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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not pay vets bill

73 replies

Toastandstrawberryjam · 07/01/2014 16:01

Posted this in pets but wanted a quick answer?

Just answered door to a neighbour (who I've never met before) who has accused my cat of attacking his before Christmas and handed me the bill for the vets treatment. It's not a huge amount but how do I know it was my cat for sure?

AIBU to refuse to pay?

OP posts:
PrimroseLodge · 07/01/2014 17:41

Putthehamster - I understand the difference between cats and dogs. The poster I was responding to was talking about pets in general.

filingdrivesmemad · 07/01/2014 17:42

Don't pay as he has no proof. I suggest however that for your own peace of mind for the future, that you get your own cat neutered which will reduce its desire to defend its territory and to fight, and it will probably roam less, and that if there is ever an appropriate moment, you suggest he gets his cat neutered.

YoureBeingASillyBilly · 07/01/2014 17:47

Do NOT write a letter or mentione your cats previous injuries or vet bills. Dont even respond. You shouldnt even have taken or looked at the bill but thats done now. Ignore it. If he comes round again advise him that you will not be paying any bill and if he comes round or contacts you again wrt this matter you will be calling the police and making a report of harrassment.

Out of interest how can a vet tell from injuries that a cat didnt instigate a fight?

Original poster
Toastandstrawberryjam · 07/01/2014 17:52

My cat is neutered! He's also a fat soppy old thing that I've never known attack another cat.

His bite injuries are usually to his legs or back which the vet said meant he is trying to run away rather than confronting another cat. That kind of makes sense to me but I'm not a vet.

OP posts:
Original poster
Toastandstrawberryjam · 07/01/2014 17:53

And the reason my cat roams is because it seems the whole neighbourhood feeds him. I'm often being stopped by neighbours who tell me he sleeps on their sofa during the day or they buy him tins of tuna. Nobody has ever complained about him before.

OP posts:
YoureBeingASillyBilly · 07/01/2014 17:58

Yes that does make sense- like if a cat was holding him from behind?

CattyBrown · 07/01/2014 18:01

If he had followed your cat after the 'attack' I would have loved to have seen him.

He would have had to dive through the bushes after the scrap (cats mainly go for cover after fighting) or crawled under a car,
scaled a wall

waited around as the cat chased a mouse or played with a bit of fluff
crawled through a bush to another garden
waited whilst cats licks it's arse
followed cat around the side of the house
waited whilst the cat licks his are
jump over a fence
shoot under another car
wait whilst cat links his are
then walks very very slowly whilst cat prances home Grin Grin

Somehow I can't see him following your cat and yang not to pay. My cats have both had nips from dogs backing onto us and I wouldn't dream of asking them for money.

Original poster
Toastandstrawberryjam · 07/01/2014 18:06

I sound really PFC about this don't i? But I'm not, I'm well aware that my cat may have injured his cat (although it's such a small vets bill that it was hardly an injury IMO!) but it's just never occurred to me to offload bills onto someone else and I don't want to have to pay forever more for his cat!!

So general consensus to do nothing? I just thought a note attached to the bill he gave me would maybe end it.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 07/01/2014 18:10

I know for sure which cat caused Sparkling Cat a vets bill of £90 after pouncing on her as she having a wee. But it never occurred to me to take the bill down to the owner. Confused

YoureBeingASillyBilly · 07/01/2014 18:12

No you dont sound pfc- its not about pfc- its about money and thats what he is after and thats what you are not going to give him. Cats get in fights and they get hurt. Thats wht happens- you dont owe him this. Unless you held his cat down and told your cat to attack it- did you? Grin

AnneElliott · 07/01/2014 18:15

I agree you should not pay. I had a ginger cat enter my house ( through the cat flap) injure my cats, break an expensive plate and bring down a curtain rail! He had a collar but I did not expect the owner to pay those costs.

I would return the bill with a note informing him that you won't be paying.

What is it with people claiming to identify others cats? My neighbour was like this and insisted it was my cats sitting on her bed and pooing in her garden. It was definately one of mine apparently. When she called me one day to get my cat off her bed, it was the big ginger Tom that had caused the damage in my house. I had two black and white girls Wink

fluffyraggies · 07/01/2014 18:18

Perhaps a mixture of doing nothing and doing something! :)

I suspect the posters saying don't put anything in writing to him are correct. The correct approach is probably to ignore, as he 'hasn't a leg to stand on', as such.

