Cat Dispute

The first time we had a cat go missing we put posters up and asked around at neighbours and went for long walks in our spare time to try and find her. We had several phone calls from people saying they had spotted our cat but it was never her. A hell of a lot of getting up hope and then having it dashed. As it turns out the cat was run over the same day it disappeared but we only found that out when a lady came round with the little box of ashes she had from having it cremated. She had originally thought it was her cat but then hers had decided to come home after being missing for a few days. Both black cats so an easy mistake to make.

The second cat we owned also went missing and I didn't put a single poster up and only made the minimal effort to find her. Not because I didn't want her back and not because I'm a crappy owner. We just didn't want to go through the same heartache all over again. It was very out of character for both our cats to be missing for more than a few hours at a time and never overnight. Maybe she is alive and well somewhere but I wouldn't bet on it, she died the night she went missing I'm sure.
 
How's this for a scenario.

This family have a cat and are about to move house. On the day of the move the cat gets out and try as they might they can't find it before they have to go. In the days after the move the woman returns to the old house to look for the cat but it appears the cat has gone.

After a while she gives up and assumes the cat has gone for good. She is extremely upset about this. Weeks later she spots a cat similar to the one she lost. On closer examination she realises it is her cat. She is over the moon! It must have wandered and eventually found itself on he new road, even though it didn't find her actual house. She see it has a collar on and see's it looks quite healthy, so she realises someone must have been caring for it, what a stroke of luck! How good of them to do this. For some strange reason she doesn't have an immediate revulsive impulse to remove the alien collar, probably cos she is so glad to see her cat again.

She is so glad to have her cat back, she notices however that it does seem to go off for extended periods, she suspects it might be returning to the people that have been caring for it but since there are no contact details on the collar she has no way of finding out. It doesn't occur to her they may have chipped the cat, why would they do that? She hopes it will eventually stop doing this.

In the days that follow the cat either loses its collar or she does decide it need a new one, so the cat gets a new collar, this time she puts her number on it so if lost again someone can contact her. Alternatively she thinks if she puts her number on a new collar the other people might be able to contact her so she can sort this situation out, what a good idea she says to herself.

A few days later somebody rings up saying are you the owner of the cat. Yes she says, realising this must be the good samaritans who took him in whilst she'd thought he was lost. Later though, it appears the son of the woman who rang has gotten attatched to the cat and is under the false impression that the cat was originally lost due to neglect. He particularly appears to be hanging on to the phrase "saw the collar ages ago", and appears to be extrapolating all sorts of ideas from this alleged statement.

She is actually quite upset now, as it appears the cat may have imprinted on these people rather than her, naturally as they were its only source of food whilst it was lost. However, she is sure if she was able to keep the cat to herself for a while it would remember who its original owner is and everything would return to normal.

The main stumbling block however appears to be this son who appears to want to hang on it to it, as he seems to think he is the cats saviour and therefore has some ownership rights to it. She's even heard off a friend that he is giving his side of the story on a website, with no opportunity for her to give hers. She finds this even more upsetting.

At the end of the day though the cat is hers and she puts all the current disagreement down to a simple misunderstanding and hopes the other people will accept that she is thankful they helped her cat but she would just like for them to step back, perhaps not let it in there house and stop feeding it when it turns up, to aid the cat in imprinting on its rightful owner again.
 
I suggest, for ease of mind, that the unfaithful cat be fitted with the device shown below. This would clearly solve any and all issues

cat-carrier.jpg
 
I dont think legally speaking anyone "owns" a cat? Anyone with knowledge of the law on this able to back me up here?

Dogs are considered to be property in law, but cats are not.

Hence, if you run over a cat, you are not obliged to tell anyone. Dogs are a different matter.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
I dont think legally speaking anyone "owns" a cat? Anyone with knowledge of the law on this able to back me up here?
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Website: http://www.cats.org.uk/catcare/leaflets_essential.asp
Download: http://www.cats.org.uk/catcare/leaflets/EG10-Catsandthelaw.pdf

Theft Act 1968
Cats are regarded in law as the "property" of their owner. The theft of a cat is treated in as an offence under the Act in the same way as theft of any other property.

A cat that is lost or has strayed is generally regarded as the property of the original owner. It is therefore necessary to make all reasonable endeavours to locate the original owner whenever possible.
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Tefal said:
How do you prove you owned the cat in the first place?
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In the absence of an existing microchip (which surely is the first thing responsible pet owners do?), photos dating back a few years would probably convince?

Depends who you're trying to persuade I suppose.
 
I'd challenge her claims. Tell her that you've cared for it while it was sick, have had it registered and you will be keeping it.

If she still kicks up a fuss ask her to pay for all treatment costs to date, before you will consider returning the cat (a form of compensation).

How far away does this woman live?*



*Reminds me of that scene from Layer Cake..

"Dragon, do you know where I live?"
"No"
"Then bugger off"
 
Sorry, at the end of the day, it's just property.

If I have a really rusty ferrari I'm letting fall to peices on some waste land seemingly disregarded (indeed soon it will be beyond repair), and you grab it, take it away, and as a hobby spend £30,000 doing it up.

Then 4 months later I drive past your house and see it.

Sorry, it's mine. Give me my ferrari. You cared for it and wrote your name in the manual and now it's all shiney? Well, bully for you. Now give me my ferrari! It's - just - simply - not - yours. What next? Find a seemingly abandoned house, spend £60,000 doing it up, and 'it's mine now looks I've written 'my house' on the door'?? Things just can't work like that ..

(Whoever said you dont legally own cats is wrong. In fact some breeds are mighty expensive.)
 
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Well, it came back tonight with its new collar missing (the one the woman put on with her number) and none of us took it off.

This is all getting slightly odd. Regardless, the cat's choosing to live here so I guess the whole issue is moot really.
 
Nix said:
Well, it came back tonight with its new collar missing (the one the woman put on with her number) and none of us took it off.

This is all getting slightly odd. Regardless, the cat's choosing to live here so I guess the whole issue is moot really.
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It would be if the cat was anything technically more than just someone else's property ...


ps. I don't like your signiture as it is a quote out of context ..
 
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