Roommate Left Cat

[Pen'sMomma]

Update:
The cat is here under the watch of my landlord. I still visit her sometimes and share some of my cat's toys with her. I've noticed that she poops on the edge of the litter box and when she walks she continuously stretches her back legs. I don't know how often these things happen because I don't see her every day or take care of her litter but she's about 15 so I suspect arthritis. I think her owner might be gone for months and eventually, the cat will be sent to a shelter by my landlord. I really want her to find a family but I'm not sure that will happen for her. The shelter would provide her a vet, correct? I'm also concerned about the way her breathing sounds. I don't know if it is because of an allergy to her food or something else. I considered keeping her and taking her to the vet myself but cannot afford to do that.
I want to help her. I don't want her to eat meow mix and want her to have her own toys and a scratching post and maybe a litter box that's easier to step into but I can't afford to. So, I am considering finding a place for her, allowing my landlord to do whatever she will do, or creating a gofundme or something to cover the costs of her care. I don't know what I will or won't do yet.

 

[Pen'sMomma]

I realize it's easy to judge from a computer screen but your roommate shouldn't have any animals of she's going to treat them like this poor cat.
If I'm going away or have a medical issue and need to have surgery I spend weeks and months in advance making plans for who will care for each of my animals. I have a first choice plan and a backup plan in case the original plan falls through for some reason. Everybody would have my family and best friends phone nynumbe on ccase of emergency. That's three extra people who if I was unreachable would have the ability to either make phone calls to get my pets into emergency foster care or have the means to take them in themselves, at least temporarily. That's on top of my first and second choice plans.
I can't even fathom just disappearing for an unknown amount of time with no one caring for my cat left locked alone in a room, twice. With no emergency phone numbers or bothering to call anyone.
Of it's a rehab for substance abuse there are strict rules about no phone calls, but if you tell them your animal is locked alone on a room with no one to feed or care for it, most staff will allow supervised phone calls to avoid animal cruelty charges.
It's good that you called the landlord. The landlord can call the next of kin emergency number who hopefully knows where the roommate is and can get a message to her.

I don't think that the landlord has an emergency contact or she would have contacted someone by now. I do know for a fact that she has access to her phone and fb and just isn't reaching out and that she is in treatment out of state. I doubt she will compensate me for the money I've spent on her pet or the time I've put in care for her. I also have ppl in place to care for my cat and can't imagine leaving her on her own for over a month.

 

[inkysmom]

I obviously don't know your living situation but everywhere I've ever lived I've had to sign a lease, and anyone else living there, including all roommates also had to be on the lease. This way if I paid my share of the rent and one roommate didn't the landlord went after them and I wasn't responsible for their share too.
But every apartment I've ever lived in, which has been a lot, as soon as I filled out an application to live there I had to write in a name and phone number for an emergency contact. Then again I can't imagine any of my landlords caring for my pets even if I begged them to and paid them a fortune.

They'd allow someone else in for an emergency to care for them but not care for them indefinitely. I'd be lucky if they rvee called the next of kib before calling animal control.

My young large dog always thoroughly stretches out first his front legs then his back legs whenever he stands or wakes up. Could be arthritis or sore muscles from running s lot for him. But he's done it since I got him at age 16 months and no vet has ever commented on it.
Petco and PetSmart have pretty basic scratching posts for under $10 I think. My cats like them and use them, especially if you put catnip on them. At 15 she may not play with toys a lot. And you could get a large aluminum tray for baking from a grocery store very cheap and use that as a flat litter box if you're worried she's in pain.

I think all shelters and rescues that get public funding are required to have all animals they take in checked out by a vet. I'm not sure about every state requirement or the busy high kill shelters. But if she's sent to one of those at 15 she probably won't live long anyway since older cats don't get adopted as fast if at all.
.y childhood cats ate cheap grocery store Cat Chow their whole lives and lived healthily to be 19 and 20.
Since then every cat I've had has died of cancer between the ages of 14 and 16, two only made it to 12. Maybe I'll switch to Meow Mix!!! The expensive "quality" food isn't doing much!!!

 

[Pen'sMomma]

I obviously don't know your living situation but everywhere I've ever lived I've had to sign a lease, and anyone else living there, including all roommates also had to be on the lease. This way if I paid my share of the rent and one roommate didn't the landlord went after them and I wasn't responsible for their share too.
But every apartment I've ever lived in, which has been a lot, as soon as I filled out an application to live there I had to write in a name and phone number for an emergency contact. Then again I can't imagine any of my landlords caring for my pets even if I begged them to and paid them a fortune.

They'd allow someone else in for an emergency to care for them but not care for them indefinitely. I'd be lucky if they rvee called the next of kib before calling animal control.

My young large dog always thoroughly stretches out first his front legs then his back legs whenever he stands or wakes up. Could be arthritis or sore muscles from running s lot for him. But he's done it since I got him at age 16 months and no vet has ever commented on it.
Petco and PetSmart have pretty basic scratching posts for under $10 I think. My cats like them and use them, especially if you put catnip on them. At 15 she may not play with toys a lot. And you could get a large aluminum tray for baking from a grocery store very cheap and use that as a flat litter box if you're worried she's in pain.

I think all shelters and rescues that get public funding are required to have all animals they take in checked out by a vet. I'm not sure about every state requirement or the busy high kill shelters. But if she's sent to one of those at 15 she probably won't live long anyway since older cats don't get adopted as fast if at all.
.y childhood cats ate cheap grocery store Cat Chow their whole lives and lived healthily to be 19 and 20.
Since then every cat I've had has died of cancer between the ages of 14 and 16, two only made it to 12. Maybe I'll switch to Meow Mix!!! The expensive "quality" food isn't doing much!!!

Thank you so much for the info! I'm way less concerned about the food now. Our landlord didn't collect that info from any of us but we all signed separate leases.

 

[Pen'sMomma]

I obviously don't know your living situation but everywhere I've ever lived I've had to sign a lease, and anyone else living there, including all roommates also had to be on the lease. This way if I paid my share of the rent and one roommate didn't the landlord went after them and I wasn't responsible for their share too.
But every apartment I've ever lived in, which has been a lot, as soon as I filled out an application to live there I had to write in a name and phone number for an emergency contact. Then again I can't imagine any of my landlords caring for my pets even if I begged them to and paid them a fortune.

They'd allow someone else in for an emergency to care for them but not care for them indefinitely. I'd be lucky if they rvee called the next of kib before calling animal control.

My young large dog always thoroughly stretches out first his front legs then his back legs whenever he stands or wakes up. Could be arthritis or sore muscles from running s lot for him. But he's done it since I got him at age 16 months and no vet has ever commented on it.
Petco and PetSmart have pretty basic scratching posts for under $10 I think. My cats like them and use them, especially if you put catnip on them. At 15 she may not play with toys a lot. And you could get a large aluminum tray for baking from a grocery store very cheap and use that as a flat litter box if you're worried she's in pain.

I think all shelters and rescues that get public funding are required to have all animals they take in checked out by a vet. I'm not sure about every state requirement or the busy high kill shelters. But if she's sent to one of those at 15 she probably won't live long anyway since older cats don't get adopted as fast if at all.
.y childhood cats ate cheap grocery store Cat Chow their whole lives and lived healthily to be 19 and 20.
Since then every cat I've had has died of cancer between the ages of 14 and 16, two only made it to 12. Maybe I'll switch to Meow Mix!!! The expensive "quality" food isn't doing much!!!

The stretching thing that she is doing is more like it looks like her legs are almost slipping under her. It isn't once in a while it is how she walks. So every step it's almost like her leg is sliding back then she readjusts it and it just repeats.