There very few things more heartbreaking in this world than a pet being neglected by its owner.

A popular quote says that while a dog is your best friend for a small part of it’s life, you are their best friend for their entire life.

Which makes it all the more sinister when you realize that animal is being abused by the person it loved most in this world.

So sometimes stories like these, where someone selflessly rescues an animal from its life of abuse, are exactly waht we need.

Check it out!

AITA for ‘stealing’ my neighbors cat

So my neighbor of 3 years has a cat. He’s always been an indoor cat up the entire time I’ve known her.

About two ago, for reasons I don’t know, she has kicked the cat out of her house and now he is an outdoor only cat.

Over the course of the month or so, I watched the cat’s condition decline steadily (matting, fleas, getting skinny, etc.).

He also seemed really distressed being outside, always begging and meowing to try and get into people’s houses.

OP took pity on the poor little guy, and let him in, but apparently this highly offended her neighbor!

I felt bad for him and would let him in whenever he came asking and tried my best to take care of him, until my neighbor came over and told me off for trying to ‘steal her cat’.

I didn’t want to cause trouble so I stopped letting him in, but I still fed him. It was painful watching him suffer.

Two weeks ago was the last straw for me. The cat was hit by a car while crossing the road when the neighbor was not home.

Despite the nasty words from her neighbor, OP wasn’t letting the cat suffer from her negligence any longer.

I saw it happened and rushed out to him to make sure he was alive (he was) and I took him to the emergency vet.

He ended up having a leg amputated and all in all it cost me almost $3000.

I did not tell my neighbor what happened. I paid the price, and told the vet the cat was a stray.

They checked for a microchip (he didn’t have one) and helped me contact the shelter to file a ‘lost pet’ report. I took him home and have not let him outside at all since the accident.

When the neighbor made no inquiry into her cat for two weeks, OP decided that she was going to give the cat the life he deserved.

The stray holding period for my city is 5 days before an animal is considered abandoned.

Since the neighbor has not claimed the cat through the shelter or asked me about him at any point in the past two weeks, I decided to keep him.

Today my neighbor saw him lounging in my window and came over and said she had been looking for him all week.

But when she wanted the cat back, OP wasn’t budging one inch!

She demand I give him back, and if not she would file a police report for me ‘stealing’ him.

I told her she must have the wrong cat as mine had three legs and shut the door in her face. She screamed through the door for awhile and then left.

Still waiting to see if she calls the cops. So Reddit, AITA?

And OP came back with an update for all of the curious commenters wondering what happened to the little guy…

So! I talked to my neighbor again when she came back today and It turns out my neighbor’s new boyfriend didn’t like the cat, so when he moved in, she kicked the cat out.

Now that they’ve broken up she wants her cat back. I’m keeping my kitty and told her sorry her cat went missing but the one in my house is mine.

She seemed upset still but legitimately convinced my cat was not the same one when I showed her pictures of his three legs.

As many of you have said, the life of the animal is More important that the morality of the ‘theft’ here.

I’m with OP, it doesn’t matter if taking the cat was the “right” thing to do. If OP hadn’t stepped in, that cat would have died an excruciating death because of her neighbor’s negligence.

Reddit was 100% on OP’s side, and said that her neighbor couldn’t have looked very hard if she didn’t even check the shelter.

And many people just couldn’t stomach the neighbor’s atrocious neglect of this poor animal.

 

This user said even if her neighbor called the cops, they would side with OP anyway!

This commenter said while OP may have lied, she did it to save the cat’s life.

And finally, this user said this was a rare case where OP was technically in the wrong, but was 100% free of any blame!

Her neighbor should never be allowed to have a pet again!

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.