To break into my new neighbours house *THREAD 2*

[Catsos]

Following on from my thread yesterday https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4881905-to-break-into-new-neighbours-house-serious-question-not-trolling

to update all of the lovely people who are trying to help me rescue my cat who has got himself stuck in an unoccupied house.

Updating very shortly

It’s about time there were controls over cat ownership with people like you around. Cats in gardens, ok, you can’t really stop them. But if someone hasn’t chosen to have a cat it’s horrendously unfair for a neighbour who knows their cat intrudes on other people’s property to not do something to contain it.

I agree. Why would you really want to be known by all of your neighbours as that annoying house whose cat keeps trying to get in? It's horrible when you feel you have to restrict your own family's life and keep your doors and windows closed in hot weather, as if you don't, some cat will keep trying to get in.

You may have cat allergies, crawling babies, smaller pets that you don't want upset/killed, food that you don't want stolen, upholstered furniture that you don't want trashed, valuable and/or delicate ornaments... so many reasons why people don't want strange animals intruding in their homes, as well as that they may just want to be left in peace.

Just because you love your cat and find it endearing, other people have a perfect right not to. This doesn't make them nasty 'cat haters' - just normal people who want to live and let live and enjoy the same rights to a peaceful home life as you do.

Lots of things are legal. It is legal to eat your entire birthday cake yourself at your party and leave the guests with nothing.

You haven't broken the law. But maybe you're a dick.

People are giving you flack, you've said you'll pay to have things put right so don't worry about the neighbours. Ps the honey roast ham finished me off 🤣🤣. All this does remind me of one foot in the grave and the weird things Victor Meldrew did 😆.

Cats do indeed have a right to roam.

This means that owners are not legally responsible if the cat trespasses. They are expected to take reasonable steps to prevent damage to others' property, or injury to another person, but it's hard to determine what that might look like, and there are unlikely to be any legal repercussions unless the damage is on a substantial scale (e.g. extensive fouling by a large number of cats, which would be considered a nuisance in the legal sense).

Let's hope this can be resolved between neighbours quickly and amicably. It may be that the cat avoids the other property from now on as he will be wary of getting trapped again, so hopefully there won't be any further problems.

Love the photo of him in the veg box, OP :)

I agree with this. I'm certainly not a cat hater, I have owned cats. But for cat owners to assume that it is perfectly ok and even funny for their cat to go into people's houses and steal food, seem to forget that people have a right to enjoy their homes and gardens. Its not an excuse to say that cats have to roam and can't be controlled, its the cat owners responsibility to find a way.

Many of the posters here, ranting about the cat breadking into the house, seem to have forgotten that the problem was extremely likely to have been caused by the fact that the cat flap was wrongly installed. If it had been correctly installed, the cat would have been safe home days ago!

(I do have some sympathy with the new homeowners who may not have been aware of the problem).

For someone who said in their very first post they had namechanged because they didn't want to be recognised 'by neighbours' the OP has posted a surprising amount of identifying information - several photos of very distinctive cat, glazier search location, Rightmove search location, veg box delivery customer.
If this is genuine info the OPs neighbours, friends, family and vet will all know exactly who she is. Odd thing to do.

I wouldn’t eat the whole cake don’t worry, I’m not a dick. Is that something you make a habit
of doing yes?

I’d rather my cat was happy roaming freely.

Rtft, the cat has form for breaking cat flaps of other neighbours. It's entirely the OP's fault.

Ah OP I'm so relieved to hear the news today. I've been out all day but been following your updates but didn't have the chance to respond. What a relief to get your gorgeous boy back, gorgeous but an absolute tinker! I'm sure there will have been some negative comments like there were on the last post, please take them with a big pinch of salt. I mentioned on the last one that I've got 2 indoor cats who have access to a little cat proofed garden, though just wanted to add that I'm not against free roaming either, it's a personal choice. Mine have always been indoor so know no different, trying to keep yours in now wouldn't be the right thing to do I don't think. He's clearly well looked after and very much loved. Glad things turned out OK in the end for you both. Hoping you don't have any more adventures for a while! X

I'm really pleased you got your cat back ok OP, but your poor neighbours house is going to absolutely stink, between the cat wee and the crabsticks, which are right in the window - it's been quite warm and sunny where I am today, so they will be extra smelly!

