My childhood cat died today. His name was Fluffy. The cat I’m talking about died today at the ripe age of eight years old. "Eight years old" and "childhood cat" are in the same sentence because I am 17 and he was my first cat. He lived in this very apartment for the seven out of eight years of his life. Last summer, he was leaving a lot of fur around, and my mom didn’t like that. You know, during the summer, cats leave a lot of fur around because they’re preparing for the hot temperatures. I have another house at the countryside, and my parents built, like, a small cage for the cats (Fluffy was the dad of 3 kittens) They moved Fluffy and the kittens there for the summer. My mom said that she would bring Fluffy back after the summer ends. That never happened. It’s nearing the end of January, and he was still there. I told mom a million times to bring him back (after summer ended), because even though his breed is a Norwegian forest breed, which would imply that his natural habitat is in a forest, in the wild, outside, he lived all of his life in an apartment. He’s not built or ready for the outside. She kept giving me three reasons that made no sense to me. First, she was complaining about the fur, which was the main reason why she moved him there. My response to that was always the fact that I can just vacuum the house for like 15 minutes and the fur is gone. It’s so easy to get rid of fur around the house. And that was MY job anyway, so she didn’t have to worry about it. The second reason she gave me was that he wasn’t vaccinated. The third reason was that he wasn’t neutered. Fluffy used to get very horny a lot of the time, if you know what I mean. And that was an issue, since he wasn’t the only cat in the house. Those last two reasons could be so easily solvable with a simple visit to the vet. All we had to do was take him to the vet and both of those things would have been resolved all in one visit. It woulda been this easy. And for those three reasons, she kept him there. I think the only reason why she didn’t bring him back is because of the fur. But it’s still stupid because I was taking care of it anyway and it’s not even as difficult as she made it seem. Fluffy ended up staying there over the autumn and the winter. And right now, today, he died. My mom went to the countryside and found him dead in there. It’s really sudden as well because two days ago, I also went to the countryside and he was fine. I took a lot of pictures with him and saw him being good and well. And two days after, A.K.A. today, he was just found dead all of a sudden. He probably had some issues that came from this outside world that he wasn’t used to, being an indoor cat. It was probably something that made him sick and he didn’t show any signs. So then he died. So that brings me to my question again.
NTA. Your mom is responsible. I’m sorry for your loss.
I don’t understand this cage out in the countryside situation.
Are there people in the house that are feeding and watering the cat in the cage every day? Of course it’s going to die if there is no one checking on it daily. It’s consider torture of the animal to leave it like that in my state. If there are people caring for it outside every day and it’s living in what is essentially a catio, who knows whether or not living at home would have caught a curable condition.
Either way – your mom wasn’t bringing the cat back and just didn’t want to tell you that.
NTA, I’m sorry for your loss 🙁
ESH. Cats need vet visits and vaccines and to be neutered. Don’t get more cats.
Your mom is responsible. She knowingly let a cat that wasn’t neutered or vaccinated run around the countryside. This is very irresponsible. She shouldn’t have pets. Are you sure the cat died and she didn’t rehome him? It sounds like she never wanted the cat. I’m sorry this happened to you. Pet loss is devastating. It seems like you did everything you could to convince you mother to stop neglecting the cat.
NTA – Sorry that’s heartbreaking. Once you’ve move out and gotten your own place remember this feeling when she tries to guilt trip you into visiting.
INFO
But what about the kittens? OMG, what about the kittens?
ETA
This story doesn’t make sense. Your mother made daily trips from the apartment to the “house” in the “countryside” to feed the cats and chickens?
ESH. Don’t own cats if you aren’t willing to vaccinate and neuter/spay. If it’s your cat and it was clear your mother wasn’t going to do either and PUT AN INDOOR CAT OUTSIDE why didn’t you do anything about it?
You couldn’t get a job or borrow money for the vet? You couldn’t rehome the cat into a better situation?
I’ll admit, I had an indoor/outdoor cat growing up, a tamed barn kitten. But she was indoor/outdoor her whole life, spayed and vaccinated every year (illegal not to here). Luckily, she didn’t go after birds because there were enough mice and voles around the house (rural area). She had a great life and lived to 21.
I’m 17, man. What can I do more? I repeatedly asked her to bring him back. It feels like I would’ve had a better chance asking a cinder block wall. I can’t take him on my own since I’m european and can’t drive a car yet. My sister is studying in another country and my dad couldn’t give 2 damns, along with the fact that he’s a sailor and not even home 70% of the year. Fluffy was the family’s cat, not mine specifically, and since my mom is older than other mothers of teenagers my age, she rules. Eastern european shit.
you shouldn’t leave a cat in a cage or pen without food for long time. Heartless.
What was your actual role in caring for this cat? Did this cat live with you?
Feeding it, loving it, cleaning after its mess, including the poop. Wdym by “live with you”? Yeah it lived with me, for a whole 7 years. In this apartment. Sometimes he even slept with me in my bed, or even on top of me.
And how could you be at a house in the countryside, when you were with the cat?