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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I stole a cat.

97 replies

MensWithVens · 10/05/2019 16:28

A local cat.
For the last year he's got progressively worse.
Rspca called. Came 3 times. Twice cat wasn't about. Once cat was about but owner wasn't. They were absolutely useless.

Called local rescue. They agreed cat was in a state but had no legal ground to remove him.
Scanned him. No chip.

Knocked on owners door and they refused to sign him over.

Rescue staff tried again. We're very upset.

2 months passes again.

I see cat. He is absolutely SKIN AND Bones. Covered in fleas. Weeping eyes. Heaving breathing.

He followed me home and I fed him.

I take photos and call a local rescue. They see the state of him and come immediately.

They scan him. Still no chip.

I lie and say I don't know who he belongs to.

They take him. It's been 2 weeks now.

They've sent me photos. He's been vert treated. In a Foster. Flea treated. Gaining weight.

Neighbours haven't put up posters or seem bothered.

WIBU?

OP posts:

DontVisitMe · 10/05/2019 17:35

Someone kept calling the RSPCA on SIL's because her cat was skeletal. Yes he was, because he was very elderly and had cancer. He was still capable of going out, and was unhappy when she tried to keep him in, so she kept letting him out, to live out his days on the doorstep in the sun. The neighbour stole him and took him to a rescue centre who scanned him and contacted the owner who of course proved he was theirs and was ill. The cat died a week later, despite the vet saying he had at least 6 months. They think it was the trauma of being at the rescue centre.

Sometimes, not all is as it seems.

Jellybeansincognito · 10/05/2019 17:38

@MensWithVens

Good, I wanted to highlight that sometimes it’s not all as it seems.

Original poster

MensWithVens · 10/05/2019 17:38

The owners were spoken to twice by rescue people and never mentioned the cat being ill.
He isn't it. He is hungry and full of parasites.

They said he was healthy and 'liked to sleep outside'

Despite every time I saw him he was sat on the doorstep crying to get in.

OP posts:

mirime · 10/05/2019 17:39

I 'stole' a cat. We'd been feeding him for months anyway as the owners were neglecting both their cats.

When I took the black one round when he was clearly ill (cat flu) they denied he was theirs, so I took him to the vets and had him treated. Not long after they moved and took him with them and left the other cat behind. Obviously he came to us as a known source of food, but wouldn't stay in our house for weeks, then eventually he moved in properly and firmly attached himself to me.

He died in 2010 at 18, still miss him.

barcodescanner · 10/05/2019 17:44

I stole a rabbit. Was always out on the street, neighbours would catch him and rmtake him back, then he'd be out again.
Neighbour caught him in their front garden, I took him to a rescue

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 10/05/2019 17:50

This is ok, if it's 100% true, and the cat genuinely is neglected & not missed.

Soubriquet · 10/05/2019 17:51

I don’t blame you OP

Some cats are naturally skinny because they are elderly or have long term conditions, but in that case, the owners would have communicated with you

mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork · 10/05/2019 17:59

In my cul-de-sac three of us conspired to steal 2 kittens who were being really badly treated. A new family (renting) moved into one of the flats with 2 kittens, who were being kept as indoor cats and we saw them in the sitting room window looking a thin, lethargic and unkempt. There was nothing we could do, we thought. Then the mum went away leaving her young adult son in charge of cats. One of them ESCAPED through the open back door and ended up being fed and harboured by my nice neighbour a couple of doors away. We wondered if the other one was lying dead indoors from disease/starvation but I later discovered another really nice neighbour in the other direction had it hanging around her flat and was feeding it (it had also escaped). At one point one of the cats foolishly went through its own back garden and the son of the house made a violent grab at it (happily missed as it would have hurt the cat). Both cat-caring neighbours were very worried about them as they didn't want them to go back to hell flat to be miserable and die young. We hatched a plan to get the local cat rescue to take them (they were very helpful). We came up with a cat box and the two kittens (owner told us they were fully grown adults!) were sneaked off to cat rescue when no-one was looking, where they were restored to health and happiness and rehomed together (cat rescue found they were far too underweight and covered in fleas). Rest of bad family returned from hols and were pretty unconcerned about whereabouts of cats. They moved out a few weeks later. We did not feel guilty. Since then, another neighbour has stolen a nice kitten from a feckless family in another flat (I didn't find out for weeks and weeks and we were all looking for it) - she rehomed it with a friend. Feckless family were evicted by the bailiffs from Can't Pay Won't Pay shortly afterwards so perhaps just as well the kitten had been rehomed elsewhere (unbeknownst to them) as they left some of their animals behind (chickens in shed and they also had 2 dogs - not sure what happened to them).

LoobyLou1976 · 10/05/2019 18:03

What happens if the cat makes his way back to the original owners house when you let him out? This is always a possibility as he may want to go 'home' regardless of how he was treated. Are you planning on letting him out (if he was previously an outdoor cat it wouldn't be fair to keep him inside?).
Well done on taking action, I hope it all works out for you both!

