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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not do what my neighbour has asked?

74 replies

Helenagrace · 19/08/2012 21:36

Backstory - about four years ago I asked my neighbour to remove a distressed cat from my house as I don't like cats very much. Despite this "stray" being chipped my neighbour decided to take the cat in and thinks I should pay its vets bills.

Tonight she has asked me to cut down a tree in my garden because she says it has poisoned this cat (she even produced cat sick with red berries in it which do look like the ones on my tree). The thing is the birds really like the berries and myself and the children love watching the birds eating the berries.
The tree is opposite my kitchen window. It screens my kitchen from the neighbours behind. I do not see why I should cut me tree down. I think it is a rowan or mountain ash. It has big clusters of bright red berries on it.

She has said she will report me to the RSPCA for endangering the lives of animals.

AIBU to refuse to cut the tree down?

OP posts:
TeddyBare · 19/08/2012 21:50

So she has stolen a cat that is micro chipped? Or does the cat now have 2 homes? Either way your neighbour is a loon.

BlinkersOn · 19/08/2012 21:50

She is clearly nuts. Ignore her.

5madthings · 19/08/2012 21:51

please tell me you have NOT been paying the vets bills for this cat?!

and as for collecting the vomit and showing it to you [boak]

also you said when you found the cat it had its paw stuck in its collar? so it may well NOT have been a stray! did anyone every check for a micro chip? for all anyone knows there could have been an owner that was very sad for the loss of her cat?

as your neighbour decided to keep it she could have put posters up etc asking if anyone had lost a cat and it is her responsibilty to pay vets bills and bollocks to cutting the tree down, the rspca will just laugh at her!

Nanny0gg · 19/08/2012 21:53

If the cat is chipped there is a very distressed owner somewhere.
Shouldn't the vet have checked who it belongs to?

Original poster
Helenagrace · 19/08/2012 21:56

No I haven't been paying any bills. She told me a few months after she took it in that the vet had read the chip but she didn't think the owner would want it back Hmm. I guess she's a thieving catnapper.

I didn't realise that lilies were poisonous to cats. I do have a pot with some Asiatic lilies in. I'd never knowingly harm a cat. I just don't like that back arching thing they do .

OP posts:
boredandrestless · 19/08/2012 21:57

So she has claimed a cat that will have belonged to someone else who is no doubt missing it, expects you to pay for said cat's health care (please tell me you have never given her any money), and wants you to chop down a tree in your garden?

She sounds barking! Grin

If she mentions the rspca again I'd be pointing out they really ought to investigate her laying claim to a cat that was wearing a collar and therefore belongs to someone else!

QuintessentialShadows · 19/08/2012 21:57

Have you been paying the vets bills? How about suggesting she send the bills to the person named on the cats microchip?

QuintessentialShadows · 19/08/2012 21:58

x post

I really dont see why your neighbour thinks you should pay vets bills from a cat that she has nicked from somebody else.... Hmm

5madthings · 19/08/2012 22:01

omg so the cat does have an owner somewhere then! god it would at least be polite to let them know that the cat isnt dead in a ditch somewhere and has a home. she is a catnapper!!

VivaLeBeaver · 19/08/2012 22:02

Cats don't eat berries. I bet its eaten a bird that's eaten berries. Report her to the RSPB for endangering birds' lives.

savoycabbage · 19/08/2012 22:03

She is off her rocker! Your cat because it's been in your house? Perhaps she is trying to bond with you in a very clumsy fashion.

I would catch the cat and take it to the RSPCA, have its chip read and drive it round to its owners.

cakeismysaviour · 19/08/2012 22:03

Laugh in her face and tell her to call the RSPCA. THey can tell her to fuck off.

boredandrestless · 19/08/2012 22:08

Ooh I love it SavoyCabbage - OP you should definitely do some cat napping, enlist someone if you can't do the deed yourself, take it into a vets and ask them to scan it so you can drive it back to it's owners.

PooPooOnMars · 19/08/2012 22:16

I agree with bored.

confusedpixie · 19/08/2012 22:17

What a nutter! And can the vet not inform the actual owner of the cats whereabouts? Confused

Whereismyfuckingcat · 19/08/2012 22:17

This makes really angry (so mad I NC'd!). Over the last couple of months, my cat has basically stopped coming home. I see him in the garden sometimes and a couple of times a week he comes in, eats some food and then leaves right away. I think someone is feeding him, I've lived in the same area for all the time I've had him and he's never behaved like this before. If so, it's unbelievably bad manners and I hope whoever is doing it in this case is also happy to take him to the vet!

However, we do have a rowan tree in the garden so perhaps it's our fault, we've scared him off...

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 19/08/2012 22:19

Your neighbour is a theif and crazy.

How come the vet hasn't asked why the cat hadn't been returned to its owner.

Obviously, don't cut down the tree.

MissPants · 19/08/2012 22:22

YANBU, if I were you I would ring the vets that "your" cat has been seen at and ask them for the details of the chip! The real owners would be happy to have their pet returned and you get to keep your tree without being harassed by an apparent mentalist Grin everyone's a winner!

MrsReiver · 19/08/2012 22:23

Let her call the RSPCA, and when they come round tell them she's nicked the cat.

Problem sorted.

MadBusLady · 19/08/2012 22:24

Do the OP and whereismyfuckingcat live in the same area? Shock

2rebecca · 19/08/2012 22:28

Your mistake was involving the neighbour in the first place. You should have just picked the cat up, cut off its collar if it's paw was stuck in it and rang the owner and left the cat outside, or taken it to cat shelter if it looked unwell. I would repeat to the neighbour that it has never been your cat and just spent 5 minutes in your house when it wandered in.
I don't care if the plants in my garden are poisonous to cats. They shouldn't be in my garden, if they wander in and eat a poisoned berry then tough, same for any other animals wandering into my garden.
The world is full of poisonous plants, cats wander around alot, they may eat something they shouldn't anywhere.

manticlimactic · 19/08/2012 22:34

Ask for 'your' cat back...find it another home or return it to the person named on the chip. Then tell her to fuck off. Grin

Olympicnmix · 19/08/2012 22:38

Tell her you think it's a good idea if she contacts the RSPCA, they might even be able to track down the real cat's owner.

MoongirlsCat · 19/08/2012 22:41

My cat is currently missing. Has been four weeks today and I'm gutted.

How could she possibly think that the owner wouldn't want it? Losing pets drives people up the fecking wall. Especially if they have no idea what's happened to it.

Seriously, she sounds desperatly unpleasant.

Could a friend or family member (of yours) grab the cat, get the chip read and get it back to it's owner??

I want to puke just thinking about it..! Sad

What a nasty piece of work! Angry

CaliforniaLeaving · 19/08/2012 22:50

I vote the tree stays and the cat napping neighbor goes.