Should I pay neighbours vet bill in this situation?

[Sheandhercat]

My neighbour has gone away for 4 days and she asked me to pop in to feed her cat while she’s away, which I agreed to. Today is the first day, the cat was out all last night so I let him inside this morning, gave him some food and then left him in the house to sleep. I have gone in this evening and as I opened the door to enter, he was waiting by the door to go outside so I let him. When I walked into the kitchen I saw that he has eaten through his Felix pouches. The box of Felix was on the kitchen side, unopened. This morning I opened it to give him a packet but I just left the box where it was, I didn’t put it away in a cupboard. So he has eaten through the pouches to get to the food. A LOT of the actual packets are missing. It looks like he has eaten big chunks of the plastic because there’s nothing on the floor. 5 packets have been chewed through and there’s hardly anything even left of the packets it looks like he’s swallowed so much.

I contacted my neighbour straight away and she is a bit worried but said he will probably be fine because he has done this before but only with one or two packets, not five.

I am really worrying because he is outside now, I have been out shouting him to get him to come back so I can keep him in and keep my eye on him but he’s already gone. Ideally I think he should be taken to the vets to be checked out. If he ends up being ill from this, is it only fair that I pay the vet bill as he was in my care when it happened? Or does the owner still pay the bill? I am worrying not only for his welfare, but also because I don’t have that kind of money to cover vet fees if he ends up with a blockage or even for a check up.
its my fault for not putting the food away but I just left it where it already was and I didn’t even imagine he would do this! Is this on me to take him to be checked and pay the bill?

Oh god my old cat could chomp through a whole box of pouches if they weren't packed away asap, even through the cardboard box.

He's probably off somewhere having a snooze after his mahoosive lunch. She's not insisted you take him to the vets, he has form for this and she didn't put the pouches out of the way. Any bill is on her, not you.

"if you want to and you can afford it, sure”

CF

Your neighbour has admitted to you that the cat has form for munching through the packets of food, but didn't warn you. If the cat then becomes unwell, then that's on her, because she failed to advise you beforehand. Clearly your neighbour doesn't want you taking her cat to the vet, and if you take it upon yourself to do so, she'll be expecting you to pay the bill.

If it were my cat, I'd want the cat checked over by a vet, just to make sure he/she hadn't swallowed any plastic. However, I wouldn't be expecting my neighbour to pay the bill, when it was my fault for not telling them that my cat is a greedy bugger!

In this situation, I think all you can do is monitor, there's not much else you can do. If at any point you think the cat is indeed unwell, then you need to refer back to your neighbour. I would only take the cat to the vet if I felt he/she was in danger, and your neighbour was thinking of her purse, rather than the cat's welfare.

Cats are so funny - you made a rookie error and he seized the opportunity!

Hopefully you won't need a vet at all. He will be feeling sorry for himself now and have tummy ache but he will no doubt sick it all up or pass it.

X

Thank you for the responses :)

Love your post for it's dcats and dcat!
Dcat and Ddog are the best abbreviations on MN.

Also a very interesting thread. I hope OP's neighbour's Dcat is OK.

No it’s not your bill to pay. She said herself that she should have warned you. If she did you wouldn’t be in this situation

My cat also done this , didn’t even think about going to the vets , I’m sure she just felt uncomfortably full for a while , if you can see she is toileting and seems ok in herself , walking around still etc I’m sure she will be fine , I wouldn’t worry .

My childhood cat used to chew and eat the foil tinsel off the Christmas tree every year. The litter box would be decorated with spangly turds and sometimes he'd walk around all day with a few inches of it hanging out of his hole. He was always fine!

If you can afford it?!

I hope you replied no!

My cats done this quite a few times. Eats all sorts. If the cat seems poorly after 24 hours maybe vets but otherwise id leave it.

It's highly unlikely the cat ate the foil, I'd hunt around the house a bit more, its much more likely that he dragged it off somewhere to lick clean.

