I am wondering if anybody here could give me some practical thoughts on my cat problem. I think I am in over my head and starting to drown!
I am from the UK but am currently living in Spain. I live in a house with garden and not built-on land directly behind my house. It is a very suitable environment to keep a cat and allow the cat to go outdoors.
I have one cat of my own who is a very quiet and loving spayed female all black shorthaired cat about 3 years old. I adopted this cat following her abandonment and I care for this cat very much.
I acquired my cat in October 2006 when one day she simply walked into my living room and made herself at home, She was a sweet little thing, not exactly a kitten but not yet a grown adult cat. At first, I didn't encourage her at all especially as I knew I would be returning to the UK for about 2 months very shortly after. But she didn't go away. If I put her out, she was still waiting when the door was next opened. In the end I decided the best I could do was to feed her for a few days, fatten her up a bit and help her on her way.
I returned to the UK and stayed in the UK for over 2 months. I returned to Spain. The cat was sitting outside the door waiting for me and was in the house before I was. She was as thin as a rake. Anyway, after that, I decided to keep her when enquires revealed that she had (apparently) been abandoned by a neighbour who had moved away and left her behind. So she became my cat and has turned out to be one of the most intelligent and best behaved cats that I have ever known. She simply has never been naughty, has never knocked anything over when she jumps up on anything and is perfectly house/litter box trained.
She would usually spend her day in the garden or sitting on the wall or stay indoors according to weather.
I have needed to go away to the UK a few times since then. I would always leave her outside (she has a warm place to keep herself on a covered terrace) and the next door neighbours, who were also fond of her, would feed her. She never came to any harm and never appeared to mind being left outside or exhibit any unusual behaviour. When I came back she never gave any indication that she was in any way displeased with me. I think she understood that it happens from time to time.
Last summer (August 2008) my next door neighbours who used to feed her when I was away moved out of their house and shortly after I needed to go to the UK for a short time. The weather was very hot and my cat was spending most of her time outdoors as she gets too hot indoors during the very hot weather in the summer. I decided to leave a good supply of dried food (she has access to water) and leave her for 3 weeks. It was mid-summer and I was in no way concerned about leaving her simply because she was staying out almost all the time anyway because of the heat.
Less than a week later, a neighbour a few doors away sent an e-mail to all the residents of the community of houses where I live.
(quote)
This morning at 7.00am a black cat with a red collar was in my garden asleep on my beach armchair. As soon as he heard me opening my front door he jumped and pieced my pool. If I ever see that black cat or any other cat in my garden or around my house I will make sure that it will not be in XXX again I will call the guardia to get me the rspca and put the cat to sleep.
(unquote)
Next came an e-mail from my next door neighbour on the other side, a friend of the woman who had sent the e-mail
This e-mail said (quote):
'This cat has been a nuisance to us for a while now, but did not know whom to approach. I have no problem with cats as long as they don't come in to my house. In many occasions, i have found this cat asleep on my bed, accidentally we have locked it in our garage, to come back to find a mess all over the floor, am forced to cover my settees at the terrace, because i find paw marks and cat hair all over the cushions. I do not understand why this cat is always outdoors.'
(unquote)
This was followed up a day later with:
(quote)
'Enough is enough.... cats can be sweet and harmless and just want to live in peace, but, i have just had a bloody fright. i was just getting ready to go to bed when this black cat with a red collar jumped out from inside my wardrobe (not the first time) and scared the sh** out of me It is always the same cat... This poor cat seem to have no owner,no home... its always outdoor, summer,come winter....all year round. If there is an owner, can you please take the responsibilities of taking care of this abandoned cat and maybe it wouldn't be a nuisance to anyone anymore.'
(unquote)
Honestly, these 3 e-mails were sent publicly to all the residents of the community of houses like round-robin e-mails with others joining in adding stupid remarks and witticisms when I didn't find any of it even the remotest bit funny.
I replied, making it clear I would take action against anybody who harmed my cat and basically called the second neighbour a malicious liar.
I assume the motivation here is due to my having voted differently to these people at a recent owners meeting (there are some neighbours in this community who have formed their own gossipy little clique and don't like it if you don't agree with them and don't like you if you don't conform to their views ....) and not that my cat actually did any of the alleged things ... in her wardrobe? in August?? As I said, she gets so hot indoors in the heat of a Spanish summer it's difficult enough to get her to come in for food ....
Anyway, this caused me to cut short my trip away and come back here pretty quickly. For the past few months I have been very concerned about my cat's welfare and actually start to worry whenever she goes out. I have twice heard the neighbours children talking from their garden, the first time saying to their Mother 'there's that cat. Shall I string it up by it's neck and hang it' and on the other occasion saying that they 'don't like that cat'.
Shortly before Christmas, two large tom cats suddenly appeared in my garden. Where they came from I have no idea. I have never seen them around before. It is as if they were suddenly transported from another universe where they live in this house. They were after my cat's food. I did everything I reasonably could to discourage them. If they got in the house, I chased them and fought with them to get them out. I threw water on them. I'm sorry to say that I even hit them. Their determination is beyond belief. They are not attracted to my own cat; they want food and to move into this house. They are very affectionate towards me and both make it very clear to me that they want to be MY cat! If I don't let them in they sit outside and one of them has an especially loud voice. The neighbours must be able to hear the noise but, guess what .... not one single word of complaint. Also, if I don't let them in, they disturb my own cat who then insists on having the door opened to see what all the noise is about and then they get in. Or if my own cat wants to go out, they get in. They are through the metal security gate like a pair of eels! Also if my own cat is out, she will not push past them to get in herself. They have found all the house entrances, even the garage!.Believe me, these cats will NOT go away!
