Advice needed on sticking my nose in
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 11:53 pm
Hey guys.
I was hoping for a little advice on something that has been gnawing at me for a few weeks.
To explain:
My sister lives with two roommates. One decided to get a 4 month old kitten about 6 months ago without asking anyone, at much annoyance to my sister and other roommate. I knew at the time there were going to be problems from the conversations I had with my sister over skype. None of them were at home a lot and she was worried the cat was either going to end up neglected and forgotten, or her responsibility, which she can't afford because her job takes her all over the country, sometimes at short notice. She made the decision that because she had no say in getting the cat, and once they had it she had voiced strong objections to it being in the house that she wasn't going to be forced into looking after it and paying for it. She has kept her word, as hard as it has been for her.
Fast forward to now. I get regular calls from my family anyway and most now are about the roommate and the problems surrounding the cat. To clarify, it is a long haired Persian pedigree and is lacking in a few braincells, but is incredibly sweet. Roommate got her for free from a parents friend because she wasn't "worth selling" as the rest of the family are short haired and go for about a grand each. She lives indoors because she would not cope outside.
I'll list the problems below and if anyone can give advice I'd appreciate it.
The cat doesn't clean herself. She regularly has a terribly dirty face from eating and drinking and gummy eyes that need to be cleaned. She also smells terrible from not keeping her coat clean. The breeder recommended that roommate clean her eyes and face every day but she doesn't, so it's left to others.
Because she doesn't clean herself she sheds fur everywhere. Roommate doesn't brush her at all. My sister has asthma and has had to bar the cat from her bedroom to stop asthma attacks.
Roommate doesn't clean the cat's tray out. Sometimes many weeks pass before her tray is emptied.
My sister feeds and waters the cat out of pure humane decency when roommate forgets but has promised herself not to get involved any further.
The biggest heart-wrenching problem: The cat is terribly lonely and bored. My sister fusses her a bit when shes home but the cat is left on her own a lot and this is showing some really bad side effects. EG:
She's been pooing in her water tray for attention. She's also been pooing in the bath once it's been cleaned for the same. (When her tray is full she also poos and wees in the bathroom anywhere she pleases. )
Now I want to say, this is the sweetest cat I have ever seen in my life, and does not deserve mistreatment. The minute anyone sits down in the living room she is there on your lap waiting for attention. I have had many skype calls with my sister where the cat is on her shoulder or lap purring loud enough for the mic to pick it up. She just loves company. But she doesn't get anywhere near enough.
My sister has also proven that the cat just lets anyone do just about anything with her. She has been a prop "shotgun" and "Siiiiiimba" and even sported a little easter bunny hat on video for me. All the while purring away like a blender. She's the most docile cat you can imagine.
Now in an ideal world I would get the cat a passport and bring her here to Spain and look after her myself. But sadly this is not an ideal world as transporting a cat is very expensive (I looked it up, it's extortionate) and my other cat Sofi HATES other pets. Not to mention the stress it would cause to Luna (the other cat).
I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can give on this matter. I would also appreciate it if you didn't bad mouth my sister on this. She is an intelligent person and knows that if she helps out with something she didn't want in the first place from this roommate, she'd be landed with the problem permanently, which is why she has tried to detach herself from the issue as much as possible.
Thanks all, perhaps you can tell me if I just need to put this aside in my mind or do something more pro-active about it.
I was hoping for a little advice on something that has been gnawing at me for a few weeks.
To explain:
My sister lives with two roommates. One decided to get a 4 month old kitten about 6 months ago without asking anyone, at much annoyance to my sister and other roommate. I knew at the time there were going to be problems from the conversations I had with my sister over skype. None of them were at home a lot and she was worried the cat was either going to end up neglected and forgotten, or her responsibility, which she can't afford because her job takes her all over the country, sometimes at short notice. She made the decision that because she had no say in getting the cat, and once they had it she had voiced strong objections to it being in the house that she wasn't going to be forced into looking after it and paying for it. She has kept her word, as hard as it has been for her.
Fast forward to now. I get regular calls from my family anyway and most now are about the roommate and the problems surrounding the cat. To clarify, it is a long haired Persian pedigree and is lacking in a few braincells, but is incredibly sweet. Roommate got her for free from a parents friend because she wasn't "worth selling" as the rest of the family are short haired and go for about a grand each. She lives indoors because she would not cope outside.
I'll list the problems below and if anyone can give advice I'd appreciate it.
The cat doesn't clean herself. She regularly has a terribly dirty face from eating and drinking and gummy eyes that need to be cleaned. She also smells terrible from not keeping her coat clean. The breeder recommended that roommate clean her eyes and face every day but she doesn't, so it's left to others.
Because she doesn't clean herself she sheds fur everywhere. Roommate doesn't brush her at all. My sister has asthma and has had to bar the cat from her bedroom to stop asthma attacks.
Roommate doesn't clean the cat's tray out. Sometimes many weeks pass before her tray is emptied.
My sister feeds and waters the cat out of pure humane decency when roommate forgets but has promised herself not to get involved any further.
The biggest heart-wrenching problem: The cat is terribly lonely and bored. My sister fusses her a bit when shes home but the cat is left on her own a lot and this is showing some really bad side effects. EG:
She's been pooing in her water tray for attention. She's also been pooing in the bath once it's been cleaned for the same. (When her tray is full she also poos and wees in the bathroom anywhere she pleases. )
Now I want to say, this is the sweetest cat I have ever seen in my life, and does not deserve mistreatment. The minute anyone sits down in the living room she is there on your lap waiting for attention. I have had many skype calls with my sister where the cat is on her shoulder or lap purring loud enough for the mic to pick it up. She just loves company. But she doesn't get anywhere near enough.
My sister has also proven that the cat just lets anyone do just about anything with her. She has been a prop "shotgun" and "Siiiiiimba" and even sported a little easter bunny hat on video for me. All the while purring away like a blender. She's the most docile cat you can imagine.
Now in an ideal world I would get the cat a passport and bring her here to Spain and look after her myself. But sadly this is not an ideal world as transporting a cat is very expensive (I looked it up, it's extortionate) and my other cat Sofi HATES other pets. Not to mention the stress it would cause to Luna (the other cat).
I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can give on this matter. I would also appreciate it if you didn't bad mouth my sister on this. She is an intelligent person and knows that if she helps out with something she didn't want in the first place from this roommate, she'd be landed with the problem permanently, which is why she has tried to detach herself from the issue as much as possible.
Thanks all, perhaps you can tell me if I just need to put this aside in my mind or do something more pro-active about it.