Texas:
Three months ago I adopted a kitten, and signed a contract agreeing to have it sterilized one month later. The contract signed said the kitten was female, and nine months old. When I brought it to the vet one week later, I was told the kitten was male, and only about four-five months old. This is significant because according to the law in this state, male kittens adopted as pets do not need to be sterilized until eight months of age. In any case, the kitten had a bad cold and was both too young and too sick(according to the vet) to neuter at that time. I received no contact from the animal shelter at any point, and even if the sex of the kitten was wrong, it wasn't important enough for me to address.
Anyway, one month later(just after the deadline), the kitten was well enough to operate on, and just barely old enough to neuter without any issues. I made an appointment, and he was sterilized, about one month after the day specified by the contract. When the vet called the shelter to verify that they would still pay the expired voucher to have the cat neutered, they agreed- but they also informed me that they would issue a citation for failure to neuter the cat by the deadline. This is a class C misdemeanor.
So, given that both the age and sex of the kitten was wrong, and that I had a sick kitten to take care of immediately after adoption, I believe I acted in good faith in having the animal neutered as soon as it was possible and reasonable to do so. I am not in violation of the law, and had the shelter been following the law as written, the contract should have allowed me more time to neuter the kitten. What legal recourse do I have, and am I likely to have to pay whatever fine associated with the citation?
