I was waiting for the bus, and eavesdropping (as usual) on two people arguing at a house. It seemed to be a mother and daughter (though I’m not 100% but they argued like they were). Conversation went something like this
Daughter) But he’s my cat
Mother) You left him here for a year, now he’s mine
Daughter) That was because my apartment couldn’t have cats. Now I can have one I want him back
Mother) That’s too bad for you, he’s mine now. Get another cat.
Just got me to thinking have any of you ever been involved in a “custody dispute” over a cat? Or dog" Or parrot? Or any other kind of animal?
When my daughter moved out, she left her cat with us, with the understanding that we’d send him to her when she got settled in. After half a year, we did. It’s not that we don’t love the cat, it’s that Lisa is his mom. He was very upset and depressed when she left. We sent a small blue cat too, as the blue cat loves Lisa best of us three humans, and Lisa’s boycat loves the blue cat.
She has threatened to take one of MY cats, though. After we sent her two cats to her, we went to the Humane Society and picked out another couple of cats. Lisa has really taken a liking to one of them, and has offered to swap one of her cats for this orange boy. Now, Shadow likes her just fine, but he’s MY cat. We bonded right in the Humane Society. His people abandoned him when he was an adult, and he was very sad and lonely. He’s happy to have a stay at home human who is almost always willing to pet him when he requires it.
When I got married and moved out of my parents’ house, I had to leave a dog behind. There was no way that I could afford to fly a dog to Spain, and find a place to live that would accept it. So I’ve never been in a real dispute, but I have had to figure out where animals would live after someone moves out of the house.
My husband and I have a joking prenup: “If one of us cheats, the other one gets to keep Tahoe.” Since things are now looking very dire for Tahoe, it has been changed to “If one of us cheats, they have to take Crivens.”
But no, I’ve not been involved in a custody dispute over an animal.
My mom stole my bunny. They kept her for the two years I was in a dorm, and had grown quite attached to her. When I got my own place, I got her back, along with a cat. Bunny and Kitty got along just fine, even enjoyed playing with each other. That Christmas, I was going to be traveling for a week or so, so Mom and Dad agreed to take the rabbit.
When I came home, they wouldn’t give her back. “She’s happier here,” they said. “She’s afraid of the cat.” Nevermind the fact that they had a cat too. At least I got visitation.
No, but my husband and I joke about it. It goes something like this: He has to take Molly, because she’s devoted to him (although I’d miss her like an insane thing.) I get Punky. We’re fighting over Rio, but it’s undisputed that I MUST take the dog and the parrot. He doesn’t want them AT ALL, as much as he loves them both–too high-maintenance for him. I insist that it would be stupid for him to take Rio, because Rio and Molly don’t get along. Molly would be much happier either alone, or with Punky (her littermate.) Punky and Rio also get along fine, so you know, either he takes Molly and Punky, or he only gets Molly. NOT Molly and Rio.
I have had 2 such custody battles. With my son’s dad, when things started getting rough and I suggested that the baby and I would be better off elsewhere, he said,
“You’re not getting my animals or my TV.”
So I kept the kid… and he got the pets and the TV. But I did try to get Pandora, our 8 foot boa. He was crashing with people here and there who didn’t allow snakes, and was keeping her in a pillowcase. My plea for custody was fruitless and I even lost visitation because he went on a 3 year bender and we never saw him… sadly, she later died.
AND, before that, I had broken up with a guy who had given me a kitten. He wanted to keep the kitten, who was by then a grown-up, pregnant mom. I let him because I was staying with my mom until my apartment was ready. After she gave birth, I came over for my visitation with the cat (Beaner) and babies (Copernicus and Oswald), and found the kittens riddled with fleas to the point of anemia. I TOOK custody of the whole little family because he was incapable of caring for them. Copernicus was too far gone and died at the vet. Beaner lived a long and happy life as an outside cat at my mom’s house, and Beaner’s grand-daughter (Mrs. Mrow) is the lifelong companion of a dear friend of mine.
When I was a freshman in college my parents got me a kitten. I couldn’t take him to the dorms with me when I left and he had to stay with them. My one request was not to let him outside at all because as a future apartment dweller I wouldn’t have a safe outdoor space for a cat. They proceeded to turn him into a cat who spends more than half his day outdoors and I couldn’t take him and force him to be an inside cat at that point. Now my dad fucking HATES the cat because he meows at 5:30 in the morning to be fed and tore up their leather couch. I hope that teaches him to follow instructions in the future.
I have negotiated the terms of two custody and visitation agreements for animals, one involving a dog and one involving a parrot. The parrot negotiation also involved the parties executing Wills naming each other as future custodians of the bird and also agreeing on a contingent custodian (who would take the bird if they both died before it did). Until that time I had no idea that parrots lived that long, but evidently they do.
I heard later that the dog couple gave up the custody agreement and one of them just kept the dog. As far as I know the bird couple is still sharing custody.
I never have. When my ex-boyfriend and I broke up, I took his bunny because he was allergic to him. We remained best friends though so whenever he went to NY to visit me, he got to see his bunny too. He also bought me huge amounts of litter and food whenever he came up.
I did have a roommate who was having a very bitter custody fight with HIS ex for their two dogs. He threatened to kidnap them a couple times. Shortly before I moved out, he managed to win the court case and got both dogs.
