cat problems

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walkerjm3

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On Tuesday evening as I was going to get in my car to go buy milk, I hear the neighbor across the street yelling my name. Her and another lady I don't know came across to talk to me. They asked if I was missing a cat. I then realized that the smaller of my two cats never came back inside Monday night.
So this lady, that I don't know, hit my cat Monday night around 10 or 11 o'clock.
She then called a vet that she knows that lives by my house. Long story short..my cat was bleeding a lot and out of his mouth. The vet gets it all out and keeps him alive. She tells me that he was going to be calling her that evening to come get him and she was going to bring him back to my house.
Fast forward to today. I haven't heard from this lady as she never asked for my number and I forgot to ask for hers. I found the vet's phone number and left a message for him explaining I'm the cat's owner and I wanted to know what is going on with him. The vet then calls her and gives her my number. She calls me to tell me that the vet still has my cat and that she stopped at my house yesterday, but no one was home. She sets it up for me to go talk to the vet this evening since my cat also had some damage to one of his legs.
I go meet with the vet to see my cat and find out what all was wrong with him. He had a lot of blood in his lungs that got taken out, liver damage, cracked teeth, a laceration to one leg, and possible brain damage-his tongue now sticks out of his mouth all the time and it took him a few days to come around. The ligament that holds his leg in the socket was torn so the only way to keep the leg in the socket would be for someone to do surgery to repair the ligament. The other options are to let him walk around with a dropped leg that will drag or have the leg amputated which would be the best scenario.
My son asks to pet the cat because he's been upset about the whole thing. As soon as he starts petting him, the cat starts purring and rubbing his head against him. Now I'm stuck not knowing what to do. The vet says he should be able to come home on Saturday. I know vets always want the money up front which I do not have. Nor do I have a credit card to put it on. Everyone is telling me that the lady who hit him should be responsible to pay since she never asked me if it was OK to take him to the vet. I somewhat agree, but how do I ask a complete stranger to pay what will be a considerable bill with all that's been done?
My mom and dad both say that it's not worth it and to have the cat put down. I'm not sure I can do this either as my son would be highly upset, as would I. Plus, I don't see how it's fair to my cat as he never asked to be taken to the vet but was, and now has a second chance.
Sorry this was so long, but I just don't know what to do.
 
As a cat lover myself, I know what I would do.... I would definitely talk to the lady who hit your cat and tell her that you feel she is responsible for your cats medical bills. After all, she did hit him and she took him to the vet without notifying you.

If I were to ever hit someone's pet and they did not have money to pay for the medical bills I'd offer to pay or at least split the cost.

Don't put your cat down, talk to her, she might agree to pay.
 
I think I'm going to call her on Friday to talk about it. I just feel weird asking someone else to pay.
 
I wouldn't feel weird at all. She should feel weird for not even offering to pay.
She's kinda like, oh yeah, hey, I hit your cat and tore him apart, but all is good because I took him to the vet for you. That's BS. Call her!
You sound like a very nice person because if that were me, 1. I'd be mad as hell that she hit my cat.
I just don't see how this is your responsibility, you didn't hit your cat, she did!
My cat is laying on my bed next to me right now, please don't put your cat down since he was given a second chance. Explain to the lady that you don't have the money to pay and the only other option is to put him down. If she has a heart she will help you. I feel bad for your son too.
 
The last thing I want to do is have him put down. I'm just going to have to suck it up and be straight with her.
 
If your cat will still be able to have some type of quality of life, don't put him down.
Four legs or three, cats are very resilient. You need to give your cat a fair chance to recover.

I'd definitely have the other woman pay for the vet bills. The very least at least half of them. It's her fault your cats in that situation, so she should help you.

I hope the best for you and you cat.
 
I defiantly agree that you should talk to the woman who hit your cat about paying the medical expenses. Especially since she took him to the vet without even asking you. Not many people who hit an animal would even take the time to help it. We have a good bit of wild cats that live outside. I don't know if you consider them pets or not but we do feed them and take care of them. We've found so many of them dead along side the road after someone's hit them and then just kept driving.

Please don't take this next part as being rude.

You need to consider what your cats life is going to be like even if he has all of the surgeries. Will it be good or will it be miserable especially with all of the problems he has? A few years ago one of my cats stopped eating and just laid around. I took him to the vet and they didn't know if there was something wrong with him - if he was sick or if it was because he was older. I couldn't afford to have all of the tests done they wanted so they gave me medicine and special food for him. He wouldn't eat the food so I had to force feed him, then he'd just throw it up. I would end up covered in cat vomit. I'm not even sure if he was going to the bathroom or if he was able to get into the litter box.

I would sleep on the floor beside him because he wasn't able to jump on the bed and if I put him on the bed he couldn't get off. He would purr and rub his head against me when I petted him so I know he was aware of what was going on. After about 3 days of doing all this I saw his life was miserable and decided to have him put down. It was one of the hardest things in the world that I've ever had to do.

We got a new cat the same day we put him down. It took a good while to be used to him being gone but the new cat helped a ton with that. Your son needs to realize that some day the cat is going to pass away, it's not going to live forever. If you have all the surgeries then he may make it but how long will he live after that? He may make it thorough all the surgeries and be fine then pass away from old age. Think about what's better for the cat and not for you.

As I said pleas don't take that part as being rude.
 
