My schizophrenic sister blames our mother and father for a feline disease that has gotten into her cat population of 92 cats. She accesses my parents house every night around 1:30am to feed some of her cats on my parent’s sunroom. Because she blames my parents, she placed a dead adult cat and two dead kittens in a box in my parent’s kitchen with a note saying “see what you have done” and an email that said to my parents “your fate has changed”. She cut their telephone cord and unplugged their freezer. When my mom told her that someone had come in the house and cut the phone cord, my sister said “well that can be fixed unlike dead cats”. I have asked my parents to please lock their doors and not let her have access to their home while they are asleep. Am I wrong? She refuses therapy and it is up to her whether she takes her medicine. She lives alone in a house behind my parents. We have no idea if she takes her medicine? We think she is sporadic with it.
Sounds completely reasonable to me. If she really has that many cats living with her, and you’re not just exaggerating, then it sounds like a health hazard. If I were in your shoes, I would ask the police to do a wellness check.
Do you live in the US? She doesn’t sound okay, maybe you can contact NAMI for information on how to help her.
I had an aunt who at one time had 32 cats in and around her mobile home, but I just can’t imagine 92 cats, that’s a lot of cats. I don’t know…I’ve been furious at my parents at times, I once dumped about 30 empty beer cans on their bed and hung a “don’t tread on me” banner, snake and all within a giant heart on their wall. I was never dangerous though, since they could never successfully have me committed against my will they’d send me off to some nice place where I was supposed to be told that nothing I remember is real.
17 cats live in her house, she has several Cat Genies. She cares for the rest outside. She has feeding stations and cat houses set up through out the farm, including two feeding areas in my parents’ yard and 7 cats that are brought onto their sunroom to be fed and spend the night(these are the most tame ones). She knows them all by name and her count was 92. However, since some are dying from an upper respiratory infection, the count has changed.
Thank you for your response. It helps to hear that, even when you were angry and did things like that, you never felt you would physically harm your parents.
If you contact NAMI they might be able to help you sort out a solution. Doesn’t seem good for your parents or for her for the situation to continue the way it is.
I doubt she is violent.
Thanks. My mom would be so upset with me if I reached outside the family for assistance. She doesn’t want anyone to know. She is hung up on the negative stigma she has in her own mind about mental illness. We are from a small town and she doesn’t want “everyone to know” because “when my sister gets better she doesn’t want her to be upset with us for spreading that she was mentally ill”. Mom says she will take care of my sister.
Alright, but she needs assistance. Noone should know if you contact them and tell them that, they won’t say she has a mental illness.
Thank you. I’ll check out the NAMI website.
Has your sister received an actual diagnosis of schizophrenia? And if so, was it in this small town where she lives? Since she has been prescribed medication, then it sounds as though there is already a medical professional involved. [quote=“dhrainwater2, post:8, topic:44449”]
reached outside the family for assistance
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This link may help with discreetly gaining information: NAMI HelpLine | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness
As far as the cats, @Turnip is right. It is a health hazard. If somebody got wind of the amount of cats, the authorities could be called. Plus, cat URI’s spread within a colony very quickly, so there will be many more that die without the proper antibiotics.
I’m sorry for your experience, but keep us posted. Good luck!
hugs…