need some legal advice about a cat

About a year ago one of my boyfriend's cats got out of his house. We searched for her and did all the right things but nothing came of it. She is a pedigreed cat and quite distinctive. Recently, we saw someone posting on the internet for stud services for a male of the same breed and colouring. We emailed and got pics of the mother, it was our cat! She was pregnant before she got out. We would like to get the cat back, as well as her kitten if possible, but I'm not sure of the legality of it all. I can't find any info on the internet and no one i call seems to know. I can't be the first person that this has happened to but there doesn't seem to be information anywhere. Can anyone help? I live in BC.

maybe you could call the police station and ask them how to go about getting your cat back? they must know what you need to prove it? is the cat microchipped?

Have you asked for the return of the cat?

A refusal to return the cat would be a prerequisite to any legal action on your part.

you mention that it is a pedigreed cat... do you have papers for the cat? is he/she tattooed?

If you have papers and she is microchipped you would be ok, as the mocrochip number is on registration papers, and the papers have to be transferred to new owners, if they have the cat with that microchip and not the papers, it should'n't be too bad for oyu.

On the other hand if all you have is your story, and maybe some pictures... I think it will be very tough, there is no way for anyone to prove that your cat got out, and if they found it running loose and pregnant they probably have reason to think it needed a good home, however wrong that is.

Do you have a record of everything you did, and contacted when she got away? That might be at least some help... I would contact your local police, but if your situation is similar to my later story I think it will be a difficult road. Good luck.

This is the reason we need to microchip our animlas, at the very least a tattoo, but tattoo's are usually only good in your local city, and don't need to be legally changed ownerships.. Mine ar e all microchipped, my dogs is on file from rescue, and he cannot be legally owned by anyone without going through a transfer through them, my lab has her chip # on her CKC papers, and that has to have a change of ownership also or else it is no good...

we do have papers but she is not chipped, unfortunately.

No chip, no tattoo, no way to prove she is yours..... doesn't look good.

If she is distinctly marked, and you have pictures, along with vet bills and your adoption papers, it may be enough to get her back. I would start with asking the people who now have her to have her back and then go from there.

Unless the animal is tatooed or microchipped then you don't have a leg to stand on. It's basically your word against theres. Looking alike when it's a PB cat is just not enough. We went through that with a dog, PB Boxer who had all the right markings but I got the breeder on her papers stating a tatoo that was not on the dog we had. She said, that it had faded, which is bull monkey so she got the police involved and they said, don't have any rights to this particuliar dog. Also, animals fall under the criminal code as property, so 30 days is the maximum that a judge would ever rule on and in the case of the animal being picked up by animal control, it's 5 days or less to reclaim your property. I'm afraid you will try a bunch of things but in the end, if it really is your cat, you are out of luck.

Hi assets,

I work for the RCMP in BC. If you would like, you can go to civil court (call your local courthouse during a weekday) and file a small claims action. Without a chip or tattoo, I highly doubt that you will win although if you really want, you can try. I think the fee is $25-50.

If there was a tattoo or other serial number ID, you could have reported that to the police as "lost property" and it could have been added to the system (just like a stolen car!) and you could prove ownership of that "lost property". Since you did not report the cat as lost with the "serial number" (ie. tattoo), the police cannot be involved in this incident as they will not seize another person's property without undeniable proof (or else they get sued by that person!).

Good luck and to everyone else reading, if your animal is lost or stolen, remember that you CAN make a police report and add the tattoo to the national system (CPIC). Infact, I added a LAMB to it last week.