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 Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 9:46 pm
My neighbors have two cats, one of which is a beautiful and friendly Maine Coon mix. I was informed that since the owners had a baby, this particular cat refuses to stay in their house. Instead, he spends his days outside, visiting me a minimum of 5 times a day to be petted and fed (initially he stole chicken from our plates, so we decided to buy him cat food.) We ended up making him a bed out of blankets and a plastic box; he naps there several times a day.
Firstly, the cat is declawed, yet forced to spend entire days outside. His owners even left him outside during a thunderstorm this week, even after the he meowed to come inside their house. We had to shelter him for a little while (he was terrified), then dry his fur in the morning. Secondly, they haven't cleaned the cat or brushed his fur in weeks, maybe even months. Not only is it dirty, but it's also incredibly tangled, to the point where he might need to have it shaved. Clearly his owners don't care about him at all.
My family loves this cat. We all do. We're ready to have a pet, and despite my cat allergy, I've become immune to him over time. We've been thinking about going to see his owners to ask if we can adopt him. (If the cat won't stay inside, what will they do during the winter?) I'd like some advice on how to bring this up to them, since we haven't even introduced ourselves to the neighbors at all, and I don't want to come off as rude and ruin my chances of adopting my new best friend their cat.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:26 pm
I feel, that if they're neglecting the cat and have kicked it out since having their baby, they've given up their rights to him. I would just take the cat in so long as it's fine with your parents. Your neighbors will probably just assume he was hit by a car, when in fact he'll be living it up with your family.
Also, if his fur really is that matted, he'll be needing a visit to the vet/groomer to be shaved down. Coons need to be brushes at least once a week.
My neighbors adopted two of my family's cats. Neither of the cats wanted to be around dogs, and our neighbors love cats and have no dogs, so it worked out for everyone. Our neighbors are happy, the cats are happy, and I still get to love on the cats when they pop into our front yard for a visit.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:11 pm
This sounds like a real problem. I think you should just keep the cat like if it was your own. There are two things I would do if I were in your shoes.
1. Inform your neighbors as to who you are, be polite. Bring them a gift basket or something and congratulate them on the baby(If it's still pretty early on) then gradually bring up the cat with small talk. Tell them you've noticed it around and you'd be willing to take care of it at your home if they didn't have time for it. Say they could even visit once in awhile if they wanted to check up on it every now and then.
[Part two sort of ties into part one]
2. If you do not want to get involved with them(Or if they said no, OR they said yes but it got use to being an outdoor cat) you can make a small house outside for the cat(Like a dog house) and have a heated mat in it for cold days. You can also have food and water bowls out there for him. Since it's a Maine coon, you can't really having it burn in the sun in summer, I suggest a small pool if it doesn't mind water. (Mine doesn't XD)
As for the fur thing, take it to get shots then groomed if the owners don't mind. The poor thing probably looks a mess. :c
Edit: I am now noticing this was posted a long time ago. XD
How did things turn out?
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