Neighbours cat

[DebP]

I am extremely concerned about our neighbour’s cat.  She is being neglected but I don't know how to get involved.  It's now at the stage of permanently bleeding open sores and it’s breaking my heart to see the poor little thing suffer.

I keep trying to ignore the problem but it’s now too bad for me to turn a blind eye any longer, so wonder if anyone has any ideas or could recommend a vet who speaks a little English that I could discuss this with.  I'd be happy to pay for treatment as I just want to see the cat out of pain.

 

Any advice gratefully recieved

[Panda]

Where are you? I have a good local vet who is cat mad and speaks english but that's no good if you are the otherside of the country.

[DebP]

Hi Panda

Sorry forgot to say, I'm in the Beziers area (dept 34). 

 

[Gardian]

Only positive suggestion would be the local SPA (RSPCA to us).  A very difficult situation to deal with and I guess that you have to balance your relationship with your neighbour with the welfare of a poor animal.  BTW, I doubt that the SPA has the same powers that the RSPCA has in the UK, but others such as CA will know better. 

Re your location, Panda's question was quite legitimate, but not even she has put her location in her profile! For goodness sake everybody, why not just do it?  Doesn't need to be your village, just the Departement.

[Suze01]

[quote user="DebP"]...but I don't know how to get involved.[/quote]

Have you actually spoken with your neighbour?

[ali-cat]

[quote user="Lisleoise"][quote user="DebP"]...but I don't know how to get involved.[/quote]

Have you actually spoken with your neighbour?
[/quote]

Speaking to the neighbour could be very difficult as they are evidently neglecting their cat & don't seem to care.  I wouldn't want to approach them about it as it could turn nasty.  If it was possible to contact an animal welfare charity & have them call, without the neighbour knowing who contacted them, I personally think that would be the way to go.  Hopefully Christine will be able to offer sound advice about the best way forward or who to contact.

Thankfully the poor kitty has someone who does care - good luck DebP & please let us all know how you get on.

[Nicos]

It might sound a bit of a daft question- but do your neighbours actually consider that cat as THEIRS - or are they just giving a bit of feed to a stray??

If it's the latter  then it's not their responsibility and they may well be very happy to see you take responsibility for it's care.

They may consider that by giving a stray bits and bobs to eat IS in fact caring for it more than doing nothing at all. The fact that it hangs round with their cats doesn't make it their cat!!!

....just a thought!!

I hope the poor thing gets the care it clearly needs ( good for you for taking an interest in it!)

[Panda]

[quote user="Gardian"]

Re your location, Panda's question was quite legitimate, but not even she has put her location in her profile! For goodness sake everybody, why not just do it?  Doesn't need to be your village, just the Departement.

[/quote]

Good point Gardian, I got locked out of the forum a couple of months back and quickly set up a new Panda login, my original had detail I obviously missed doing that this time around, I feel suitably chastised, thanks for that [6] and will go and do it now!

You are too far from me for my vet to be any good, I'm in the Charente.  I would be inclined to be a little underhand and have a friend take the cat to the vet on the pretence of having found this animal in this state, you can then be the link between the two parties being  able to say that a friend, who called to you house when you weren't in found the cat, thought it had just been injured and took it to the vet.    You could say she has just called you to tell you about it , you never know they may even pay for the treatment if not at least you have been able to do something for the cat who at the moment is suffering to save bad feelings between humans! 

 

[Christine Animal]

If this can be of help, JSA Aude mentioned under the distressed pony thread a vet in Carcassonne.

"don't know if this is any help but my vet is also the Blue Cross vet in our area (Carcassonne) and speaks a 'little' english.  Dr. Mondo - surgery is 173 av.F Roosevelt (road from big Leclerc across roundabout towards Carcassonne central). tel: 04 68 25 42 36." 

[Anna]

Panda

That sound like a great idea! Personally, I would be up for that as, that way, kitty gets the vet. treatment it so obviously needs with no need for the neighbours to feel threatened.

Anna

 

[DebP]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions I really appreciate it.

