Cat custody battle: Who owns a lost cat?

[Deleted]

Ten years ago a cat went missing in Kansas. He was found by a family who searched for his owner, but never found them, so they kept the cat. Then they moved to NC. The cat went missing again, and the microchip data shows the Kansas owner. Now the cat is being held by animal control and custody of the cat is being disputed.


www.wral.com/story/cat-custody-battle-who-does-bob-the-cat-belong/21034227/

[meowmaps]

This breaks my heart for the original family. That said, as a cat person, I know cats hate change and I’m sure the cat would like nothing more than to get out of the shelter and back to its home/family of the past ten years.

It’s unfortunate the microchip wasn’t scanned all those years ago. That’s what microchips are for! All of my cats have been indoors but they’re still microchipped and I’ve updated our address every time we’ve moved and updated when they’ve passed away.

[noodleoo]

Awww, poor kitty! Do they think she's lying about never having the microchip scanned? I didn't know cat larceny was a thing.

Reminded me of this article from WaPo (gift link).

Sis got her life back, now wants her dog back — three years later
wapo.st/462RkOX

[vamoose]

I don’t think that posting in a few online groups is sufficient to claim a lost cat as your own. It is unclear if the woman that found the cat did more than that? I feel like giving the cats information to the humane society is the bare minimum, and getting the pet scanned for a chip if you are considering taking custody.

[TR]

I find it hard to believe she took a found cat to the vet and they didn’t scan for a microchip. I don’t know how common it is to scan for and miss one. But something is fishy here.

[tacokick]

Sept 6, 2023 9:33:43 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Awww, poor kitty! Do they think she's lying about never having the microchip scanned? I didn't know cat larceny was a thing.

Reminded me of this article from WaPo (gift link).

Sis got her life back, now wants her dog back — three years later
wapo.st/462RkOX

That was a weird column. Why does Hax think it’s technically her sister’s dog? It’s been years and it didn’t seem like the sister took any responsibility for care at all, physical or financial.

[noodleoo]

Sept 6, 2023 10:03:38 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Sept 6, 2023 9:33:43 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Awww, poor kitty! Do they think she's lying about never having the microchip scanned? I didn't know cat larceny was a thing.

Reminded me of this article from WaPo (gift link).

Sis got her life back, now wants her dog back — three years later
wapo.st/462RkOX

That was a weird column. Why does Hax think it’s technically her sister’s dog? It’s been years and it didn’t seem like the sister took any responsibility for care at all, physical or financial.

Yeah, I'm team the pet belongs to the person who has cared for it the most.

[tacokick]

I know a neighbor took a stray dog to the vet to be scanned and they didn’t find a chip but when they took it to the SPCA they did. So maybe they scanned the cat and didn’t find it?

Where chips (especially for cats?) common ten years ago? We got our oldest dog 10 years ago from the SPCA and they tattooed her—no chip. But my parents adopted a dog there like a year later and chips were suddenly the norm.

I want more details!

[InBetweenDays]

Chips were most definitely used 10 years ago. Our cat and dogs that we adopted in 2000, 2001, and 2003 got them.

The article makes it sound like the cat was never scanned for a chip:

WRAL News asked Streight whether the vet checked Bob for a microchip. “No, they didn’t say anything about a chip. I was 27 at the time and pregnant,” Streight said.

To me it sounds like she did the bare minimum to find the owner. I think the cat should be given back to the original owners.

[Deleted]

Sept 6, 2023 10:05:53 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Sept 6, 2023 10:03:38 GMT -5 tacokick said:

That was a weird column. Why does Hax think it’s technically her sister’s dog? It’s been years and it didn’t seem like the sister took any responsibility for care at all, physical or financial.

Yeah, I'm team the pet belongs to the person who has cared for it the most.

Yeah, in this case I’d hope the previous owner would recognize that the cat had a new loving family, and would be traumatized by being returned to someone who owned him for a few months ten years ago.

Also, I’m surprised that microchipping is somehow now legal proof of pet ownership? It’s actually not easy to change the data on a microchip or update registration if you assume ownership of someone else’s pet (without them initiating the transfer). And vets advise against having two microchips. So I’m not really sure how the new owner could have established ownership via microchip in this situation. And, I’m not a lawyer, but I highly doubt that microchips meet the legal standard for establishing ownership.

[jinkies]

I think it would be cruel to the cat to ship it across the country to live with someone who owned it for a few months 10 years ago.

