Money Moral Dilemma: Is it wrong I don't want to adopt the cat I feed and have to pay vet bills?

Kat1107

Stop feeding the cat! You do not know if it has any dietary requirements or will at some point require a special diet. If you were concerned about its health/well-being you should have put a paper collar on it to find out if it has a home, or ask in a local social media pet group if someone has a chip scanner to check for a chip/ownership. It sounds like you're happy to "have" a cat as long as it doesn't cost you more than a box of Felix. Stop spending money on cat food if you're not willing to spend a penny on anything else.

Ed264

Your second sentence states the cat looked thin, you go on to state that the neighbour has several other pets and asked if you'd like to adopt it. It seems to me that your neighbour can't afford to keep it. I would suggest the cat is taken to a cat's home where it has a chance of being looked after by a new caring owner, who's happy to pay vet's fees and all.

hannerrbabes

So you want the fun part of having a pet - the feeding, the company, the cuddles. But you don't want the responsibility of it - the bet bills, the flea treatments, etc. No wonder your neighbour was annoyed.. you've effectively taken their cat away. 

Also, should your neighbour 'be thankful you're already paying for their cat's food'? Don't believe that just because your feeding a cat that noone else is. That book isn't named 'six dinner sid' for no reason! 

OmoEgba

Stop feeding it. 

brionyrose

Let's reframe this: someone nicked your car and has been driving it around and paying for fuel. When you found the thief, you asked if they'd like to keep the car - it's clearly important to them and they take much better care of it than you were able to. They respond that while they're happy to keep driving it and paying for fuel, you'll still need to pay for any servicing or repairs it requires. You get none of the benefit of car ownership, but all of the expenses.

Same deal. You feed the cat, so it wants to live with you. Either you give it back - lock it out of your house, stop feeding it - or take your neighbour up on their kind (and probably heartbreaking) offer to give their cat a better home, and accept that the joy of caring for a pet comes with responsibilities too.

nkaur98

I wouldn’t stop feeding it as you’ve made that decision to domesticate it and it will now rely on you (I’d do the same and feed it because I can’t see an animal hungry), I would suggest trying to gain its trust to take it to an animal shelter so they can provide it with neutering, vaccines etc and giving it a loving home. Hope this helps let me know if you need any support as we’ve rescued cats for years now and helped it go to a loving home (never for money, always done checks on people their given to).

amangons

(FIRSTLY THIS COMMENT BOX SHOULD HE AT THE TOP OF REPLIES, NOT THE BOTTOM).

I could share loads of cat pics and tell you you are a nasty selfish person. Cats are wonderful, and not really an expensive hobby. It's ONLY if they get ill that it becomes expensive 

I won't so any of that 

If you don't want the responsibility of looking after a cat, that's fine.

Me, I'm a cat hero, and proud to have been a cat daddy, and am a cat daddy to a new cat now. I love the little *****.

I don't want people who don't want them, to have them. 

If you weren't sure, you might ask around mates, but nope, you're on a national forum saying, I don't want, am i wrong.

No, you are not wrong. I say that straight faced as a long term cat daddy (over 20 years currently, but of course different cats). 

Anyone who tells thos person anything other than, fine, don't have a cat, is in the wrong 

Never guilt a person into owning a cat. It's many years of service to look after, and even if they don't get ill, will need to be fed and watered for the rest of their lives... Which ain't really expensive, not really 

So, I repeat, if you don't want the cat, don't take it 

It is a shame, that a cat may have to go into a shelter, and spend ages before anyone shows it love, but that his problem now, not yours.

Don't worry, he's a great cat, and someone will adopt him and give him a better home, a loving home 

Have a great day

jonthedog

This happened to friends of ours. A neighbour effectively stole their cat by feeding it (absolutely no need to do this) and eventually it was living with the neighbour. When it got ill, she had the cheek to go round and ask my friends for money to pay the vets bills! 
This is pretty clear cut to me...don't feed other people's cats; you are stealing their pet.

elizabethhull

My daughter's cat is fed elsewhere, in fact they enticed it away (it's perfectly well fed & cared for at its own home). My daughter is really cheesed off about it. She pays vet bills etc, 8 yr old grandchild loves it, yet this other person will keep it for up to a fortnight at a time.
My mother always told me it wasn't right to feed a cat, no matter how pleading it may look ! You deprive a family of their loved pet, you encourage the animal when you have no intention of fulfilling the full financial responsibility. Pet it all you like, (we've had visiting cats in the past), but DON'T FEED It !

bradavon

Jeesh so many fuddy duddies here.

I see nothing wrong with feeding an animal which is hungry. This is does mean you are it's owner though.

That said, it's unclear if you're still feeding it? And there's more to looking after a pet than paying vets bills. Do you want to be it's owner or not?

If not, you've fed it for a while, I'd stop.

The owner can ask but it sounds like they're more annoyed because they don't want to be it's owner too. Ultimately it's the owner's responsibility to rehome it.

Animals are sentient, treat them as such.