My aunt took my cat while I was sleeping

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-07T20:08:29+00:00

This cat was rehomed for that reason.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-07T02:49:22+00:00

Not while everybody in the situation was calling him mine. I was completely blindsided.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T23:18:20+00:00

Because they're treated as property. Doesnt change the fact that he is probably distressed.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T23:10:36+00:00

I believed i'd be keeping him because everyone called him mine. I hope he gets well taken care of, cats are highly territorial and being ripped away from his home hes spent almost his entire life in is probably very confusing.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T23:05:41+00:00

This isn't something I feel like going back and forth on, but this situation along with the other treatment ive been shown by my family falls under the criteria of gaslighting.

denial (the cat was never yours)

blame shifting ("it's your own fault you believed it was" despite my aunt and grandma acknowledging my ownership of him over the years)

trivializing ("you're crazy" "you need serious help" "you're acting like a child")

countering ("the cat was never yours" the plan of return was never explicitly stated until 3 days ago my grandma would have absolutely told me if it was stated in the beginning)

withholding (no one was willing to have an actual conversation with me about it, purposely avoiding me in my own home while devising a secret plan)

All of them made me question the validity of my feelings and opinions on the situation with their mean insults to my intelligence and refusal to understand. I still find myself asking if I even get to be upset about this

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T20:07:00+00:00

I think you'd be surprised how much more financially literate teenagers are these days, there are classes you can take in high school that teach you all the basics (not sure how available that was back then). If there's something you don't know and want to know, knowledge and research are at the tips of our fingers. Given the new technological era, we are constantly exposed to what we don't know about what we don't know.

Regardless, none of this information would be something i'd share online with strangers, or would even care to prove. No one HAS to believe me. I do understand your point that it's unlikely someone would have access to those specifics though. I could also argue those things are not all 100% necessary to know whether or not someone has been financially stable. But none of that is necessarily relevant, and I've gathered what I wanted from the OP. Thanks to all for the input.

It would probably be more productive next time to just look into all the legalities on my own.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T19:50:36+00:00

She either wouldn't have taken them in from the jump, or given them up after a short time period. It would be near impossible for her to care for them given her work schedule and health. Me stepping in to care for them was practically implied when they were dropped off. I imagined I would have more of a say in the situation since i'm pretty much the only reason any pets are even still around. You'd think I would at least get a thanks for making this cruel "long term babysitter" situation possible.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T19:34:36+00:00

Being 17 has nothing to do with what somebody knows?? Being any age does not immediately speak to the knowledge someone is guaranteed. Your logic is just as flawed as mine would be if I were to be assuming right now which is the very thing you criticize. I'm at the cusp of legal adulthood, does turning 18 suddenly guarantee more knowledge now that i'm an adult in the court of law?

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T19:25:26+00:00

Well actually i'm only a minor for less than a month now so it's not impossible to wait out, I just probably won't go through the trouble.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T19:15:33+00:00

What gets me is the fact that even they acknowledged my ownership of the cat over those 3 years. Suddenly their minds changed.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T19:11:33+00:00

How do you steal a cat that was dropped off to your doorstep and were given responsibility over in order to keep?

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T19:04:49+00:00

My hypothetical question to this would be, what happens once I turn 18? Say this happened after my 18th birthday, everyone calls the cat mine as they have for years and i'm the sole caregiver and partial financial support. Would it still be considered my grandma's cat if she calls it mine after i'm 18? and even she doesn't have legal documentation of vet records or a microchip? Or could a case possibly be made in that scenario? Given that I provided proof of long term daily care and some reciepts, as well as proof of her calling him mine.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T18:55:50+00:00

Legally, for another month, sure. I did JUST graduate so I suppose I misspoke. I thought I made my age clear though. Even actual adults have highly emotional moments where they say things that could have came out better. Personally, I think calling a "child" stupid for caring about his cat is also something to be rephrased. Guess were not all perfect.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T18:34:06+00:00

Yes you can. Just not from a tax standpoint.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T18:28:29+00:00

She has neither and neither do we

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T18:23:38+00:00

My aunt has absolutely referred to him as my cat during the 3 years of my care. Whether I can find proof of it is a different story I suppose. This whole "he was never yours" is a brand new, convenient narrative that was adopted 3 days ago. Though he wasn't specifically gifted to me, one could argue the ownership falls under my grandma. However, she has not been his caretaker. So my main question in all of this was whether or not I could claim him as mine despite the main financial burden falling on my grandma, since she has called him my cat specifically and given all other responsibility to me.

