‘I am very grateful I just happened to work in the right place to get my cat back’: A vet tech's profound discovery of her own missing cat, found neglected and trapped by a neighbor who tried to put her down her, proving that destiny can bring a pet home

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Sep 15, 2025 2:00 PM EDT

Goodness gracious, this is a story fit not only for the internet but for television news outlets too it is just so wild and unhinged. Where once we might have thought that cat rescues were a tough affair this story just goes above and beyond to blow all other stories out of the water.

This story tells the tale of a vet tech who lost her cat earlier in the week, yet seeing as it was not totally uncommon for her cat child to go off on multi-day adventures the vet tech was not all too concerned about her cat child being absent. That is until an older lady came in for a scheduled euthanasia appointment for a cat that she claimed was sick and had been hiding under her porch for days on end. We will stop there to avoid letting any spoilers slip, but we think you can imagine what might be coming next and yes, it is the wildest version that your imagination can conjure up.
 

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  • 01
    Hi there! I recognize it is not likely I will find people well-versed in New Zealand law, but I appreciate any input into the situation. It's been a rough couple of days. I work at a veterinary clinic and we had a client book in a wild
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  • 02
    cat to be euthanased. She said it lived under her porch for years and now bothered her cat/sprayed in her home. She said she'd had it for two nights at that point and hadn't fed it or given it water. We advised her to feed it and also to do a
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  • 03
    quick door-knock of her immediate neighbors/post it on the popular local facebook page to make sure it didn't belong to anyone. She refused to do any of these things.
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  • 04
    She brought the cat in the next morning, reiterated it had been kept in the tiny travel cage (that was wrapped in a garbage bag with 72 hours worth of urine and feces in there) for three days, that she hadn't given it food/water and that she had not and would not
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  • Holy guacamole this is messed up more than most rescues and this is not even strictly a rescue story. This is more like an animal neglect incident that has a very strange and suspicious stench to it that we are finding very tough to come to terms with. 

  • 05
    attempt to find an owner. She signed it over to be put to sleep. We advised her we would be checking for a microchip, notifying the SPCA and checking the SPCA databases and our databases of lost cats as we are ethically and legally required to. She
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  • 06
    flipped out. She said she didn't want the cat to be returned to an owner if it had one. Said she brought it here on the understanding it would be euthanased. She asked to have the cat back because, 'i would have just DEALT TO IT myself if
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  • 07
    Cheezburger Image 10553674752
    via Ruben via Adobe Stock

    Disclaimer: This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 08
    I'd known you wouldn't just k .l it'. Lo and behold she is my neighbour and this is my cat I've been on the cusp of making a missing cat post about. She is absolutely soaked in her own pos and s. 't and visibly and audibly in
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  • 09
    distress. I have only lived on that street for not quite a year, my cat is a neutered female that does not spray and there is no way this is the cat that has been living under her porch with abscesses for years.
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  • 10
    I am very grateful I just happened to work in the right place to get my cat back and thank god for microchips. I have been in touch with the SPCA who are interviewing me and my coworkers some time today and have advised me to contact the police as soon as possible. I
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  • 11
    intend to call them once they're open today, but can anyone maybe clue me in on how this process will go? Is it likely she will face any punishment? I am nervous that this is something they're going to laugh at me about or that nothing can be done.
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  • Erm, yeah contact the police, the pawlice, every vet clinic and shelter in a five mile radius and even the local news if you can because what this woman has done is so far past what might be considered to be even relatively ok. But at least we can rest slightly easier knowing the poor catto has found its way home. 