BUT - the things i suggested, like calling the vet and finding out their exact stance, ie :hearing them say he is BU, and/or talking his behavior over with a community bobby and getting assurance that it is NOT on to for him to be intimmidating you, might give you a bit more confidence for when/if he brings this up again.

TheWitTank · 07/01/2014 18:50

I would do nothing. There is no need to write a letter-actually I think this might make it worse and he will come charging round in a rage. Leave it, if he approaches you again calmly but firmly tell him you will not be paying as you have no evidence that your cat caused these injuries. If he goes off on one, shut the door in his face. There is nothing he can do to make you pay this bill. He has no evidence at all and anyone with an ounce of common sense will tell him that having a free roaming animal comes with risks. Sounds like he is going to be a pleasant neighbour!! Any aggressive or harassing behaviour, tell him you will call the police.

TheCraicDealer · 07/01/2014 19:01

If he comes over again, hand him back his bill and say he should refer to his pet insurers. He has no way to prove that it was your cat that hurt his, and even if he did you still wouldn't be liable as cats are wild animals.

If he continues to get antsy, close the door in his face and shout expletives through the cat flap.

mollygibson · 07/01/2014 19:11

This happened to me! My wee cat had an injury to her tail and we knew fine which cat was the culprit. A big ginger tom had been terrorising her to the extent that she more or less became a housecat - I was always finding her up a tree with this cat sitting at the bottom, and he chased her inside once - she is just a wee thing and he was a big tom cat, so she was terrified.

We had to take her to the vet who said her tail had become infected and that she was lucky not to lose it!

It would never have occurred to me to ask the other cat's owner to pay the vet's fees though - it's just what cats do, isn't it? Happily the they moved away in the end so my cat was able to enjoy the great outdoors again!

DizzyZebra · 07/01/2014 19:19

Yanbu. He is a hypocrite anyway. Tell him to jog on.

TalkinPeace · 07/01/2014 19:39

DO NOT PAY
You cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of a cat - unlike a dog.

I researched it when my old cat severely injured a neighbours dog.

Tabby1963 · 07/01/2014 19:53

Toast YANBU.

Up until last year a neighbours cat attacked my two cats on numerous occasions over the years. The first time, this cat came into my house through an open window and attacked one cat (7 months old at the time, I'd recently got him and he'd just been allowed out) and me too when I tried to separate them.

The owners came by later that day to apologise and see how my cat and I were (I'd had to go to A&E). They brought a bottle of wine and flowers too.

I never expected them to pay for vet bills for this or any of the other incidents. Thankfully they moved a few months ago. I do miss the owners but not the cat Grin.

rumbleinthrjungle · 07/01/2014 19:57

I don't think he'd have the faintest chance of pursuing this legally.

Bit of a sidebar example but recently I did some research on what legal route I had if my neighbour, who likes letting off a lot of powerful fireworks in a garden about 8 inches square, which detonate directly above my roof and car, caused any damage. The answer was absolutely none. Even if I saw the firework leave his garden and land on my car or start a fire on my roof. Unless he signed the firework I then retrieved the bits of, it comes off my home insurance unless he himself wants to be a good neighbour and pay of his own accord. There are solicitors pages on line telling people not to even bother trying.

If there's no legal comeback for that, I don't see how it would differ much in you being responsible for the actions of what might have been your cat but hasn't been objectively proven.

TalkinPeace · 07/01/2014 20:01

Tabby1963
With old cat's bullying antics - I know that the dog owner spent hundreds of pounds on repairs - I gave them permission to ambush him with a bucket of water. About a week later he came home drenched. When I saw them walking down the road they looked very worried until I congratulated them. They did it once more. He left the dog alone after that. It was a doberman.

LST · 07/01/2014 20:02

I'd post the bill back to him with "not a chance mate" written on it.

Cheeky twunt!Shock If he lets his cat out then it's tough luck if it scraps with other cats! One of my cats is a bugger for starting fights with foxes... who would I chase for that vets bill!

VivaLeBeaver · 07/01/2014 20:03

I wouldn't pay.

How does he know his cat didn't start it and yours wasn't defending itself? He should insure his cat.

HopAlongOnItsOnlyChristmas · 07/01/2014 20:09

I would staple a leaflet about pet insurance to the bill and pop it back through his door.

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