Original poster

MensWithVens · 10/05/2019 18:36

Looby he's not with me. He's with a rescue association.
He won't be coming back here.

OP posts:

lraven · 10/05/2019 18:37

You did the right thing, you saved him!

DontVisitMe · 10/05/2019 18:37

Sorry OP, I wasn't saying that you made a mistake with my post. Just saying that something similar happened to SIL but her cat was sick. Her cat was also loved and not full of fleas or left in the rain. You did the right thing.

pilates · 10/05/2019 18:42

A big pat on the back for you op, well done 👍

Minkies11 · 10/05/2019 18:44

Have done the same thing as you twice before. Both cats in pitiful condition - both now re-homed. You did absolutely the right thing. People who cannot care properly for their animals forfeit the right to 'own' them.

Annietheacrobat · 10/05/2019 19:00

Well done OP.

We stole a cat too, but in slightly different circumstances.

One of our cats went missing. We put up posters . Someone replied saying they have had a cat that sounded like ours hanging around in their garden for a week or so.

My mum collected the cat. Emaciated and in need of TLC . Looked a little like our cat but clearly wasn't ours . Cat was a bit feral.

Cat ended up staying with us. The local newspaper ran a story in an attempt to locate the real owner. But the day they came to interview mum the new cat had slunk off, so they took a photo of my mum with our other cat!! So completely pointless.

Cat spent 8 happy years with my mum.

Hearthside · 10/05/2019 19:12

I would have absolutely done the same op .He needed someone look out for him as he owner's blatantly did'nt thanks to you he will loved and cared for .

Squigglesworth · 10/05/2019 19:14

Poor thing. He was lucky you were paying attention and cared enough to intervene!

justthecat · 10/05/2019 19:15

Poor little love, least you saved him 😻

Lunde · 11/05/2019 12:54

I have done this - although I prefer to say rescued!

I didn't realise that he belonged to anyone. I have never seen a cat closer to death literally skin and bone - also his fur had the texture of straw as a result of malnutrition. He had dug a little hole to lie in - I think to die. I have no doubt he would not have survived the night. He couldn't stand up properly because he was so weak and I didn't think he would survive the night at our house or the stress of a trip in the car to the vet. So we bedded him down in the cupboard under the stairs with water, food, litter tray and soft bedding. He just lay there for several days only standing to eat or wee. He went to the vet who didn't find anything serious but estimated him at 4-6. On day 6 we went to the cupboard and out he trotted. Over the next 3 months all of his fur fell out to be replaced with soft fur.

He had obviously been owned as he was castrated. We know vaguely who owned him through DDs school. Their kids were told that he had "run away" but personally I think the parents dumped him in woodland near out home because it turned out that he had an expensive chronic illness that has required several surgeries and a lifetime special diet (thank god that DH insured him the first week!). I doubt that this cat walked many miles and crossed a major A road bridge over a big river.

Anyway we have had him for 10 years now!

Grumpos · 11/05/2019 13:12

Good for you!
You’ve saved that cat from either a sad short life or a miserable long life
Totally would do the same thing.
I’ve knocked on many a door or stuck my head over walls and fences where dogs are constantly stuck out in the garden barking day and night. Wouldn’t hesitate to risk getting into trouble if I genuinely felt it was needed.

Playmytune · 12/05/2019 12:05

Yes, you did the right thing. I did similar when a poor ginger tom arrived at my door. He could hardly walk, was skin and bone and winced when you touched his back legs. We thought he was quite old. Daughter started feeding him, though we didn’t let him in. He was terrified of men and ran away if my husband came near. A week later he arrived with an abscess at the top of his leg, which just got worse over a few days. We took him to the vet who scanned him but no chip. Vet did point out that he might belong to someone and I explained how poorly he had been and if anyone owned him they should be reported for cruelty. I showed the vet a photo of the cat from one of the first times he had arrived at our door. He treated the abscess and told us he was only about a year old!
A few weeks later a boy at school accused my son of stealing his family’s cat. I sent a note for my son to give to the boy for his parents. The note told the parents about the state the cat had been in, when it had arrived at our door, and that I had had to take it to the vet, who had treated it and agreed that the owners should be reported for cruelty and neglect if I found them.
Strangely enough the boy told my son the next day that it must have been a different cat!!
He gradually moved in with us and lived happily with us for nearly 18 years.

zingally · 12/05/2019 12:12

Assuming the actual owners don't report him missing (and it doesn't sound like they're going to), then you've done the right thing by him. No sane person wants to see an animal suffer.

Presumably, if the owner doesn't claim him, the rescue place will assume he's a stray (which he basically was anyway), and will eventually re-home him.

Personally, I wouldn't be the one to take him on. It could easily cause problems with the dodgy owners when they see "their" cat round yours, looking fit and well. Let someone else have him, and sleep well at night, knowing you did the right thing.

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