I know part of this answer. The concept of adopting a cat for the summer is a concept in Finland, but I don't know that the abandonment piece is true. When I visited my childhood pen pal there, a friend of hers told me about this practice, and it was in a very positive manner, almost bragging. Her story was that people "borrow" cats from shelters and take them on vacation to their summer cabins. I asked what happened when summer was over, and she said that they return them to the shelter. Another friend jumped in to talk about how she had a difficult time finding a cat to adopt She wanted to rescue one, but the shelters didn't have any.