Same with the dog situation in the other story.

Like unless there was evidence that the lady actively stole the cat, vs took in a cat that she thought was a stray, it seems like the best choice to keep it in the home it knows.

[fernweh]

Who rightfully owns the cat - I would say the original owner as it doesn’t sound like real effort was made to find her.

However - the best thing to do for the cat would be to let the person who found her keep her in my opinion. The cat has lived with this family for 10 years and the original adopter for only a few months. I wouldn’t want to make a 14 year old cat transition to a new family/home, that seems kind of cruel to me.

[goldengirlz]

This was something in the back of my mind when we adopted our cat. She’s a rescue. She was found meowing on someone’s doorstep and it was unclear whether she was lost or abandoned — but she was so comfortable around people and houses, she clearly had lived indoors at some point in her life. (She’s also scared of the outdoors, so there’s that.)

I have no idea how much effort was made to find that original owner (she wasn’t microchipped until we got her), but she ended up in a shelter and five weeks later we adopted her.

I bet this situation is more common than people realize. I do think the most humane thing is to return the cat to the house it’s known for the past decade and let the courts decide if monetary damages are owed.

[ellipses84]

It’s my understanding chips can move around the pets body in rare cases so it’s possible to miss when scanning. It seems like everyone microchips their pets now but it wasn’t as common 10 years ago.

I’m team new family, in the best interest of the cat, since they are very old and it’s the family they are familiar with. If I were the old owner and found out the cat had a good family for the past decade, I would let them keep the cat.

[pixy0stix]

She straight up stole that cat. The vet probably found the microchip, and she chose to ignore it and justified her position in her head because of how bad of shape that cat was in. As the original owner I'd be pissed, but let new owner keep the cat in the best interest of the cat.

[msmerymac]

Sept 6, 2023 11:26:37 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

It’s my understanding chips can move around the pets body in rare cases so it’s possible to miss when scanning. It seems like everyone microchips their pets now but it wasn’t as common 10 years ago.

I’m team new family, in the best interest of the cat, since they are very old and it’s the family they are familiar with. If I were the old owner and found out the cat had a good family for the past decade, I would let them keep the cat.

I've been feeling something that feels like a grain of rice on my orange cat's right shoulder for the past few months. It finally clicked that it's his microchip. It's just really off center? It's also in Russian (long story) so I really need to figure out if we can get it updated. 

[Deleted]

Sept 6, 2023 12:23:03 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Sept 6, 2023 11:26:37 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

It’s my understanding chips can move around the pets body in rare cases so it’s possible to miss when scanning. It seems like everyone microchips their pets now but it wasn’t as common 10 years ago.

I’m team new family, in the best interest of the cat, since they are very old and it’s the family they are familiar with. If I were the old owner and found out the cat had a good family for the past decade, I would let them keep the cat.

I've been feeling something that feels like a grain of rice on my orange cat's right shoulder for the past few months. It finally clicked that it's his microchip. It's just really off center? It's also in Russian (long story) so I really need to figure out if we can get it updated. 

Likely not. We adopted one of our cats when stationed in England and the adoption charity microchipped her before we adopted her. We had to register it in the UK and for several years after moving back we kept paying the registration and we were able to update with our US address, but something in their system changed and it will no longer accept a US address and phone number. We stopped paying for it….but I can’t get it transferred over to a US company. I registered the info on a few free sites with our new address, but I don’t have much faith that she would make it back to us if she was ever lost. At least the chip info has our correct names though. Her vet was unable to advise us on any course or action that might help, and strongly advises against a second microchip.

[EvieEthelGarland]

Intellectually I get that the cat would be better with the new family, but as a dog mom? I want my baby back.

10 years ago I adopted a dog from a rescue that got all the surrender paperwork signed except the right release for the microchip. I was not going to keep a dog with another family on the chip, but everything got resolved and I had 8 great years with him (and he never got lost). My vet regularly scans pets to verify chip placements as they can shift.

[MDmomof2]

I really don't understand everyone saying that the new owner stole the cat or should have looked harder for the owner. Cats are a dime a dozen at shelters and cheap to adopt, if she wanted to adopt a cat she didn't need to steal one that showed up on her doorstep! She said he was in bad shape, she probably assumed he was a stray when no one responded to her posts about a missing cat. If this were a desirable breed of dog, I'd be suspicious. But I really think the new owner just found a cat, fixed him up, and then he became part of the family.

