AARGH! Moral dilemma time!
There is this feral cat hanging around our yard. I am no stranger to cats, I have two, my friends I rent the other side of the duplex to have 5, and the neighbor to the other side has 1. All 8 get along reasonably and wander in and out of each other's houses (we all have cat doors) and eat each other's food.
But now there is Yellow Cat moving in. He's been hanging around for several months and he is NOT tame. He has already beaten up on my dominate cat -- I just spent $1000 on treating an abscess. We've been talking about trying to gentle him down some and find a no-kill shelter to take him because we can't let him keep beating up our cats. Then today, he got into my house and was threatening my cats. I was trying to shoo him out the door, stupidly got too close, and he bit me. Not bad, but the skin is broken and bleeding in 4 or 5 places.
I know what I should do. I should call animal control. But if they can't locate an owner in 72 hours, they'll put him down and I know this is my fault. I knew he was scared and feeling cornered and I misjudged and got too close. I could lie to animal control about what he looks like, or just not report, but then I would have to get the rabies shots and that is not good. And we have to do something eventually -- he's too aggressive to let hang around our other cats. I don't know if we would ever be able to get him to a state where a no-kill shelter would accept him. I really don't know what to do.
But now there is Yellow Cat moving in. He's been hanging around for several months and he is NOT tame. He has already beaten up on my dominate cat -- I just spent $1000 on treating an abscess. We've been talking about trying to gentle him down some and find a no-kill shelter to take him because we can't let him keep beating up our cats. Then today, he got into my house and was threatening my cats. I was trying to shoo him out the door, stupidly got too close, and he bit me. Not bad, but the skin is broken and bleeding in 4 or 5 places.
I know what I should do. I should call animal control. But if they can't locate an owner in 72 hours, they'll put him down and I know this is my fault. I knew he was scared and feeling cornered and I misjudged and got too close. I could lie to animal control about what he looks like, or just not report, but then I would have to get the rabies shots and that is not good. And we have to do something eventually -- he's too aggressive to let hang around our other cats. I don't know if we would ever be able to get him to a state where a no-kill shelter would accept him. I really don't know what to do.