I need some advice.

My roommate moved out at the beginning of December 2003 (over a year
ago). His plan was to move to Switzerland, and he asked if I could care
for his two Siamese cats for a while, until he could get things squared
away and find out how to get them over there. I agreed, since I liked
the cats a great deal and wanted what was best for them.

He emailed twice in 2004. Once, in the spring, to say he would be
coming in the fall to retrieve the cats. I replied to that email,
saying that (1) I was looking for a new apartment and I needed to know
when exactly he was coming back so I could know whether or not to look
for a place with cats, and (2) if he would reimburse me for vet costs
that I felt were necessary for the health of the cats. He could give me
no exact time he would be coming (he suggested I just go ahead and move
with the cats) and also refused to reimburse me for vet bills (he never
took particularly good care of his pets). I was starting to feel taken
advantage of.

He didn't come back in the fall. A year passed, and recently we had
to take one of the cats to the emergency room (she was bleeding from
her nose), a $125 visit. It seems she has an absessed tooth and needs
$600 or more of dental work. The next day, my ex-roommate calls and
leaves a message saying he'll be back in the spring.

My girlfriend and I love these cats, and we want very much to have the
dental work done so she's not in pain. But, I want to be able to
officially, legally claim these cats as my own before I do this,
because I don't think my ex-roommate (if he ever comes back) would
reimburse me for this medical expense (let alone all the cat food,
litter, etc. we've bought over the course of over a year). Can I do
this legally? I feel like he's just trying to keep his foot in the
door with these sporadic communications, and I want to sever ties
before we start to drop serious money on these animals.

What do I do? My girlfriend and I really need some advice.

On 17 Jan 2005 07:19:04 -0800, "beauroland"
wrote:

I need some advice.

My roommate moved out at the beginning of December 2003 (over a year
ago). His plan was to move to Switzerland, and he asked if I could care
for his two Siamese cats for a while, until he could get things squared
away and find out how to get them over there. I agreed, since I liked
the cats a great deal and wanted what was best for them.

He emailed twice in 2004. Once, in the spring, to say he would be
coming in the fall to retrieve the cats. I replied to that email,
saying that (1) I was looking for a new apartment and I needed to know
when exactly he was coming back so I could know whether or not to look
for a place with cats, and (2) if he would reimburse me for vet costs
that I felt were necessary for the health of the cats. He could give me
no exact time he would be coming (he suggested I just go ahead and move
with the cats) and also refused to reimburse me for vet bills (he never
took particularly good care of his pets). I was starting to feel taken
advantage of.

He didn't come back in the fall. A year passed, and recently we had
to take one of the cats to the emergency room (she was bleeding from
her nose), a $125 visit. It seems she has an absessed tooth and needs
$600 or more of dental work. The next day, my ex-roommate calls and
leaves a message saying he'll be back in the spring.

My girlfriend and I love these cats, and we want very much to have the
dental work done so she's not in pain. But, I want to be able to
officially, legally claim these cats as my own before I do this,
because I don't think my ex-roommate (if he ever comes back) would
reimburse me for this medical expense (let alone all the cat food,
litter, etc. we've bought over the course of over a year). Can I do
this legally? I feel like he's just trying to keep his foot in the
door with these sporadic communications, and I want to sever ties
before we start to drop serious money on these animals.

What do I do? My girlfriend and I really need some advice.


Treat the cat like it's your own. If you really care about the cat,
you won't worry about the money and when the time comes that this
loser thinks the cat is his again, it won't be. He already lost his
right to it when he abandoned it.
pepsi

beauroland wrote:
I need some advice.

My roommate moved out at the beginning of December 2003 (over a year
ago). His plan was to move to Switzerland, and he asked if I could care
for his two Siamese cats for a while, until he could get things squared
away and find out how to get them over there. I agreed, since I liked
the cats a great deal and wanted what was best for them.

He emailed twice in 2004. Once, in the spring, to say he would be
coming in the fall to retrieve the cats. I replied to that email,
saying that (1) I was looking for a new apartment and I needed to know
when exactly he was coming back so I could know whether or not to look
for a place with cats, and (2) if he would reimburse me for vet costs
that I felt were necessary for the health of the cats. He could give me
no exact time he would be coming (he suggested I just go ahead and move
with the cats) and also refused to reimburse me for vet bills (he never
took particularly good care of his pets). I was starting to feel taken
advantage of.

He didn't come back in the fall. A year passed, and recently we had
to take one of the cats to the emergency room (she was bleeding from
her nose), a $125 visit. It seems she has an absessed tooth and needs
$600 or more of dental work. The next day, my ex-roommate calls and
leaves a message saying he'll be back in the spring.

My girlfriend and I love these cats, and we want very much to have the
dental work done so she's not in pain. But, I want to be able to
officially, legally claim these cats as my own before I do this,
because I don't think my ex-roommate (if he ever comes back) would
reimburse me for this medical expense (let alone all the cat food,
litter, etc. we've bought over the course of over a year). Can I do
this legally? I feel like he's just trying to keep his foot in the
door with these sporadic communications, and I want to sever ties
before we start to drop serious money on these animals.

What do I do? My girlfriend and I really need some advice.


You say you love the cats. In my mind, ethically there is no decision
to be made. The cat would get whatever care it needed.
And when/if your cat-abandoning rat of an ex-roommate turns up and
tries to claim the cats, tell him you'll be happy to give them up in
exchange for a cashier's check (or cash) covering all of their vet fees
and over two years worth of boarding. Call a couple of local kennels to
get a feel for their boarding rates. Type the statement up neatly,
attach copies of all the relevant bills AND copies of his e-mail
communications, if available, and make three copies of the entire
packet. Present your roommate with one, and let him know that one of
the copies is for your records, and the other will go to your attorney
(whether you've got one yet or not).
I suspect that when he see the bottom line, he'll drop the matter, and
if not, well, the ball's in his court. I think that between the vet
fees and the boarding costs, the total will put the matter beyond the
limits of something that could be handled in small claims court ($5,000,
I think). Based on what you've said, it's difficult to imagine this
lowlife being willing to spend the money to engage an attorney to
reclaim custody of his cats.

Kathleen