I was reported to the SSPCA

[Sluttybuttons]

I went on holiday on the 12th of July and my friend said she would feed the cats and change their litter. Somebody reported me to the SSPCA to say nobody had been to the house in over a week. I spoke to my friend and she said she had popped in every second day to clean litter, top up their water (fountain) and make sure they had food. They are now talking about pressing charges because an offence was committed. Not sure what to do

[BlueBirdsNest]

you left the cats in the care of a friend.

you made arrangements for their well-being whilst you were away

Many cats prefer be looked after at home

Whoever reported you is maybe a cat lover and was worried and never realised you'd made arrangements?

I can't see what offence was committed? Have they told you what the offence was?

[ClaimedByMe]

have they came and looked at your cats to check they are healthy? I went away for a week and my brother came along and fed and watered my cats and guineas I thought that was quite normal!

[usualsuspect]

What offense has been committed?

[usualsuspect]

offence*

[HecateHarshPants]

Well, all you have to do is get your friend to confirm to them that she went every other day to see to the cats and that everything was fine.

They do have to prove that the cats weren't ok. They can't just prosecute on the say so of a neighbour. They need evidence. I am assuming your friend actually DID keep going round?

[Sluttybuttons]

She said that it is against the law for an animal not to be checked at least once every 24 hours. She put tape on my key hole on friday evening (friend had been in in the morning) and it was still there at 10 on the sunday morning, friend went round at 12 and called to say there was tape on the key hole and 3 cards from the SSPCA. The cats have a water fountain and even when im at home i only refilll it every few days because it has a filter that keeps the water fresh. She came round today and said she wasnt leaving till she saw both cats because she said the black cat looked small and skinny, she is only 6 months old of course she isnt as big as archie (i swear his dad was a lion or something cos hes huge).

She (SSPCA) fed my cats wet food through my letterbox which my older cat cant tolerate so when i got home last night there was mess all over the kitchen and hall. Today he is still shitting for scotland.

[usualsuspect]

Sounds a bit OTT to me, It's normal for people to leave cats and just have people popping in to check them

[FallenCaryatid]

Put your case calmly and make sure that you cover all the points that they raise.
I have one of those fountains for my cat, it hold a couple of litres with a filter and is fantastic, Cat is also on a very expensive special dry diet from the vet, so I wouldn't be impresses with some wally shovelling wet food through the letter box.
Go play hardball with them, stay civil and stand your ground.

[BlueBirdsNest]

how is it againest the law?

[RandomMess]

sounds like someone has reported to you to cause trouble tbh

[msrisotto]

That sounds very OTT! Did you tell the SSPCA lady that wet food disagrees with your pets? Is shoving wet food through a letter box really the most effective, least messy way of ensuring the cats have food?

[Lizcat]

Haing work on cases it is considered that animals shoul be checked at a minimum every 24 hours. Yes from a food and water point of view 48 hours maybe okay for your cats, but not if one of them had become ill.
It is very difficult as often the animals have been left for quite a long time by the time it is reported so whilst it is unfortunate that your cat had an upset stomach it would be argued that this was better than an animal dying through lack of food and water. As wet food is 80% water it solves both problems so yes in the cases where people really have left the property with the pets locked in this would be the most effective solution in the first 48hours. In fact if the seal is not broken after 48 hours the police are usually called and the property entered by force.
If you had seen some of things I had you would realise why they would feed rather than not feed. Everyday in every part of the UK people leave properties and leae their pets behind.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Bloody hell, you do what I do when we go away. My mum comes every other day for our cats and in 10 years we haven't had a problem. I'm suprised that 24 hours is the law!

[BlueBirdsNest]

can the op be fined though Lizcat
?

If they the (sspca) put a seal on the door and it was not broken when they went back, perhaps that means she (THE FREIND) wasn't popping in to tend your cats?


I went on holiday once and gave a family member a key, to come ....daily.....

and she tuned up once!


the cats protested and shit all all over floor,dorrstep etc

[Lizcat]

The onus is on the owner or registered keeper of the animals. Ultimately it could go to court and yes the owner could be fined.
My advice would be to be very contrite don't try and argue your case, but to discuss what you would do differently next time. Hopefully as the cats are okay and if you show that yo have realised your mistake the inspector will let you off with a warning.

[DontEatTheVolesKids]

I am so sorry to read you're going thru this, Sluttybuttons. 24 hours is so arbitrary. Why not every 12 hours, 6, 1? Or 36, or 72? You made reasonable provisions.
Hope this finishes quickly.

[reluctanttownie]

TBH if I saw that no one had been to check on animals for over 24 hours I would assume that they weren't being checked on at all so I don't think it's unreasonable for the SSPCA to do what they did. I always arrange for my cats to be checked on twice a day at least (we normally have a live in sitter for longer trips) and it would never occur to me to do anything less. 24 hours I think would be ok, although food would get rather stale and nasty in that time. I genuinely had no idea anyone did only every 48 hours.

24 hours may be 'arbitrary' but so is 48. At the end of the day, frequent attention is always going to be better for the animal than less frequent.

[BlackCatsAndPurpleDogs]

Lizcat, i totally agree.
I have never felt comfortable with having my cats fed and checked once a day even- my neighbour comes in morning and evening when we are away. Previous to that we had a proper company who also did x2 per day visits.

[Sluttybuttons]

Well the sspca was back yesterday and have decided to not take it further. I thought it was fine because my cats dont like people and they are on dry food so the food just needed topped up and the water fountain checked.

[shockers]

We have a bowl with a timer that opens a different section at the same time every day. I'm pretty sure it has 5 sections, although we've only ever left our cat overnight.

[Spuddybean]

I don't know what the law is/rules are but when we went away we used to pay various cat services to pop in and feed/water and they refused every other day and said the cat had to be checked every 24 hours. I thought it was so they could charge more but maybe it is an animal welfare rule.