Cat custody battle: Who owns a lost cat?

[oliverboliverbutt]

Sept 6, 2023 14:22:28 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

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.

Why shouldn't a person call the humane society/take a cat to the shelter it it's outside roaming? 

I really think that outdoor cats make it harder for lost cats to find their way home- if I see a cat roaming I have no way of knowing if it "should" be outside, it escaped and someone is looking for it, or it's a stray- so I probably just ignore it and hope it's not someone'e beloved missing cat. Because people don't do that with dogs anymore, I can stop and call A/C or grab a dog if I see it loose, and it's much more likely to get home.

[tamarindy]

Sept 6, 2023 16:29:13 GMT -5 oliverboliverbutt said:

Sept 6, 2023 14:22:28 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

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.

Why shouldn't a person call the humane society/take a cat to the shelter it it's outside roaming? 

I really think that outdoor cats make it harder for lost cats to find their way home- if I see a cat roaming I have no way of knowing if it "should" be outside, it escaped and someone is looking for it, or it's a stray- so I probably just ignore it and hope it's not someone'e beloved missing cat. Because people don't do that with dogs anymore, I can stop and call A/C or grab a dog if I see it loose, and it's much more likely to get home.

That’s why, ideally, people would keep cats indoors in the first place. Then if you saw one not ear-tipped, you’d know it wasn’t a colony cat. Not the world we live in, unfortunately. 😞

[InBetweenDays]

Sept 6, 2023 16:23:20 GMT -5 tamarindy said:

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

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.

Huh? So the cat being found roaming and brought to the vet the first time = bad original owner who didn't do enough to find the cat and doesn't deserve it. But the cat being found roaming  and brought to the vet this time = good current owner doing the most there? 

How do you know the original owner wasn't actively looking for the cat? Because they didn't see the posts this woman claims to have made in some generic "Wichita groups"?

I can see the argument that the cat should stay with the current owner because that is what the cat has known for the past 10 years. But I certainly don't think we can praise the current owner or disparage the original owner based on the information in the article.

[tamarindy]

I was going off of the information that he was found in horrible shape and no one was looking for him (no online boards, posters, etc.). But, the current owner could indeed be lying.

ETA - No one knows the real truth of ten years ago and the circumstances. But he’s had a home for his whole life now. We do know that.

[tamarindy]

Sept 6, 2023 16:45:22 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Sept 6, 2023 16:23:20 GMT -5 tamarindy said:

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.

Huh? So the cat being found roaming and brought to the vet the first time = bad original owner who didn't do enough to find the cat and doesn't deserve it. But the cat being found roaming  and brought to the vet this time = good current owner doing the most there? 

How do you know the original owner wasn't actively looking for the cat? Because they didn't see the posts this woman claims to have made in some generic "Wichita groups"?

I can see the argument that the cat should stay with the current owner because that is what the cat has known for the past 10 years. But I certainly don't think we can praise the current owner or disparage the original owner based on the information in the article.

Also, “doing the most” is a way of saying she did seem to be really throwing a slant to the story to make herself look better.

[VillainV]

Sept 6, 2023 16:52:43 GMT -5 tamarindy said:

Sept 6, 2023 16:45:22 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Huh? So the cat being found roaming and brought to the vet the first time = bad original owner who didn't do enough to find the cat and doesn't deserve it. But the cat being found roaming  and brought to the vet this time = good current owner doing the most there? 

How do you know the original owner wasn't actively looking for the cat? Because they didn't see the posts this woman claims to have made in some generic "Wichita groups"?

I can see the argument that the cat should stay with the current owner because that is what the cat has known for the past 10 years. But I certainly don't think we can praise the current owner or disparage the original owner based on the information in the article.

Also, “doing the most” is a way of saying she did seem to be really throwing a slant to the story to make herself look better.

Yeah, but I can also kind of see how if you found a stray cat that was in rough shape, you’d just take them in and fix them up, right? You’d assume they had been abandoned (which is sadly quite common) so you’d do your due diligence by posting on Facebook and looking out for “missing” posters and you’d take the cat to the vet. If the law was to report found cats to animal control, wouldn’t the vet have said so? If the cat had a chip, wouldn’t the vet have told her? I can easily see how she’d assume the cat had been abandoned and think she was doing the right thing by keeping it and giving it a home. I think she deserves the benefit of the doubt here.

[livinitup]

Didn’t people have “neighborhood cats” who found their own homes and came back every night?

Growing up, cats were only ever turned into the shelter to be destroyed. People would shoo them away or feed them and then the cat never left. But they were definitely outside cats during the day.

“Spay and neuter your pets.” RIP Bob Barker.

[pixy0stix]

Sept 6, 2023 17:52:30 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Sept 6, 2023 16:52:43 GMT -5 tamarindy said:

Also, “doing the most” is a way of saying she did seem to be really throwing a slant to the story to make herself look better.

Yeah, but I can also kind of see how if you found a stray cat that was in rough shape, you’d just take them in and fix them up, right? You’d assume they had been abandoned (which is sadly quite common) so you’d do your due diligence by posting on Facebook and looking out for “missing” posters and you’d take the cat to the vet. If the law was to report found cats to animal control, wouldn’t the vet have said so? If the cat had a chip, wouldn’t the vet have told her? I can easily see how she’d assume the cat had been abandoned and think she was doing the right thing by keeping it and giving it a home. I think she deserves the benefit of the doubt here.

Eh, I think she just took in a perfectly healthy cat who she thought was a stray. I don't think it ever went to the vet to be scanned at that time, and probably wasn't scanned later if it went to the vet since it was "her" cat. People steal other people's cats all the time by assuming they're strays. The neighbors next to me just did the same thing. They took in a "stray" cat that pretty sure has a home. They haven't taken it to a vet or anything. She's definitely lying in the story about how she obtained the cat.

Which is a small part of why you should keep cats indoors.

[agnes]

Knowing how random cats can be, I think the cat adopted its own new family. Growing up we had cats adopt us all the time.

I lost my cat, Kinx, shortly after a move too. We had him for 6 years. It’s been 12 years and I like to pretend he found another loving home. If he came back to me after all these years, I’d be happy he was still alive and with his newer family.

FYI, micro chips were totally common 10 years ago. Saying they weren’t is just silly.

My indoor only cat, Princess Larry, has a chip and we adopted her 11 years ago. She came with the chip because it was common practice.

[goldengirlz]

Okay but did anyone else kind of giggle seeing the term “protective custody” used to describe a cat?

"The cat is in protective custody where an investigation will begin,” said Dr. Jennifer Federico with Wake County Animal Control.

ETA: I do think this is also the saddest part of the story though. That the poor ol’ guy needs to now live in whatever this “protective custody” is.

[Patsy Baloney]

Our second cat came to us in a similar situation. He was a little skinny, had fleas, but very healthy. Vet didn’t find a chip, IIRC. But maybe he was never scanned?

We called around a little bit, put a few “found animal” blurbs in places that share that info (APL, animal shelter, a few vet offices) but no one claimed him. After 2 weeks, I had him fixed and he was ours. I guess I should have waited 10 years?

I would have been devastated to have this happen to us. I don’t quite understand returning a cat to its original owner after 10 years, but I guess I feel like the animal wasn’t stolen so much as someone kept him after he wandered off.

[sonrisa]

Sept 6, 2023 16:29:13 GMT -5 oliverboliverbutt said:

Sept 6, 2023 14:22:28 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

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.

Why shouldn't a person call the humane society/take a cat to the shelter it it's outside roaming? 

Because it comes to you every day at the same time from the same neighbor's back yard and then goes back every evening when they call for it?  It's been doing that for years before they moved in, Do you really call the shelter on every outdoor cat you see?

There are about 5 outdoor cats in our neighborhood. I recognize all of them and would never just snatch one up. Personally, I worry about them with all the coyotes and wish they stayed home for that reason. 

[fumbalina]

It's not uncommon for a microchip to migrate. It is also not uncommon to have the contact information be nothing but a disconnected phone number. I have no way of knowing this information in this case but I firmly believe anything over a year and the pet stays put.

[aurora]

Both of our dogs were surrendered to shelters by their former families. The first was 5 years old and for the first few months she was obviously looking for them when we were out and about, apparently wanting to find them again. For those months, I think she'd have chosen to go back if she could have.

A few years in (much less 10) and she was 100% our dog. It would have been very traumatic (to all of us!) to rehome her again, even back to her original family.

I don't know cats as well as dogs, but I think most pets would choose the family who cared for them for the last decade.

[waverly]

If she went to the vet and said I found this cat I’m reasonably sure that 99% of vets would look for the chip so the fact that they didn’t made it sound like she wasn’t telling the vet the full story.

I think it’s pretty obvious which cats are strays and which cats are indoor/ outdoors with a home for most people anyway by appearance of the cat and the cat’s behavior.

