Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To have released this cat

64 replies

idonethisthing · 29/05/2025 20:44

I did something on the spur of the moment and now I’m wondering if I was in fact wrong to do what I did.

I went round to the house of a family on my street the other day to let them know that their dog had escaped and was running maniacally towards the woods. Someone in the household then wandered off to find the errant dog.
i was then talking to the woman of the household on the doorstep when she said ‘guess what’s in there?’ and pointed to her downstairs loo (Our houses are identikit new builds so i know exactly what the room looks like. It’s 1.5 meters by 1 meter with a loo and a sink only. Tiled floor) Then she said she’s got a stray cat in there. I asked what cat and she described a local very distinctive cat and said he’d been in there for four days and she was going to take him to the vets.
When she went back inside I waited and then opened the front door quietly and unlocked the loo and released the cat. Was I wrong? I feel bad, but I can’t see on our local Facebook groups that she made any attempt to find the owners of this cat and four days locked in the little loo seems rather cruel to me. Was I wrong? If the cat needed help then there are people you can call. There’s no need to wait four days if you have the animals best interests at heart, surely? You don’t just go around picking up random cats that you think need help and then shoving them in a cupboard until you get round to it.
I’ve got a strong feeling she knows it was me because you had to physically unlock to toilet door from the outside so it didn’t happen accidentally. I’m hoping she confronts me soon so I can stop stressing about it!

OP posts:
TheSlantedOwl · 30/05/2025 00:05

YANBU.

Floatlikeafeather2 · 30/05/2025 00:09

What did you do with the cat when you let it out? Where did it go? Did you at least take it away from her property so she was less likely to find it again?

hereismydog · 30/05/2025 00:24

You saw nothing, you don’t know about any cats. In fact, you were out for lunch with me at the time the cat disappeared so it couldn’t possibly be anything to do with you, could it?!

Good on you.

WingingItSince1973 · 30/05/2025 00:41

You did the right thing. Two weeks ago our cat went missing for 2 days. He was in a shed down the road from us having been chased in there by the owners dog and they locked him in there thinking he was someone else’s cat! Fortunately we had put posters of him in lampposts near this house and their neighbours phoned to say the people had a cat locked in their shed! When we went round to see it was our boy. Two days in their shed with no food or water. We were so distressed looking for him and posting signs up and facebook posts. We walked local streets for two days solid and all the time he was in that flipping shed! He now has a tracker on him but I’m cross the people kept him for two days with no mention to anyone just the people they thought he belonged to. So you did the right thing. The cat will find its way home hopefully xx

NattyTurtle59 · 30/05/2025 03:40

Well done OP.

XWKD · 30/05/2025 03:49

Crunchymum · 29/05/2025 20:50

So you broke into your neighbours house to release a cat?

Which was the right thing to do.

EnjoyingTheArmoire · 30/05/2025 04:02

idonethisthing · 29/05/2025 22:01

Yes she said that he’s matted and in pain and bleeding as a result. He isn’t! I’ve stroked him many times. I think he’s a Maine Coon cross, he’s gorgeous. And his coat is luxurious. When I let him out I gave him a quick once over and he’s good!

When our Maine Coon used to go out he used to attract all the local nutters who decided he needed rehoming for various (bullshit) reasons.

You absolutely did the right thing.

Weaponofchoice · 30/05/2025 04:13

She sounds bonkers

BlueEyedBogWitch · 30/05/2025 04:21

Good on you.

Zanatdy · 30/05/2025 06:02

100% the right thing. Why do people do this? Someone would be missing that cat.

EleanorReally · 30/05/2025 06:06

can you message his owner?

MuffinsAreJustCakesAtBreakfast · 30/05/2025 06:08

I really really don't like cats so consider this unbiased..!

Locking an animal in captivity in a small loo/cupboard is cruel.

You did the right thing.

ChocolateGanache · 30/05/2025 06:14

She does sound nuts op. Yanbu.

