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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:
Nottherealslimshady · 25/04/2020 15:49

No that's not your fault, she chooses to let her cat roam so shes responsible for any harm it comes to while doing so.

RuffleCrow · 25/04/2020 15:52

She saw you coming, op. Do you know it's actually her cat? She sounds like she's on the make. No cat that weak could have shot out of your shed like that. And the cure for starvation is food and water. Which doesn't cost £800

thegcatsmother · 25/04/2020 15:53

If you can't to afford to insure your pet, you can't afford them full stop I can afford to insure my cat, but choose not to, as I'd prefer the money in my account, not the insurers. I can afford to pay for the treatment he needs anyway.

PineappleDanish · 25/04/2020 15:54

Don't pay her a PENNY.

2014meh · 25/04/2020 15:55

@PoppliosBubble

Our cat disappeared for 14 days one summer. We put up little posters and leafleted asking the neighbourhood to check their garages/sheds.

She finally returned early one evening with just enough energy to get her through the cat flap and sank to the floor (to get back via our walled garden must have been a huge effort for her in a starving/deydrated state. I rang the Vet immediately expecting they'd want to have her in on a drip of some sort etc etc. They just said to offer her water/very small bits of something irresistible like tuna or chicken and leave her until the morning to see how she went.
She had water, crawled under one of the dining room chairs where she knew from experience she wouldn't be disturbed and slept. Took almost a fortnight of water and prize delicacies to build her back up and it was many days before she came out from under the chair to go to the water bowl/food bowl herself.

14 days indicated to me that she got shut in someone's sheds/garage or even house whilst they were on their fortnight's annual summer holiday.

I think this lady's Vet''s practice was more money oriented than ours. They made a mint out of doing what she could have done at home herself.

You are in no way responsible for the cat being shut in for just 4 days.

She should have leafleted the neighbourhood.

MargotMoon · 25/04/2020 15:56

100% cheeky fucker. You should tell her so AND send her the link to this thread, with "post it where you like!"

ArchieStar · 25/04/2020 16:01

As a cat owner I can confirm she is bat shit. A responsible pet owner has insurance, always. What a strange cookie.

Madcats · 25/04/2020 16:08

Are many vets even open? (TBF, I haven't checked).

The very fact that the cat was capable of shooting out to run back home indicates it wasn't too close to death's door (or maybe it sat waiting in the sun for its door to be opened).

Oddly enough a neighbour(ish) mislaid her cat. She found it easy enough to get us all looking in sheds etc. It isn't as if we are going anywhere! Owner and cat happily reunited.

Don't pay OP. And I say that as an owner of two posh cats: Unless I witnessed intentional cruelty, I would always blame ourselves or the Madcats.

PhoneLock · 25/04/2020 16:08

I'm surprised it needed £800 worth of medical treatment after 4 days.

Stowaway cat survives 25-day voyage trapped in shipping container

bc.ctvnews.ca/stowaway-cat-survives-25-day-voyage-trapped-in-shipping-container-1.4372368

bigdecisionstomake · 25/04/2020 16:13

Sounds like the cat owner and the vets are both CFs. This happened to one of my cats last year, I was just grateful to have her home and as others have said my vets didn’t even want to see her they just said offer water and small amounts of food often until she was feeling better.

I don’t know where she had been but if someone had told me they’d found her in their garage I’d have been offering wine and chocs not a bill!

Coffeepot72 · 25/04/2020 16:15

I adore cats, and would be devastated if my cat got shut in the OP’s garage - but I wouldn’t consider the OP to be responsible, nor would I expect any money from her

leckford · 25/04/2020 16:17

Not a cat person. If she lets it out to roam things happen, like getting run over. Not you responsibility.

Rockbird · 25/04/2020 16:19

@Bigbrowproblems Two 2yo moggies with no issues. Lifetime cover with Petplan has just gone up to £45 per month.

Hercules12 · 25/04/2020 16:20

who on earth voted you are being unreasonable??

DamnYankee · 25/04/2020 16:21

Don't reply.

Let her post.

She'll get flamed for being irresponsible, unreasonable, and catty. Grin

londonrach · 25/04/2020 16:22

Report cf to police. Not your problem.

EL8888 · 25/04/2020 16:24

@STAYTHEFUCKHOME exactly

I’m a self confessed cat lady but she’s batshit. Not your problem. The car is her responsibility

EL8888 · 25/04/2020 16:24

Or cat even!

IntermittentParps · 25/04/2020 16:26

She's a chancer. She should have insurance. Ignore.

ScrimpshawTheSecond · 25/04/2020 16:28

OP, it was really nice of you to contact her at all, to post about the cat, etc.

She's mad, I'd go to the police if she tries any more of this.

m00rfarm · 25/04/2020 16:28

So this cat has pissed and shit (shat?) all over your garage/shed and SHE wants you to pay for the vet bill? Send her a bill for cleaning up the mess that HER cat left in your property!

Purpleartichoke · 25/04/2020 16:28

She is solely responsible for the harm that comes to her cat from letting it wander unsupervised. None of this is your fault.

Rafflesway · 25/04/2020 16:29

Cat obsessed here!

Cats are nosey Parker’s, (curious), by nature and this happens extremely regularly. My late beautiful Cream Persian did this years ago and was missing for 10 days. We searched everywhere for him! He finally slunk home looking rather bedraggled and weak but soon perked up after 24 hours of water, small portions of food, a good bath and his beautiful coat revitalised. No way should she have incurred a bill of £800! Why take the cat to the vet anyway if she knew she couldn’t afford the treatment? She could easily have tried home treatment first.

Also I would definitely inform the police about the attempted extortion!😡

A big thank you to you OP for being so caring. Flowers

Rafflesway · 25/04/2020 16:30

Parkers - don’t know where the apostrophe came from. 🙄

Louiselouie0890 · 25/04/2020 16:32

Shes batshit