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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:
curiositykilled · 14/06/2009 22:40

Because you didn't pursue it any further - legally anyway. Because you chose to try and catch the cat rather than demanding it's return. And, because you haven't done anything about it for 2 years. You would have been reasonable to demand it's return AT THE TIME.

Be prepared for the (albeit slim, most ppl don't know the law) possibility that you have the police on your doorstep/letters through your door asking you to return their cat then if your dcs are going to boast about it at school. Bet you didn't tell the legal helpline you'd allowed the cat to live with them for 2 years.

MollieO · 14/06/2009 22:42

If you want to take action then why don't you commence proceedings in the small claims court? Your dh could help you with the claim form and it is a pretty straightforward procedure.

BradfordMum · 14/06/2009 22:44

LOL
It's just a cat!

PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 22:44

Oh I'll just pop my address on here shall i
I told the legal helpline the full story, I find it most odd that your sympathies lie more with the thief's (and murders actually if we're being honest, they might have got away with it but that doesn't mean they weren't guilty), but that says more about you than it does me.
Am off to stroke my pussy, goodnight !

OP posts:
curiositykilled · 14/06/2009 22:45

p.s. it comes under property law

MollieO · 14/06/2009 22:48

I'm just curious to know where in the country has vets working on non-emergency cases on a Sunday and local police that you can call on a Sunday and get advice. Sounds idyllic. We're in the South East and neither of those are available here.

tigerdriver · 14/06/2009 22:49

I've never heard such a load of nonsense in my life! I've got three cats and if anyone took one of them in for a day or so I'd be demanding them back. Two years. Nonsense.

Love your sign off, though, Pussy, happy stroking

curiositykilled · 14/06/2009 22:49

I think you've said quite enough about you for most ppl to ba able to make up their own minds tonight!

LadyThompson · 14/06/2009 23:09

Good gracious.

If you commence litigation against these people, OP, you are most unlikely to get anything other than a bill for costs. And don't even think of trying to sue the vet as you simply won't get anywhere.

You've got your cat back, anyway. Surely that's enough? Or were you expecting a large compensation payout? It's not going to happen.

simplesusan · 14/06/2009 23:22

OH dear what a mess.

Spare a thought for the poor children who thought they had found a cat to love, whilst having to live with elderly grandparents, when their parents were facing jail sentences.
I like cats but only as pets, don't get all this "breeding" business but each to their own.
at the same time I can sympathise with the op as she did her best to find her missing cat at the time.
btw, do you think the grandparents would be able to afford to pay the fine if you did successfully sue? If not is it really worth it?

FairLadyRantALot · 14/06/2009 23:26

hmmm...so, they took the cat to the vets because he was ill and he was neutered as an outcome...presumably whatever was wwrong with the cat was meant to benefit by neutering?

Or am I confused here...

SparklyGothKat · 15/06/2009 00:39

I asked the same question earlier in the thread, but it was ignored. I asked why the cat was netured? I have/had a cat who suffers with Feline lower urine tract disease, he was netured to help this. I say 'have/had' as he keeps disappearing on us for months on end and I have no idea where he is... then he reappears and stays for a few days and disappears again

PussyGalour · 15/06/2009 09:02

The point is whatever was or was not wrong with him, do you go around operating on other peoples cats without permission ?
I would have paid for the neutering had he medically needed it, but that was my choice to make not theirs.

OP posts:
seeker · 15/06/2009 09:18

Why didn't you get the micro chip read 2 years ago? You could easily have proved the cat was yours at the time. You left it to be looked after by these other people for 2 years without doing anything to get it back. It's their cat.

Worzsel · 15/06/2009 09:22

Really you'd given them the cat by not bothering it put some effort in to getting him back.

Maybe they got the cat neutered as they have no intention of using him as a money making venture.

PussyGalour · 15/06/2009 09:39

You clearly haven't read any of the thread before making those comments so your opinions are rubbish tbh. I made every effort to retrieve the cat, this getting boring now, he's home where he belongs

OP posts:
Worzsel · 15/06/2009 09:43

I've read the entire thread.

MagNacarta · 15/06/2009 09:45

when you gave up on getting the cat back from the other family he ceased to be yours. End of.

PussyGalour · 15/06/2009 09:48

Well luckily the law doesn't see it your way.
As somebody else said would it be ok for me to refuse to hand back your car or child and then would it become mine after a set pperiod ? I don't think so.

OP posts:
ClaireDeLoon · 15/06/2009 10:02

If someone had my car and refused to hand it back I would go to the police there and then and get it returned. So it isn't the same as your situation at all.

seeker · 15/06/2009 10:11

You haven't said why you didn't get the micro chip read when you first tried to get the cat back. That would have proved the case straight away.

bumpyboo · 15/06/2009 10:12

mmm so lets get this straight. You had him for nearly twelve months and then they had him for two years. Poor cat he must be really confused now. I think I would give him back and just forget about the whole thing.

PussyGalour · 15/06/2009 10:30

Well I shall bear that in mind should I need to take to stealing from people that once a certain time has passed it's fine, just like the great train robbery eh ?
You are completely and utterly wrong in both civil and criminal law whatever you may think and as for the cat, as long as he's fed I doubt he cares where he is living as he proved before.

OP posts:
seeker · 15/06/2009 10:32

Why didn't you prove your ownership by getting the micro chip read at the time?

Worzsel · 15/06/2009 10:38

yes, why didn't you put some effort in to getting him back before ?

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