I understand that these cats cannot have been ordered to behave like this by somebody but I am sure that this has been set up. For example the possibility that someone could have been bringing them here and feeding them in my garden while I am prior to abandoning them has occurred to me as it is known that I took in my cat when she was abandoned.
There was also an odd incident with a new neighbour who moved in about the same time as the other two cats appeared and is yet another friend of the first lady. When I met him for the first time I mentioned to him that the two cats who were making all the noise were not mine. He said that he hadn't heard any noise and anyway he had a dog. He then told me that he had seen my cat and fed her. Surprised, I thanked him. But later I started to wonder just how he could have fed her? When? Where ... in his house with the dog? Why ...? he doesn't seem the sort to see a cat in the street and invite her in for dinner with his dog and my cat hates dogs. Besides, it is winter now and my cat has hardly been going out at all.
My cat has now become virtually a prisoner in the house. These other 2 cats have displaced her completely from the garden. She appears generally indifferent to them, although she defers to them. Yes, I have been feeding the other 2 cats because it is that or fight a war with them. They are LARGE and quite good looking short-hair tom cats. They are not cats who have grown up on the street. They have huge appetites and I am spending a fortune on cat food.
I do it because I couldn't accept 2 starving cats sitting outside my door 24/7, and once started .....
I let them in because I couldn't accept 2 cold wet cats sitting crying loudly outside my door on a cold thundery night, and once started ...
I have a cat and her life is being totally disrupted by them. Her behaviour has changed. She hardly ever goes out any more. She has completely lost her freedom to go and come from the house as she wishes as her cat-door has had to be closed, but she hardly ever wants to go out anymore anyway and hasn't been for a sit in the garden or on the wall for weeks. She often used to sleep in my bedroom but never actually came and slept all night under the bedclothes as she has started doing recently; I am interpreting this as a sign of insecurity?
Plus, I simply don't want any more cats. I don't want to become attached to them and cannot accept responsibility for them. And I don't know what to do about them because I think I am being set up for something whatever I do. Specifically, if I have these cats taken away or given to an animal shelter, an owner will suddenly appear to accuse me of disposing of them.
Independently of these problems, I am not happy here (but existing and surviving) and now need to return permanently to the UK in the near future as my circumstances here have changed but, for various reasons, have been putting it off. As much as I love and care for my cat, I do need to earn a living and can't put my life on hold indefinitely.
I had always intended to take my own cat with me if I returned to live in the UK. I had heard of the Pet Passport scheme for travel within the EU and had simply assumed that it would be just a matter of microchip, pet passport and vaccinations. Then when I tried to get a quote to take her to the UK, which was quite reasonable and less than I was afraid it might have been, I was told that the whole procedure of the rabies vaccination, the blood test and the waiting period will take at the very least seven months from start to finish assuming that the first rabies vaccination creates sufficient antibodies to pass the blood test and she doesn't need a second vaccination and blood test..
If I had known (yes, I know, I should have asked and found out all the information before this) I would have started the procedures last summer because almost immediately after those e-mails were sent it was decided that the best thing would be for my cat to be taken to live with a member of my family in England because I didn't feel that she was safe here any more, but a lot of things were delayed and put off due to a family illness in the UK and now that that's over and done with (the family member is fine now) and I can't delay any more, I have just discovered that my cat has to stay here at the very least another 7 months.
My problem is now three-fold.
I have not been away since the e-mails last summer but have now reached the point where I simply have to be able to start to travel regularly to the UK again as I have many things to do and arrangements to make as I am going to need to relocate back home permanently whatever happens.
The pressing problem is that if I were now to leave my cat even for a short trip, any food left would be scoffed down by the other 2 cats immediately and I am sure my cat would not stay on the covered terrace or in the garden with them, which means that she would probably be chased off into the neighbours gardens then the e-mails would start again or worse and I would end up hurrying back here again like in the summer. I also believe that she would come to harm if left alone outside here even for a couple of weeks if the neighbours (or their children!) saw her alone here.
There is absolutely nobody here who can look after her for me. The friendly neighbour who used to feed her is gone, others are unfriendly or unknown/never seen types.
The second problem is what to do with her after that because I can't keep coming and going for the next 7 months or so. I need one or maybe two short trips home then close this house up and base myself in the UK at this time.
Abandoning her is, of course, totally out of the question.
6 months quarantine in the UK would cost 1000's of pounds; similarly so would leaving here here alone in a cattery for the next 7 or 8 months (or even longer if the paperwork was held up or if she needed re-vaccination). And how would she react to months and months in a cattery? Would she even remember me because if I was in the UK I could not visit regularly. Like most people these days, I don't have a lot of extra money at the moment especially with the devaluation of the pound against the euro. The prices here in Spain when converted back to pounds are astronomical and unbelievable. I would also be at the mercy of the cattery if, for example, her stay was prolonged because she failed the first blood test or something.
The thought of taking her to an animal shelter or handing her in somewhere as a stray, making my cat who I love and care for very much an unwanted animal, makes me want to cry.
This is all having a very detrimental effect on me because I am starting to feel depressed and imprisoned in this house and don't know what to do for the best and can't think straight, which is why I am sitting here writing this. It is getting on top of me and I can't think straight as I don't appear able to do anything without making some terrible impossible decision about my cat first.
The third problem is what to do about these other two cats? I feel sorry for them if they are being used as unwitting pawns in something because they are fine cats .... I have been feeding them for 2 months now ... do I have any moral responsibility to them and what should I do about them?
I would also like to caution any other readers from the UK who live outside the UK to think very carefully before becoming attached to an animal abroad, even in another EU country.
