Today, for the second time in less than a year, I had buyers move into a new (to them) home and inherit the previous owners cats.
This was not part of the contract, in fact, the contract specified that the seller was to take ALL their personal belongings.
I have had this happen one time before where the seller insisted the cat wasn't his, then on the way out of town stop by my office and leave the cats medicine and special cat food.
Hello... guess whose problem this became? The new owner did not want a cat. The buyer purchased the seller's home...that's it, no personal belongings, no animals. I trapped the very frightened cat, and took it to our local cat shelter that has a "no kill" policy. The cats are very well cared for for a small donation.
If a seller doesn't want to take their cat(s) with them, then they need to put it in the contract that the house comes with it's own animals, or, they need to make other arrangements--how about taking your animals with you?
Leaving them for the new owner is not good manners.
Now, on Monday, someone has to deal with three unwanted cats left by a seller who has moved out of the area. Hmmm....who should this task fall to? In a perfect world, the cat owner, but in reality, it's going to be my buyer and me. How very sad for these lovely animals.
Thank you for stopping by. Your comments on this post are welcomed and appreciated.
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This blog breaks my heart. The picture of that cat is the spitting image of one of mine. Leaving behind an animal is like leaving behind one of your children - you don't do it. Even shelters with no kill policies have to some times kill. I wish more people understood that.
To me it's the job of the cat's owner to make sure that his animal is taken care of. I'm a pushover and have adopted several cats that previous owners left behind. I had one cat that was so fearful that it took almost a year for him to realize that he really had a home and someone that treated him right. One day I just noticed that the fear was gone from his eyes. It was replaced with a calmness and a look that I can only describe as gratitude. It was weird and powerful; I'll never forget it.
I don't know that there is an answer to this horrible problem - education I guess. What ever happened to responsibility!
It really sucks that people could be so cruel. If they do not want the animals they should have the decency to find them homes. Many states have laws against abandoning animals.
Good luck.
My husband and I went to visit my new clients last night and all three cats were trying to get in the house. It broke their hearts and ours as well. We already have two cats and so do they. It's pretty crumby that we're dealing with this. I DON"T LIKE TAKING CATS TO THE CAT SHELTER.
Judging by the comments, no one else would like it either.
Patsy,
Unfortunately the new owners have two cats of their own who are afraid to go outside because of the 3 cats the seller's left there. The buyers do not want anymore cats (I had five cats when all five kids lived at home and it's a bit much) so tomorrow morning we are taking the cats to the shelter. Our cat shelter has a lot of wonderful volunteers that love on the cats.
Today is the day I will have to take care of this. I will keep you all posted and say a prayer it all goes smoothly.
Fran:
Bless your heart for having to deal with this awful mess. It breaks my heart to know that those cats were abandoned by the very people they relied on for their well being and their very lives. I am a BIG cat lover and have spent quite a bit of time volunteering at two different no-kill cat shelters. Most shelters are overloaded with abandoned animals - it's heartbreaking. I also own two cats, but could not take on any more as my husband is actually allergic. We somehow manage with the two, but I'm afraid that any more hair in our house could be disastrous. So I can certainly understand how the new home owners are not wanting to own five cats.
I hope and pray that your local shelter will be able to find a home (preferably all three together). Mostly likely they will have to split up. But as long as they get good homes, that is what matters.
Please let us know how things go!
Katy,
I will keep you posted. My buyer had a family emergency yesterday, so the cat situation was put on hold.