How stupid can cat owners be? As anyone who has worked in rescue will tell you – very. There really is no limit. What makes things even more frustrating for people working in rescue is that there’s just no telling some cat owners, because they are simply too stupid to process simple information!
The festive season and beyond is usually the ‘silly’ season in cat rescue. Friends took a call sometime between Christmas and New Year from an Edinburgh couple who wanted rid of their cat of five years the very same same day.
The reason? They’d bought a puppy. Not knowing (or caring) how to introduce the two pets they’d simply places the cat infront of the bouncy puppy and got themselves scratched. The result, they were now terrified of the cat and wanted it removed from the house with immediate effect. These people were too thick and terrified to take any information in. However it’s the type of situation that is all too common among certain classes of people who won’t think twice about ‘sacrificing’ their pet cat or kitten when things don’t go according to plan. Or take the next thicko who wishes to rehome her cat because it has fleas (really).
At this time of year cat rescues in the UK and US are stealing themselves for calls from owners who find themselves with an unwanted kitten or two. Usually the calls start around the third week of January. The phone never fails to ring.
A high proportion of people who will be calling will have acquired a cat or kitten from Gumtree (or a similar source) and find that it’s too much work or that junior has lost interest or the new arrival doesn’t get on with existing pets. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Whilst rescues will attempt to vet new kitten owners and will do home checks, those selling kittens in the free ads don’t care. Indirectly these sellers simply contribute to the post Christmas glut of cats and kittens looking for new homes. They will sell kittens to anyone. Just another argument to make it harder for people to buy or adopt kittens.
Unwanted Christman kittens usually come into rescue exhibiting signs of a lack of handling and stress. People never seem to learn that young children and kittens don’t mix. Each year rescues face the same uphill struggle. There’s no ‘cat sense’ test for prospective cat and kitten owners but there probably should be.