Everything you have been through over the past couple of days and the amount of damage caused to your neighbours house, you have likely irreparably damaged any relationship you would have had with them and you're still not going to do anything about your cat breaking into other people's houses? What if it happens again and your neighbours are fully moved in and on holiday for a fortnight? I know cars have the right to roam, but they don't have the right to destroy other people's property

Like I said, I'm really pleased you got him back because I bet you were absolutely beside yourself, but just as dog owners need to be responsible for their pets, so do cat owners - I'd be really upset if I came home to my newly decorated kitchen was covered in muddy scratches and cat wee and someone had put crabsticks through my bedroom window! I don t think an apology would cut it for me on this one.

OP, I’m very happy your cat is safe. I was very worried when I went to bed and kept waking up thinking of you and Cat. ❤️

skyfalldown · Today 18:16

😂😂😂

my lovely home and brand new furnishings that I hadn't even moved into yet

The builders are still in the house, there are builders bags on the floor and OP said there was a bed downstairs plus one rug.

@Catsos this is brilliant to get smells out of floor boards, speaking from experience! If you have pet insurance, that may finance repairs, likewise house insurance. Also, if there are contractors in, likelihood that there is still a fair way to go on the clean-up so it may not be as expensive as thought
😻

I am so relieved @Catsos for both you and your poor cat. 😁🥳🤗

I really don't want to give you even the slightest bit of extra grief, but with all the bad luck you have had up until your dear cat's release, may I suggest that on, or right beside, your keyboard is probably not the best place to put a full mug of liquid... 🤭

ps. Is it still too soon for me to laugh yet? Hopefully one day you will see the funny side too, now that it all worked out well.

pps. If you have the energy can you come back one more time please, after you have spoken to the new owners???

Glad he's out OP. You say he's free to roam but you have to accept the liability that comes with it. That includes paying in full for cleaning or replacing anything in that neighbours house. Same if he does it again, or to another property. You know your cat does this and let him do it anyway.

Those neighbours have every right to remove the obstruction over the cat flap and your cat may well be stupid enough to do it again, and you're going to be in the same position.

I imagine she doesn’t care too much if her neighbours link her to this particular thread, because they have seen her do all the weird stuff anyway, so what’s to hide.

But OP probably doesn’t want neighbours linking her with past or future posts under a different name.

<Sticks head through thread cat flap>

Evening, all. Just a quick plea for a bit of peace and love here and a reminder that both troll hunting and personal attacks are against our talk guidelines and we will delete those sorts of posts and take further action with repeat offenders. We're pleased to hear the OP's (very pretty!) cat is now back in the bosom of her family. We think that's a good place to leave things now, so if we could draw a line under any disagreements here, that would be great.

<Backs back towards cat flap door unsuccessfully. Panics a bit. Sniffs fish sticks. Settles in for the duration>

Even the indignant posts have made me laugh and laugh.

However, in real life I would be so fucking pissed off if I came home and discovered that a cat and their owner had done that to my house (honey roast ham through the bathroom air vent, anyone?) But even as I write this I can't stop laughing, but then it didn't happen to my house and I hope it never does.

It's a bit like that Netflix show with Rowan Atkinson Man Vs Bee.

Aww OP this is equally hilarious and horrifying! I’m glad he’s ok and you’ve got him back without any major damage.

The chances are your new neighbours will be very kind about it all. He’s weed a bit and some of the walls are muddy. It really isn’t the end of the world and the vast majority of people would probably laugh or be very grateful that you didn’t have to resort to breaking a window.

Shit happens, just apologise and offer to cover to professionally clean the rug. In terms of the ham and crab sticks, they’ll have been in there 3 days tops. They will have barely started to smell by now, even if it is a bit wifey, they’ll crack a window, wipe the side down and it’ll be fine after a couple of hours.

Some people on this thread are very strange indeed.

Why would you be “so fucking pissed off” to find a few muddy paw prints, a bit of wee on a rug (which can be cleaned professionally not at your expense) and a few crabsicks on the floor? All caused through absolutely no malice and a complete random act by a cat?

I can’t imagine being so highly strung to not just say omg new neighbour that must have been very stressful for you, please don’t worry, let’s have a cup of tea and let me meet your troublesome cat!

FOR THE LAST TIME I DID NOT SAY SHE BROKE IN.

She obtained access to these new neighbours house