I'll probably lose a brother, but I just had to call...

My brother's 6 year old cat, Tiger, has been losing weight, and is now very skinny. Last year my sister-in-law took the cat to the vet for emergency surgery for a 'kidney blockage' (suspect she means urinary tract blockage). My brother got extremely upset with her for spending over $200 on the cat.

Tiger has been on special food since then, but is now not doing well. I think that my sister-in-law is bringing the cat to the vet on Friday to have him put down, but my brother is also threatening to put the cat down himself (probably does not want more vet bills).

It is possible that nothing can be done for Tiger, but my gut feeling is that they are putting the cat down because my brother will not spend any money on the cat (he did, however, spend $1800 on a snowblower this past winter).

They also have a bunny that spends all his time alone in a hutch outside (even through the Wisconsin winter), parakeets that have 'just died' for no apparent reason, two cockatiels that are mostly ignored, a fishtank full of algae that at one time had some fish in it, and several dogs. Their yellow lab spends so much time in a 2'x2'x3' cage that my brother asked my younger sister to make a cushion to go around the inside of the cage so his tail would not get split anymore. One of their dogs that they have since gotten rid of killed the guinea pigs.

So... I've called their township Animal Control Officer (I had to leave a message because he is not working today). Maybe he can educate my brother on proper animal care, or at least convince my sister-in-law to stop bringing home pets that my brother is unwilling to care for.

My older sister fosters Chihuahuas, I adopt cats from the Humane Society, and my younger sister works with a bird rescue. How did my brother miss the caring gene???