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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To sue or not to sue ?

270 replies

PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 11:50

That is the question.
Grap a cuppa this is long

I've posted on here before about this but situation has changed slightly so things have moved on.

We moved house 2 years ago and our beautiful cat whom we had bought at great expensive (£500) to bred from ran away or so we thought. As it happens after we'd literally walked/drove around the streets, put up posters for months another child at our daughters school went to another parent at the schools house and said oh look that's DD's cat.
So upon learning this we approached them and they basically said they thought he was a stray (yeah right he's clearly a pedigree) and he is chipped and had a collar on - this of course may have come off but that's why you chip them isn't it.
So they refused to hand him back and we didn't really know what to do because we didn't want a custody over a cat thinking they were taking good care of him.
One day out of the blue she called me to say the cat was ill and she'd taken him to the vets where they'd decided to neuter him, knowing damn well he's our cat I said they had better not, she said it was already done
Today he has appeared in our garden and we've caught him and caged him and I'm keeping him.
But I'm so angry about the fact we cannot bred from our own animal.
Bit of background he is the purest of pure, I spent literally 12 months looking for a cat of his quality, paid over the odds and drove 8 hours with the children in the back to collect him.
To bred from cats you have to wait until they are 12 months old, so he was literally just about ready when he went missing.
I reckon this whole excercise has cost me £5,000 in loss of income and cost of replacing and waiting for a new kitten to become old enough to bred.
So who would you sue, the woman for stealing our cat and operating on him or the vet for doing the op on a cat that was chipped and they didn't own ?

OP posts:
Original poster
PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 12:33

CAts are extremely smart, he knew where the old house was 6 miles away and got back to the new house which is not so far.
Have checked with a legal helpline, they have to prove they own him as cats are legally treated as property, we have the certification and they don't end of.
We also sell our kittens on the basis that they are house cats and the insurance is invalid if people let them out.

OP posts:
TheFallenMadonna · 14/06/2009 12:35

What contract? You had a contract when you bought it? It cost £500, you can't breed from it and it has to stay in the house the whole time? What would happen if the people who sold it to you knew it had gone out of the house?

starshaker · 14/06/2009 12:36

PG what type of cat is it. archie is a brittish short hair and alfie is a laperm

TheFallenMadonna · 14/06/2009 12:36

Insurance?

Original poster
PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 12:36

What happens is that the insurance won't pay out as on the receipt required to prove how much the cats cost there is usually a printed statement that the cat is not to go out, I guess if they escape though you might be paid out, who knows.

OP posts:
Original poster
PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 12:38

We have BSH's SSThe fallen, wouldn't you insurance something that cost you £500 and could potentially cost you thousands in vets bills if they are ill ?

OP posts:
starshaker · 14/06/2009 12:38

They are within their rights to take him back. but as he doesnt get out and got out by accident then they wont really do anything. I am also not allowed to sell him or give him away without the permission of the breeder.

TheFallenMadonna · 14/06/2009 12:39

Sorry - wasn't getting the link between contracts, not breeding and not going out. Still don't really.

Didn't you claim off your insurance then OP?

curiositykilled · 14/06/2009 12:41

having the certification is not so much the proof of ownership when you had allowed the other family to own him for 2 years. Have you told a solicitor all the details? I know cats are treated as any other property BUT this means if you chose not to pursue ownership of the cat once you found out where it was and that was 2 years ago, they would have a VERY GOOD case against you.

If you move out of someone's house and leave your TV, how long is it reasonable for them to wait before considering it as their property?

Quattrocento · 14/06/2009 12:41

That's an interesting question and one that should have occurred to me

starshaker · 14/06/2009 12:42

You got a stud BSH for £500. wow if i wanted a stud i would have had to pay £750. I got mine from fergan in glasgow what breeder did you get yours from

gerontius · 14/06/2009 12:45

On a completely different point, isn't it a little unfair to keep a cat indoors all the time when cats clearly enjoy being outside?