Ohwhatfuckeryitistoride · 30/05/2025 06:16

Do you know who owns him? I’d be giving them (and all other pet owners that she’s got form)

Flipslop · 30/05/2025 06:19

Not all heros wear capes

K0OLA1D · 30/05/2025 06:23

Defo did the right thing. You have guts op!!

Hallywally · 30/05/2025 07:27

Maine Coons are expensive- she probably stole him.

Whyherewego · 30/05/2025 07:33

If you rescue a cat and you have existing pets you need to have it in a separate room. So that's fairly normal
She does sound batshit though. Personally that was a high risk strategy, I'd have simply said that I'd take it to the vet for her there and then

WhereIsMyJumper · 30/05/2025 07:42

OCDmama · 29/05/2025 22:29

The only thing YBU about was not confronting the woman.

This.
If it was me I would have said “oh I know that cat, he is a very well looked after local pet. You need to just let him out so he can go home as I’m sure his owners are missing him”

Why people would choose to just walk in to someone’s house and release him by stealth rather than just saying something to her?!

Pabbel · 30/05/2025 07:48

Hopefully the cat is safely back home now, you did the right thing letting it out.

sameshizz · 30/05/2025 07:55

There are some absolute nutters around when it comes to cats . I used to work next to a shop which was next to a nice housing estate. A healthy rotund cat with a collar from the estate used to hang around the shop regularly as people would give him treats when they came out. I had to stop a woman one day putting him in her car as she was going to take him. His owners would no doubt have been devastated when he didn’t come home . I’ve had a few friends who have had cats stolen by neighbours , the neighbours have brought the cats back when they needed a vet however 😒

idonethisthing · 30/05/2025 08:25

I didn’t confront her there and then because I know she does this sort of thing fairly often. I saw her just a week or so ago scouting around down the river bank. She said she’d found an injured cat and was trying to entice it out with some cat meat. I said I’d knock on the doors of the houses nearby and she looked genuinely annoyed. Anyway, both houses I knocked at said the cat was owned and they’d let the owner know immediately. She left it alone, albeit reluctantly. I saw the cat briefly and although I can’t be certain, it didn’t look injured to me. No limp, as she claimed and no swollen head or skinned ear.

Confronting her at the time would probably have meant she just shut the door in my face and kept an eye out for me trying to release the cat. As it stood she went back inside oblivious, and I had my opportunity.

OP posts:
Caerulea · 30/05/2025 08:50

Definitely did the right thing! Not sure why cats bring out the worst in people? Stealing them or deliberately leaving them in sheds to die?!

If it wasn't for the fact our cat couldn't give a shiny shit about anyone other than 15yo DS I'd worry about someone pinching him cos he's so unusual looking.

All that aside...a lock on the outside of a toilet door?

hereismydog · 30/05/2025 09:29

Caerulea · 30/05/2025 08:50

Definitely did the right thing! Not sure why cats bring out the worst in people? Stealing them or deliberately leaving them in sheds to die?!

If it wasn't for the fact our cat couldn't give a shiny shit about anyone other than 15yo DS I'd worry about someone pinching him cos he's so unusual looking.

All that aside...a lock on the outside of a toilet door?

Probably a lock with a slot on the outside that you can lock/unlock with a coin!

idonethisthing · 30/05/2025 10:19

Caerulea · 30/05/2025 08:50

Definitely did the right thing! Not sure why cats bring out the worst in people? Stealing them or deliberately leaving them in sheds to die?!

If it wasn't for the fact our cat couldn't give a shiny shit about anyone other than 15yo DS I'd worry about someone pinching him cos he's so unusual looking.

All that aside...a lock on the outside of a toilet door?

Yeah, it’s one of those locks on all newer house loo doors. You can use a coin or something similar to turn it from the outside. I didn’t have anything like that to hand but managed to turn it by just gripping it really tightly. It made a really loud clunk when it opened. 🤦‍♀️ I thought ‘shit, she’ll definitely have heard that’ so got a move on and got out of there fast.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread