:

I was thinking of getting him neutered myself but am having a bit of a crisis of conscience. Is it fair to neuter someone elses cat without asking them (even though I know the job has to be done). Also if they have gone and left him I unfortunately can't take him in and there is no active SPCA or animal shelters here in Sligo. I feel so bad for the wee mite!

mary123

Poor little thing. good on u for trying to look out for him. If it was me i would try and find where the family live and see if they are still there. If so, have a word with them and hopefully they will get him done.
If u cant find family i would def take him and get him done, then i would try and find him a home as god knows what will happen to him, other cats, dogs , hallowean coming up.
Oh by the way if family still there and wont get him done i would go ahead and get him nurererd, the chances r they wont even know.

kerrysgold

yes definetly get him neutered. nevermind the family, you have to think of the little cat who obviously has nobody who cares about him except for you. if you neuter him you'll reduce his risk of being injured/killed by fighting with other toms or wandering even further away in search of a mate which could result in him being killed. you'll also obviously stop him from getting any unspayed females pregnant which could result in a litter of kittens being drowned or worse if he got a female pregnant that belonged to somebody cruel, or if he got a feral cat pregnant, that would be another 6 or so kittens destined for a miserable life.

so yes please do get him neutered and vaccinated as well if possible. as he is a stray sort of maybe the vet will do it at a discounted price, no harm in asking anyway.

Best of luck and congrats for looking out for the little fella.

charlesD

I think it is great that you are taking care of this cat and thinking about neutering him. Personally I would make every effort possible to find the family and explain the situation to them.

I can not imagine letting one of my animals run around in that condition and think it reflects poorly on the original owners. However with that said, I would be very upset if someone took one of my animals and preformed a, potentially deadly, non-emergency surgery on them without my knowledge.

Cats like to wander around a little bit, so it is possible that it is being cared for by another family and I would ask around and see if you can find the owner. If after making a dedicated attempt at finding the owners, I would go ahead and neuter him.

EGAR

I am sorry but I don't agree. Unless you are absolutely sure that he doesn't belong to anyone, I would not go next or near him. If you can find out if the family is still there then go and ask if he can be neutered and offer your help. If the animals dies during the OP (which is known to happen) and he does have owners, then what? Also, who is going to do the aftercare? It isn't as easy as letting him go as soon as he comes back from the vet..

miss no stars

No. Don't.

It's not your place. Do everything you can to talk to the family but don't get the cat neutered. It's their cat, not yours. Think of the whole world of trouble you'd be in if they decided to report you for acting against their wishes.

The Sweeper

It would be a different story if he was underweight, diseased, or showing obvious signs of mistreatment. Then you could either call a local animal welfare officer, or deliver him to a local shelter and be clear in the knowledge that you were saving him from a worse fate.

As it is though, unfortunately if he is fit and healthy in all other ways it's not up to you to make a call about him being neutered. I do agree you should go and talk to the family though and see if you can establish if he is well cared for.

Themadhouse

They prob wont even notice and if they do well then they should have cared enough in the first place to do it! I think you are within your rights once he is on your property!

KTRIC

OP, you have absolutely no right to touch that cat without the owners permission.

ruben

Yes, absolutely I would have him neutered.

If he is out and about on his own like that, then in the eyes of the law no one owns him.

It is far better to put him through "potentially deadly, non-emergency surgery" than to allow him to impregnate at will and possibly contract potentially deadly diseases.

I would be much more concerned about the welfare of the cat than the perhaps hurt feelings/ire of his very remiss so called owners.

mary123

EGAR wrote: »

It isn't as easy as letting him go as soon as he comes back from the vet..

T.N.R????

EGAR

What about TNR? Cats like any other post OP animals need aftercare, infection control, stitches need to be pulled etc pp. All my TNR cats stayed with me or the vet until it was medically safe to release them back to where they came from. Just because they are feral doesn't mean they don't deserve the same treatment as cats with an owner.

stevoman

this forum has hit a new low. Now we have people considering taking other peoples pets and neutering and other people encouraging them to do it. ridiculous.Thread reported.

Hellrazer

stevoman wrote: »

this forum has hit a new low. Now we have people considering taking other peoples pets and neutering and other people encouraging them to do it. ridiculous.Thread reported.

Agreed Stevoman.This is an absolutely disgraceful thread.


Thanks for reporting this.

Thread locked.