Abandoned Cats

Stray cats photo copyrigth J i J y

Abandoned Cats seem to be on the increase in the UK. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the country's biggest animal charity says that the number of pets abandoned has increased by 25% in a year.

We know that (in the UK at least) we have become a throwaway society. It is often not financially viable to repair things. This is in part due to cheap imports from China. Perhaps the mentality that we have developed over inanimate objects has rubbed off on our behavior towards pets including cats.

Cats were the biggest victims of this worsening situation. There were 7,347 abandoned pets. Half were abandoned cats. As cats are relatively easy to care for it is disturbing that they form the vast majority of abandoned pets.

The current figure for the number of people keeping cats is about 9 million (6.5 million people keep dogs)

It shocking to read of the circumstances under which people abandon their cats. To give up a cat is one thing. Sometimes there will be a good reason, often there isn't. However, some people who give up their cats simply dump them. The reasons are equally concerning. One person bought a new sofa and the sofa was more important (she didn't want it scratched). If you have a cat you must expect some damage to possessions and so what, they are only possessions. Another said that she had bought a new carpet and the cat didn't match the color. Now that is arch consumerism.

I really think that too many people keep cats who shouldn't. It is these people who are irresponsible and don't neuter and spay their cats and then abandon them. This causes a lot of suffering for the cat and creates a problem for us generally in a growing feral cat population, which appears to be worse in the USA.

It seems that some people dump their cats when they move. It's just so callous. I have personal experience. My tuxedo cat, Missie, found me in London about 15 years ago. She had been abandoned by a neighbor of mine who had moved. She was reluctant to leave the small front garden of the house where she lived despite being locked out and it being very cold. Eventually she came with me and stayed.

Some people when they abandon simply, for example, put the cat(s) in a plastic refuse bag and leave them with the rubbish. Is the increase in abandoned cats an indication that society is getting worse?

Abandoned cats to Stray Cat