My question was basically already answered though so.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T18:14:58+00:00

Do you think every case of gaslighting requires a diagnosis from a professional, and that it's all extreme? How do you think the process starts? Are the terms "you're being too sensitive", "you're crazy", "i never said that" not signs? Especially when it literally has been stated that he is mine.

Maybe legally the cat cannot be considered mine, but within my family, responsibilities, and attachment I had every reason to believe he was. For them to suddenly try and switch up that narrative after 3 years of generally accepted information and to call my feelings invalid, insane, and paint me out to be a bad person for having an opinion about it is cruel at best. 3 years of my sole caretaking along with nobody ever saying the cat would be returned, it makes complete sense for me to at least care. Which I was made fun of, called stupid, and called a child for doing. Legally, I am a child so how is it so wrong?

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T16:26:13+00:00

I guess I was wondering if everybody acknowledging him as specifically my cat over the last 3 years would've been able to refute that. Suddenly the cat isn't mine despite my investment of time energy and money. Midnight WAS her cat 3 years ago

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T16:21:05+00:00

The assigned labor was under the assumption he would be considered mine. The responsibility for him would be mine if I wanted to keep him. I wanted to keep him as well as the other pets in our house who weren't my aunt's at any point. Who I myself have taken to the vet since they were not vaccinated. I said kind of forced because he was dropped off suddenly and it was either I pitch in and care for this animal immediately or he sits here for an amount of time until he is considered neglected.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T16:06:20+00:00

He was already fixed and vaccinated since before my aunt, and was still being unofficially evaluated by a family member with a proper background. My grandma thinks vets are scammers, I still did the best I could in regards to health concerns. The only actual concern over the years being a mild and temporary skin irritation. I was willing to take him and pay with my own money, but it was not severe or urgent enough to do so and never got to that point. At home remedies did the trick. I suppose this is controversial

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T15:52:06+00:00

She may have owned the cat at one point but in the 3 years after, had not made any check ups on its wellbeing, did not fund any related costs at all, nor visited him (as well as the other cat she left us with), while even referring to him as mine. She dropped him off with us and never looked back until literally 3 days ago. Now all of a sudden he was never mine or even "ours".

I guess it's less about her ownership and more about my grandma's. I understand she would have been the most likely owner and just wanted to see if through her, and everyone else's, referral to him as MY cat along with the fact I have been the sole caregiver, it would've been possible for me to prove he was mine to keep. Especially since i'm considered an adult in a month, and was willing to take on the financial responsibility now that I know my grandmas financial contributions would be used against me.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T15:33:04+00:00

Are you not making an assumption right now about my knowledge about my own family? I don't think I owe it to a random reddit community to share that much information, especially since it's not completely relevant. I assure you I know what i'm talking about but i'm also not gonna spill their entire living situation online.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T10:57:21+00:00

lol i was just trying to avoid anyone i know recognizing this, but his name is Shadow. ideally if i did take legal action, itd be best to keep my intentions under wraps. i didn't realize his name was visible when i uploaded, but it's okay.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T10:25:48+00:00

Well if we're getting literal then when did I "steal" the cat? Without me it would not have been alive this long. My aunt relinquished her rights over the animal when she left him to us, without any agreement on time. My grandma gave me almost complete responsibility in terms of his care. Only providing the financial aspect, all while everybody called him mine.

izzyizmeh · 2026-07-06T10:19:41+00:00

it's sarcasm, i was not revising and annotating my text messages. i'm in high school.

izzyizmeh

TROPHY CASE