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?

By that I get she doesn’t seem overly bothered but If you do decide to take him to vet’s then you pay as you took him. Not that she’s expecting you to take him and pay.

edited to add
you mention when your cat swallowed ribbon you were told by vet to take him asap. This is because ribbon is dangerous, it can wrap around intestines or clump. Foil from a food package should hopefully just pass through.

This

My dog is a theif, the things she has eaten are unbelievable for a small dog,ive never once taken her to the vet,she just pooed it out
A full large Toblerone and and Easter egg
A full tin of apricot and ginger flap jack
A very large glass jar (think old dow egberts jar)full of treats and bakers meaty chunks,she somehow climbed on kitchen side,knocked it on the floor,smashed it glass everywhere and eat every single scrap of treats!!
I think the cat will be fine 🙂

Or shit out bits of plastic for days ( my brother swalled an important piece of lego in the 70s. He had to poo on a potty ( was 9) and mum had to poke through it with a knitting needle to make sure it passed through.Dare say the cat will be fine

My cats will regularly chew through sachets or bags of food if I leave them out, they have never needed the vet.
They are fed well, wormed regularly and are plain greedy.
No vet, no bill.

I have had the same happen to me. A whole box of Frlix gone in one night. I was annoyed about the waste of money (I had bought the cat food as its owner was in hospital). It never occurred to me that the cat might need a vet. Anyway the cat didn’t come to any harm so I wouldn’t worry. It sounds like it’s a common problem as they know what’s in the pouches.

Wow that’s very cheeky of your friend to imply you should pay the vet’s bill. If something like this happened to me I would hope the friend/sitter would initially pay but I would transfer the full amount as soon as possible even if I did consider it was ‘their fault’. People don’t know your cat as well as you do and so won’t know all their little quirks and if you forget to tell them that’s on you. Also you’re doing your friend a favour by looking after the cat in the first place! The CFery of some people never ceases to amaze me!!

My monkey cat does this all the time, he is a cat burglar, breaks into the box, opens it, literally stands on the pouches to squeeze stuff out, often there’s chew marks and gaping holes, he’s never been unwell at all — it’s the owners call with the bill though if he needs to go to the vet

My cats have done this more than once. Nobody has needed the vet. But ultimately your neighbour should have put the packets in a cupboard before going away. She left them out not you.

Thanks everyone, it did ease my mind reading your comments and luckily so far he seems fine. He is inside now for the night and the pouches have been shut away!!

No way are you responsible for any vet bill? Total CF. If the cat should seem ill, call your friend , say you can’t afford the vet but think he needs to go, so she’ll have to pay. I think he’ll probably be fine. If he’s a regular cat food pouch burglar, she should have warned you.

It would never enter my mind that a cat could eat through pouches of food. We've had cats for years and whenever we've employed a cat sitter (multiple times a year as our close family live on the other side of the country) we've always put the box of wet foot and the bag of dried on the kitchen table for ease of access. We feed neighbours and friends cats and the food is always left out on the table or on utility worktop, never had to go into the cupboard.

If the same thing happened on our cat sitters watch we'd absolutely take responsibility for the vet bill ourselves, not at all their fault!

cats are pesky little things when they want!!

Are you absolutely sure the cat has eaten the pouches? Marvin has form for breaking into food pouches but after an initial bite he will shred them with his nasty dinosaur claws.

I looked so hard to find the bits that were missing and couldn’t find them so I can only assume they’ve been swallowed. Some of the packets were completely shredded others still in tact but with a big gaping hole in the middle

My mum’s cat used to eat fibre optics 🤦🏼‍♀️, and he was fine.

Don’t pay. She took the risk by not getting an insured cat sitter.

He will be fine.

Does you neighbour want you to take the cat to the vet?

That’s a bit cheeky of her- it’s her cat she needs to make the decision about the vets and if she wants you to take it she pays.

Have to say I looked after neighbours cats and they ripped through a massive box of food - like 2 weeks worth!!! My neighbour was the one that left the box out! They were fine (and still begging for food!)

That’s a bit cheeky of your neighbour to say “if you can afford it”.

We dog sit for PILs dog sometimes and I once left an open pack of his teething sticks out, which he loves. He’s given one a day. He managed to get the pack and eat the lot. He was sick a few times in the garden and that was it. Lesson learned!

Dental sticks not teething sticks! Also cross post with @Whatyoutalkingabouteh!

She’s a CF saying you can take the cat to the vet ‘if you can afford it’ she should have insurance

as other posters have said there’s more of a risk with ribbons and strings as they can get tangled inside once eaten

I’m sure cat will be fine. They absolutely should have warned you

hope the cat is violently, that makes the cat feel better, somewhere they won’t find for a month or two

It's not irresponsible to not have pet insurance. We don't, we have savings instead.

Glad the cat sounds ok from your update. A cheaper option than a vet visit is a vet video call, I used to have First Vet included with my pet insurance and it was brilliant for this sort of thing when you need advice and reassurance. Hope all continues ok.