[pixy0stix]

Sept 6, 2023 12:43:18 GMT -5 MDmomof2 said:

I really don't understand everyone saying that the new owner stole the cat or should have looked harder for the owner. Cats are a dime a dozen at shelters and cheap to adopt, if she wanted to adopt a cat she didn't need to steal one that showed up on her doorstep! She said he was in bad shape, she probably assumed he was a stray when no one responded to her posts about a missing cat. If this were a desirable breed of dog, I'd be suspicious. But I really think the new owner just found a cat, fixed him up, and then he became part of the family.

Because she stole the cat. LOL! It wasn't her cat. The cat's owners had the cat microchipped so that it would make it home if it was scanned, which it most certainly was.

Moral of the story, just because you find an animal that doesn't mean that it's yours.

[MDmomof2]

pixy0stix,the new owner said she took the cat to the vet but didn't know if the vet scanned. I don't think it was super common to have animals chipped 10 years ago, so she may not have known to ask for it. I live in an area where almost 40 Himalayan kittens were dumped! I feel like stray cats are a lot more common than lost ones.

[pixy0stix]

Sept 6, 2023 12:51:01 GMT -5 MDmomof2 said:

pixy0stix ,the new owner said she took the cat to the vet but didn't know if the vet scanned. I don't think it was super common to have animals chipped 10 years ago, so she may not have known to ask for it. I live in an area where almost 40 Himalayan kittens were dumped! I feel like stray cats are a lot more common than lost ones.

It was super common to have cats chipped 10 years ago. It wasn't the dark ages. And after that, the cat has had to have been seen by other vets who probably also scanned for the chip. She's lying and didn't want to give the cat up, so she just ignored it until she couldn't.

[TR]

10 years ago was 2013, it was absolutely commonplace to have an animal chipped.

[livinitup]

If I found the cat, after 10 years, it’s mine. If I lost the cat and found it after 10 years, obviously it’s mine.

Basically, that’s my cat either way.

[Roc A Bee]

Finders keepers?

Jk..kinda.

I think the cat goes back to the family it has spent the most recent time with.

[sonrisa]

Baseline, I think it’s great this cat has people who want to love and care for it.

thos reminds me of a local dispute. We had a new neighbor move in who became convinced a neighborhood cat was abandoned and neglected because he was after roaming and had no collar. He has no collar because he had a history of climbing and getting the collar caught on things. New neighbor was ready to call the humane society over a beloved pet. Luckily someone told the family about the post on nextdoor.

[cuadrado]

I'd be curious of what the laws are in the city in which the cat was found.

Where I am, it's a law that a found animal has to be reported as found to animal control and then there is a stray hold to give the owners time to find and claim their pet. It doesn't matter how hard the finders look for the owner or if the animal does or doesn't have a microchip. If the person who finds the animal does not report it as found to animal control then they have no rights to keep the cat in situations like this. It has actually come up in the animal rescue organization here in the past.

Just from reading the article, there is no way I'd fight to keep a cat that I only had for a few months when the more recent owners had it for 10 years.

[tamarindy]

Found outside in horrible shape with no one actively looking for the cat vs. now found by a neighbor after being in an home for many years and taken in to scan for a chip?

I hope the current owner gets the cat back. Poor Bob.

[pixy0stix]

Sept 6, 2023 16:13:16 GMT -5 tamarindy said:

Found outside in horrible shape with no one actively looking for the cat vs. now found by a neighbor after being in an home for many years and taken in to scan for a chip?

I hope the current owner gets the cat back. Poor Bob.

All we have is the cat kidnappers word that the cat was in horrible shape. She kind of threw the whole book into her story

@@@@

Including that she was pregnant at the time.

[tamarindy]

Sept 6, 2023 16:16:33 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Sept 6, 2023 16:13:16 GMT -5 tamarindy said:

Found outside in horrible shape with no one actively looking for the cat vs. now found by a neighbor after being in an home for many years and taken in to scan for a chip?

I hope the current owner gets the cat back. Poor Bob.

All we have is the cat kidnappers word that the cat was in horrible shape. She kind of threw the whole book into her story

@@@@

Including that she was pregnant at the time.

Right, and yea that sounded like she was doing the most there. And if this was a matter of months or something, I could see the OG owner pursuing.

But he’s been in his home his whole life and IMO you’re a monster if you try to take a cat back that you let out that long ago and never seemed to follow up on. That’s insane.