Conference misery::feline_v1

    I took in a supposed stray GSD (he was just lost)....the Northboro
    dog officer said they keep the animals for 10 days and then who ever
    adopts them, after the 10 days, owns them.
                 

    I find it odd that the vet wouldn't spay the cat.  I am constantly
    taking in stray animals for neutering and spaying and my vet, and
    other vets haven't ever raised a question about what right I had
    to decide to spay or neuter these cats.  Maybe my vets are all on
    the same wavelength as I am, that being that the only way to prevent
    future outdoor stray animals is to spay and neuter the ones that
    I can catch.
    
    Basically, if the cat was an outside stray and your friend has been
    providing room and board for it, and no owner has been found, then
    I think the vet that refused to spay should have his head examined.
    Unless he has suspicions about who the cat may belong too.  There
    are lots of vets around.  Your friend could take the cat to another
    vet and have the spay performed.  
    
    From everything that I learned during my "get Magda back" crusade,
    my state doesn't recognize cats as individual property, so, the
    vet in question wouldn't have an argument in this state.
    
    Jo

    
    	I had a friend who had a cat "wander in" and it stayed.
    	It was a very pretty unspayed, young female. She spent
    	quite some time at my friend's house and so my friend
    	(having fed the cat for a couple months) decided to take
    	her to the vet and get her all squared away. She got the
    	cat shots and had her spayed (the vet guessed she was at
    	the correct age for spaying).  Shortly thereafter, my
    	friend had some irate folks show up on her doorstep about
    	this cat. Apparently the cat was living "a double life" and
    	had been eating at BOTH houses (down the street from one another)
    	and these people figured the cat was theirs!  Boy were they
    	ever STEAMED about the spay and the shots???  arrrgh...
    	
    							kim and
    				Catnip (who lives real close to home)

    It is funny how some people can take offense at doing something
    good for the cat (i.e. spaying and vaccinating mentioned in the
    previous note).  
    
    I have attached collars with notes on them asking if anyone owns
    the cat in question, and I have also kept the cat inside for a day
    or two while I put an ad in the paper.  Most cases, the cat truly
    is a stray.  And, if the cat is not neutered/spayed, I will take
    care of that.  The way I see it, letting an un"fixed" cat outside
    is irresponsible and they can scream at me for taking care of that
    until they are blue in the face if they want to.
    
    If people let their cats outside, they better be prepared to identify
    the cat in some way (on the cat's body) or they run the risk of
    having someone think it is a stray.  If the cat doesn't have ID,
    and keeps coming around, what are people to think.
    
    I have been on the other side of this, quite a few years ago, I
    had indoor/outdoor cats and one of my neighbors adopted one of my
    cats.  There was nothing I could do about it.  It hurt to lose her,
    but they gave her an indoor only home, which I couldn't do at the
    time.  
    
    There are no easy answers to this, but I go through the ad in the
    paper routine, ask all the neighbors if they know if the cat belongs
    to someone.  Also, ask the kids in the neighborhood, they know
    everything! ;^)
    
    Jo

    I put a collar and id tag on Little Bit for a week or two
    before I took him off to the vet to be altered.  Anyone complaining
    after that would have to explain why they never called the
    phone number on the collar.
    

If the cat was taken to a vet and identified as 

 "stray - but I want it neutered"    

the vet in question may have had legitimate concerns of who was going to
pay and how much after-surgery care the cat would get.  That is the only
reason I can imagine a vet refusing to spay a cat - that he/she has been
stiffed for treatment in the past, or that the cat might be set outside
with fresh surgical cuts and face infection/death from lack of care.  Of
course, I'm overlooking the possibility the vet has been threatened with
a lawsuit over something like this in the past....people sue for anything
now adays.

I would suggest your friend take the cat to a vet and simply tell him/her
that the cat is a new adoptee (saying it firmly will allow the vet to
assume whatever he/she want to assume regarding how your friend got the
cat - gift or rescue) and that the cat needs the testing for FLV,
shots and spaying....end of discussion.  The vet probably will simply
treat the cat, present the bill, and upon payment, hand over
the spayed, tested, vaccinated cat - no problem...no discussion. 

We sometimes bring on our own problems by explaining too much when it isn't
really necessary.   8^}