AIBU - pissed off with RSPCA

[BananaBanana1999]

I'll keep this as short as I can.

A year ago I took what I thought was a stray cat to the vet to see if she was microchipped. Cat was in a sorry way - respiratory issues, very very thin, bad teeth. Vet scanned her, found she had a microchip. Owners collected her.

On Sunday the same cat turns up again at mine looking for food. She's very, very thin, got some issue with her tail (it looks odd - floppy). Cat still has respiratory issues and bad teeth. I take the day off work, call RSPCA, request that an officer come and get her. I told them they can get the owner's address from her microchip.

After waiting in most of the day (and having taken a day off work), RSPCA finally call to tell me to release the cat because "her owners might be looking for her" and "if you see the cat again and her condition has gotten worse, call us".

What on earth should I do now? I haven't let her go (yet), she's asleep in our kitchen with food and water and a litter tray. I think she's being neglected by her owners, she needs veterinary attention but I can't take her to the vets because she belongs to someone else. All the vet will do is take her from us and hand her back to the owner.

Any advice very, very gratefully received. I have already spoken with Cats Protection who say that they can't do anything as she has an owner (it seems they only deal with ferals and rehoming). I just don't know what to do.

No YADNBU!

IME, RSPCA are useless and basically can't be arsed. Oh and after I tried to enlist their help -which was flatly refused- for a maltreated pup, the cheeky sods actually turned up on my doorstep asking me to sign up for direct debit donations.

I sent them away with some choice observations regarding their level of service. 😡

Oh I am sorry OfaFrenchmind2. 💐

My friend's dog is currently missing - she vanished on a walk close to home when friend was briefly distracted. She's thin and wobbly on her feet, and if someone found her they might well have assumed she's neglected and taken her in, but in fact she is a dearly loved but very elderly girl who has been seriously unwell for a couple of months with a recurring kidney problem and has lost a lot of weight as a result. My friend has spent an absolute fortune on tests and treatment at the vet's and on prescription food to build her strength back up without stressing her kidneys, but she might well be goodness-knows-where now being 'fed up' on totally unsuitable food while her kidneys deteriorate because she's not taking her medication. We have put up hundreds of posters, contacted DogLost and every vet in the area and spent endless hours looking for her, and her owner is truly devastated and worried sick. I'm only posting this to say don't assume that a thin/rough-looking animal is neglected because she might have a frantic owner at home.

Floppy tail? Is it broken? If so, she will be in pain and in need of medical attention. Phone bloody useless RSPCA or Cats Protection and point this out - I would hit the roof over this. Or just take cat to the vet anyway.

The vets can contact the owners and ask if you can return the cat to them and then pass on their details. I have done this. Or ask the owners to come to you.

Would you like to keep the cat? If so, just take her to a different vet. I’m not in the UK but my cat (chipped) had never had her chip checked when she had to go to the vet. Just tell the vet that she had been missing for a couple of weeks and returned in her current state.

PERF our beautiful 15 and a half year old cat had to be put to sleep The date we had to do this is etched in my mind 23 Oct 2016 She had an overactive thyroid so was very thin but on medication. She also had a grey plastic collar that she wore for a skin condition.

We had a visit from the RSPCA because she was thin,...............but like your cat she was well cared for and very much loved. The officer asked DH what the grey collar was for I wasnt at home at the time I was out doing the grocery shop. If i had been home it would have been pointed out to him that this was the same elderly cat they couldnt give a fuck about when the snake got into my flat and they just told me to leave Dovecat out all night.

Shortly after their visit Dovecat started bleeding constantly and after taking her to the vet every other day she was so unhappy She had been a very active cat We could also tell she was in pain so we took the heartbreaking decision to PTS. We took her to the vet late at night because we did NOT want her to be in pain. She passed away at 12.20am on 23 Oct 2016 I still miss her so much.

We couldnt even bear to bring the empty carry case back so it was left there.

We do have a lock of her fur and we had a canvas print done from a photo of her which is on the living room wall.

We had a young cat up our road who was always out begging for food. Worms coming out of its bum and looked in a sorry state for a young cat. Owner even told neighbours she couldn't have it in the house because she was pregnant. Rspca were called. She was given a voucher for neutering. Voucher for worm and flea treatment and neighbours told to stop feeding it.
Still it wasn't neutered. Within weeks it was visibly thinner due to not been fed
Within months it was all wormy again. Again rspca were called out and we were told not to feed it (seriously it was never allowed in its house. If neighbours didn't feed it it would have starved). Another voucher was given for neutering.

Then....the owners moved. Guess who was left behind? One pregnant cat!! It's now a neighbourhood cat. One neighbour adopted the kitten. One neighbour on benefits got a free voucher for neutering. She goespecially from house to house to visit and eat.

I think you need to find out who the owners are, speak to them and ask if they will sign the cat over to you and allow you to keep her. I know the vet cannot release this info but maybe you can post a picture of the cat on Facebook asking who’s she is. How would the owners know you reported them? I very much doubt the RSPCA actually managed to track them down and if they didn’t even visit to see the cat at yours and the state she’s in then they would have nothing to discuss with the owners anyway?

Sounds like she badly needs help but don’t just keep her because it could cause problems further down the line if the owners reappear and you have to hand her back.

I've got a 17 year old boy who roams the village, going from house to house. He's got very thin on his back end and he's a bit deaf, but he's getting sympathy and attention from about twenty households...

He then comes home and sleeps the sleep of the just on my kitchen worktop. I suspect everyone in the entire village thinks they are feeding an emaciated stray cat...

