More than 80 kittens abandoned on California shelter doorstep over the past 12 months

I have wondered how many cats and kittens are abandoned at animal shelters in America. We know it happens quite a lot because we see news media articles about cardboard boxes filled with kittens, sealed with tape, and placed outside a shelter's front door in the dead of winter, overnight. The whole thing is ghastly but it happens. The kittens are lucky to survive. Such callousness and stupidy.

The employees at the Animal Friends Connection Humane Society, in Lodi, USA, estimate that more than 80 kittens have been left at their doorstep within the past year. Over a period of nine days last summer 25 cats and kittens were left at their shelter at 933 S. Cherokee Lane.

Abandoned kitten at Lodi animal shelter. Photo: the shelter.

I went to their Facebook page to see whether there are any postings about abandoned cats and kittens. There are reams of them. They go back several years but for example, on September 10, 2017 they posted that "Another urgent SOS for help with abandoned bottle baby kittens left on our front door, these babies need your urgent care. We desperately need help for five kittens. They were cold, starving, wet and possibly only 10 days old."

And then more recently on August 8, 2020, they posted:

"Again-5 big kittens crammed into a small tub filled with other 'stuff', abandoned on our side yard - left in the sun when no one was around. Thankfully, someone did see it and got to them before they perished in the heat today - they were very lucky little kitties. We are overwhelmed currently with kitties."

I could go on but I needn't bother because there is a series of posts along the same lines from this animal shelter. And kittens seem to be a recurring theme. It doesn't take much imagination to realise that a minority of cat owners are allowing their female cats to mate and procreate. These are the cats that haven't been spayed and which are allowed to go outside where they bump into a male cat who has not been sterilised and bingo, you have a family.

Either that or they informally breed cats inside their home but I would doubt that because if they were doing it they would probably give them away to friends and neighbours et cetera. These are unwanted kittens brought into the world because of a careless approach to domestic cat caregiving. These people place a heavy burden on small animal shelters such as this one in Lodi - location as per map below.

Lodi shelter has constant stream of abandoned kittens. Map: Google.

They are constantly seeking donations. They succeed but it must be a struggle. On September 3, 2018 they received six adult abandoned cats and they sought donations. 22 people donated a total of $590. I think that's very good. There are clearly lots of generous people in the area. It's a great shame that the good and generous people have to fund an operation to mop up the damage done by the selfish and careless people. Perhaps it was always like that.

Associated: 31 cats abandoned in wooded area of Monroe County, PA. They were left with open bags of food but no water.

Man prepares cat food bowl behind a closed bathroom door to stop his cats interfering

This is a bit extreme I think. A guy on Reddit admits this: "So I prepare my cats food in my bathroom to avoid them nibbling while I’m making it. They are well aware of this. I am a slave."

Man prepares his cats food behind a closed door as he does not like them interfering and nibbling it why he is making it up. Screenshot.

Enough said. It's pretty clear that he doesn't like his cats interfering with his preparation of their food. I think I know why; they are bloody starving!! 

Watch the video: when he opens the bathroom door his cats are waiting outside as they know the routine. They both eagerly jump up and dive at the food which he has removed. The cats are desperate. I think this guy is underfeeding them slightly. He certainly keeps them hungry or perhaps the food is super-tasty. Although, in all fairness, it has to be said that they look the correct weight.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

---

Driverless car (not a Tesla!) narrowly misses kitten outside jewellery store

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

---

I have added the word 'Tesla' to the title and modified it slightly.  The title is 'Driverless car narrowly misses woman and kitten standing outside jewellery store in China' and I first thought of Tesla and another accident. But nothing as glamorous. Just some guy who failed to apply the handbrake. The car was parked over the road. The guy wanted to buy breakfast. The car rolled forwards into this paved forecourt area where a tiny calico kitten emerged to go under the stool. I think she wanted to be with her owner who was brooming the forecourt.

It is CCTV footage filmed in the city of Shangrao in Jiangxi Province on October 8, 2021.

Driverless car (not a Tesla!) narrowly misses kitten outside jewellery store. Screenshot.

Pregnant mother tells father that he can take the baby and leave if it is allergic to her cats

This is about a post on the Reddit.com website which has been picked up by The Mirror newspaper. It's an interesting little story which probably tells us more about the difficult time that a pregnant mother goes through emotionally than about the problems of cat allergies.

Pregnant mother tells father that he can take the baby and leave if it is allergic to her cats. Photo: Pixabay.