  • 12
    How long has the cat been missing, and how did the neighbor get the cat The cat was missing since Monday, she brought it in on Thursday.
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  • 13
    According to her she just shut it in a bedroom and then put it in the cat cage. She doesn't go out very often but she is a docile pet cat so it wouldn't surprise me if she
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  • 14
    wandered through an open door. How is the cat doing? She is certainly happy to be home! She hasn't even tried to get out in the last two
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  • 15
    days. She has lost a lot of muscle mass but doesn't seem much worse the wear for it. She'll be mildly overweight again in no time.
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  • 16
    So the SPCA is still investigating and they have been nothing but a true source of kindness and calm, thankfully. They're possibly leaning more towards a formal warning than prosecution which is ever-so-slightly disappointing, but I
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  • 17
    recognize they are a self- funded organisation and they can only do what they can do. The woman that took my cat has emailed me saying her cat has an abscess and I should pay for the vet bills. She is annoyed I went to the
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  • 18
    SPCA rather than 'talk to her about why it happened' and if I choose not to reply to her she is going to assume I have no interest in resolving the issues between our cats (correct) there will be 'personal issues' between us (this ship has long,
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  • 19
    long, long sailed) going forward. I know she did tell the SPCA officer that she had zero proof Friday did anything to her cat, she has shown previously that she has clearly mixed up my cat with a stray black cat she's had issues with
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  • 20
    for years and my cat is almost exclusively inside, excluding the night she was trapped. I replied to her and told her effectively to pound sand, albeit politely, but is there anything she can realistically do about this situation? Or my general
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  • 21
    Cheezburger Image 10553675008
    via visitr via Adobe Stock

    Disclaimer: This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 22
    refusal to engage her at all for the most part? Considering her behavior and attitude I am mildly concerned about this 'personal issues' comment. Can I make anyone aware of that? If I happened to go public with what happened once
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  • 23
    the SPCA investigation is over, could she do anything? Thank you again for any help you can provide, I really appreciate the input and support from the last thread also.
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  • 24
    I had answered two belligerent phone calls from them at work and refused to answer two more. Since the phone call harassment was no longer working, they emailed my work and said if I did not answer we would have 'personal
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  • 25
    issues' going forward, how dare I contact the SPCA, that their cat had an abscess they assume was from my cat and I need to pay for their $330 vet bill thanks. I emailed back with a pretty direct email that their actions constituted
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  • 26
    cruelty, I wouldn't be answering any further phone calls especially at work and that I would not be paying the vet bill. Friday morning I check my email and the partner had sent me a rambling, abusive email. I abuse my dog, I'm a stt vet tech, how dare I call the SPCA,
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  • 27
    of course it was my cat, he's taking me to small claims court because what other choice does he have? He said he knows he doesn't have much of a chance at winning but it's about the principle. I reply that the SPCA is doing their due
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  • 28
    diligence, that my pets are well cared for and that they are not to contact me any further. I have since blocked both of their email addresses. I got to work Friday morning and discovered they had lodged a formal complaint to my
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  • 29
    workplace and asked to have a sit-down meeting with my manager about 'what I consider to be a very serious situation for me and my family'. One of my managers called and p much said they have to look into it, but by all accounts it would
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  • 30
    appear everything I've done at work has been within policy. This job means everything to me and I'm pretty f g annoyed they've taken a personal issue and forced it upon my workplace. I also spoke with two local cat charities who
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  • 31
    both knew of the feral cat colonies in the vacant property literally directly behind their house and in the house to the left of them that's full of discarded vehicles. One of them had spent months and months before I moved there and early on
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  • 32
    trying to catch a large, black tomcat with abscesses all around it's neck but had never managed to get him. They advised them within hours of having caught my cat by mistake that they either needed to take care of it or take it to
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  • 33
    the vet ASAP, as did the council who I spoke to on Friday. They found these people extremely difficult also. I have attained statements from both of them outlining this, so that's a comforting addition.
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  • 34
    I am doing my best not to be as vindictive and malicious as they are. I happen to know their house is unpermitted and has numerous code violations and by god my council-calling finger is itchy but I am not going to be as shy as they are. I have alerted my friends
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  • 35
    at the local newspaper to keep an ear out for me because I don't doubt that when this complaint and small claims court fails them they will probably double down on the crazy. I am also preparing myself internally for them to
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  • 36
    complain to the SPCA about me because that seems inevitable. All in all this has been an extraordinarily exhausting two weeks. I am hopeful I can make an update shortly that outlines this entire thing being over.
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missing cat destiny found work discovery reddit story trapped cat story pet neglect vet tech back home neighbor
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