Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
starshaker · 14/06/2009 13:12

im not able to see your cats

starshaker · 14/06/2009 13:14

PG when was the cat neutered as it takes about 6 weeks to work can you not mate him up with 1 of your queens if it was recent

Quattrocento · 14/06/2009 13:44

I believe my brain to be in full working order as well and the cat in question looks unmistakeably like a cat. I would not pay £500 for any cat and in fact might well be persuaded to pay £500 for anyone prepared to drown adopt ours.

SouthMum · 14/06/2009 13:46

Only read first few posts

YABNU for being angry, but there again I'd just be happy at getting my cat back if it was a beloved family pet but I got the impression from your first post that it is being seen as a source of income first and a pet second (hence buying the second kitten?)

starshaker · 14/06/2009 13:47

I dont see the differance between spending hundreds on a dog than on a cat. I personally prefer cats and when you choose a breed then (like dogs) there are certain personality and behaviour traits that vary between different breeds

curiositykilled · 14/06/2009 13:52

starshaker - clearly there's no difference between spending lots of money on a cat or dog how does this relate to anything?

starshaker · 14/06/2009 14:00

Just people seem to think spending £500 on a dog is ok but if you spend it on a cat you are mad. i do realise people wouldnt spend it on either but just a few comments about "why would you spend £500 on a cat"

SouthMum · 14/06/2009 14:08

Starshaker - IMO its because with a cat it would be like seeing £500 grow legs and wander off ito the night to a new owner for a tin of tuna. You can keep dogs on a tighter leash, pardon the pun.....

starshaker · 14/06/2009 14:12

lol that is why both my cats (even though 1 is a house cat) are chipped neutered and insured

PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 14:16

Quattrocento clearly the cat loving part of your brain isn't working which begs the question why you have one, people like you keep me awake at night worrying where the kittens end up.
I agree dogs are easier but they are also smellier and slobber yuk.
I expect that'll kick it all off and when I next log on it'll be 30 pages long of cats v's dogs.

OP posts:
Quattrocento · 14/06/2009 14:39

It is indeed a mystery how I have ended up in a house with three cats when I loathe them so much.

But seriously, you don't have a case here. If you want to waste spend £100 or so, zip down to your local solicitors and they will give you their opinion.

MollieO · 14/06/2009 14:47

I don't see how the vet is liable even if they checked the chip. It would be very simple to say to the vet that you'd taken ownership of the cat and were waiting to sort out the chip transfer. If you felt so strongly then you should have acted at the time you found the cat. Now is simply too late. I am sure you will find a solicitor who will be happy to take your money but what answer will you give when you are asked why you did nothing when you discovered where your cat was?

If you are serious about taking civil action you will have a stronger case if the police do successfully prosecute.

atworknotworking · 14/06/2009 14:51

Havn't read all of these posts, but about 15 years ago some arsehole bloke threatened to kill our cat because it kept sitting on his windowsill , the police said cats are classed as ferrell so technically no one owns a cat. Has the law changed now?

suwoo · 14/06/2009 15:03

I want to see the £500 cat, where is the picture?

WorzselMummage · 14/06/2009 15:04

As far as i can remember cats are not property and as such can't be stolen.

It was looong tome since i studied it mind you..

Quattrocento · 14/06/2009 15:05

There is a link to one on the thread - not the OPs £500 cat - but another different £500 cat. Which does look unmistakeably feline but otherwise unremarkable.

unknownrebelbang · 14/06/2009 15:07

Do people really pay £500 for a cat?

PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 15:10

Well as of advice I took today they are property and can be stolen.
If somebody stolen a farmers cow and kept it would that be ok ? My cat was to be my livelihood too.

OP posts:
Quattrocento · 14/06/2009 15:12

Yes but the point was you didn't DO anything about it then

Honestly you need to go to a solicitor and check it out and let him/her advise you.

suwoo · 14/06/2009 15:12

Have googled british short hair cats and you can tell they are nice cats. I don't think though, that if one wandered into my garden I would make the assumption that it was worth 500 squid.

PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 15:17

Maybe nnot suwoo but equally would you think to yourself - I'll have that and keep it ? I don't think most people would especially when there were photo's of him with the telephone number to call should you find him and the fact that the name on the poster is that of a child in your child's class, surely you can understand why I'm cross ?
The neutering thing just added insult to injury

OP posts:
PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 15:19

Quattrocento Quite simply the couple are in their seventies, have the 9 year old grandson living with them because the parents have buggered off and the man was in crown court on a manslaughter charge, I didn't really feel I could put the boot in, clearly it would seem I should have ???? But it's a case of you make that call at the time as to what you feel is reasonable.

OP posts:
suwoo · 14/06/2009 15:21

No, of course I wouldn't keep it, especially if it looked like the ones I looked at, its hardly a stray. I may try to keep it though, after I had exhausted all searches.

What colour is yours pussygalour?

Chandra · 14/06/2009 15:21

Having a look at the pictures, I would say that for me they are... well... just cats. Perhaps someone with a more trained eye would be in a position to put a price tag to it but I'm afraid that I couldn't.

PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 15:22

And that's my point I really do not believe that anyone would be so naive as to think he was a stray. He's blue, I can't seem to add photo's but will do

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread