They took my cat and they put her to sleep

[MarjorieStuartBaxter]

It's quite long so I'll try not to drip feed...my cat was 17 and starting to look old lost a bit of weight etc but still jumping fences no sign of illness at all still alert she never really goes far, and stays in all day and goes out at night if she chooses.
She had vet checkups a year ago scans blood s etc let deftly fine. Eating drinking fine though not eating like she used to teeth fine as she was eating meats etc from dinner.

Anyway Monday I open the door for the cats as usaul and her and Apollo always come in for breakfast Lola didn't turn up ok strange but assumed she was chilling somewhere.
Had to go and do some shopping came back ask kids if she'd come home no so me and my lad went out looking...the street busy body was around and I ask her if she'd seen her to which she then informs me neighbour 4 doors up thought she was sick took her to the vets and had her put to sleep! My beautiful cat was gone forever 😢
now these people that took her we had issues with a few months back over something it's long but was just words and they were in the wrong whatever. So to me it felt like this was done with malice.
I stormed round there and she said oh she was eating hedgehog food she wasn't well then tells me she paid to have her cremated! Wtaf this woman didn't attempt to knock on any door on the street and regardless everyone knows whose pets are whose mainly.
The vet scanned her chip after the event and it was still registered to the rescue from 10 years back when I got her it was meant to have been updated when I got her but they obviously hadn't and she was a cat that was 90 percent at home never went missing etc though I know this was stupid on my part.

If they'd taken her to the local vet they would have known she was mine....but strangely they took her to a random one....after all the upset etc I rang the vet the next morning sorry they said all the pets were collected for cremation I won't get her back I was devastated and fuming. She said hang on I'll see if I can do anything..2 hours later they ring me and tell me they still have her! In the freezer wtf.

So I collected my beautiful girl and at least got to bury her etc. it's been a horrendous week I could accept if she just died but to have her final moments taken away when she should have been at home with us is devastating. The vets were telling me she had a mass in her stomach but apart from losing weight she was still jumping fences going in neighbours cat flap eating drinking weeping etc normally! I never felt anything wrong when I picked her up and she'd lost weight sureky I'd have felt something? And my neighbour told me she was running home the day before......so his in a mattter of hours was she on deaths door?

Ive got the police involved just waiting on that....I just can't make sense of it everyone I know is shocked and angry about it lila was at her house eating food that's all which cats do if you leave it out 🙄 the neighbour that told me the news said oh she did ask on Facebook but no one I know saw it? I contacted admin of the page and he said there was no such post. Regardless I live 4 doors down if she was worried why not knock doors?! It makes no sense I've been numb all week over it miss her so much and it hurts she died with strangers this isn't normal or right is it?

If I found a sick cat I wouldn't mess around knocking on doors, I'd take it to the vet and get the chip checked.

I'm struggling to see what either your neighbour or the vet did wrong. The chip simply wasn't registered to you. That wasn't the vet or your neighbours fault. I'm amazed your own vet hadn't checked the chip.

Or beloved cat was 14 perfectly fit and healthy one day, literally jumping fences etc, nothing wrong at all. However He was hobbling in the morning but still ok, by the evening he couldn't walk, was clearly in pain and very sadly pts. It can happen that quick.

This all sounds very odd. I’m not sure why a vet would only check for a chip after PTS unless the cat was in severe distress and they needed to act immediately.
I also think it was up to you to get the microchip in your name and get your cat ti the vet when it was losing weight.

She had scans and blood tests last year she was showing no signs of pain, eating drinking she lost weight as she's old and that's what happens if I thought she was sick I'd have taken her I knew she would die eventually I'm not stupid just wanted her here which she would have been if twats didn't put food out.-and regardless if you'd take a cat vets without knocking the time it took to driver her out of town coukd have been spent knocking if she'd used the local vets- there are 2 others closer as well.
Also it's the fact that it's the neighbours we had issues with why them and again chip or not I couldn't have got there in time.

OP it sounds like your neighbours had your cat PTS out of spite. They took it to a vet further away not the local one. The vet didn't scan your cat until after they pts, which sounds like your neighbours could have claimed it was their cat. I'd be talking to the police about a hate crime. Did your cat have a collar on with your phone number? I'd be asking to speak with the vet who PTS to find out what story they were told. I'm so sorry for you and your poor cat. Some people are pure spite.

As awful as this is what did the vet say about her being ill? What’s the criteria for a cat being PTS?

The vet wouldn’t have scanned her for the tumour. They can feel it.
Both of our cats have had to be very quickly put to sleep due to the same issue. The vet at the time recommended immediate action. He only very reluctantly agreed to allow me to take her home so the kids could say goodbye.
If the vet has been told the cat is a stray, the microchip details have no real registered owner (that’s on you I’m afraid) they will have done what’s in the best interests of the cat.
If you truly believe your neighbour knew that she was your cat then they’ve acted very badly. I’m. It entirely sure anything will come of it though.

I'm about to pay nearly £400 to have dcat pts and cremated. I can't imagine anyone would fork out that much unless they were very evil or a huge animal lover. My dcat has been treated £££ by the vet for a year and we know it's his time, but I suspect another vet practice might take one look and pts immediately.

The microchip is on you I'm afraid, was a real ballache getting my late mum's cat transferred to us but still one of those jobs. Even if the vet scanned it they should have at least informed the previous rescue, unless it is now closed?

Im sorry op, but drinking lots as in finishing the dogs water and then drinking from the sink doesn't mean that your cat couldn't have been dehydrated, at 17 kidney failure is highly likely, and drinking lots but remaining dehydrated is a classic symptom. Tests done last year mean nothing as conditions can change so quickly.

Sorry to hear this OP. That’s heartbreaking.

Elderly cats can be extremely poorly without letting on. This happened to my cat, was fine but I took her to the vet as she was losing weight and she was terminally poorly. The vet did not want me to take her home overnight to say goodbye.

Yes we once had a very poorly cat that was still acting normally. We didn’t realise until he was pretty bad. I felt bad that we’d not done anything sooner.

If the blood tests etc you had were last year a lot could have changed in the ten months since then. Sometimes the owner is the last person to notice. There is a lady up the road with a horse that really should be pts, but she’s adamant that it’s fine. If the vet could actually feel a mass and the cat was losing weight then it’s likely to have been quite bad. It sounds like the vet tried to identify the owner but the chip wasn’t up to date. As for the cremation element, I doubt the neighbour was paying hundreds of pounds for that, I think all animals not claimed by owners go for a general cremation.

That said, I can understand how shocked and upset/sad you must feel. I doubt the neighbours would have been malicious. Have you spoken to them about it? Perhaps they use that particular vet themselves? Our vet is out of area because I think they’re better than the local one.

Perhaps she took it to that vet because that is the vet she is registered with . Our vet is a 30 + minute drive away , there are dozens of closer ones but I’ve used this one for a very long time . I really can’t see anyone spending the sort of money that euthanasia / cremation would cost to spite a neighbour , it would have been easier to just take the cat to a shelter as a stray .

Sometimes, we can't see exactly how ill our cats are because we're blinded by our love for them. If she had a mass in her stomach, had lost weight and was dehydrated despite drinking lots and seeking out food from randoms, that suggests that she wasn't at all well. In addition, some cats when they sense the end of their life coming take themselves away from home, so she could well have gone to hide and then got confused and gone to the neighbour.

Vets don't PTS for shits and giggles - it would be on the basis of it being the best thing for the cat - and the neighbour paid for it. That suggests a wish to do what was right for her.

It's going to be a shock, but it does sound that, however much of a shock and heartbreak it is, she was given a gentle end, rather than being vulnerable, hurt by other animals or just simply disappearing.