To let the previous owner of my cat know he has cancer?

[Harleypuppy]

A neighbour of mine was sent to prison and we adopted their cat. It was a transfer of ownership. Although who really owns a cat?
We have had the cat a couple of years. The prisoner's child attends the same school as my dcs. The child often asks after the cat.
I found out today that the cat has cancer and we're looking at months left.
What should we do?
I'm not on speaking terms with the first owner who is in prison. But should we tell them (I guess through the police,) or their child? The child is at secondary school and hasn't seen the cat since their parent was arrested.
I've tried to keep the facts as vague as possible, for privacy.

Honestly I wouldn't tell them. It's probably easier- the person in prison wouldn't be able to see the cat anyway & the daughter doesn't need that stress or upset.

No, I wouldn't

Could you ask the child's teacher to speak to them about it? Would you be willing to let child come and say goodbye to cat? If you wouldn't be comfortable with that then I wouldn't tell them and just let them know after cat had passed away.

No. Keep answers vague about the cat and hope the child stops asking.

I’m sorry about your cat. I agree with strawberrypenguin, the child is not to blame for the situation and although it’ll be upsetting, if it comes out later that it’s been kept from them they might feel angry about that. And I’d guess they might have enough to deal with.

Thank you for the replies. Strawberrypenguin and PeaceRiot, I contacted school and they let the parent who has custody and child know. They popped round this afternoon. They were glad to see the cat. They asked if they could come round again to say goodbye when he's ready to go. The cat really perked up after steroid and antibiotic injections. I'm absolutely gutted though. I'm glad the child's parent let the child know as it was such a difficult situation for them having to leave their cat behind as well as their other parent going to prison.

That was really kind of you Harleypuppy. Glad to hear your cat is feeling perkier after treatment, hopefully that means you and cat can make the most of the time he has left.