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?

She's a CF! She's 100% responsible. I'm not sure I'd cat sit again if that's her attitude

Is it a burmese cat by any chance? I can never leave sachets out as my cat would do this all the time but he will devour all the food inside. He also hides the evidence behind the tv and very little gets eaten of the actual sachets, just the meat inside. I have never taken him to the vets- he is always fine. He still does this when you have given him the food but left the sachets on the side- he will shred them to pieces and lick all the juice. I would just like to add-He is fed frequently and in enough quantities. As a result of this habit he is a little overweight but nothing stops him from stealing sachets. His food has to kept in a locked cupboard. I have never had any issues with illness from his thieving habit!

it’s her cat she needs to make the decision about the vets and if she wants you to take it she pays.

She did decide though, she said he's done it before and reassured OP that he'd probably be okay, OPs seemed to be the one wanting to take him to the vets, the woman who's cat it is wouldn't have bothered.

In the circumstances OP describes, If someone insisted on taking my cat to the vet after I had said there was no need to, I'd expect them to pay out of their own pocket too!

My cat does this fairly often and not even just cat food!

Never been to the vet about it.

I look after my daughter's cat and she always warns me not to leave pouches out for this very reason. Your neighbour really should have done the same.

The pouches kinda shrivel so its unlikely he hate it. Thats just what happens when cats bite ans scratch them

If you weren't being paid to look after the cat it is not your bill to pay

You were looking after him as a favour and you did that to the best of your ability.

my bf did this when i left him alone for several days. luckily the nhs is free

No need for a vet he will probably have the runs for a day or 2 .

Absolutely agree, some people use savings instead, I did as one of my cats got older

The neighbour is being CF though expecting the OP to pay for any required vet appointment if needed

I don't see her as a CF as she doesn't seem bothered about the cat going to the vet and she's not said to go to the vet, only that if you insist it's on you. So don't go.

People are taking the message the wrong way. She’s not saying OP should actually pay. She’s saying the cat doesn’t need to vet so she won’t pay. She’s then sarcastically saying that if OP insists on taking them needlessly against the owners adivce then she should expect to pay.

Aka no don’t take them to the vet because she’s not paying for that when it’s not necessary.

If it makes you feel any better my cat has done this but he learned how to open the cupboard door to get to the food 🤔

He ate his way through a good chunk of a 40 pouch box and he was absolutely fine. Didn’t even vomit. I imagine your neighbours cat will be the same.

We have had to install a kiddy lock on the cat food cupboard after twat no 1 worked out how to hook it open with his paw.

I'm sure this cat will be fine. They bite through the packets and suck the juice if they can .

Your neighbour is a bit of a dick, I wouldn't come running next time she asks for a favour.

I know two cats like this (their owners didn't warn me either), the bits of plastic just come out the other end.

Your neighbour should pay for any vet treatment. Cat will probably be fine. Rather strange behaviour by cat (and neighbour!)

You can relax OP. The cat has form. Plus you're saving them a fortune and there could be strays coming in and having a party while the owner is away on holiday! You did your popping in task.

Cat owner pays all vet bills, but also should get to choose whether you take the cat to the vet, and effectively she has said no to this. In quite a rude and presumptuous way IMO.

Cross your fingers that there's no dire emergency this time. Before any future catsitting, clarify that if there is an emergency that requires a vet, that she will expect to pay. TBF she might be expecting to anyway in a life or death situation, she just doesn't see this as such. .I hope she would anyway. If not, stop catsitting for her.

Fair enough - but if you have sufficient savings instead to cover any treatment your pets may need then you are effectively acting as your own insurer - some commercial businesses with a lot of drivers do the same - they don't pay for insurance for their drivers, they just pay out their liabilities in the event of accidents and across a whole fleet and all drivers it works out cheaper than paying insurance premiums (they may have a catastrophe policy that will only pay put in the event of claims exceeding £2million or something - my only experiences are with claims of a few thousand pounds). In the event that a 3rd party felt responsible for some harm to your uninsured pet and was going to contribute to vet expenses (which I don't think the OP is in the current case but there might be other scenarios where they were) then your personal decision to use savings rather than insurance shouldn't affect that 3rd party - if they would just pay the insurance excess for an insured pet - say £200 - they shouldn't be hit with the full whack for your pet, because it was your decision to be the funder of risk rather than using an insurance company. But that scenario is purely theoretical and hopefully such a scenario will never happen to your pets.

Honestly, my biggest concern here is that the owners have just left their cat to its own devices to roam the streets all night! I’ve had many cats, and have never let them out all night.

No one would expect any neighbour looking after a cat free of charge to be responsible for vets bills. It is not your cat and you are not running a pet sitting service as a business.

You did the right thing informing your neighbour but she doesn't sound like she wants to you to take it to the vets at her expense so don't. I'd just keep a eye on the cat and I would only take it if the animal is in obvious distress, or contact the RSPCA for advice if I couldn't afford to pay for vet consultation fee myself.

If you are worried about the cat ask the owner a direct yes/no question. “Do you want me to take MonsterMunch to the vet?”
If yes “How will YOU pay for that”
If no, then you have their decision in writing if anything happens.

Just to re-iterate..

If it is obvious that the cat needs veterinary care, and you do not take the cat - then you, the cat sitter physically in charge, are contravening the animal welfare act.

The owner is still responsible for the bill - but you may need to take them to SCC after the fact to get that cost back.

At this point where its just a 'wait and see' then no obligation to go to the vet, but the second there are symptoms... it is the person physically present who is responsible for getting the animal treated and failure to do so is an offence.

Anyone pet sitting or in charge of other peoples animals in any way (yard owners/managers on livery yards for example) should be aware of this. You cannot ignore an animal suffering and needing treatment because you're not the owner and the owner said 'no' or can't be contacted.

My question isn’t whether I should take the cat to the vets if they need to go, it’s whether I would be expected to pay for it in this situation