neighbour may be neglecing cats

[kathymuggle]

I have a wacky neighbour - and I mean she is really NOT ok. Poor judgement, everything is a crises, etc. I do think she loves her cats, but becomes overwhelmed easily, and....

For the last several days I have noticed all her windows open - even through a severe storm. There is one light on in the bathroom. My daughter and her daughter are friends -so my daughter has knocked on the door a few times. No one answers. I really think no one has been home in a few days.

The woman has 4 cats. She claims they pee everywhere (probably true) so she has often leaves them in the bathroom. As we speak there are 4 cats in the bathroom - and no one is home. I did try to look in the bathroom to see if there is food and water. There *might* be water - it is hard to see.
I am concernend the cats are not being fed.

I knocked on her neighbours door this morning (it is an apartment) and asked if he knew if the cats were being fed. First he said "no". Then he said she comes around "sometimes" (possible - but I do not think so. She is carless and walks by my house all the time and I have not seen her in about 5 days). TBH - the man who answered the door was only about 17, and seemed really sleepy or even stoned. I left with no more info than when I knocked on the door.

So- what, if anything, do I do?

It is possible she is dropping by or has someone dropping by and is feeding the cats - it is also possible she has abadonned the cats/is not seeing to their welfare.

How long can cats survive without food?

Is this my business?

Kathy

[SunShineSally]

She could be on vacation and having someone stop by. I do that for my sister and I go early morning and late night for her cats. But with her history i would be worried. I would ask some neighbors to look out for her also then go from there. Poor Kitties I hope they are okay!

[kathymuggle]

I put a tiny piece of tape over her door. If it is off, hopefully that means someone is coming by. If it is still there tonight or tomorrow morning

[phatchristy]

Unlike humans cats can go substantially longer without water. Because our kidneys are rather inefficient at filtering out water, while cats are generally the opposite (hense why cat urine is so potent). I don't know if that makes you feel any better, and likely they can go weeks without food. Not that they should have to, but I remember a case where some cat got stuck in some cargo bin and was shipped overseas by accident and like a month or so later they discovered the cat thin but OK.

But, definitely if you think nobody is stopping by you could call animal control and find out the statutes. I don't know what is/is not illegal. I don't think it's unheard of for an owner to leave for a weekend and leave extra food/water out and an extra litter pan.

I don't get though, if the cats are so problematic, why she wouldn't have given them away by now if she really didn't care about them?

[Magali]

I understand how you feel concerned. But we just went on vacation for 8 nights and left our cats home alone with extra litter, tons of water and tons of food. Someone could have put tape on my door and it would have stayed there. But my cats were not in danger. The cats could all be in the bathroom because if not she could come home to lots of pee everywhere. Just because no one is coming to feed them doesn't mean they don't have any food in the bathroom with them. Can u see the cats? How do they look?

[kathymuggle]

Thanks for your replies. I am less inclined to jump to conclusions, but am still worried. I will research how long cats can go without food/water - thanks for the tip!

[Nicole915]

Originally Posted by phatchristy

Unlike humans cats can go substantially longer without water. Because our kidneys are rather inefficient at filtering out water, while cats are generally the opposite (hense why cat urine is so potent).

Yikes, this could not be farther from the truth. If I recall correctly (man school feels like it was a long time ago), there is very little deviation when it comes to how long different mammals can survive without fluids. This is why we end up with so many cats who need IV and SQ fluid supplementation. Dehydration in cats can escalate quickly. Any small animal internal med specialist can tell you that it is the FIRST thing we address, and that stabilizing hydration is key to many organs/systems.

I looked really quick on VIN for a study about water deprivation, but couldn't find anything, but if it of great interest to you you'll want to start with JAVMA and the AVMA, maybe even some of the supplemental journals that AAHA puts out.

Please contact your local ASPCA or Humane Society. They really are awesome at dealing with this sort of thing in a measured and rational way.

(I'm not your vet, this isn't medical advice)

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by Nicole915

Yikes, this could not be farther from the truth. If I recall correctly (man school feels like it was a long time ago), there is very little deviation when it comes to how long different mammals can survive without fluids. This is why we end up with so many cats who need IV and SQ fluid supplementation. Dehydration in cats can escalate quickly. Any small animal internal med specialist can tell you that it is the FIRST thing we address, and that stabilizing hydration is key to many organs/systems.

I looked really quick on VIN for a study about water deprivation, but couldn't find anything, but if it of great interest to you you'll want to start with JAVMA and the AVMA, maybe even some of the supplemental journals that AAHA puts out.

Please contact your local ASPCA or Humane Society. They really are awesome at dealing with this sort of thing in a measured and rational way.

(I'm not your vet, this isn't medical advice)

I only stated this from what I remembered a couple of vets stating on the TV...I don't know if you remember that case...where there was a cat stuck in a storage container for about a month (I think it was from a midwestern state and it travelled to France). They used that as the explanation. And, no, obviously no cat should be deprived of water at all. They do require less water (in general, of course you have elderly cats with compromised kidney function) and it's not unusual for some cats to not drink at all and get their liquids from their wet food.

[kathymuggle]

Ok - I drove by on my way home from work a while ago and one of the windows was closed. This means someone has gone in

This is what I found on the cat - water - food:

http://www.catchow.com/catcarecenter...mbinedID=21275

Apparently they can go a long while without food, but only several days without water