It's a delicate subject and regarding mentioning to to my neighbours I was really concerned that with my basic French I'd end up  causing more problems than I'm trying to solve.

One really valid point was that my neighbours may see the cat as a stray.  This is probably the case, as this was a stray which 'found' the prevous neighbours.  When they were moving they told us that the cat was staying with the house!!  We were at the time still living in the UK for most of the year, so had to just hope that the new neighbours would take her on. 

They did take her on but have slowly become less and less interested and whilst I understand that they may feel it's not their responsibility, the fact of the matter is that now this lovely little cat now has open bleeding sores and the tips of her ears have either burned off or been eaten off by an infection.

So I'm left with this dilema.  I think I'll try the organisations mentioned in previous posts over the next few days and will post an update when I finally get to a solution.

Thank you everone once again for your support and suggestions.

[Chrissie]

PLEASE DebP, don't delay in getting something done about the cat - in this hot weather the sores and eartips may get dreadful infections.  Surely you can speak to the neighbours and say that you like cats and you wondered if the one you see all the time in your garden (and thers) is a stray etc etc.  I'm sure they would prefer to talk to you in a relaxed and smiling manner than have someone like the SPA descend upon them.  Do let us know what happens.

Chrissie (81)

[lizzy h]

this cat must be taken to the vet as it sounds like she/he has cancer of the ear /skin cancer) (don't take my world literally as I'm not a vet but have had a cat with this) is she white or has white ears as it is very common and it is caused by sun burn and she needs treatment  please get her to the vets asap hope this helps

[Rob Roy]

Perhaps the neighbours can't afford to take the cat to the vet, and if they inherited it with the house they may not feel they have any responsibility in doing so. I know that will not go down well with many of you, but not everyone is a cat lover and willing to spend money on them.

I wonder what has caused the cat to have open sores and damaged ear tips - cats don't usually have these sort of problems unless they have some (potentially expensive) underlying cause.

[DebP]

"this cat must be taken to the vet as it sounds like she/he has cancer of the ear /skin cancer) (don't take my world literally as I'm not a vet but have had a cat with this) is she white or has white ears as it is very common and it is caused by sun burn and she needs treatment  please get her to the vets asap hope this helps"

........Sadly I suspect Liz may be right and yes the cat is white.  I think there is a vet near here who speak English, so I'm going to try to sneak the cat there tomorrow as I think time may be of the essence.  I'm now kicking myself that I didn't decide to act sooner but I just thought that my neighbours couldn't possibly ignore such a major problem.

Re Chrissies email.  This approach sadly won't work as they know that I know the cat is theirs as we've been neigbours for a couple of years and I don't want to offend them by implying they're not looking after their cat.  They got a cute dog last year and this was when the problems started with the cat.  However, now even the dog is showing signs of neglect....but that's another story.  It's just heartbreaking when you're faced with this scenario day after day.  As for money, they drive a mercedes, and their children have all the latest toys etc... so whilst I understand there are many French who quite clearly could not stretch to paying vets fees, this family is not one of them. 

This sounds like I don't like this family when in fact I do, they've always been good neighbours to us, which is why I've tried ignore the cat problem for so long. 

Thanks again to all the feedback, it's nice to know there's a support network out there.

Deb

 

 

[Jo]

My neighbours ( white ) cat has just had both ears amputated because of a similar problem, he delayed treatment because it actually looks like it is healing up inbetween break outs. On the plus side this cancer doesn't seem to spread easily and the vet thinks now the offending parts have been removed she should do very well, but has recommended the use of sunscreen.

[Chrissie]

Oh DebP, how ghastly for you to see the dog also showing signs of neglect.  Unfortunately some of the nicest-seeming people (and not just French ones either) do see pet animals as one of "the latest toys for their children".  What do you think they will do with the animals during holiday season?  I get all stomach-churny about this sort of thing, whether it be towards animals, children or frail elderly people -  none of them can stick up for themselves and  I get so MAD.

Good luck.

Chrissie (81)