← Back to u/Pechorine

Need advice: How to deal with someone close to you making poor pet-ownership decisions

My close friend's family got three kittens about 3 months ago. They are first time pet owners. They live in a middle-class neighborhood near San Francisco. About a month ago I was very shocked to hear they started letting the cats roam the neighborhood without collars on.

I grew up in the country so having outdoor animals was the norm, but I would be very hesitant to let a cat roam a suburban neighborhood on its own, let alone without a collar! I told her this and she was like "Its fiiiiine, all my friends who had cats growing up did let their cats roam freely and they never ran away."

Three weeks ago the family took the cats to get microchipped but apparently DURING THE VISIT one of the cats escaped BEFORE they could get microchipped. They put up fliers and all that but the cat hasn't been found a month later. I was so sad to hear this and I told her she should have put a collar on her cats and she got pissed at me.

Then just today I found out they had been letting the two remaining cats stay outside EVERY NIGHT. And sure enough, today one cat never came back. The missing cat is microchipped but not collared, so for it to be IDed someone would have to turn it into a vets office to be scanned. Also its a particularly beautiful cat so I would not be surprised if someone stole it.

Anyway I feel like I'm going crazy!! I told them this would happen!! I want SOOOO bad to be like "I freaking told you this would happen, why would you let your cats stay out all night?! especially without a damn collar!!"

I know that would just offend my friend, but I feel so powerless seeing her fail to take care of her pets. Now she only has one cat.