Original poster
PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 12:47

I didn't and couldn't claim off the insurance because he wasn't missing/dead he was up the road, that would have been fraud wouldn't it ?

I sell people active kittens for £500 it's more about what they are going to do with the cat than the money I won't have them caged like a factory.

OP posts:
starshaker · 14/06/2009 12:49

Archie doesnt have the sense (BSH are not very road wise) they arent like moggys who gain the brains to stay away from roads etc. my laperm gets out but archie is more than happy to sit on my knee and sleep. they are also very lazy cats lol and going out is generally too much effort. The laperm is more a hunter so yes i think it would be cruel to keep him in.

TheFallenMadonna · 14/06/2009 12:49

Well, I do wonder how this particular cat is going to take to being kept indoors after two years of wandering free. Not sure I would really buy into the idea that he spent those two years looking for his real owners...

starshaker · 14/06/2009 12:50

PG do u have a website as im thiking about getting another. Not really bothered if active on non active though

Original poster
PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 12:51

Clearly he hasn't been wondering free though has he otherwise I would have picked him up on one of the many nights we spent walking the streets looking for him.
In my opinion he was found and locked up until he forgot where he really did live.

OP posts:
Original poster
PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 12:53

I'll put up some photo's on my page here, email is [email protected] - there goes my anonymity lol
We've got three left due to go in July.

OP posts:
ilovemydogandmrobama · 14/06/2009 12:54

If you were going to breed from him, then it does raise a point as far as loss of income, but economic loss would need to based on breach of contract, I think.

So, he's insured? Is being neutered an injury, or classed as such?

I'd raise it with the insurance company as most have a legal department.

pinkdelight · 14/06/2009 12:54

Sorry about what happened to your cat, PG, but you don't seem to be taking the responses onboard. Pretty much everyone thinks YABU to sue because you didn't take legal action to get the cat back when you first found it. I'm also a bit hazy about the difference between a cat being let out and a cat escaping. Obviously the latter is unintentional, but still, in some way, even if through error or oversight during your move, you must have let the cat out because it was able to escape. And I agree there is no way joe public can tell a pedigree cat from the average cat at all. I truly think you have to listen and let it go.

Original poster
PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 12:57

ilovemydogandmrobama thank goodness somebody understands where I'm coming from. I might make a call.
If the other people were in the slightest bit nice about it when we asked for the cat back I would have given them one of his kittens free of charge to promote good will but oh no.
I'm sorry I do not agree that Joe Public doesn't know a moggie from a pedigree, he is quite clearly something special, anyone with half a brain can see that.

OP posts:
curiositykilled · 14/06/2009 13:01

PG - I have to say you are completely wrong about joe public knowing about pedigree cats, I have to say I would not have a clue. Clearly the ppl who took him didn't really know either or they wouldn't have neutered him and probably would have sold him instead of caring for him for so long. If you want to claim from your insurance do it, if you want to sue do it but be aware (I have had experience with property law with exDP) that you might end up with no money and no cat. I would just forget about it and if I wanted to keep the cat just shut up about it and don't make trouble for yourself.

gerontius · 14/06/2009 13:07

He's something quite special to you. To most people he's just a cat.

Thunderduck · 14/06/2009 13:09

My brain is in full working order, and while I can see he's a lovely cat. I don't think it'd be obvious to the general public that he was anything special.

He doesn't have any characteristics that I can see that would make your average person believe he was a pedigree, he isn't an ''exotic'' looking breed, no special type of coat, no real features that make him look drastically different to the average member of the public.

pinkdelight · 14/06/2009 13:12

Did you actually make them the offer about the kitten back then? If so, they might have been nicer. Sounds like you've thought of it since.
Sorry, but I honestly do think you're blinkered by your own love for cats and sense of loss for this cat, which is understandable, but means you're intent on being unreasonable. Suing (sueing?) now is just closing the door after the cat has bolted. And at least you've been lucky enough to get the cat back.