So, it’s a sort of long story, but I’ll try to make it brief.
Almost a month ago a good friend of mine posted something on Facebook about a kitten (Male, DMH, 10 weeks) that needed a home. My boyfriend and I were suckered in by the adorable photo, and were planning to get a cat in a few months anyways, so we decided to rescues the little guy. My friend put me in touch with the lady she knew, “Tessa”, and Tessa and I spoke over the phone about the kitten and the details.
Tessa told me that the kitten (who we would later name Linus) was not neutered and did not have its vaccines, but that it would be going to the vet with her and some other kittens she had rescued in a few days to be vaccinated and get a checkup, and we could bring him home after that. At the vet with Tessa, they discovered that Linus had an eye infection, an upper respiratory infection, and worms. They couldn’t give him his vaccines because he needed to be on the meds first, so she got him on the meds and we scheduled to pick him up a few days later.
When we went to pick him up, her house was unlike anything we’d ever seen. It was very small (from what we saw— I must stress, we only stayed in the living room), and there were several bird cages with at least 4-5 cockatiels in each cage. There were at least 10 cats roaming the house, but I would like to say the true number was more likely in the teens. There were dogs there as well, but they were fenced in in the yard. We could see 3, but I don’t know if there were more. The second we walked in it smelled awful. I could barely breathe and my eyes stung so bad from the smell of urine and feces everywhere. It was a truly disgusting place.
After bringing Linus home, we’ve been so loving to him! He’s our only pet and I think he loves the attention. He sleeps in bed with us and is the perfect, energetic and well-adjusted kitten. However... last week, Tessa called to inform us that one of her cats had died and another was very sick with coccidia. We needed to have Linus tested right away. We took him to the vet, and he tested positive, so we have him on meds for that now. Now, this week, we’ve been discovering rough patches on Linus’ skin and a missing spot of fur on his paw. Another trip to the vet diagnosed him with ringworm. More meds. The poor guy!
At this point, I’m beginning to feel like we saved his life (or at least his quality of life) by getting him out of that house. My question is, should something be done about Tessa? She keeps “rescuing” animals, which I assumed she regularly re-homed, but she informed me that Linus was the first she had ever re-homed and it was very hard for her to say goodbye. So all those other pets are just hers! Normally, I would feel more strongly about calling animal control to alert them to Tessa’s situation, but she calls me every few days to ask about Linus and tell me more cats of hers have died of coccidia. She said that she was going to keep rescuing kittens but not after this whole incident because it’s been so sad. If all her cats are dead, is it worth a call to animal control? Or maybe she’s the type of person who says that now but won’t be able to resist when she sees another stray in need in a few months... Maybe I should mention she also has Aspergers. I’m not sure that’s relevant, but she told me on the phone once, so I’ll mention it here.
My boyfriend and I go back and forth. She really does love the animals who live with her. She feeds them and takes them to the vet when they need it. My boyfriend says that can’t be animal cruelty. I’m not sure. It’s a weird situation and I’m at a loss. Any advice would be appreciated.
TLDR: I adopted a cat from a woman who has 10+ cats, 15+ birds, and 3+ dogs in a small disgusting house full of disease and many of the cats are dying. Should I tip off animal control?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/e929am/need_advice_about_whether_to_call_animal_control/
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