Neighbour claiming her cat is the father of kittens and demanding half the litter

mildred1978

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine wrote: »

Cats are roaming creatures though, and unless the OP followed the cat outside without losing site of her, saw the 2 cats mating, then straight away managed to grab her cat and put her back indoors, then it is more than conceivable that the cat has had several unknown suitors! It only needs a few seconds :cool:

I understood that house cats don't roam, because they are kept in the house????

krlyr

gettingready wrote: »

Really? What about the below?

How does that contradict what I said? OP charging for the kittens doesn't mean it's wasn't an accident. It can be recommended to charge a nominal fee to prevent people getting a freebie kitten as a spur of the moment thing. It's not necessarily about making money but giving the animal some worth.

fluffnutter

I think you're going to need to contact Jeremy Kyle and ask him to do a special on cats.

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine

mildred1978 wrote: »

I understood that house cats don't roam, because they are kept in the house????

Maybe I'm wrong, but I would have thought that the instinct to roam, as also to hunt and mate, would be innate and retained?

Especially if the Common Law Duty of Care, that cats have a 'right to roam', above any other domesticated animal is anything to go by.

mildred1978

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine wrote: »

Maybe I'm wrong, but I would have thought that the instinct to roam, as also to hunt and mate, would be innate and retained?

People I've known who have "house cats" don't let them out for fear of loss or injury. They're trained to use litter trays indoors etc.

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine wrote: »

Especially if the Common Law Duty of Care, that cats have a 'right to roam', above any other domesticated animal is anything to go by.

Should be the "right to crap at will" if my experience is anything to go by. :mad::mad:

krlyr

mildred1978 wrote: »

People I've known who have "house cats" don't let them out for fear of loss or injury. They're trained to use litter trays indoors etc.

I think what she's saying is that despite being a housecat, when she had the opportunity to get out of the house she may have acted on her natural instincts to roam/mate and found several "suitors" to satisfy her urges (hence the doubt on parentage), as opposed to sitting in the garden confused, being mated solely by the neighbour's cat who happened to be nearby, then being found by OP and taken back indoors.

KxMx

If she got pregnant then she was very likely on heat, which means millenia of instinct would have kicked in and she would have searched and roamed however much she needed to to find a mate(s).

She certainly would not be sitting idly by in the garden just because she was kept as a housecat.

House cat, outdoor cat, feral cat, when they're in heat there is no difference in behaviour!

cheekyweegit

krlyr wrote: »

How does that contradict what I said? OP charging for the kittens doesn't mean it's wasn't an accident. It can be recommended to charge a nominal fee to prevent people getting a freebie kitten as a spur of the moment thing. It's not necessarily about making money but giving the animal some worth.

I've had my freebie kitten from gumtree for just over 3 years now, and the spoilt little madam is lying beside me just now sleeping on her blanket (only due to not being in the mood to evict the laptop, but give it a while).

So not everyone who gets a freebie gets fed up, and not everyone who pays keeps the kitten either, again check free ads, and usually quite few there around 6 months offered to a "good" home for a price or have to be given up due to "alergies" or "baby on the way" etc, etc...

Oh and call the police, their behaviour is a joke!

Pechow

Everything else aside, I wonder how keen they would be on a free kitten if it came neutered/spayed beforehand?

PixieDust

What a wierd, unstable and uncouth family they sound! Litters from random-moggy-matings are notoriously varied....I'll bet you have a kitten there that looks like each of my moggies....doesn't mean I'm going to claim a kitten! Mind you.....kittens.....*dreamy sigh*