I understand what you're saying. The vet said he's been eating he just needs wet food for now. He's only a year old now, but I'm sure he won't live as long as he would have. I think I'm going to bring him home and see how it goes. He definitely will not be allowed back outside. I never wanted him out to begin with but he would sneak down to the basement and get out through the window.
If he seems to be having any sort of major problems, I will have him put down as hard as it will be.
 
I hate to say this but I love cats a lot and the thing you must consider first is thier well being. Your cats quality of life is the first concern and if he will have a good life if he comes home. Brain damage is not good.

If an animal is badly injured its kinder not to keep them living. It's worth discussing it with your vet regarding quality of life and potential suffering.

Regarding your neighbour she may offer to pay vet bills and I hope for your sake she does and your cat can recover ok as well.
 
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So the bill was $880. She went and paid on Saturday and picked up my cat. She is now holding it until I pay her back. Somebody at work gave me the number for the humane society to talk to the warden.
 
So this lady, that I don't know, hit my cat Monday night around 10 or 11 o'clock.


Hmm, i'm not one to use the term lightly, but i would say sue this woman for doing this to your cat. Plus the emotional tragedy it has caused your family. Should be worth something. It was 100% her fault.

On a lighter note, maybe ask her if you can visit the cat at it's new home, her house.


:piano: :pop:
 
If I did that, I'd be tempted to mouth punch her. I think I'm going to give the Human Society a call to see what they say.
 
I'd defiantly call the Humane Society to see what advice they can give you. I believe she should have paid the bill because she's the one who took the cat to the vet. But that doesn't mean the cat is hers now just because she did all that.

As Zolt said I'd consider telling the woman that you are considering or going to suing her because of all the things that she's done. I'm sure there are going to be more vet visits now with maybe even more surgeries, just a guess, and that's going to cost money. The cat may have to start taking medicine and be put on special food which I know is expensive.

Even if you give her the $880 you are going to end up spending more and more on the cat for things that she caused. All of the money from this is going to have to come out of your pocket now not hers.
 
Well I have to share this perspective--you can't really sue the woman for hitting a cat in the road. However--a vet can only treat an animal with someone's permission to treat who consents to pay for treatment. If you did not say "I will pay for treatment, please treat my cat," you can't be made to pay. Either the vet is the financial loser for treating without financial commitment to pay, or in this case, where someone now has already paid for the treatment they asked for, they have assumed financial responsibility for that treatment. Just from a purely financial perspective (and I do know that isn't the only consideration here for sure), you can't be held responsible for paying for this because you never asked for the treatment that was given--no court could ever make you pay for this. The fact that the neighbor paid is now their problem. As to whether they can hold your cat hostage like this legally in lieu of payment I have no idea. I'd say if you know any lawyers you an ask I would start there.
 
Well I have to share this perspective--you can't really sue the woman for hitting a cat in the road. However--a vet can only treat an animal with someone's permission to treat who consents to pay for treatment. If you did not say "I will pay for treatment, please treat my cat," you can't be made to pay. Either the vet is the financial loser for treating without financial commitment to pay, or in this case, where someone now has already paid for the treatment they asked for, they have assumed financial responsibility for that treatment. Just from a purely financial perspective (and I do know that isn't the only consideration here for sure), you can't be held responsible for paying for this because you never asked for the treatment that was given--no court could ever make you pay for this. The fact that the neighbor paid is now their problem. As to whether they can hold your cat hostage like this legally in lieu of payment I have no idea. I'd say if you know any lawyers you an ask I would start there.

I agree that you can't sure her for hitting the cat but as far as everything else is a different story.

Most lawyers will give you a free legal consolation, I think that's what it's called. You can tell them about what's going on and they can give you advice about it.

You can always take her to People's Court on tv! As long as you don't start a fight with her the judge may go in favor of you!
 
Wow, she is charging you for her severely injuring your cat?
Holy cow!

Another thing to consider is the quality of life for the young cat.
Talk to the vet, see what the possibilities are. If your cat is responding to touch and is eating, then I would consider keeping him (her?)

See what you can do about getting the lady to pay up.
 
Judge Judy would agree with the niehbors more than likely. His cat should not have been outside. If it wasn't it wouldn't have been hit. She couldn't find him so she took the cat to the vet. It would be considered the owners fault for negligence. I'm not trying to make you upset but that's the way it is.

If your cat is still in pain please don't make him go through all this. If not, keep him close and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE on him!!!! I'm a big cat lover so I understand you feeling torn. I hope all goes well!
 
From a legal perspective, and I'm nothing close to a lawyer, I could see things possibly seen as this:

Since the woman did hit your cat, take him to the vet, pay for the procedures that have been done to him then a lawyer might see the cat as now being hers.

However

She did all of these things of her own free will without looking for the owner first to find out if it was ok to do. The owner may have not even wanted the cat taken to the vet in the first place.

But she did find the owner of the cat after taking him to the vet. And as you described it she was even looking for the owner. So she knows the cat does not belong to her. Now she is holding your cat ransom until she gets the money from you.


Many people let their pets outside, both dog and cat. It's just more normal for someone to leave a dog outside than it is a cat. Most people who see a cat outside assume it must have escaped from the house and should not have been out side in the first place. So if someone hit's a dog it's a thing that might happen but hitting a cat is something that shouldn't have happened. (I don't know if that made sense?)
 
I do believe I'm just going to let her have the cat. I'm never going to be able to afford to pay her back. And I don't have the time or energy to argue with her over who is responsible for the bill.
 
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