My ignorant room mate and his cats...

[Roxydog]

It all began before he moved in as my room mate. He found a stray female cat and kept her. It wasnt long before she was pregnant and had her 1st litter at less than a year old. He moved in when the kittens were still new babies... For some reason he decided to keep one of her babies, a male :rolleyes: Neither of them had been fixed and it wasnt long before a second litter was due. This time the father was the mommas own son. The momma cat is a terrible mother. She doesnt clean her babies and the first litter 2 died, the second...2 suvived. I was crying and worried and shocked that he wasnt taking her to the vet with the second litter cos she was in bad shape and she just left the babies to die still in ther sacs, umbilical cords wound together so the babies were tied together. It was tragic. Still after all of that he REFUSED to get his cats fixed. His argument...It would turn the male into a wimp :rolleyes: and the female would change her personality. Take into consideration that the momma cat is WILD! She is scared of people and runs away if you get within a few feet of her. She is a bad house pet as she destroys everything. She was found as a ferral cat and she will always be a ferral cat at least in her personality. This cat could USE a personality change. I was sick of the male getting into fights, coming home beat up, limping and then hollering at the door to go back outside. One day I came home and my room reeked! The male had sprayed the wall and my bed. That was it! I finally dug in, saved MY money and made appointments to get the cats fixed. I brought in the male. Everything was seamless except of course roomie was PISSED! The female however was pregnant AGAIN by the time her appt. was scheduled and besides that, I couldnt even think of catching her. Now today 2 weeks later. You guessed it...another litter is born. The house I'm in is fairly old and the basement is not entirely finished. In the laundry area there is a place where momma cat can get up into the space between the basement ceiling and the upstairs floor. She had been spending a lot of time in there hiding from people and I just had a feeling that was the place where the babies would be born. In a dark, dirty place where we cant see them or reach them. I tried to get roomie to help me seal off the space cos I couldnt reach it or do it all by myself. He is one of the laziest people I have ever encountered and he refused and told me that he didnt think she would go up there to deliver. I got in the shower this morning and from the bathroom floor I could hear the babies crying. I was crushed! I have tried to wake roomie several times and told him what happened and here it is, 1:30 in the afternoon and he is still in bed and has not even looked at his cat. I dont know what to do. I cant reach the cat and now the babies are all silent and I fear the worst. Not to mention that I dread the smell that is bound to happen here in a day or so. I'm sooo sorry this is such a novel but I needed to vent and I don't know what to do. People like him should not be allowed to have animals. Needless to say he also has a daughter somewhere whom he never sees. People like him put such a sour taste in my mouth.

 

[rockydog]

Maybe you should find a new roommate.

 

[Roxydog]

I'm moving out on Saturday. Him and a couple others have re- signed the lease here and will be staying. I couldnt put up with him anymore. I just feel so bad. And I feel so guilty about the cat. She's not mine but I feel somehow responsibe because I live here. I dont know what to do. I'm nearly in tears. I should have worked harder to catch her...get her fixed, seal the crawl space, something. It's too late now and I'm crushed with sadness for her and her babies and the guilt is terrible right now. I just needed to vent.

 

[harley03]

I feel really sorry for what you have had to put up with.
And believe me I know how it feels. Our upstairs neigbours have an unspayed female shepard mix who is left to roam the city. Male dogs have been comming around our home and I feel pretty helpless. Other than complaining there is not much I can do.
Luckily due to other circumstances I think they will be forced to leave anyway (I seriously think the family is not all there if you know what I mean).

At least you get to move out and you fixed his male which in the long run will help the female cat.

 

[WYearta]

Perhaps you could set up some sort of trap and catch her and then take her to a shelter. I know that isn't always a great place to take an animal, but it would be better than this poor cat being pregnant/not pregnant/pregnant...

I, too, rescued a ferrell cat from a community dumpster site and she has become a very loving and affectionate cat-she's still not too sure about strangers, but once you've been around her for a while she rubs and purrs just like any other cat would. I think this cat is so wild b/c no one has tried to tame her. If your roommate is too lazy to be concerned about this poor animal, he doesn't deserve her.

Good luck and I'm sorry you are in such a hard situation.

Whitney

 

[Evie&Adam]

Sorry to read about those cats. I live in an area of SLC with lots of fields, so we see lots of stray/dumped cats. My daughter has this habit of "they just followed me home."!!! So, I have to take them to the humane society (an expensive habit by the way!) I can only hope that the H.S. is able to adopt them.

P.S. I love Roxy in her spike collar!!! I dressed both my furbabies up as Harley Davidson pups for halloween. I will have to upload those pics soon.

 

[Faughtey]

Over at my sisters, a stray cat had kittens under her house. She managed to tame the kittens and get them used to being handled. She gave one to me (Shawnee) because I needed a barn cat. She is getting her shots this weekend, and will be spayed a week or two later. It's too bad you can't catch your roomates cat. Anything would be better than having litter after litter of kittens. Is it possible the reason some of the kittens died is because mom and dad were related? I have heard of female dogs rejecting puppies because there was something wrong with them (the puppies). Anyway, I'm happy you are moving away from your roomate.

 

[ariane]

that's a shame, is there any way to get into the space where the kittens were born? i know you mentioned you can't reach but perhaps there is a section of wall you could remove or something? i guess you wouldn't be able to do that if you're renting....

 

[Cindy Creel]

I would try to catch her a take her to the vet to be spayed. You could return her to the roomate. He probably would not even realize that she had been spayed. Or you could spay her and keep her at your new place. She may respond to a little love and affection. The roommate did not seem to have time for her.

 

[Roxydog]

Well heres an update on the babies... while I was at work, roomie and my BF rescued the kittens. They had to cut a small section of the basement ceiling out to be able to reach in and get the babies. there are 4 of them, and all are alive as of now but 2 look pretty close to the edge. momma cat true to form didnt take care of the babies just like last time and all of their umbilical cords and placentas were tangled together very tight and all were connected at their bellies. We have cut their cords and cleaned them off. One of the kittens looks like its leg is a bit deformed and another looks like is got an umbilical hernia :( Momma is taking care to nurse them right now but the two aren't very active. I hope they will be okay. I dont know what will become of momma cat and her babies after I move out but I hope it will all turn out okay. I am going to leave brochures around the house when I move detailing the reasons to spay and neuter.