Losing your pets is never easy, especially if they’ve been with you their entire lives and since your childhood. That’s why one woman in Florida was left shattered after she lost her cat, but what’s infuriating about her cat’s death is that it could’ve easily been prevented because the rehoming shelter in which she gave the cat simply euthanized the poor feline, supposedly without giving any warning.
This particular misfortune occurred to Reddit user Technical-Pick-2243 from Florida, who posted her story to the r/extremelyinfuriating subreddit. According to the Reddit user, her parents lost their home while she was away in college, and they had to give her two cats, named Tigger and Paws, to a “no-kill” shelter for rehoming. Her post was titled “shelter euthanized my cat for no reason.”
While Tigger was quickly listed on the shelter’s website for adoption, Paws, a 14-year-old tomcat, was seemingly neglected. Hence, the Reddit user called the shelter, only to be shocked that they had euthanized Paws after less than a month. It’s not clear why the shelter went with this decision, but some of the comments have speculated that Paws was too old to be adopted.
“My guess is elderly animals are difficult to adopt out and they gave him a couple of weeks with no interest and made the decision,” speculates a commenter. Still, the Reddit user claims that there was nothing wrong with Paws, “The shelter required a health exam and everything before they took the cats, so I know he was healthy,” she claims.
People Online Have Clarified What “No-Kill” Shelters Mean
The other cat, Tigger, was successfully rehomed and adopted by himself. However, this went against the Reddit user’s wishes, as she specifically wished for the shelter that Tigger and Paws were “extremely bonded” and that the shelter even promised they “would be rehomed together.” To add more to the Reddit user’s grief, the shelter didn’t inform her of the euthanization, “I just wish they would’ve at least like told us so we could be there with him :(.”
While the grieving former cat owner has claimed that the establishment she gave Paws and Tigger to was a “no-kill” shelter, some commenters have clarified that it’s a rather technical term. “‘No kill’ generally just means that animals are not euthed for space and that the shelter has at least a 90% live release rate (meaning 90% of animals are adopted out). animals in these shelters are still euthed for health and behavioral concerns,” explains another Reddit user.
Some have clarified that the Reddit user has actually lost the right to information on her pets the moment her parents signed them over for rehoming. “Your parents chose to surrender their cats to a shelter, and no matter how great a shelter, all animals experience stress and problems upon sheltering,” says one commenter. Hence, for pet owners, the Reddit user’s predicament has become a cautionary tale on what to expect when rehoming senior animals.
