Do I Expect Too Much

As some of you know, I have been fostering kittens for around two years now. What that entails is that I will get a litter (or two) of underage kittens & feed, nurture and generally take care of them until they are ready to be adopted. When they reach 1kg in weight they then get returned, if they have enough room for them, desexed, and put up for adoption.

I have been doing this in conjunction with Blacktown Pound. I do this on a completely voluntary basis, and I pay for all food, litter, treats, bedding, toys etc. Over the last two years I've had, I think, 64 cats/kittens that I've looked after, I've spent thousands of dollars on them, countless hours playing & taking care of them, many vet visits, medicated and nursed the sick, treated them all as my own and loved them all unconditionally, cried when some had to be returned, and been extremely traumatised when one baby was terminally ill and had to be put to sleep.

So, a few days ago one of my own cats escaped. He's a big boy who has never been outside, other than our huge cattery that is attached to the house and accessed via a cat door. He is a timid cat, and scares easily. He does not like other people and will scurry & hide at the slightest sound. We saw him in one of the drains outside my neighbours property, but he's terrified & won't come out.

The pound has cat traps that they loan out to residents of Blacktown. I rang up and asked if I could borrow a cat trap. I was told that, no, I can't as I'm not a Blacktown resident. Despite all my work for the pound, they were unwilling to loan me one measly little trap. They know who I am, they know my ethics, they are quite happy for me to take their animals out of Blacktown area, but would do nothing at all to help me rescue my own animal. I was told to 'go hire one from Kennards Hire'. I am beyond disgusted.

The kicker is that I own property in Blacktown Council. More than one!

 

That’s just plain mean.
Wouldn’t cost them anything, and would help you out at a traumatic time.
Hope your cat comes home soon.
Can you tempt him out if the drain with food?
Marg

 

No, he's very scared. I've hired a cage from Kennards. It's old & rickety, but a friend has also loaned me one. I've caught a big fat black cat twice now, so they work....they just aren't working on our boy.

 

That does seem mean! Especially since you are one of their volunteers. I would be chatting with management there to let them know how you feel.

Would your local council have lent you a cat trap?

 

Unfortunately most of my contacts in BCC have retired or moved on (property people are useless for cat traps ).

(You could always request it for an IP - but you're too honest ).

 

sounds pretty mean spirited of that person at council.

if your cat is that timid he might be very wary of that rickety old trap.
can the RSPCA help at all with a better trap ?

hopefully he gets hungry and sneaks back home tonight.

oh and thank you for taking care of these abandoned animals. i am a supporter of the RSPCA and the efforts the volunteers put in.

 

Please keep helping the kittens.
Yes the Council are being twats.

 

I would expect that owning property in the area would be sufficient to get a trap - if not a resident, that is.

At the very least, I would be asking to see the written policy that drove the decision not to lend a trap to a volunteer.

 

I don't think you're expecting to much - can you ask someone else higher up the chain?

Many in government positions get a little "power hungry" over their own patch - and wield it in petty ways.

 

I think they are being petty tyrants. I can't believe even the people who know you said no

 

There's a hardware shop in Queen St St Marys, about half way up on the right hand side as you face the railway line.

I bought one from them a few years ago due to a cat problem I was having. Cost about $70. Keep the box it came in. I did and after I finished getting rid of the cats I tried to get a refund but the fella there was pretty stubborn so I exchanged the trap for some tools.

 

I don't think Penrith Council have any locally. I hired one, and a rescue from Bayside Sydney has loaned me one as well. I've also ordered my own from eBay, so awaiting delivery.

 

Nope, I lied & told them I was moving to one of mine....apparently that doesn't count either because it would be used outside of Blacktown. They are playing petty games, it seems.

 

Yes, got a better trap & another coming from eBay soon.

Needless to say, I no longer foster through Blacktown Council.......but I'm going to help a couple of rescues. In fact I have two at the moment that belong to a rescue group. They're only around 5 months old. They were kept in a cage at Blacktown ever since they came there, at around 8 weeks of age. The only attention they got was when they were scruffed to give medicine. They are petrified of people and the pound was going to euthanise them because they were 'hard to handle'. Will only come to me, but have the most gentle natures to them. You should have seen how happy they were, when they got let out of their cage. They would do well in a home with no other pets, and preferably a lady owner, as the pound hands were male. Hubby can't get near them, but they love me.

 

Oh, yes. This came from the co-ordinator of the foster program. A young lad of 25yrs old. I'm already in the bad books, because I've seen & heard things that aren't right....so I've been asking questions. They don't like you to ask questions.

As above. It came from a young lad. Hubby spoke to him and he was quite abrupt. When Hubby wanted the contact details of the manager he was told to send an email - to a generic address - so no guarantee that the right person would even see it. They are very good at ignoring you if you do, or say something they don't want you to.

 

@skater , what an awesome gesture you're doing. Cats are awesome (actually all animals are).

Like others have said, these people at Backtown Council are mean spirited and show no empathy.

You have a heart of gold.

 

Those people are plain mean! This is the problem with the red tape. They probably have a policy that is written by some bored person indicating that any items “can be used only by council residents “. Regardless. I still think it’s heartless and mean.

Did you try to ring the manager? Asking for manager sometimes does wonders.

 

I am not surprised - when a close relative died suddenly in Queensland I had to go and sort out his affairs, he had a cat which I could not take back home with me, I approached the local RSPCA and asked if they would take him, they refused and I had to take the him to the local vet and ask for him to put down, added to my distress at a bad time. Never felt the same about that organisation again ...

 

Just an update. Tommy is home! We came home last night & he was in the house. The little scamp dug a hole into the cattery & let himself back in, then he acted like he'd never left. Except he was a little skinnier than when he left & he ate a lot of food.

 

And he probably said "mrrreow".