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 ?

So now my children are to be slagged off too ..... hell my husbands a bit bald ..... let me think what else could be wrong with ME/US ... the victim in all this .... do your worse

pussy galour - maybe you should get your facts right. NOBODY STOLE YOUR CAT. Perhaps you have stolen it from it's new owner now though.

Go and look up the definition of theft my dear. To permanently deprive of it's owner.
I paid for the cat, they did not pay for the cat.
End of conversation.

How do you know the cat you now have in your possession is the same cat?

We took him to the vets this afternoon to check the microchip.

Where do you think this thread belongs Mollie? Is there a Loon's Corner?

But these other people had him for 2 years - surely if you look after a cat for 2 years it sort of becomes your cat? Particularly if the person who said they owned it left it with you without asking for the microchip to be read to prove ownership?

You found a vet open on a Sunday? I'm impressed. Our vet is only open for (expensive) emergency treatment and only because there is a hospital attached to the practice.

QC it belongs in a growing collection of recent threads! I'm honestly impressed that the OP found a vet open on a Sunday just to read a microchip .

I think you will not go to a solicitor now though because you will be afraid of feeling a fool...

I will say it one last time, you paid for the cat, but you relinquished ownership when you allowed the cat to live with another party for 2 years whether you meant to or not. The other party did not steal your cat because it is a reasonable assumption to assume that a cat that is wandering the street with no collar is a stray and so this is not considered theft in the eyes of the law. They would be reasonable to assume also that when you came to the door and asked for the cat and they refused, that because you took no further action to prove this assertion, you either did not want the cat or you were not the real owner.

Lots of vets are open on a sunday, do you think animals don't get ill or run over or hurt just because it's a sunday and micro chip centres are open 24/7 marvellous things any time night or day you can find out who an animal belongs to ....... or of course you can just keep it depending on your morals (or lack of).

Every time I see you posting on this thread, Curiosity, it makes me giggle. Should you not have namechanged?

I was just thinking of the extra cost they charge for any attendance out of normal hours and whether I'd stump up the money to get a microchip read on a Sunday. It isn't life threatening. The last time my cat spent time at the vet over a weekend it cost me £700!

They would be reasonable
What part of reasonable could "oh that's L (DD1's) cat being told to you by one child in your childs class, followed by "I believe you have our cat can we have it back" ..... door slam exists in your world ???? When could that ever be described as reasonable ???

Hang on OP - I recognise you and your 'profession', isn't your husband a lawyer?

PG - you took him to the vets this afternoon?
On a sunday?
That is rather unlikely isnt it...........

It isn't life threatening but you just know my kids will go to school tomorrow delighted they have their cat back and telling everyone, around the same time that the other kid "looses" theirs so I imagine they'll be pretty quick off the mark and I wanted to be ready, hence why I checked with the legal helpline at £1 per min and the local police.

He is but this isn't his area.
He also was 99.9% sure the man involved in all this would be convicted of manslaughter hence why we didn't push it at the time.

God knows who's bloody area this would be I doubt it's a common occurance.

Thanks Nahui, am off to bed appreciate your help

If it were me I'd have waited until Monday. There is hardly anything the other child can do until they get home and tell their grandparents. I'm also impressed you managed to speak to the police on a Sunday. Our local one would just say you have to report it in person during a week day. Where do you live?

Pussy, there are some oddities in this story.

Firstly the fact that you did not seek to get your cat back. We've all heard about the manslaughter charge, but tbh it seems odd to me that you didn't pursue it, especially given that you've since said that both the cat and the earnings from the cat are important to you. Also given that you are now proposing some kind of action now that you've got it back. All very illogical.

Secondly this stuff about the cat apparently finding its way home given that you've moved in the interim. How did it find its way home? You said you were six miles away.

Thirdly the insurance thing. You did say you hadn't claimed. But then you said something about filling in a form.

Fourthly the fact that you are threatening legal action and you haven't a clue what sort of action you propose to take. Loss of earnings only really arise in personal injury claims or claims under contract, and neither of those are in point. Anyhow you could never claim because the cat's fertility had never been proven.

Fifthly this extraordinary visit to have the microchip checked this afternoon - something which only came to light when you were challenged about whether or not you could prove ownership.

It all just looks a bit odd really.