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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

I’m not responsible for someone else’s cat, am I?

267 replies

PoppliosBubble · 25/04/2020 13:51

On Monday I was in the garden and heard a noise in the garage. I opened the garage and a cat shot out and disappeared up the road. I knew the garage hadn’t been opened since the previous Thursday so the cat had been stuck in there for 4 days without food or drink 🙁.

I posted the above on our local FB page with a brief description of the cat, asking if anyone had lost one. A lady replied saying her cat had turned up at hers incredibly weak, she’d taken it to the vet who had given fluids and was keeping it overnight. I messaged the lady my email and asked her to let me know how cat was doing, that I was really sorry and that it was only due to lockdown that the garage hadn’t been opened in so long etc.

This morning she emailed me to say cat was home, seemed much better but that she was keeping him in from now on. The cat had to stay at the vets for two days and the cost was nearly £800, vets bill attached to the email. I think this is a bit odd but reply ‘glad to hear cat is better. I’ll keep an eye out for him once he’s out and about again. Hopefully your insurance will cover the fees and you didn’t have to pay too much of an excess.’

She’s just replying say she doesn’t have insurance against someone locking her cat in their shed for nearly a week. She’s been furloughed and absolutely cannot afford to pay this bill at the moment. She thought that I’d offer to at least pay half of the bill after the harm I’d caused her cat but as I haven’t she’ll ask me outright or be posting my details on the local FB telling everyone what I’ve done. The same FB page that I posted on saying I’d found a cat in my garage in the first place.

This isn’t my fault is it? I have a cat and if someone accidentally shut it in a shed/ garage them I’d consider that my responsibility as I’m the one that allows my cat out. I’m just ignore the email as I’d quite like to see what she posts online.

OP posts:
biglouis123 · 27/04/2020 17:04

If this person continues to harass you, attempt to extort money and posts your details on social media I would send her a strongly worded "letter before action" threatening to sue her for harassment. Harassment is a criminal offence. Alternatively contact the police on their non urgent number. They can issue her with a PIN (police information notice) warning her that she must not approach you or do anything to cause you distress,

FourDecades · 27/04/2020 17:17

@PoppliosBubble have you contacted the vet about this?

mooching · 27/04/2020 17:30

I bet it is a chaser for some other treatment and she's just chancing whether she can get you to cough up some money.

Labracadabra · 27/04/2020 17:36

Please don't do as @FourDecades suggests. No matter what is going on between you and the cat's owner, this is NOT the vet's problem. Vet practices are extremely busy right now trying to manage patients whilst social distancing and with many staff furloughed.

TheSecondMrsAshwell · 27/04/2020 17:40

Weregoingonanadventure

The woman who came looking for her cat knocked on my door and managed to stand 2m away on the pavement (and I stepped back to make sure), so it possible. Presumably in OP's case, she has a drive as well, so the cat's owner could have stood on that.

JacobReesMogadishu · 27/04/2020 17:42

Cheeky fucker.

Send her a bill for “cattery ” fees

JacobReesMogadishu · 27/04/2020 17:45

And I agree it sounds dodgy as anything. I locked my cat accidentally in a walk in wardrobe for 4 days and went away for a long weekend years ago. Cat had pissed and shitted everywhere’s day was furious but didn’t need a vet trip.

FourDecades · 27/04/2020 19:07

@Labracadabra - l was thinking more about the Vet and their reputation. If this is a fake invoice then the Vet should be aware that someone is using their practice to con other's.

MonkeyToesOfDoom · 27/04/2020 19:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MonkeyToesOfDoom · 27/04/2020 19:52

Wrong thread... Oops...

PoppliosBubble · 27/04/2020 20:03

monkeytoes could you direct me to the thread you were supposed to post that on. It sounds much more fun than my cheeky cat fucker lady.

OP posts:
MonkeyToesOfDoom · 27/04/2020 20:24

@PoppliosBubble

It was the Corrie thread. Sometimes I touch a thread and my phone opens the one beneath it.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3889667-Corrie-Thread-No-spoilers-please-When-we-will-run-out-of-episodes

EveryDayIsADuvetDay · 27/04/2020 20:28

YANBU - but glad the cat is well now, and found his way home.

EveryDayIsADuvetDay · 27/04/2020 20:38

Cat owners let their cats roam free

Some, not all. I live in a busy area (well, it is normally) I have an indoor cat whom I take to the roof garden or community garden on a lead (I carry her to the community garden, about ten minutes away, in a cat-carry backpack).
If she wants to go to the loo, she kicks up a fuss and we come home for her to use her litter tray.
She does go out on her own when I take her on holiday - she still comes racing back to use her tray - i'm more likely to squat behind a bush than she is.

Fluffybutter · 27/04/2020 20:52

cheeky cat fucker lady that’s a whole new thread ,surely ? Confused

Ontheboardwalk · 27/04/2020 21:09

£800 she’s having a laugh and an even bigger one expecting you to pay

My cat went missing for 6 days. Turned up in a right state looking like he’d been living off spiders for the last 6 days. He turned up shortly after I’d put leaflets in letterboxes asking people to check their sheds. I’d been happy if someone had told me they’d found him

I rang the vet who told me to keep an eye on him. If he wasn’t eating or drinking right to bring him straight in, he was fine

I wasn’t fine though, I didn’t half suffer with his whining for days for something that was completely his fault!

CoraPirbright · 28/04/2020 22:02

Did you check with the vet OP?

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