Each his own

The picture above is my kitty Sonic.   He is a "rescue" cat, semi-feral..... not really feral these days since I've been taking care of him for a couple of years now.   His recent battle wounds come from protecting his home turf from an intruding in tact male cat.   It started almost 3 weeks ago.    Believe t's a long and convoluted story so I will try and be brief.   The offending kitty had been in the same position as Sonic.  The result of  barn cat mentality in rural areas. However, he had been taken care of by a neighbor for the past year.   The difference between Sonic and the wandering Tom was that the other male cat was in tact.    When neighbors where contacted about this problem they could not believe that this in tact male could be a problem.   Then as communications became more testy it was discovered that they really didn't value the life of this wandering kitty.   By the way, he had been named and fed by them for a year.   In the heat of our discussions the wife in this family said "we believe each his own".  It was not clearly spoken but I assume this meant regarding our values on cats.  This is my view of what was communicated to me.    She didn't think he needed to be neutered and wasn't going to pay for it because it wasn't her problem.   If it was causing me a problem it was my tough luck.   So what if I had extra vet bills on account of Sonic's multiple abscesses on his face and his eye was swollen nearly shut.   My response was not the kindest however I remain true to my beliefs.   They had assumed some responsibility by feeding the cat and naming him.   The upshot is that I payed for the neutering and released the cat.    I told them it was a gift to their children.   I remember someone in the family saying to me last summer when I saw the cat on their porch.  Hhe was the best cat they had right now.    Sadly I cannot remember who said it.  It might have been their middle son who I have a particular affinity with.  He is a sweet little boy.   I hope that I can work through my emotions on this but I can't help but believe that there is a loss here.   Words can heal and words can destroy.   Sometimes it is very hard to undo something when values clash to such an extent.   I regret whatever I might have said that was hurtful to them.  On the other hand, I do not regret caring for the animal kingdom.   I know I did what was right for the cat.  I hope he can live with them.  They did not have the expense of the neutering.    My concern for the cat was that the animal shelter would euthanize a cat like that immediately.   Relocation would have passed the problem on to someone else perhaps with the mind set that male cats don't need to be neutered in the country.   Each to his own doesn't really fit into a caring and sharing society.  Given a choice I go for the caring and sharing society.