It appears that the woman is heavily pregnant and that the father of the child, to be, is predisposed to being allergic to cats which I presume he manages because they have two cats. He asked his partner (I don't know if they are married) what they should do if their child were to be allergic to cats. In response she told him that he can take "this baby you want so f****** bad and get out". He believed that she meant it but that she was worked up at the time.

The comments on the post reassured him by saying that she was probably just in a difficult emotional state because it was a time when hormones are coursing through a mother's body.

One wrote: "Dude I’m pregnant. Hormones are terrible. Our bodies are always hurting. The sound of someone breathing can tick me off.

"Some days I'm on the verge of murder (obviously in my mind) and other days I’m happy go lucky. You might’ve caught her on a bad day."

Comment: I feel compelled to comment about this. There is almost no doubt in my mind that this was just a tense moment between a couple. He chose the wrong moment to ask the question. Firstly, there's no point in talking about kicking out the father and taking the child based on the possibility that the child might be allergic to cats. It would be far better to wait to see what happens. It is very negative and destructive to talk about ejecting the father with the child that you will love because of a possibility that something might happen.

Secondly, it is possible to deal with allergies to cats. The father has a problem with allergies to cats and he has managed it. And if the allergy is fairly mild, being around cats gradually chips away at the problem. The body becomes tolerant and the problem fades to the point where it really isn't a big issue. That's my assessment. And if that doesn't work there are other ways of dealing with allergies to cats. Here are two possibles:

• Curing Your Allergy to Cats (new injection)
• Review: Purina LiveClear Allergen Reducing Sterilised Adult Turkey cat food

Thirdly, the argument does highlight the fact that sometimes domestic cats can be the centre of friction between a couple living together. It isn't over a potential allergy to cats, it might be over toxoplasmosis and pregnancy. It might simply be over the fact that one of them loves cats and the other dislikes cats. The man insists that the woman gets rid of her cats and she complies and then resents it. That's a possible outcome which is going down the wrong path.

I guess a couple with different views about domestic cats need to discuss as many aspects of domestic cat caretaking that they can before they live together! That sounds a little bit technical and formal but it may help to prevent arguments late in the day when it is much harder to find a successful solution.

New Delhi, India: controversy over keeping pets in a luxury apartment complex

There is a luxury apartment and house complex in New Delhi, in the prime East Delhi area of Mayur Vihar I. It is called IFS Apartments. It was built by a co-operative society formed by IFS officers.

They've had a rule there since 2011 that leaseholders of the flats i.e. the owners, and the tenants who rent their flats cannot keep cats and dogs or other pets. They let this rule become a little bit slack by which I mean they appear not to have enforced it very carefully. This has allowed some apartment dwellers to keep cats for instance and in one case a woman living there has had a cat for three years. She found the cat particularly helpful during the Covid pandemic lockdown. 

Delhi’s IFS Apartments. Image in public domain.

New tenants who rent from landlords have to sign an agreement that they are fully aware that they cannot keep pets.

The residents of the complex say that the rules governing the keeping of pets are unconstitutional because the Animal Welfare Board of India said, in a circular of 2014, that the ban interfered with a fundamental freedom which was guaranteed to all citizens of India. There is a clash of rules, one at a apartment complex level, and one had a higher level.

I have not checked out the argument. Certainly, the management company who run the apartment complex appear to have ignored the Animal Welfare Board of India circular and continuing with the ban after the circular was issued. I have to say that no constitution states that citizens have a right to keep pets. I belive that the circular is ineffective in this instance.

Some tenants and leaseholders are moving out of the complex. They are aggrieved with the anti-pet policy. One of them is a lawyer, Vasudha Mehta, who is moving out with her husband and two children. They have lived there since 2014. They appear to have rented initially and then they bought their home in 2016. They signed the agreement not to keep pets but didn't really apply their minds to it.

During the lockdown period and with children in the home constantly they decided to get a puppy to ease the mental strain, she said. They found that the management committee started to harass them by reminding them of the agreement that they signed.

On August 29, 2020, there was a problem with dog poop at the complex and a notice was put up by the management committee saying, in capital letters, “NO NEW DOGS MAY BE BROUGHT INTO THE COMPLEX BY RESIDENTS. DOG-OWNERS ARE REQUESTED TO SHOW CONSIDERATION FOR OTHER RESIDENTS AND RESPECT THE NEED FOR KEEPING THE COMPLEX CLEAN.”

The problem here is that in the past it wasn't an issue to keep pets despite the rule. Now the rules are being enforced and the residents don't like it. On the basis that the Animal Welfare Board of India circular is not enforceable (and I don't think it is) then I'm afraid the residents will have to put up with the rule or leave if they want to keep a pet.