Pet Ethics

[thecrabking]

My father-in-law started dating a woman who is allergic to animals so he asked if we could take in his cat.  I did not want another pet for many, many reasons (1) but agreed to allow it to live on our porch temporarily after a bit of influence from my wife.  Of course cat ends up in the house, because Winter is coming and humans are weak.  Recently

Comments

[auroragirl]

Your mom should pay for the cat's expenses, if she's the one who wants to keep him. Have you tried tick collars or other forms of tick repellents on the cat? Or just not letting the cat out? I'm sure it didn't get to go out much in Manhattan! (Or take him for walks/put him on a leash with a harness, if he must go out, so he can't get into deep grass?)

[thecrabking]

Thank you Aurora for the response!

My finances are sort of tied up with mom being that she's technically supposed to pay 1/3rd of the bills, but if she doesn't have enough money then I'll pick them up.

We have tried flea and tick collars, and our next attempt will be either Frontline or their competitor (Advantix or something like that.) We're currently researching which will be better.

The cat spent most of its life in PA at the house which is now my father-in-law's. It is a primarily outdoor cat. Believe it or not, he was allowed outside in Manhattan. They had a back window and lot out there.

Another idea is shaving him, but they say white cats can be very prone to sunburn and skin cancer. The ticks might still bite him, but they wouldn't be so hard to detect, so we could more reliably tick check him.

[danielm80]

You should adapt this story into an independent film: A sick cat brings out the tensions in an unconventional family. Or you could turn it into a reality show. Either way, it's guaranteed to make tens of dollars.