Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is it cruel to leave cat unattended for 14 days?

86 replies

VinoEsmeralda · 28/08/2014 14:04

Neighbors gone on holiday and left their 8 month cat alone. Not seen anybody to come and feed it.

I think this is cruel ( same people think it is acceptable to let kids jump on trampoline with rabbit on it)!

AIBU?

OP posts:
Lweji · 28/08/2014 15:14

And it could be on an automated feeder.

Do you ever see the cat out?

Leela5 · 28/08/2014 15:24

As everyone else has said, it's quite possible that someone is coming in to feed the cat. I have a posse of 'lovely cat people' at my work who come and look after mine on a rota when I'm away. I doubt my neighbours would ever notice them coming and going. We have a cat fountain inside the house so you wouldn't see the water unless you went inside my house.

As someone else has suggested - put sellotape on door and check back to see if it's broken. This is the first step the RSPCA would take and lets them know whether someone is attending to the animal.

Original poster
VinoEsmeralda · 28/08/2014 15:26

Im 100% as we are rural and only a few houses on the road so have CCTV which is triggered by movement and sad as it may seem I have checked.

I have seen the cat and they have a cat flap. It's thin. The food and water is near our shed ( we have a dog so best place IMO) which is near the boundary between properties.

Re the rabbit, this was over 2 years ago and assume its dead. And yes to answer your question- kids were jumping whilst said rabbit was thrown all over the place.. sickening!

OP posts:
Lweji · 28/08/2014 15:32

If you are worried, then I'd call RSPCA and explain it all to them.
Or do you fear a backlash from the neighbour?

EveDallasRetd · 28/08/2014 15:33

The fucking RSPCA repossessed my cat for being 'abandoned' when a nosy beaked neighbour reported it as such. Mum and dad were on hols, my bro was letting her in the morning and my sis letting her out at night.

M&D had to pay to get her back, but she was dead within a week because she had a specialist diet that of course the --fucking- RSPCA didn't know and whatever shit they gave her killed her. The vet actually tried to get my dad to raise a formal complaint against them as they'd been too heavy handed and not picked up on the obvious issues she had.

Don't report unless you KNOW the cat is abandoned, you could do more damage than good.

Lweji · 28/08/2014 15:36

How did they get your cat and how did they have it for a week if your siblings were feeding her morning and afternoon?

maddy68 · 28/08/2014 15:46

I leave my cats for a couple of weeks. They have dry food in an automated feeder and huge tubs of fresh water even though they never drink it and prefer the grungy stuff out of the water feature I get my neighbours to pop in when they are passing just to check they still have enough food, the feeder is working correctly and to freshen up the water
Cats will be fine

PenelopeGarciasCrazyHair · 28/08/2014 15:51

Cats are hunters, they will find food and often prefer 'wild' water (or even toilet water!) to what is put in their bowl. My cat's bowl evaporates more than he ever drinks from it, but he has wet food, so gets his liquid there I presume. Otherwise there are loads of pots and bowls in the garden gathering rain water.

I had a cat die from a disease which the vet said she had picked up from communal feeding bowls at the RSPCA shelter where we got her. Please don't have her taken away unless you know for sure she is neglected as it can cause more complications. If there is food out nearby, then a hungry cat will come and get it. If your dog is scaring it away, put the food in their garden.

I often leave my cat for a couple of days, we ask neighbours to pop in and let him in/out and feed him. He sits outside howling during the day, even if we're only gone for a couple of hours and I've had neighbours feeding him because he kept going round there meowing (vicious circle!). He's just a noisy bugger and is very attention seeking. He got really chubby and lazy, as he's not that good at regulating what he eats, so I had to speak to them and ask them not to feed him any more. They were also giving him milk, which made him throw up.