[Deleted]

Sept 7, 2023 0:09:25 GMT -5 aurora said:

Both of our dogs were surrendered to shelters by their former families. The first was 5 years old and for the first few months she was obviously looking for them when we were out and about, apparently wanting to find them again. For those months, I think she'd have chosen to go back if she could have.

I didn't want to tear up this morning but here we are. I'm a foster and I never thought my fosters would miss me. And now I realize my bottle babies are likely attached to me as they grow up since I'm the only human/mommy they remember. 

Look, the owner who had him for a few months needs to give it over to the person who had the cat ten years. I will say, the 10-year owner at least found the cat when the few months owner never did. I think microchipping cats wasn't super popular ten years ago. Also, there were various chips back then and not all readers could detect all chips (plus migration or not scanning thoroughly or close enough and prevent detection). My friend volunteers at an animal control facility (her town doesn't have a shelter) and the rescues she works with scan the dogs a second time because the people at the control facility are shitty at it and they've found microchips in animals that have been stated as not microchipped. 

Also, check your chips. You can update without previous owner info... www.aaha.org/your-pet/pet-microchip-lookup/microchip-search/ Once you know the company of the chip, you can update with them! 

[MixedBerryJam]

Sept 6, 2023 9:54:43 GMT -5 TR said:

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.

This was my thought. I think bringing a found cat to the vet is pretty good evidence that the finder was acting in good faith. I’ve never had to do it, but if I brought a found cat to a vet I would assume they scanned it. Isn’t that a given? And if bringing the lost cat to the vet and posting on lost cat websiteS isn’t a good faith effort to find the owner, what is? And plus, while I’m no cat authority, just a respectful cat underling, I think the cat would be happier with the fam in NC. 

[redheadbaker]

Sept 6, 2023 12:53:27 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

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.

Is it common for vets to scan for chips on pets brought in by their owners? I've never heard of that. 

[redheadbaker]

Maybe I'm naive, but I think it's pefectly plausible that she found this cat, took it to the vet, the vet scanned but didn't find the chip (because chips can migrate), the woman posted on few "lost pet" groups, and when no one responded, kept the cat.

[pixy0stix]

Sept 7, 2023 9:53:33 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

Sept 6, 2023 12:53:27 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

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.

Is it common for vets to scan for chips on pets brought in by their owners? I've never heard of that. 

I changed my theory later.

[pixy0stix]

Sept 7, 2023 9:31:54 GMT -5 @lemonlover said:

Look, the owner who had him for a few months needs to give it over to the person who had the cat ten years. I will say, the 10-year owner at least found the cat when the few months owner never did. 

False - they found the cat after it was scanned by a vet. Plus, for the rest of your statement, the chip was still functional and had the correct information when it was finally scanned.

[Wallflower]

Sept 7, 2023 9:59:23 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Sept 7, 2023 9:53:33 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

Is it common for vets to scan for chips on pets brought in by their owners? I've never heard of that. 

I changed my theory later.

Mine does to confirm that the chip is still working and can be found at their annual check-up, but that's because their medical records show that the cats have chips. 

If a record says that the cat does not have a chip, I wouldn't expect the vet to scan them every time they're in for a visit.

[CrazyLucky]

After 10 years, the new owner keeps the cat.
I looked up statistics for the popularity of mircochipping. From Reuters, 12% of cats had microchips in 2010 (26% of dogs did). And from Science Daily in 2009, veterinarians estimate 5-8% of pets are microchipped.

[InBetweenDays]

Sept 7, 2023 9:35:56 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

Sept 6, 2023 9:54:43 GMT -5 TR said:

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.

This was my thought. I think bringing a found cat to the vet is pretty good evidence that the finder was acting in good faith. I’ve never had to do it, but if I brought a found cat to a vet I would assume they scanned it. Isn’t that a given? And if bringing the lost cat to the vet and posting on lost cat websiteS isn’t a good faith effort to find the owner, what is? And plus, while I’m no cat authority, just a respectful cat underling, I think the cat would be happier with the fam in NC. 

If they brought the cat in and told the vet they found it, then yes I would hope the vet would scan for a chip. But if they brought the cat in and said "Hey I just adopted this cat and want to get her checked out" then I wouldn't assume the vet would scan the cat.

