cats

It’s best not to assume the worst of people, life is complicated and filled with nuance.

I recently moved across state lines. Two days before I had to leave, my cat—freaked out by the move and upset at not being let out at night—tore a screen off of a window and got out. We searched up to the moment of having to leave but could not find him and had to leave him behind.

It really upset us, and I still miss him, but there simply wasn’t another choice.

Yeah, me either. The people responding to you aren't talking about just abandoning them, I totally get people who have to rehome a pet or the case of the cat going mental and escaping. Struggles was allowed to roam outside and the guy said he was worried she'd get hit by a car in the new place. He told us he had multiple attempts to make her an inside cat that failed, and in the two weeks leading up to the move she was in our yard every day (his yard backs up to ours). He came and got her one week before, and literally by the evening she was back outside. Then moving day came and went, she hung out with us all the time, and I get a message that she wouldn't come to him so he left her. He said he'd try again a week later but he never checked in. I literally could have handed her to him, so there was absolutely no credibility to his attempts.

The reason she hung out with us is so clear now. She is incredibly needy and loving, she loves human warmth, laps, and cuddles. She had a UTI and fleas that needed attention. She loves wet food and playing with the red dot. My neighbor left her outside in storms (she waIted by his back door for hours), said she hated wet food (aka he never tried) and once described her loving side as "she sat on the couch with me for the evening!" - he had no clue about the cat she actually is, so he adopted some cute kittens and moved away and left her.

Yeah, I have little patience for people who abandon good cats.

Don't know the story here, but sometimes people don't have a choice in taking it with them or not, don't have time to make arrangements, and hope for the best.

I still think it's shitty when it's possible to find no kill shelters that'll take in a healthy animal, but not everyone knows that. Some people don't even know no kill shelters exist, as hard as that is to believe.

And, as much as it sucks, some people think cats can just be dumped anywhere and will be just fine. Dogs too, but it's more common with cats.

Then, there's just the assholes that didn't care in the first place, and shouldn't have had a pet.