Q: Do I owe them?
I am a senior citizen. I have had a cat since she was a small kitten. She is about nine years old. she is an outside, only coming in to eat. Very friendly I had her spayed, and vaccinated and micro-chipped in 2012. For the past year and a half, a neighbor has held her captive and she returned home last week. I put a collar on her with my phone number. The people called me and insisted that she was their cat they have "owned" her for a year and a half. Anyway, they grabbed the cat again and had it scanned, which revealed it was indeed my cat, which they did not believe initially. Now they are asking me to pay for vaccinations that they got for her without my permission. I was deprived of the companionship of my pet for that time, while they enjoyed the pleasure of her company. Neither they or their vet bothered to scan her to see if she belonged to someone else, so I do not feel obliged to "reimburse" them due the lack of due diligence on their part and the vet's part.
A:
Regardless, what is their remedy? Sue you?
I doubt anything will happen.
Kiele Linroth Pace agrees with this answer
A: I am sorry you were deprived of your pet for that period of time. This is just my opinion, but I agree with you. The law generally makes sense. I would not pay them a penny for essentially cat-napping my cat! The neighbor should count themselves lucky if you do not sue for the loss of enjoyment and companionship of your pet. The neighbor took it upon themselves to claim the cat w/o making a determination if it was owned. They should have at the very least asked the vet whether it had a chip to show ownership or put up posters concerning a "found cat". Maybe even the vet bears some responsibility for not identifying the ownership of the cat.
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