Any resources? Want to keep foster cat

splunge · November 2010

Any one have any experience or recommended resources on this? Sorry for the long-ish post.

We have been fostering a cat since the end of June; the original verbal agreement was to keep the cat until the end of August.

The owner got in touch to pick up the cat on September 13, and didn't show. The owner sent a message on September 15 that he'd been "so busy" and wanted to come by that night. I responded that I was not home that evening but could we pick another time.

At that point we had grown attached to the cat but were ready to return the cat to its owner. We did not hear again from the owner until the past 2 days, when a date next week was suggested for pick-up. Now it has been 5 months and we would like to keep the cat. No other communication has been received from the owner other than the offers of pick-up: no inquiries as to the cat's health and well-being, no offers to drop off or pay for food/litter, and also we had offered to let the owner visit, which the owner did not do or express interest in.

For various reasons we have some concerns about the owner and would like to see if we have any legal rights in case the owner shows up at the building, calls NYPD, etc. Thanks for any insight.

modsquad2.0 · November 2010

NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURE & MARKETS LAW

Article 25B

ABANDONED ANIMALS

355. Abandonment of animals.

A person being the owner or possessor, or having charge or custody of an animal, who abandons such animal, or leaves it to die in a street, road or public place, or who allows such animal, if it becomes disabled, to lie in a public street, road or public place more than three hours after he receives notice that it is left disabled, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by both.

When do you want to start the 3 hours?

Tell this guy to go fuck himself

don't want kitty to get a second hand meth addiction.

http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AI/AI916.pdf

tsarina · November 2010

you are the best thing that ever happened to that cat. Microchip it and be the official new parent. Of course the previous owner will probably just get another cat, but If they lived without one for 5 months, they can worry about it themselves.

If you had picked up the kitty in the street, and took it to the shelter, the animal would have become property of the government and the original owner would have no recourse after 7 days. ( I had some jerk say I had his pit bull, after somebody stole it from him. But since the dog had been to the ACC and was never claimed, he now belongs to me legally and no one can claim him.)

I know this is definetly different. but still he abandoned the animal.

dawnc · November 2010

I don't know anything about the legal stuff but as a pet owner ( which to me holds all the emotional commitment and responsability of being a parent ) I did foster out my two cats to trusted friends for a period of time many years ago, due to circumstances beyond my control, but I visited them every week and paid for all food and vets bills untill I was able to provide them with a home again. It broke my heart and I missed them dearly. I can not imagine being this indifferent to my pets being back home ASAP. I would worry about how well these people would treat an animal with this kind of attittude. I say fight your corner. This person does not deserve this animal. You know it is so much better off with you.

bohuma · November 2010

Quite honestly, if the original owner has not had that much contact, you might have good grounds for keeping the kitty, but it's going to be a tricky situation, especially if the other party is a friend, relative, close neighbor, or otherwise is someone you are going to be interacting with on an ongoing basis.

Call the Center for Animal Care and Control to see if they know where you stand legally. Remember, that just because you have the law on your side, doesn't mean that you should flip that switch.

This is one lucky kitty if there are multiple parties wanting him/her to be in their lives.

leozoeypiper · November 2010

I think that it would be considered abandonment at this point. Were you fostering for an organization or for an individual? Rescuers like this often give all rescuers a bad name.

splunge · November 2010

Thanks for all the responses.

Tsarina, we are planning to microchip the cat.

DawnC, the fact that the person who gave us the cat to foster has never checked in on the welfare of the cat - not even a "how is the cat doing?" - nor checked to see what food/litter/any other expenses might be is a big deal as far as we're concerned in determining the actual interest in regaining _this_ cat, as opposed to a possession.

Bohuma, it is indeed a lucky kitty. There are so many who need homes. We ended up with the cat right before we were going to head to ACC to find a new member of the family, after having had one go to the great catnip field in the sky in March. We might do that as well, yet. And any inquiries about legal status were mostly to self-protect in case the person who gave the cat to us (who is not someone I'm in contact with anymore and have no interest in any contact with) flipped that switch, not to invoke that first.

Leozoeypiper, we were fostering for an individual.

Thanks again to all for the comments and support!

bohuma · November 2010

In that case, if former owner contacts you again, just say that kitty is well settled and you are going to keep him/her. Said former owner could possibly complain to the police, who have a lot more important things to do than recover a cat from a negligent owner, so will quickly tell them they have no case. They might then try lawyers, but no lawyer is going to take this case without a healthy retainer and advice that the courts in NY are only likely to award damages for the value of a cat, maybe $25 (the cost of adopting one or two cats from the NYC Center for Animal Care and Control (http://www.nycacc.org/).

The NYCACC's summary of humane laws suggests that to treat the kitty as abandoned, you have to give the former owner notice to remove the kitty, and you can treat kitty as abandoned if they fail to remove kitty within 10 days. Clearly you don't want to give them notice, so just say you're keeping kitty and leave the next move up to the former owner.

stacey · November 2010

If I am not mistaken, this might fall under a civil matter. NY considers pets "property" and in this case two parties entered into a contract and one defaulted which means they have to sue you for the return of the cat.

I hope it all works out!

Any resources? Want to keep foster cat

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