To sue or not to sue ?

[PussyGalour]

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 ?

I guffawed at this but then the picture of the £500 cat is EXACTLY the same as MIL's - she found it as a 'stray' about 15 years ago - it has the MOST LOVELY TEMPERAMENT

I agree with everyone else, you've left it FAR too late. And why keep a cat in when it's been allowed to roam outside for two years? That seems very cruel, when you seem to be doing it just to exact 'revenge' on these people. It's very cruel on the poor cat.

I appreciate the problem and why you are cross but

• why did you let an unneutured cat out in the first place
• you should have demanded him back again when you first discovered where he was
• breeding from cats is totally ridiculous (regardless of how 'pure') they are - visit any cats home to see the huge number of unwanted cats

• The cat was not "let out" it escaped
• you should have demanded him back again when you first discovered where he was We did thy basically told us to fuck off.
• breeding from cats is totally ridiculous (regardless of how 'pure') they are - visit any cats home to see the huge number of unwanted cats

You are entitled to your opinion but we literally cannot bred them fast enough, they sell within days of being born so plenty disagree with you.

As for the insurance point, of course he was insured and when I came to claim should I have ticked dead - well no he wasn't or lost again he was not lost he was living around the corner so either would have been fraud, I'm afraid there was no capnapped box to tick.

Sorry pg - the fact that they sell quickly is not a justifiable reason!
Im glad I was put on this earth as a vessel to breed babies for sale

If they told you to FO - you should have proved the cats identity then - way too late to do anything now

Go to a cats home and get a lovely (and healthy) moggy

Er nobody wants a moggy as the cats home will testify to.
And they were put on this earth to take their place in the food chain just like any other animal, as it happens they feed and clothe my children instead of being eaten by foxes, I'm sure they prefer that arrangement.

PG i think a lot of people just dont get the whole pedigree cat thing. people assume that cats are moggys. ive had moggys and my pedigrees are more affectionate and loving. i wouldnt go back to moggys and the chances of a pedigree ending up in a rescue centre are slim. Most breeders have a clause that say if there are any problems they can go back there

I don't understand why you re-capturing the cat has prompted the desire to sue. But then I genuinely don't understand why you didn't get the cat back as soon as you knew where it was.

And that's why I name changed, it always ends like this whenever I ask for advice concerning the animals you'd think I sold them to the local chinese takeway fgs.

TheFallenMadonna - well as I have now stated for the 100th time it really wasn't that simple, they wouldn't give the cat back and it was a case of the bloke was literally in court a few weeks later for manslaughter, they were on the edge, the child was looking ill and stressed how would I have felt if i'd called the police had them charged with theft and then he or his wife topped themselves, my plan was always to recapture him asap, I hadn't accounted for him to be missing his bollocks though.

Fine. But as Nahui has pointed out, sueing them for £5,000 isn't going to help them much either. If you hadn't re-captured him, would you now be considering sueing is really my question I suppose.

To claim "nobody wants a moggy as the cats home will testify to" is nonsense.

I've had "moggies" all my life - up to 5 at a home, all from the local cat home. They have a very healthy turnover in general (though it's true to say that sadly cats who are getting on a bit, and those with health issues invariably take longer to home). If nobody wanted moggies, these places would simply become retirement homes (and be very unlikely to fund themselves) and ultimately all stray or unwanted cats would have to be put down. I have been disappointed numerous times having spotted a likely new pet only to be too late as someone else snaps them up - of course people want them.

There are some breeds who are stunningly beautiful (others whose features have been tweaked to a grotesque degree - but that is another argument) and there have been times in the past when I could have afforded a pedigree but what always stopped me was the thought that me buying one would encourage further breeding (i.e. fuelling demand) and deny the cats languishing in a shelter through no fault of their own a place in someone's home.

Apart from all of that, I am genuinely sorry your pet was taken but I agree with the general concensus that you missed the chance to take firmer action when it first happened - and now you have your cat back, it seems incredibly cruel to keep him shut in especially as he can't breed. I too would be angry and upset if someone took one of my cats though it has to be said that cats are independent creatures and it's not unknown for them to vote with their feet.

I think we should set up a duel between you and the adoptive owner. You can wave fihsy bits and chicken livers at the cat from opposite corners of a room. The owners who manage to get the cat to come to them will be declared rightful owners and all this nonsense over legal action will cease.

Possession it would appear, is 9/10ths of the law and he's on my pillow tonight

I don't see what the catnappers manslaughter charge had to do with anything except if someone was up for manslaughter and had stolen/appropriated my bike I'd be extra careful in case he decided to bump me off and would make sure police kept a bit of an eye on me. I certainly wouldn't be worried about him going over the edge, if he'd nicked my bike and tried to kill someone then him topping himself would seem like justice. Odd I seem fonder of my bike than you are of your cat, and I do wonder if this is a mythical cat. Sounds like you lied to the insurance company by not telling them the truth that you knew where your cat was, as they wouldn't then have paid up. Sounds as though you were glad to see the back of your cat and pocket the fraudulently aquired insurance money.

Well he has since been found not guilty of the whole manslaughter thing so that is behind them now.
I'll see what happens I guess, if they put two and two together and give me any nonsense about ownership then I'll consider my position, will be interesting to see if they put up posters once they realise he's missing.

2rebecca - I have never been so angry in my life, how fucking dare you ???

I did not claim on the insurance, learn to read you bitch before you spout your crap about others on here.

So, you didn't feel that you could press your point when the other family refused to return your cat to you. When that happened you must have come to a decision about what to do - what it sounds like is that you decided that their circumstances were too difficult to press your point. Why therefore does it make any differece that the cat is now neutered? You chose to admit defeat and therefore to now sue is illogical.

What is the timeline on this? When did the cat go missing? When was it found with the other family? When was it neutered?

"As for the insurance point, of course he was insured and when I came to claim should I have ticked dead - well no he wasn't or lost again he was not lost he was living around the corner so either would have been fraud, I'm afraid there was no capnapped box to tick."

You said "when" I came to claim.

You don't say "when" I had my baby if you never had a baby, and I wouldn't expect someone to say "when" I came to claim if they had never made a claim. You would have said "I couldn't claim" or "if I had wanted to claim"

Don't blame the cat for trying to escape. What a temper, oooh!

Gosh.

OP has said that she didn't claim on the insurance rebecca. I asked.

But yikes at the response

at the turn this thread has taken...

Wow that is a bit aggessive! Have reported.