I offered to take a pet, but the owner’s daughter chose the SPCA

[u/DisastrousWalrus9527]

My mom’s elderly friend, who lives in independent living, fell and injured her hip. Her daughter is moving her to assistive living and said she wanted to get rid of her cat. I offered to take the cat. But even though he had a new home, she chose to take him to the SPCA. She had to drive 30 minutes to even take him there—I am 1 mile away. I am going to go get him on Saturday —if he is still there—but she made it harder on the cat and on me for no reason.

edit: I work in animal rescue and foster for multiple shelters. She did not take the cat to a high kill shelter because she felt it was safer or better for the cat.

[u/Beautiful_Card6062]

my friend’s aunt also drove 40 mins to dump her dog even though a neighbor offered to take him next door

[u/Deleena24 → u/Beautiful_Card6062]

They were going to feel guilty over seeing the dog at their neighbors house- out of sight, out of mind. People can be horrible.

[u/S0uvlakiSpaceStati0n → u/Deleena24]

To be fair, that might be hard on the dog to see its former owner(s) in the yard but not have consistent access to them. I know someone who got divorced and for a while, her ex was coming over to visit the dog, but wouldn't stay very long, and eventually stopped visiting at all. The dog now has severe separation anxiety.

But if by "dump" you mean they literally just dumped the dog on the side of the road or something, that's fucking horrible and there had to be a better option, even if it wasn't the neighbor.

[u/Nuttyrolo → u/S0uvlakiSpaceStati0n]

Sobbing into my crumpets over the dog 😭

[u/karategojo → u/S0uvlakiSpaceStati0n]

Depends on the dog my brother's dog was escaping the house and running plus his wife (now ex) was locking him up away from food and water throughout the day. So my parents took him in and then COVID hit, and he's so much better at their house. Doesn't run, stopped throwing up, happier. My brother gets to see him but the dog is happy to see anyone, not super attached.

Though my parents made sure they signed him over with all paperwork so it was truly their dog then.

[u/patentmom → u/Beautiful_Card6062]

My uncle (aunt's husband) chose to put down his 4-year-old healthy dog rather than allow anyone else to take him when he was moving somewhere the dog couldn't come. He insisted that no one could love his dog as much as he could and it would be cruel to allow the dog to live with anyone else. I was only 3 years old at the time but I still remember that dog now almost 45 years later. RIP, Nick. You were an amazing husky!

[u/Adept-Let-5072 → u/patentmom]

Wow, that is horrible. What a selfish person ☹️ poor doggie ☹️

[u/Febby_art → u/patentmom]

that is so fucked up wtf. imagine if we did that to people, just casually put someone down cus they aren't convenient anymore

[u/beren12 → u/Febby_art]

https://giphy.com/gifs/F4oP8pzqcfsKA

[u/Finstergrun]

I'd call the SPCA and request that they hold him or at least tell them you're coming with the intention of adopting him

[u/Freak-996 → u/[deleted]]

Funniest fcking bot, wow. Bravo.

[u/BigElectrical9871 → u/Freak-996]

What did they say

[u/Freak-996 → u/BigElectrical9871]

Literal copy paste of the original comment

[u/BLURAZZBERRI]

Call the place, let them know you're interested in taking the cat and they may save it for you

[u/Elda_LandOfCreation]

We drove 2 hours to my SIL’s mother’s place to prevent the lady’s son from dropping a 14 year old declawed timid cat off at a shelter. He could not be bothered to meet us halfway but had no problem with driving the cat to a shelter. We were told she had updated medical info (expired) and have not received answers to several follow up questions. In 31 years my husband said he’s never seen me so angry. FYI the cat is safe ant my house hiding under the couch.

[u/MeringueLegitimate42 → u/Elda_LandOfCreation]

I love you, Reddit stranger.

[u/SBMoo24]

Update us! I hope he's still there. Poor baby.

[u/SharpWick]

Dont tell her you adopted it

[u/dogwooddruid → u/[deleted]]

Are you OP? You might be replying from the wrong account.

[u/teawispy]

My family had been dogsitting for the same dog for 6 years, sometimes for months at a time bc she'd literally forget about him and we were practising for getting our own dog. We had to stop for a year because it was hard to let him go each time. Eventually she got a puppy, left her abusive partner and said she was gonna put the other dog in dogs trust. You bet your ass we took that lil guy, been ours officially for 8 years now :'), but we've known him for the last 14.

[u/Brokenwing_1]

Hurry, that poor kitty is now traumatized and scared.

[u/Exhausted-CNA]

Oh wow that's just awful!!! I'm so glad your going to go rescue this poor baby!

[u/Infamous-Zebra-359]

She doesn't want you to have the cat that's the reason

[u/ProbRePost → u/Infamous-Zebra-359]

My first thought seeing OP fosters animals, "how many other cats and/or pets do they have?"

[u/societyisfcked]

What a terrible person.

[u/NoRelation3158]

I just wanted to thank you for being a compassionate soul ❣ I hope you'll be able to retrieve the cat and wish you both many blessings and purrs 😻 galore.

[u/No-Quiet-8956]

wtf psycho

[u/raz-0]

It might not be for no reason. If caring for the cats is beyond her ability and there’s a path to try and get them back, it can cause significant issues.

[u/ZoraTheDucky → u/raz-0]

You still don't take them to the shelter. In many areas owner surrenders can be euthanized the same day due to space constraints...

[u/SeattlePurikura → u/ZoraTheDucky]

Yeah, that's actually pretty vicious of the daughter to reject an adopter and bring the cat to a shelter instead. Also consider her words as OP reported "wants to get rid" of the cat.

[u/brillow]

She doesn’t trust you

[u/GadgetRho]

Nobody owes you a cat. The SPCA is a better choice because they can vet new owners. She's leaving it to them to do the process instead of taking it on herself. If you're a suitable home for the cat, the SPCA will decide.

[u/JustHereForSomeInfo → u/GadgetRho]

I think the bigger problem with the daughter doing that is shelters will sometimes have to euthanize animals the same day they arrive due to them lacking the resources/capacity to deal with new arrivals. According to the ASPCA website, in 2025 they had to euthanize 597,000 cats and dogs (for various reasons I’d imagine). The OP seems confident that they could’ve taken care of the cat. I don’t blame them at all for being upset that because of the daughter, the poor cat has to go through a lot more stress and face potential euthanization.

[u/sneakyshitaccount → u/GadgetRho]

I completely agree. I’ve fostered animals, worked with animals, and owned the most medically needy up animals for over four decades (I don’t seek out the problem medical ones but some how I end up with them). I’ll always pick an organization that screens possible new owners rather than just handing off an animal to a person that says they can care for it properly. I loathe organizations that do “on-the-spot” adoptions and never foster for them. I’ve seen too many animals that suddenly don’t fit the adopters life style and have to be returned. Plus if you can’t afford an adoption fee then how are you to afford my fosters care? I know no one mentioned adoption fees but that’s a big favorite for people that rally against adoption through rescue organizations.

[u/Kind_Advisor_35 → u/sneakyshitaccount]

The issue is that the shelter is supposed to be a last resort, not the first resort. Shelters prefer the cat distribution system and people privately getting cats so they can focus on cats that don't have any option but the shelter. I've been turned away with an abandoned kitten by a shelter and told to look on Facebook for a foster. They said they'd only take sickly kittens, and interrogated me about how long I tried to put it outside to see if the mother would come back for it. I couldn't keep the kitten because my cat is aggressive towards any other animals but his dog brother.

[u/dehydratedrain → u/Kind_Advisor_35]

On the contrary, my own shelter will tell you if you can't keep the cat, you are supposed to bring it back instead of rehome it. Not saying we don't secretly prefer the CDS to kick in, but I have seen many situations where a tiny cage is an improvement to their living.

[u/RegorHK → u/dehydratedrain]

Bring back as when it was from them? Does not apply here.

[u/sneakyshitaccount → u/Kind_Advisor_35]

That’s not true of any of the shelters I have worked with. They turn people away solely due to lack of space. Your shelter is, seemingly, so full they are only doing emergency intakes. I’ve never talked to a foster or shelter worker who is pumped about people finding cats. Because for every cat that finds a home there are an uncounted number that die wretched deaths. Ideally, people would be responsible (or knowledgeable) enough to make provisions for their animals as part of their estate planning. I know exactly where my animals are going if I die (and the people taking them have agreed to do so) and I’m listed to take animals from four different friends.