A person living near the Penns Woods Inn Manheim, USA, thinks that guests of the hotel abandon their cats at the hotel. He has a seen an increase in stray cats. These are domestic and sometimes declawed cats.
“People come there and bring pets, including cats. But when the people leave, they don’t take their cats with them…” (Ken Kaylor)
This story caught my eye. What is going on? Is this is a new phenomenon? Are people checking into the hotel, which allows pets, specifically to dump their cats? What is going through the minds of people who leave their cats behind at the hotel?
Message to Americans: I am simply reporting what I read in the online American press1 and discussing it. It is interesting to any person, anywhere, who likes and cares about cats. I am being as polite and as objective as possible.
The pictures of the hotel show me that it is made up of semi-detached or terraced bungalows (single story cabins) spread across quite extensive grounds. On the face of it, it is a good place to let your cat go walkabout. Perhaps guests let their cats out to explore the grounds and they get lost or don’t come back. Then the cat’s owner gives up and drives off. Great!
Perhaps it is careless rather than callous behavior by cat owners who are travelling through Manheim and staying at this hotel, which incidentally receives a very poor customer rating. Customer reviews say the place is filthy dirty and needs decorating. The showers don’t have hot water. It appears to be badly managed. It may have a reputation as a place to dump your cat for all I know.
Ken Kaylor’s statement indicates that people deliberately leave their cats behind at the hotel. If that is the case you’d have to believe that some people come to the hotel with the idea in mind of abandoning their cat at the hotel. I would very much doubt that it would be a spur of the moment decision.
If that is true, it is both bizarre and horrible and demonstrates a complete lack of probity and morality. It really is treating the domestic cat as a consumer “product” that can be discarded at will. Clearly they are not fit to keep cats or any companion animal.
Source:
- My Manheim Central News (note: I don’t provide hard links because they often break and I have to repair them. I don’t have the time to do that.
Yes they should have CCTV Marc, you are right.
Just this week Marion CP has had to take a poorly kitten in to care for, on top of Chester’s high maintenance needs
(he’s being awkward about anyone touching him now he’s feeling better lol) and all the other kittens she has in care right now. A woman had got 3 kittens from the same litter from a friend, then saw a white one advertised, it was £60 but she just had to have a white kitten too.
But the poor little soul became ill and she decided she didn’t want it after all and the person who sold her it wouldn’t take it back. So what if that kitten has infected the other 3, no doubt she will expect Marion to take them too and pay vets bills etc.
Of course she would never dream of giving a donation to CP.
People like her are just so thoughtless and irresponsible!
That’s horrible – how can people be so cruel – they seem to think a cat is a wild animal who can just manage immediately from one day to the next, on their own. It should be seriously punishable. Cat boarding houses should have cctv so they catch the people dropping cats off on video don’t you think – it might help catch them but I guess they wouldn’t get in much trouble even if caught?
I totally agree. I know we set standards (as mentioned to VG) but I don’t think it is too high a standard to get rid of the TV or the car before the cat. That appears to be a crazy idea to a lot of people.
As you say, Ruth, Cats Protection understand this and make sure their adopters have the home and mentality to care properly for a cat. A lot of these people are never committed to caring for the cat for life. I think the economic downturn can sometimes be a convenient excuse to get rid of the cat.