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Should I pay neighbours vet bill in this situation?

103 replies

Sheandhercat · 30/07/2026 17:55

My neighbour has gone away for 4 days and she asked me to pop in to feed her cat while she’s away, which I agreed to. Today is the first day, the cat was out all last night so I let him inside this morning, gave him some food and then left him in the house to sleep. I have gone in this evening and as I opened the door to enter, he was waiting by the door to go outside so I let him. When I walked into the kitchen I saw that he has eaten through his Felix pouches. The box of Felix was on the kitchen side, unopened. This morning I opened it to give him a packet but I just left the box where it was, I didn’t put it away in a cupboard. So he has eaten through the pouches to get to the food. A LOT of the actual packets are missing. It looks like he has eaten big chunks of the plastic because there’s nothing on the floor. 5 packets have been chewed through and there’s hardly anything even left of the packets it looks like he’s swallowed so much.

I contacted my neighbour straight away and she is a bit worried but said he will probably be fine because he has done this before but only with one or two packets, not five.

I am really worrying because he is outside now, I have been out shouting him to get him to come back so I can keep him in and keep my eye on him but he’s already gone. Ideally I think he should be taken to the vets to be checked out. If he ends up being ill from this, is it only fair that I pay the vet bill as he was in my care when it happened? Or does the owner still pay the bill? I am worrying not only for his welfare, but also because I don’t have that kind of money to cover vet fees if he ends up with a blockage or even for a check up.
its my fault for not putting the food away but I just left it where it already was and I didn’t even imagine he would do this! Is this on me to take him to be checked and pay the bill?

OP posts:
CoffeeBooksRats · 30/07/2026 17:59

Did your neighbour warn you this might happen and ask you to put the food away? If she did, and you didn’t do that, then yes I think you are responsible. If she didn’t mention it then it’s not your responsibility.

rwalker · 30/07/2026 17:59

I’m not really that sure there’s much a vet could check possibly a feel of the stomach to see if anything distended and swollen
if he’s chewed enough would of thought he’d just pass it

Abouteffingtime · 30/07/2026 17:57

Not your bill to pay.