Around here, the FIRST thing they recommend doing if you find or lose a cat is contact the animal shelter. There can be many different websites to post on and not everyone has Facebook and posts can quickly be buried. But there are usually limited shelters nearby. If you lose a cat they have a lost pet report you can submit (and others can view it if they find a cat). If you find a cat they recommend you bring it to the shelter to be scanned and held for X number of days to see if the owner contacts them. And if the owner never shows, you're welcome to adopt the cat through the right channels. That, to me, is a good faith effort.

[pixy0stix]

Sept 7, 2023 10:47:39 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

After 10 years, the new owner keeps the cat.
I looked up statistics for the popularity of mircochipping. From Reuters, 12% of cats had microchips in 2010 (26% of dogs did). And from Science Daily in 2009, veterinarians estimate 5-8% of pets are microchipped.

And yet, the original owners cared enough to chip the cat.

[wildrice]

It sounds like there is no way to prove what happened 10 years ago, so I think the new owner should keep the cat. If I were the previous owner and had only had the cat for a few months, I'd probably be relieved to know it wasn't dead and that it had a nice life, but I wouldn't likely be so attached to it that I'd want to disrupt it's life. If they want a cat, there are tons of them at shelters that they can pick from. Which is also a reason why I don't think the new owner stole the cat - that would be silly. You can walk into just about any shelter in the country and find a cat that looks exactly like that one (I have one sitting at my feet right now!) so I don't know why anyone would bother taking someone else's cat if they thought it actually belonged to anyone.

I feel really bad for the cat sitting in "protective custody" right now. The people need to figure this out because it's not fair to the poor cat.

[wildrice]

Sept 7, 2023 11:04:55 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Sept 7, 2023 10:47:39 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

After 10 years, the new owner keeps the cat.
I looked up statistics for the popularity of mircochipping. From Reuters, 12% of cats had microchips in 2010 (26% of dogs did). And from Science Daily in 2009, veterinarians estimate 5-8% of pets are microchipped.

And yet, the original owners cared enough to chip the cat.

I don't know what was standard 10 years ago, but 5 years ago when I adopted my cat the shelter had already chipped him. It wasn't optional. 

[Vespasia]

Interestingly, the article in the OP doesn't really specify that the original owner is trying to get him back. Just that animal control wouldn't release him to the current owner because the chip is registered to someone else.

I found two other articles from the original owner's perspective and she is also seems she has a GoFundMe in place to transport him back to her.

This one doesn't mention the women in the OP at all and implies the cat is staying with another family altogether right now:
www.usatoday.com/story/life/animalkind/2023/09/01/cat-bob-headed-home-after-10-year-1000-mile-journey/70730325007/

One on GMA says she "she's looking forward to welcoming him home and re-introducing him to all of her other pets, which include four dogs and multiple cats."


I'm not sure if she didn't know about the current owner when those came out, if jsut  isn't acknowledging the current owner, if there is some other weirdness going on, or what. But if he really has been with one person for ten years, throwing him into a house filled with lots of other animals doesn't seem like a good choice for him at all. 

[Velar Fricative]

Oof, reading through this thread made me make up my mind about things and then Vespasia's last post threw me for a loop lol.

I know original owner missed her cat and, to me, should be considered the rightful owner but man, I'm not sure the best thing to do for this cat is to move them back to a new home after 10 years. I would have allowed the new owners to keep him for that reason.

I also felt from reading the OP that the new owner didn't do enough to try to find the original owner. I think if she had contacted local animal control or other organizations that could help instead of just "Wichita groups" (which, not everyone is on social media or on the same social media platforms), maaaaaaybe the two could have somehow intersected. I think it's also bizarre that OO said she posted flyers everywhere and made social media posts herself, and somehow they never connected the dots. But maybe the creepy Facebook algorithm was in its infancy in 2013 lol. Wichita has a decent-sized population but even in my NYC borough of about 500,000 people, it so often feels like a small enough world that posters getting put up get circulated a ton, along with social media posts of missing pets.

[sarahsays]

While the original owner might be the legal owner, it sounds like it's in the cat's best interest to stay in the home it has spent the last decade in.

As far as microchips and pets -- I adopted my cats in 2020 and 2021 both as young kittens from rural shelters in the south. Neither were microchipped (or neutered, though I had to sign an agreement). My dog was microchipped by the rescue in the Northeast prior to adoption. So, I wouldn't say it's unusual that they assumed the cat wasn't chipped if they didn't find it originally or that it means the second adopter was malicious in her keeping of the cat.

My vet does check their chips every wellness visit to ensure they still work and are correctly located but if they weren't indicated on the chart, I guess she wouldn't.