People shouldn't feed other people's pets, but if you really are convinced these people are so heartless that they would leave a cat with no food or water for 2 weeks put the food in their garden and speak to them when they get home.

motherinferior · 28/08/2014 15:54

If it's being fed, not cruel. We go away for a couple of weeks and people come in to feed our cat.

cozietoesie · 28/08/2014 16:08

Much depends on whether it's being fed and checked. What if it had been hit by a car on Day 1 and crawled home with a broken leg?

jeanswithatwist · 28/08/2014 16:10

when we go away we pay a cat sitter to come to the house twice a day. she feeds etc and hangs out with the cat for a while (and probably has a nose around the house.....). perhaps the cat has one of those food timer tray things?

spindlyspindler · 28/08/2014 16:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BarbarianMum · 28/08/2014 16:17

Maddy if 'cats will be fine' then why do cats get sick, or injured and need the vets? Why so many skinny, sore ridden cats fighting over dustbin scraps in Spanish holiday resorts?

UK cats are by and large fine because they are well looked after pets, not because they are mighty hunters red of tooth and claw.

Lonecatwithkitten · 28/08/2014 16:22

Having just seen a pet die from a problem developed in between the pet sitter popping in at 7pm and then again at 7am. I am afraid for kennels and Catteries are the safest place.
Sadly for the owners their beloved pet was so far gone when they came to say goodbye despite extensive medically treatment he did not recognise them.
Case law has determined that being checked less than every 24 hours is neglect under the Animal Act.

maddy68 · 28/08/2014 16:22

Cats aren't like dogs, if they were unattended (and we don't know that they are!) they will find water, they will hunt they will survive
Obviously they could get injured etc and I'm not suggesting in anyway they should be abandoned without food or water for two weeks wondering if anyone bothered to read my post properly but they are pretty self sufficient

EveDallasRetd · 28/08/2014 16:27

Add message | Report | Message poster Lweji Thu 28-Aug-14 15:36:53
How did they get your cat and how did they have it for a week if your siblings were feeding her morning and afternoon?

Lweji, mum and dad were away for 2 weeks, the RSPCA took her after a week. They left an envelope on the door saying they'd taken her. My brother contacted them straight away but they wouldn't return her to him as he didn't live at the address, neither did my sister. They wouldn't return her until M&D got back and went to the rescue centre with proof of address/ownership (cats vet record) - which he did as soon as he got back from hols. They then made my dad pay a 'fee' to return her, which he did. She was obvs unwell after a couple of days back home so they took her to the vet. After treating her for about another week the vet said the damage was irreversible and she had to be PTS.

Lweji · 28/08/2014 16:42

Wow

popmimiboo · 28/08/2014 18:22

I didn't know there was a 24 hour rule.
My two cats are very territorial and would hate to be sent to a cattery. I leave them with food, water and cat flap and my neighbour checks on them and fills up bowls every day or two. She rarely sees them as they are either out or sleeping so they don't seem to be in need of affection.
I'd better ask her to make her visits daily next time...

The rabbit business is horrible though :-(

GreenPetal94 · 28/08/2014 18:41

I would leave out food and water. But how can you know there is no auto-feeder? Or that cat cannot look after itself if going in and out.

motherinferior · 28/08/2014 18:46

I'm quite capable of not looking at our cat between 7pm and 7am. Cats can get ill and die very quickly whether you're there or not. One of these days one of ours (which has cancer) will die quickly, quite possibly in the space of 12 hours.

JADS · 28/08/2014 18:59

I looked after my friends cats one weekend. I also had to work some odd shifts so the poor cats got food twice a day, but at slightly weird times. It probably looked like no one was feeding them but I was.

I also realised that weekend that I am horribly allergic to some breeds of cat including hers so my visits were much shorter than expected!

Is there anyway you can check with your other neighbours?

icymaiden · 28/08/2014 19:04

are you watching the house all day?

icymaiden · 28/08/2014 19:10

Lonecat
How can you check a cat?They come and go as they please and in all probability might not be there when the cat sitter calls.

pixiegumboot · 28/08/2014 19:23

I don't like cats, but even I know that's not right.

PeterandJane · 28/08/2014 19:32

Apologies, skimmed thread... slightly teary eyes. YOU CAN'T LEAVE A CAT THAT LONG. Sorry.
Our cat may look like we've gone away and left it when we go away, but we have either neighbours or a cat sitter coming in twice a day. We pay them. It's better for our cat being at home that going to a cattery (where you mainly live in a tiny area).
I would phone RSPCA immediately - especially what they do with the trampoline and rabbit.
Some people do not deserve animals.