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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think you can't steal a cat?

213 replies

brasty · 31/10/2017 13:26

This is in reference to a conversation with a friend. As long as the cat has access to outside, I don't think anyone can steal your cat. Your cat may decide though to live elsewhere, because of better food, because it is quieter, or some other preference.

OP posts:
Wightintheghoulies · 31/10/2017 13:29

Your cat may decide though to live elsewhere, because of better food, because it is quieter, or some other preference.

Replace 'cat' with 'child' (especially teenager) and see how ridiculous that argument is. Or can we start applying that rule elsewhere as well? 'Your car was parked on the pavement and looked dirty, so I've taken it as I can obviously look after it better' Hmm.

treaclesoda · 31/10/2017 13:29

I agree. We have a cat that visits. We don't even feed it. It just wanders into my house, any time it spies an open window. I spent months putting it out and then I just got fed up with the effort. It's a nice cat. Now I only put it out at bedtime. I haven't stolen it though because I'm not preventing it going home. The only way I could prevent it getting into my house is to stop opening my windows and I'm not prepared to do that.

Sarahrose21 · 31/10/2017 13:30

You can if you deliberately start feeding it and letting it in to your house
My cats don't wear collars but they are obviously not strays as they are a healthy weight and have lovely shiny well looked after coats, but I'm sure someone else is feeding at least one of them
Which means he is now at risk of becoming overweight if I continue feeding him as normal too, if I cut down his food though he will just move to the other people feeding him
So yes you CAN steal someone else's cat

SilverSpot · 31/10/2017 13:31

If you feed it and let it sleep on your bed then yes, you've stolen the cat.

Unless you want to start paying for the vet fees and insurance and take ownership properly, stop it!

PinkHeart5914 · 31/10/2017 13:32

Unless you’ve locked the cat in and no you haven’t stole it. Cats sometimes find a home they prefer or a 2nd home, it’s just what cats do

As for comparing a cat to a child 😂 Confused

Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 13:32

Cats choose where they live.

OP posts:
Cantseethewoods · 31/10/2017 13:32

SIL's beloved cat went and lived in next door's greenhouse. It used to grace them with its presence about once a week in winter and then go back to the greenhouse. Never in summer. Next door didn't even feed it. It just used to go ratting in the field beyond.

That's cats for ya

OneMoreTune · 31/10/2017 13:33

Brasty - I bet the “ownership” would suddenly revert back to the original owner if said cat needed £4000 worth of vetinary treatment...

mycatthinksshesatiger · 31/10/2017 13:33

My goodness if anyone dared to ‘bortow’ My cat - or whichever word you think preferable to ‘steal’ - I would be furious. Just because cats go outside for some of the day, doesn’t mean they can just be nabbed by anyone else in the area. They are nosey creatures so may occasionally wander into other kitchens etc but my cats really do know where they live and who their family members are. They have obviously strong bonds with us and would be very anxious if they ended up being kept in a house they just happened to pop in out of curiosity. YABVU!!

mycatthinksshesatiger · 31/10/2017 13:33

I meant ’borrow’!!

ownedbySWD · 31/10/2017 13:33

Our cats sneak into our neighbour's house, and probably others' too. They still come home to us each night/morning and gobble up food. I wouldn't want them to move out.

Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 13:34

No, I have a friend who have a cat that came to live with them, and they pay all the vets bills.

OP posts:
LizB62A · 31/10/2017 13:34

Of course you can steal a cat
Just feed it, let it into your house and eventually it will decide to stay there. Then you have stolen it (especially if you prevent it from leaving your house)
There is no need to feed other people's cats unless you know for certain that they are strays. To be certain, you need to take the cat to a vet to get it scanned for a chip, as not all pets wear collars (I've bought 12 collars so far for my 2 cats and they keep losing them!)

Both my cats need special diets for medical reasons but some days I know that someone else has fed them as they don't eat when they come home. Feeding other people's cats the wrong food or giving them milk (which soooo many people still do even though lots of cats are lactose-intolerant) can seriously harm their health.

Please don't feed other people's cats.

ButchyRestingFace · 31/10/2017 13:35

If you appropriated said cat by taking it into your home and made it a house-cat, refusing to let it out again, then yes, I'd say you've stolen the animal.

liz70 · 31/10/2017 13:38

There's a local cat that sometimes leaps over the gate across our front doorway and into our hallway. It soon scarpers when our dog comes bounding out from the living room, though. Grin It does make itself comfortable on the sofa in our summerhouse, if the door has been left open in fine weather. Smile

Santawontbelong · 31/10/2017 13:38

A crying dc who's beloved moggy has been locked in another 'home' would disagree.

OneMoreTune · 31/10/2017 13:38

That’s a coincidence, Brasty Smile

Did your friends consult the original owners at all?

Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 13:39

pop in out of curiosity
That makes me laugh. Next doors cat with no encouragement at all from us, used to sneak in and go to sleep on our beds. We did not want a cat, so had to actively discourage it, and keep our back door shut when we were in the garden.

OP posts:
Katedotness1963 · 31/10/2017 13:40

What if it's not a "moggie" but a purebred pedigreed cat that's cost hundreds of pounds. Can you let it chose to live in your house then while the person who paid for it loses out? That's still not theft?

Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 13:41

My friends already had a cat. They kept coming downstairs and finding this cat eating the other cats food and sleeping on the sofa. They did nothing to encourage it. And it got in through the cat flap, so could certainly leave.

OP posts:
thecatsthecats · 31/10/2017 13:42

Our cats don't wear collars because they have sensitivity due to the scars left by previous collars. They are absurdly friendly, and one needs careful feeding because he has a sensitive stomach.

DON'T FEED STRANGE CATS!

lilly0 · 31/10/2017 13:43

I have my three legged cat sat on me purring away yes you can steal someone's cat he is mine, I paid the £1000 to have his leg amputated paid for all his food, I love him very much !!

treaclesoda · 31/10/2017 13:44

I actively loathed cats until our visiting cat won me round.

I don't feed it or deliberately lock it in my house, although I have discovered it sleeping under a bed occasionally and have realised that it must have come in first thing in the morning when I had the door open and was getting the kids out to school.

I'm fairly powerless to stop it entering my house as it sneaks in when my back is turned. I don't have time to spend the day patrolling my house on the offchance that it has sneaked in, no matter how much of a beloved pet it might be to someone else.

doodle01 · 31/10/2017 13:45

Its property you can steal it unlike wild flowers !
Its showing you appropriated it which means to treat as your own ie you sell it on. Who wants to steal a pain in the arse maybe a fur merchant

Santawontbelong · 31/10/2017 13:46

We have 2 cats and know for a fact at least one dines elsewhere. He comes home for supper smelling of perfume and all warm!!
They know they live here but have other 'relatives'!!
I had a 3 legged cat years ago when went missing had 'lost' posters up from an old lady. And a man at the allotments said he hung out there regularly!!
They are a mystery.

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