Be very careful. You CANNOT make them pay, buth they CAN demand the cat back.
You've got to feel them out and say that you don't have the cat if you can tell
you don't want it going back to them.
Tell them it looked sick and you took it to the vet and spent money. See
what they say. If they balk and are not grateful and willing to pay, etc....
tell them you just let the cat go because you knew it belonged to someone and
it RAN AWAY. Do not tell them you have this cat in your possession unless you
are prepared to give it back no matter what kind of jerks they might turn out
to be.
tonya
wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Great point on asking for payment of the vet bill!!! If someone returned my
lost and injured cat, I'd be so grateful they took her to the vet, I'd kill
myself trying to pay them back, with interest.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change
the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade
~~~
----- Original Message ----
From: Melissa Lind <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 8:36:35 AM
Subject: RE: Update on Malnourished, Rescue cat
Caroline,
I think its great what you are doing! Im very happy that your mom is
getting on board with it! I know my family admires (even though they may not
understand) my compassion for animals, but getting them to help, even
reluctantly, is something I havent been able to do as of late. Good for you!
As for the owner-issue, with my rescued cats back in April, I advertised them
as found cats (without description), and stated that the owners must describe
the cat and pay the vet bill. I thought that if they really loved their kitty
that they would do anything to get it backno matter the cost. And if they
couldnt afford it, then they would at least try their hardest to convince me
that they deserved the kitty back even if they couldnt pay. I did not think
this was out of line at all, and of course, as my husband predicted, no one
came forward to claim the kitties. I knew that one was a stray (lived out of a
dumpster) and the other might have been a back-door feeder but was severely
neglected.
If I understand correctly (Ive been reading stories very quickly), you have
the contact info of the owners? I would get kitty all fixed up nicethen let
them know the bill. If they love kitty, theyll pay (or at least try).
Im very happy for you guysespecially at your abilities to get lowered vet
billsway to go!!!
Melissa
---------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Caroline
Kaufmann
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 3:29 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: OT: Update on Malnourished, Rescue cat
My mom took the cat we rescued Sat. to her regular vet today. I
couldn't get a hold of my Shamrock contact (she lost her cell phone in the
bushes somewhere crawling around doing a kitten rescue- typical- this explains
why I couldn't get a hold of her!). My mom was just really frustrated and felt
she couldn't wait on Shamrock or anyone of those groups to help us get the cat
into a vet that would treat her half price/discounted. She wanted to make sure
we were dealing only with malnutrition and an upper respiratory infection. She
ended up seeing a relief vet and my mom says she spent the first 15 mins
arguing with the vet over what the cat needed, what they were/weren't going to
do to her, and finding the owner. The vet pressured my mom into calling the
vet number listed on the rabies tag AGAIN- even though we never heard from him
and know that he has other clinics that are open in Louisville- well, when she
called, she got a live person! That person looked up
the rabies tag and gave my mom the "owner" information, so we have that now.
The cat's "name" is "Nosey"...I mean..., I don't know....your alls' guesses are
as good as mine...that's all I will say about that.
My mom bargained down the vet and since she now had the owner info, I guess
the dr. let her off the hook as far as not doing EVERYTHING that a vet would
usually do with a rescued cat. They did a fecal and surprisingly, she doesn't
have worms. Although, she could still have tape worms since I found a live
flea on her- but we are going to wait on that. I can always get a tapeworm
pill from Shamrock if I need to. She weighs 5 lbs, 5 ounces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I told you she was malnourished!!!!! The vet had trouble aging her and
guessed 5 years. I think she's a little off there-- she has tarter on her
teeth, but not tons and she has no grey tarter- just the yellow, so I think
she's younger than 5, but over 2 years. I think the vet's being thrown off by
the malnourishment.
She sneezed for the vet, so she's putting her on oral clavamox.
Surprisingly, the vet said everything we've been doing for her is right and
then some...we wrote out a list that included everything- the colostrum, food,
etc., which my mom handed to the vet when she walked in. So I guess we know
more of what we are doing than we thought. AND my usually reluctant to do
"rescues" mother has even said that she is "willing to do more of this" as long
as she has the resources set up ahead of time- meaning, ready access to a vet,
if vet care is needed, that will treat a rescue cat for a discount! She got
out of there with a $59 bill.
As for calling the owner, we are in no rush. My mom still has major
concerns based on how tight the collar was on the cat- so tight it rubbed the
fur off, if she was supposed to be an outside cat or indoor/outdoor cat- why
isn't she micro chipped, and she did end up a long way from home, etc. I'm
probably going to call them and feel them out before I release too much info.
What I DON'T want to happen is to have a reluctant owner lie to us and say
yeah, we want her back, and then just surrender her to Animal Control after we
turn her over, or just let her back out in this heat, etc. I am not going to
have done all this work on this cat for NOTHING!
The cat is back home at my mom's, no doubt loving the a/c. She's happy and
I am sure she's gained an couple ounces since Sat. already.
-Caroline
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