his mom has vet records. i would think that indicates a pretty strong degree of ownership...especially considering that the neighbors obviously never took the cat to the vet. my friend has a neighbor who traps cats in his backyard and kills them. he had done it to several cats over the years and he got my friends earlier this year. one neighbor confronted him over it and a few days later found a cat tail in her driveway. a neighbor of my friend told him that the crazy guy took his cat so my friend went over to his house and confronted him about it...the guy said he took it and drove it out of town, but more than likely he killed it. my friend was asking where he took the cat and he would not say. it got heated and my friend ended up pushing the guy so he called the cops on my friend. he also told my friend as he was walking away "i know what your other cat looks like". so the cops came and basically told my friend there was nothing they could do, which seems like bulls***. especially when several neighbors have had the exact same thing happen...everyone knows its this guy. in this case it sounds like the neighbor girl already told the cops she took it. hopefully your mom gets her cat back!
Maybe I'm confused about what happened, but it sounds like the daughter was just taking her own cat back. Cats are property, and doesn't seem like you had the cat for long enough for adverse possession to take effect and make the cat yours. I don't know what the statute of limitations period is in Texas, but usually it takes multiple years.
I hate to have to say this, but perhaps moving is the answer. Otherwise, someone will eventually lose their temper, and it might be you. I know if someone had been treating my late mother like this, I would have lost mine. Good luck.
The Constable came by a little while ago and said he spoke with the district attorney today. He is going to issue a citation for theft and a criminal trespass warning. He said she was going to have to see the judge and we are waiting for him to set a date. Waiting for her to come home now.
I can relate. We had a similar situation when I was younger. My mom stole my neighbors goat and they had a cat fight over it.
Outside of Trinity on the lake. She came home a couple of hours ago and I sent him a text letting him know. He replied, "K" and was there in about 10 minutes.
Your mom sounds like a good-hearted person. The neighbor is obviously a loser. It's great that the constable is being so helpful. That sounds like nice common sense law enforcement. Hopefully the system will work out well, and happen soon.
In some places I've been, feral cats do pretty well for themselves, both in cities and in the countryside.
I don't advocate killing animals, but by "trapping" do you mean "trapping them on his property?" We have neighborhood cats that have developed a strange attraction for my front porch. They pee on it and have torn up the plants in our front flower bed. I have to constantly clean that front area to keep that urine smell away. Why can't cat owners keep their cats on their own property? I don't kill animals, but too often a person's "pet cat" infringes on my property rights.
yes, he was trapping them on his property. he would set out a cage with cat food in it. he would kill the cats and if neighbors complained he would leave cat body parts on their driveway. i do not own a cat and my neighbors un-neutered cat sprays the plants on my front porch...its very nasty. my former next door neighbors whom i have discussed in a previous thread (http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=209513) got kicked out and left several cats in their house to die and rot and a couple "lucky" ones that got left outside. my neighbor across the street takes care of them since she already has cats, but they are 100% outdoor...and one of them pees on my plants. i would suggest turning the hose on the cats when you see them in your yard. also you can spray some perfume or some other strong-smelling substance around where they tend to pee...that should help keep them away. and wrt to the thread about my neighbors, may i suggest to the OP leaving a gas can of sugarwater out and see what happens? there is no way to keep a cat on your own property unless they are 100% indoor cats. unlike dogs, fences are not barriers to kitties.
Cat belongs to neighbor. Neighbor is negligent. Cat finds comfort with your mom. Neighbor takes back cat. You call constable? Did I get that right? If so, AFS above is right, no ownership ever left the neighbor, so she is in her right for taking her animal back, whether negligent or not... but you might be right about trespassing your property... and for this they can be liable. About the neighbors, they can go to jail for trespassing, though they had a reason which might not fly. About the cat, you're not getting it back, sorry.