Thank you Banana for trying your best and yes, I agree RSPCA are useless tw**s when it comes to cats. Please ask for this thread to be moved to the "Litter Tray" for some really good advice as opposed to idiots here who don't bother to read all through and say "Why don't you take it to the vet?" Aargggghhh.

another one saying register it at a different vet - they won’t scan it if you don’t ask them to. Say it’s your mums cat if need be.

Rang RSPCA, they collected it from my house. I found out where they took it and rang the vet - unfortunately it had to be put to sleep. Vet tried to get me to pay for the procedure … then a week or so later the RSPCA rang me trying to get me to set up Direct Debit to donate to them every month. Great all round.

Well the RSPCA did take it to the vet so they did help.

I've seen them collecting dead cats in the pouring rain on a nearby dual carriageway and they have been helpful with advice when I've called. They can't be all bad.

As someone who worked for the RSPCA for many years, I have seen the other side of this. The RSPCA receives no government funding and can only train and employ as many RSPCA Inspectors and Animal Collection Officers as can be funded by donations.

Therefore each of these employees covers a huge area whilst on shift, and of course have to prioritise calls for the most sick/injured animals. It is common for there to be at least a 2-hour travelling time from one side of their working area to the other. And high priority are things like cats with fractured pelvises/broken backs from road traffic accidents (unfortunately a huge proprtion of animals needing RSPCA care). These animals are in desperate need of morphine asap and possibly humane euthanasia due to the awful state they are in, so it is right that they take priority over elderly, owned animals with long term conditions.

I have seen how hard the Inspectors/ACOs work - long shifts, unsociable hours, and often dealing with some very nasty, scary people (on their own, they don't work in pairs). They aren't leaving the sort of cat you describe because they don't care - they are just collecting animals with a greater need.

If you are worried about a cat like the one you have posted about, you can take it to an RSPCA centre yourself if you are near one. If not, any local vet is obliged by law to see it, and obliged to give it first aid treatment, whether or not the RSPCA has given them a "log number" to help with costs. Private vets sometimes like to pretend that they do not have this obligation.

It sounds to me that this cat has long term health issues which it may well be receiving medication for, and that the poor body condition cannot be reversed. A likely culprit would be chronic kidney disease. Its long term issues may make it an unsuitable candidate for a GA, thus ruling out the possibility of dental treatment for the bad teeth. The respiratory issues, whilst not ideal, could again be being managed as far as is possible with medication, and if the cat has had these issues for a year, it does not sound acutely unstable.

The RSPCA has to work within the law, so I suspect they either found previously that the owners were doing all they could to manage and treat an elderly animal's complex medical needs, or that the law would not have considered the level of "neglect" enough to warrant legally removing the cat from the owners.

Hope this alternative perspective is helpful. I can appreciate why sometimes the RSPCA can look as though they are not helping wherever they can, but I assure you, they are working extremely hard to help as many animals as possible.

@Shumpalumpa I didn't say that they didn't - I was responding to a poster that said they tried to get money out of her after she contacted them. I was saying they did the same to me.

I ended up calling the RSPCA again and saying that I wasn't happy with the advice that they gave (which was to let the cat go) and I pestered for a log number so I could take the cat to the vets, which I did (I had to have a moan, though). So this is good, this means she will get the treatment she needs. I know the vets, they are the ones I use, they are brilliant. I think that was the best outcome I could have asked for. I miss her though, as silly as that sounds, and I'll be sure to call the vet tomorrow for an update. I really hope she's okay.

@littlecabbage I can imagine the pressure they are under. I know they must be doing their best and I will admit that the cat I took in today, whilst in need of medical treatment, wasn't urgent (she was with us, safe, and being fed, so wasn't getting worse).

@HelenaDove my heart broke reading your post. 15 is a really good age at least, which hopefully is some comfort. Hurts like hell when you have to say goodbye, though.

Banana Dovecat actually chose us She originally belonged to a neighbour but decided she preferred it here. Sometimes the cat chooses you.

i love the fact that she chose us though. We were lucky to have her.

Well done Banana! Am sure the cat will be very grateful. Your kitty karma is strong!

Any update today? Hope the poor thing is ok

Ive had some good experiences with the rspca. Basically think of it as a bit like calling social services: they might agree the person is a bad parent but might not have the legal power to do anything. Ultimately we watched them battle with a neighbour who was treating a dog poorly, ultimately the inspector told us they agreed the dogs needs werent being met however the legal needs an owner needs to meet are very low so they didnt have the power to remove.
Ultimately the situation got worse, they tool owner to court and then still lost the case as threshold for what a court thinks animals need is naff all

So I took the cat to the vet with RSPCA log number, and they took her in. She stayed the night, not sure what treatment she received (if any) as the vets can't tell me that (data protection). Owners came to collect the cat the following day. I saw the cat again last night and I fed and watered her (we feed a family of feral cats that live in the car park out the back of our house so she just helps herself to whatever I put down for them). I made a big fuss of her, she seemed happy to see me. She's still thin, of course, and to me there seems to be no improvement in her condition. I don't know what to do now, other than to keep an eye out for her and feed her whenever we see her.

I must admit to being a bit scared - not sure if the RSPCA have contacted the owners yet, and I live in a rough area so wouldn't be at all surprised if I get confronted if they see me feeding her / fussing her. Honestly don't know what else to do. I have considered stealing her, but of course that is highly illegal and it might be (although I do doubt this) that she's an old cat and there's not much they can do for her.

Thank you for all your replies, I really appreciate it

RSPCA are rubbish! My niece found a kitten & they told her to just let it go, she didn't & we found it a loving home eventually. I've hated to RSPCA since.
Poor cat.

I think all you can do is what you're doing - keep leaving food out (I do for local ferals too, although in this heat I leave more dry food out and plenty of water, as the wet food just attracts flies). Poor kitty! It's good that you took her to the vet and are looking out for her.