If he does have a habit of eating in-edible items like this (and it is unusual, vs dogs who often eat stupid shit) and she knows this, then she should have put it away and told you to ensure it was put away.

That said, if he HAS ingested strips/chewed up plastic, no he won't digest it like bones/feathers and he may not be able to pass it or vomit it back up, so it could cause a blockage.

It would likely show up on an xray (its not just plastic its foil, coated in plastic) - so given the situation, I'd see how he is, if you see signs of him trying to throw up and failing, or him being lethargic, behaving unusually, I would take him to the vet.

Unfortunately if she won't pay, you will have to, you are the adult in charge of the cat and have a legal responsibility to ensure the cat does not suffer in your care - knowingly leaving him to suffer until the owner returns would be an animal welfare offence! (Which is why I say people should think carefully about pet sitting and why pet sitters have insurance and ask questions about emergencies before hand).

She is a grade A CF for putting you in this situation.

@Sheandhercat no Way do you pay! My cat does this all the time so we hide the pouches in a cupboard. They should have done the same.

The cat will be fine but going forward say you won’t look after it as it was too stressful last time.

Her vet message is arsey as ! What a twat she is! You pay 😂😂😂 never again do you do her a favour!

That’s why the neighbour should a) have insurance and b) paid for a cattery.
Previous cats of ours have eaten foil that chicken was wrapped in and we’ve not had a problem. We’ve never had them snaffling pouches which we kept in the box on the worktop. Current cat has fresh food so can’t get into the fridge anyway.

This has just won the internet for me today. I've had a shit day and it's properly made me laugh haha

Hope the cat is ok OP I'd not worry too much, my cat ate the whole sleeve off a knitted baby cardigan my Nana had made. He did it again with a wool jumper 🫣

Yep this. He’s got previous and you weren’t warned. Not your fault.

Try the PDSA. I really don't think this is your fault at all the cat has done it before, can you contact the owner and ask what they want you to do?

My cat chewed and swallowed some ribbon from a balloon. I didn't even know until I found the passed through the bowels pile the following morning. Dcat was absolutely fine.

Cats eat all manners of wrong when they're out prowling, I would be inclined to think neighbours cat will be fine but will probably puke or have lots of bowel movements.
If neighbour isn't concerned, I'd just monitor with lots of water nearby for him.

My cat has done this more times than I care to admit! He’s never needed the vet, just looks a bit rotund for a few hours, occasionally throws up and then does it again whenever he gets the opportunity. We’ve had childlocks on our cupboards (and bin!) for far more years than we’ve had a human child, all because of our greedy bastard cat!

My cat does this, she’s an arsehole. I wouldn’t expect you to pay my vet bill if this happened.
The cat will be fine though, they’re not coming back in because they’re full and in a food coma somewhere under a bush 😂

She should definitely have warned you if the cat has form! I wouldn’t take it to the vet if the owner hasn’t asked you to and the cat seems fine. Maybe check in a bit more frequently for the next couple of days but that’s it. If it does look unwell then you can tell her that but make it clear you won’t be paying- not your cat and not your fault since she didn’t warn you.

I think I've read that things like ribbons and strings can be more dangerous if swallowed by pets (and cats especially) than things that are more compact in shape (like bits of packaging). I'd hope and expect that the cat will be okay.

Your neighbour should have warned you that this was a possibility. As she didn't, it's not your responsibility.

My cat has done this a few times OP. We don’t leave the box out because of it, but occasionally the cupboard door hasn’t been shut properly and the bloody thing has managed to drag the box out and demolish the food in the pouches - dog has joined in too! But they have both been completely fine I wouldn’t panic, just keep an eye.

I think it’ll pass through and she didn’t sound bothered about the vet. I’d leave it.

One of mine does this too, would eat a whole box full. I think they chew up the plastic so much it looks like there must be bits missing but they don't actually swallow the plastic.