Is it a sin to abandon a cat?

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JamalChristophr said:
Nailing down an innocent cat is beyond cruel, IMO. I hope you were just joking.
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Uhm . . . I’m assuming that this is tongue in cheek . . . “nailing down” was a reference to thoroughly defined western theology, as opposed to eastern theology which is satisfied with mystery.
AlNg said:
How did you put your cat to death?
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touche . . .

The hypothetical one went when I reached too far with my arms when my knees were bent, and probably disappeared into a black hole of logic . . . the real one was suffering constantly, and the vet told us that he would be subject to the painful infections (much like a brutal case of bronchitis) at least monthly with no chance of getting better. I didn’t ask my wife how the vet did it, but it was to end his suffering.
 
dochawk said:
the real one was suffering constantly, and the vet told us that he would be subject to the painful infections (much like a brutal case of bronchitis) at least monthly with no chance of getting better. I didn’t ask my wife how the vet did it, but it was to end his suffering.
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Sorry about that. It is always sad to lose a much loved pet.
 
Once you began feeding the cat, you accepted some responsibility for it. It would be sinful to neglect an animal under your care.

I found a stray wandering in front of the seminary by me some years ago. I could have ignored it as the animal was not my responsibility, but I took it home and adopted it out. It would have been irresponsible of me to stop caring for it after taking it into my home.
 
Since humans domesticated cats (and other animals), we do have a collective responsibility for their welfare.
 
The more I think about it, the more I wonder if we’re being trolled (even though we probably are not).

It just sounds like someone is willing to make a large effort … to make the situation worse.

Joking about the best way to euthanize an abandoned pet? I wear the not-funny face.

As for driving the pet to a distant park and then abandoning it again, I marvel. at the notion. We know, beyond all doubt, that the pet will freeze, will starve, and will suffer. Why do that?

If one is driving a car with a frightened but trusting pet in it, why wouldn’t the person drive to the shelter/pound?

Please understand I’m not trying to be unkind. We have all been there. I took a stray to the shelter, knowing that the odds were strong that it would be euthanized. I had to be forced to do so. But letting it die slowly and in some misery was not acceptable.

If you think you were disturbed by a hungry and homeless pet crying when you are trying to sleep, just think what you will feel when you continue to hear it crying in the night. You won’t be able to silence it. It would cry in your conscience. Every storm, you would wonder if it is still alive or did it finally, finally die. Every neighbor who asks you what happened will look at you with disgust at the answer, as if they found a bug in their food. When it does die, you won’t know it, so you won’t have any relief. And when that pet is Safe in the arms of Jesus, it will tell Him how it got there. That’s a seriously awful feeling.

And you don’t know beyond all doubt that the pound/shelter cannot find a new home for the pet. They know more people than you do. They have a network and advertising. It has a better chance with them than the other options already mentioned.

Yes, the original owners did a callous and cruel thing by abandoning a pet that trusted them. Apparently there’s no reasoning with them. We’re just hoping there is reasoning with the OP. (BTW, if it did get dumped in the park already, please do drive back there with some aromatic treat and get it back.)

But the reason the posters have been hard on the subject is that the proposed “dump it” solution actively increases the creature’s suffering. This isn’t zero-sum; it’s not neutral. It is making an investment in time and effort to make things worse for the pet. There’s no need.
“A man of kindness, to his beast is kind.
But, brutal actions, show a brutal mind:
Remember, He who made thee, made the brute,
Who gave thee speech and reason, formed him mute;
He can’t complain, but God’s omniscient eye
Beholds thy cruelty - He hears his cry!
He was designed thy servant; not thy drudge,
But know - That his Creator is thy judge.”
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We love animals here, and actually I think you love them too. You just haven’t been in this situation before.

Please keep us posted.
 
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If you can’t take the cat in, put an ad in the paper so it will hopefully, find a good home. Do NOT abandon it in a park or anywhere else. That’s cruel.

There are “no kill” shelters if you have to go that route.

We have 11 indoor cats and feed 6-8 neighborhood cats. I put the food outside and bring the bowl in whenever there are no cats around it.
 
My maternal grandma had a vicious housecoat. I don’t know that I ever fully recovered from the trauma.
 
It certainly can be grave matter. We are supposed to be good stewards of the planet and all its creatures.
It is a living thing, not something that should be treated as a piece if garbage.😡
 
The OP had nothing to do with the cat being abandoned in the first place, he now has a pest in his yard. Are we responsible for caring for every animal that is on our property? When does failure to do so constiitue a sin? Under which situation is it grave?
 
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How is the cat a pest, @tafan2? He isn’t. He’s just turning to the person who showed him kindness by feeding him when his owners moved away. (And we really don’t have the whole story there so shouldn’t judge them for their actions.)

Now that person, the OP, is tired of feeding him and is contemplating abandoning him in a park. How is abandonment of an innocent animal not a sin?
 
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It might be a sin, I never said it wasn’t. But not every sin is grave matter.

The description in the post sounds like it’s a best. It has attracted other stray cats, it is noisey, always begging for food (ok context counts on this one). But if I suddenly had several cats always around my house at night, I would consider them pests.

As for not the whole story, it seems rather complete to me. We can only assume it’s true and all of our answers are based on that assumption. If we don’t don’t assume truth on this forum, we can’t answer anything. Obviously if our assumption is wrong, our answers may be wrong.
 
Considering this a little further, I will accept the argument that one assumes a level of responsibility to a stray domesticated animal when one starts feeding it. Furthermore, abandoning it in the park is likely to cause some level of suffereing for the stray and possibly also cause a pest problem for someone else. So it is wrong, but not grave matter. I believe there would be no sin at all in taking it to a shelter, or having animal control pick it up.
 
If he was going to have such an issue, he shouldn’t have begun feeding it in the first place because the cat’s mind sees “Friend”. He doesn’t see “inconvenience for human.” He knows his family is gone and that he needs food and water. “Friend” has provided them. Now “Friend” needs to keep him or find a new home for him. Abandoning the cat is not the best thing for him.
 
Cross post, I agree with you on this point. Once someone feeds a stray, one is responsible for it to some extent. Of course, he likely did not realize or think about the issues he would end up with. So a shelter, even if it results in the animal’s humane death, is perfectly ok, IMO.
 
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We don’t have the whole story. The owners who didn’t take the cats with them. Why didn’t they take them? We don’t know that part of the story. Until we do, even assuming that they abandoned them is wrong.
 
Ok, I’ll agree with that. I just don’t think the rest of the story as to the previous owners is pertinent.
 
Please do not take it to a farm or anywhere out in the country. It will become prey for larger animals. Also farmers may have barn cats but they can not afford to feed every cat someone gets rid of. People in rural areas near me have been known to shoot cats that are dropped of on their property. They see that as better than starvation or dying of exposure or dying slowly from an infection caused by a fight.
If you dropped it off at my house in the country I would not feed it. I have a cat allergy and thhere will be no more cats when my two who are six and fifteen years old die.
 
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