Is it a sin to abandon a cat?

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It does sound like this is an abandoned pet. Pets are different because they are often not able to fend for themselves - they don’t have the skills. They’re used to being fed and aren’t that good at catching food for themselves.

Definitely take the cat to the shelter. Even if it does get put down it’s at least as humane a death as we can manage. You can also look up cat rescue groups in your area (facebook often has some) and ask if any of them know someone who would take it on as a foster.
 
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There are likely laws against dumping animals in a public park. This would be a just law. We are to obey just laws.

Contact Animal Control or another animal rescue organization. They will come and trap the cats and humanely care for them.
 
In our rural community we have a problem with people dropping cats off and now these cats are considered wild and unable to be domesticated. It has become so bad that our community has had to put together a certain group of people, or a department beyond Animal Control, to call when one of these cats is found or becomes a problem. They come and get the cat, get it either spade or neutered and then put it back into the environment it has sadly become used to.

I agree with TheLittleLady, I would call Animal Control or the like.
 
You should call your local Animal Control for advice and assistance.
 
Usually it’s illegal to do what you’re describing to do

Most states require you to take it to an animal shelter. You’re not a liscensed professional who deals with animals.

Bokbok
 
Cats are not the problem, irresponsible people are.
If you have a cat for a pet it should be spayed/neutered and live indoors only.

Barn cats should also be spayed/neutered.

To be honest, I am appalled at some of the answers on this thread. Cats are living creatures who do not deserve to be treated like garbage. Find a shelter or a rescue.
 
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Allegra said:
There are no charities or organizations that will come to your house and pick up feral cats. Cat rescue organizations are for established pets and have no interest in feral cats.
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This isn’t true at all.

It’s quite normal for humane societies to host spaying and neutering for feral cats. Animal control can pick them up, although trapping them and bringing them in may be more of a guarantee.

The cat in the OP is not feral, however. It is a domestic cat that has been abandoned by a previous owner. To abandon him in the wild would be an act of cruelty.
 
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I had a next door neighbor, little granny a la tweety and granny type. She had a beautiful ragdoll kitty. She passed away. Her daughter, who executed the estate, fixed up and sold the house, and just abandoned that beautiful animal. I took the kitty in, and she had several years of loving care. The kitty passed away about 3 or so years ago now.
 
They would find rodents and birds, but cats are not native to our ecosystem. (At least where I live.) Most people don’t want cats eating their pretty songbirds or taking up prey from endangered owls, etc. The main reason that people feed birds is to attract them to their yard to they can look at them and enjoy them. There are some species of birds that actually do suffer due to too many humans in their habitat, but for the most part, they don’t really need bird feeders. There’s some argument that feeding them can actually harm them in the long run.
 
THis absolutely is true. Believe me. I’ve spent HOURS on the phone with anyone I could find, trying to get rid of these cats. The humane society will accept (and euthanize) feral cats that you catch yourself, but they will not come out and fetch them for you. “Animal Control” in my area is the police department. Same deal. They’ll pick up an animal if you caught it for them and have it in a cage or trap. If it’s a big enough animal, they’ll come and shoot it. THey don’t shoot cats unless they look rabid. THey don’t catch them either. SOme organizations will rent you traps at about $30 a pop. There are some organizations who fix and release, but they charge the person who collected the cat.
 
Unfortunately, there’s a grey area between a “pet” cat that hasn’t seen the inside of the house in five years, but is fed by a person regularly, and a feral cat. An “outdoor” cat is more or less a feral cat, if it never comes into the house. IT sort of sounds like the neighbor had a feral cat it was feeding, but maybe not. This is part of the reason many municipalities have ordinances against putting food out for cats. YOu don’t get to “halfway own a cat”. Either it’s your pet and you are responsible for it, or it’s a feral cat and a nuisance to the neighborhood.
 
Is it a sin to abandon a cat?

PETA would sure think so! It would be a cardinal sin to them. They’d probably have you put in front of a firing squad if they thought they could get away with it! 😉
 
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As a cat lover I have to say how inhumane and irresponsible it was of your neighbors to leave their kitty behind. There are pet rescue shelters that you should take him to for his own safety and well being
 
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Your exact quote was:
There are no charities or organizations that will come to your house and pick up feral cats. Cat rescue organizations are for established pets and have no interest in feral cats.
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This may be true in your own area, but it isn’t true in my own area and in many other cities. So a generalization isn’t fair, especially when the OP still needs to research the matter for him/herself.

The OP hasn’t checked in, though. For all we know, there’s an abandoned domestic kitty in the woods somewhere. 😦
 
My comments from a cat rescue perspective:
  1. If a cat has been living primarily as a house pet with humans feeding it, then it is inhumane to put it outside and expect it to catch its own food as it may not be able to do so and may well just starve to death. Kittens who grow up feral are taught to kill prey by their mothers. Kittens who grow up as pets are not so taught.
  2. Some countries (example: Israel, Syria) are relatively friendly towards the idea of cats just wandering around living off garbage cans and whatever food humans put out. However, the USA is not friendly to this, and cats living wild are at risk of being killed either by people in the neighborhood where they wander, or by animal control.
  3. Any cat wandering around anyplace in the developed world is also at risk from automobiles, other animals, and people looking for animal cruelty targets.
  4. Putting a cat outside who is not neutered or spayed is to me a huge sin of poor stewardship in that it will compound the problem by breeding more cats. Many if not most or all places in USA have low-cost spay and neuter available and in many places it is also the local law that your animal must be fixed unless you have a breeder exception.
  5. I personally would never put out a cat as I would consider it irresponsible and bad stewardship. However, I have done a lot of cat rescue and kind of arranged my life to have the resources to look after cats. I have a lot of networks to turn to should I have a cat problem. I note that it is not always a simple matter of taking the cat to a no-kill shelter because many such shelters are always full or have some pretty tough restrictions on which cats they can take. Nor is advertising the cat on Craigslist or bulletin boards a great idea because you are likely to attract adopters who pretend they want a pet cat but in reality plan to use it as pit bull bait or otherwise harm it.
If it were me I would take the cat indoors (no more problem with cats hanging out in your yard), get it fixed, and either keep it or network it on Facebook in my trusted circles to get it a good home if I could not keep it. I wouldn’t just dump it out in the country as it sounds like a pet cat, it might not survive, and if it did it would just become someone else’s problem. My friend on a farm has taken in about 3 dumped cats already this year but many cats aren’t so lucky.
 
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Actually, that is only two sentences that were written in the context of a paragraph that was clearly describing my own experience in dealing with the issues of feral and stray cats in my area. If you believe there are organizations in your area who are willing to travel to where the OP lives, feel free to PM him. Heck, PM me, just in case the cats come back!
 
To repeat, you’re talking about feral cats; the OP is dealing with an abandoned domestic cat - very different cases. If the OP provides a location, (or if you do!), I’d be happy to help. 🙂
 
I’ll call you back if the cats return! I’m hoping they are gone for good though. The cat feeders in the subdivision have been dealt with and we haven’t had issues with cats or raccoons since.
 
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