Unhelpful previous owner

tea_lover

Another question about our new arrival...

He came from a friend of OH's dad - to be polite this woman is 'challenging'. When we took him in she assured he was up to date with vaccinations etc. and was insured. She also told us she'd continue paying the insurance till the end of the year, and give us a 6 month supply of food (we got one open packet of pouches).

I spoke to the vet he's registered with at the weekend. They couldn't tell me much about medical history (obv.) but did mention that he hasn't been in there since 2007. He'd have been 2 then (8 now) - does that sound right? Surely he should have boosters or flea treatment or something in that time??

It's also become clear that he's most likely not insured, so we're trying to sort that out. This would obviously be a lot easier with some sort of medical history for him.

Problem is, the vet says the original owner has to call them, which we're not going to be able to get her to do. She's useless, all the promises about food/insurance etc. have come to nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I love this cat and am absolutely happy to pay to feed him, insure him, ensure he's happy/healthy etc. It's just frustrating that we've been lied to, and that we're now struggling to get our cat registered to our name/address.

He's microchipped and I'm hoping that we can change that without her signature - have sent a letter with the form so am waiting to hear back from them. If we can get the chip into the right name/address will that be ok for the vet?

Struggling to see a way round this... any ideas??

moggymutt

What a microchip company can do is to ring her and say that someone is wanting to change the name and address (I know at least some companies do this- they are desperate to keep their records as up to date as possible). That should then sort out problems with vet, insurance etc.

Some owners do incorrectly think that one course of vacs does for life.

Can you ask the lady to sign a form, just something simple, to say that she has signed the cat over to you?

You are very good to have taken on an older cat sorry you are having trouble like this.

tea_lover

moggymutt wrote: »

You are very good to have taken on an older cat sorry you are having trouble like this.

Aw, thank you! It's an absolute pleasure, he's such a sweetheart. I can't imagine him not being there now.

OH is going to try to get her to sign something but oh my she is hard work! We're really hoping he can get her to call the vets, but we're working on alternative plans as it's very likely she won't bother.

Very frustrating! She couldn't get rid of him fast enough, poor little thing.

paddypaws101

TBH, a lack of medical history can work in your favour when it comes to insurance...it means that there can be no exclusions for pre-existing conditions.
Sounds like he has not been taken to the vet since he was young...more than possible TBH, even if he had come from a caring home.
I think the main thing is getting the chip registered to your name, then just move on and forget the previous 'owner'

meritaten

couldn't you just turn up on her doorstep and get her to sign a letter saying that she has turned over 'ownership' of the cat named 'Whatever' to you? all she would have to do then is sign it and you are the legal 'owners'!

paulineb_2

Is he an indoor cat. My cats haven't been vaccinated, apart from the ones that were given when they were in the shelter. They don't get out and Ive only had two of them at the vet, one for cystitis and one for a problem with his eye. I think that cats who go outdoors probably would benefit from being vaccinated more than indoor cats.

Ive never had to get my cats flea treated nor do I have insurance for them. My mum has cats and always had insurance until she tried claiming on it, without success even when she was previously told she would be able to claim.

Sometimes you don't know medical history for a cat, one of my cats was a stray when I got him, he got taken to the vet, neutered as his previous owners hadn't bothered and checked over, hes been to the vet once since in 7 years of having him.

A blood test might be able to rule out certain issues, but apart from the issue with the microchip, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Every cat I have (I have 6), belonged to someone else at one point and so far so good, they have always been in good health.

calicocat

To be fair my cat wouldn't have any medical history worth talking about..(around 13 now-ish), cant remember to be honest as she's just here and it's not important. She had first 2 yrs injections but I stopped this when got freaked at an article pointing out problems with it and as she was a house cat I didn't bother. Again due to initially being a house cat she wasn't chipped, and haven't ever had insurance for any of my animals except the GSD as save every month and have a 'pet account' for any payments/money needed for them.


I've only been to the vets when she was a kitten for the usual check ups/claws got too long so needed cutting, and other than that 10 years later or more when she had an abscess. Never had fleas to deal with but spray whole house every 6 months-year.

To be honest I know loads of people who have never taken their cats to the vets as have never needed to (all responsible good owners by the way). I wouldn't worry and just enjoy new kitty.

gettingready

TBH - I drag my lot for basic things like vaccinations all over the place - getting their boosters when it is cheaper at the time so my "main" vet would not have those on record BUT they have them in their vaccination books.

Insurance - easy to check but I am not sure the cover would apply if the poor thing changed the owner?

Chip - again easy to check at the vets.

But as Paddypaws said - not having medical history is better for you in terms of sorting out the insurance as no history = no exclusions. So I would not push too much for that

tea_lover

Thanks for all the replies. It's not so much getting the history we're concerned about (although would be useful), more that we're struggling to change ownership at the vets.

When we've tried to get insurance they've wanted to know the history, and also whether his vaccinations are up to date. So it would be a lot easier (and cheaper) to insure him if we could answer those for certain.

I think we may also struggle to make a claim if the microchip shows him with a different name/address.

We'll keep trying with her... definitely not as easy as just asking her to sign something unfortunately!

kazwookie

Might it not just be easier to get the cat re chipped, and then tell insurance that you found it as a stray?

tea_lover

kazwookie wrote: »

Might it not just be easier to get the cat re chipped, and then tell insurance that you found it as a stray?

Interesting! How would that work? Would a vet not scan for existing chips first?