# Neighbors cat got outside



## foxykitty911 (Oct 15, 2008)

My neighbor came to me yesterday wanting help(everybody knows I foster and work at a pet store) She has a year old female cat that got out of the house while she was in heat. Apparently the cat was gone for 2 weeks but is back home again. The poor girl is pretty scratched up, grimy, and has a wound on her back leg that looks like a dog bite. The lady refuses to take the cat to the vet but let me clean the wound and put some neosporin on it. 
Should my neighbor assume her cat is pregnant?


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Absolutely. She sounds pretty irresponsible to me...not spayed, won't go to the vet with an injured cat. Hopefully you can educate her a bit.


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## cjh27 (Feb 23, 2009)

Hi,

it would probably be best if the cat were to be spayed straight away, though I can imagine you'd have a **** of a time convincing the owner  . At least the cat is old enough and it wouldn't be a difficult teenager pregnancy.

So yes- the cats probably already pregnant and the real question would be how well the lady is prepared to rear a litter, get them dewormed and vaccinated and find good homes for the kittens. Would you be able to help her with this? Do you have any experience with cat births and rearing a litter?

Why has the cat not been spayed? Does she want to breed- or is she simply not aware that unspayed cats have a higher risk of developing an uterine infection called pyometra that can be live threatening?

Why don't you show her some links regarding the risks of not spaying your cat and try to convincer that way? 

http://tovet.blogspot.com/2007/11/pyometra-in-cat.html

http://www.maybeckvet.com/pyometra.html


Christine


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Oh, Geez! *slaps hand to forehead* Don't get sucked in like I did!

One of our neighbors had a tomcat. The man refused to get him neutered, even after I did all the leg-work and brought him the information about low-cost and free neutering. Of course, said tomcat would get into fights and have abcesses. Neighbor knew I was a cat-softy and fostered so called me to come over and see his cat. I looked at the cat, looked at the wound and I told my neighbor it needed to be cleaned but most importantly, it needed antibiotics to fight the infection and help the cat to heal: Veterinarian.

Even though I didn't do anything FOR him he still wouldn't take him to the vet and the poor cat took forever to heal. 
Much like you've done for your neighbor. 
Probably as far as they are concerned...the cat has been "treated" and they don't need to *gasp!* pay good money to a vet when they have you for free. This neighbor continued to call me everytime his cat got an abcessed wound. I finally got angry with him and told him in no uncertain terms that it would be illegal for me to advise and/or apply medical treatment (_supplies I keep for my own cats_) for his cat and he needed to just "man-up" and take his cat to the vet. Granted, he was begining to be a little inappropriate in his comments to me and that helped me decide to be brutally honest with him and that I was no longer going over there without my husband. The next few times he called about his cat and I took my husband AND told him to take his cat to the vet...he stopped calling me. 
He moved away last year and took his cat with him. I wish that cat good luck, he was a nice cat, as tomcats go.
h


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