My husband's 30 year old sister moved in with us earlier this year after she broke up with her boyfriend and didn't have anywhere to go. We have a small house and told her she can only stay until the end of the year to get back on her feet (but that's a whole other story for another day/post).
She suffers from depression and anxiety and used to self-harm. She recently came home from therapy and announced that her therapist asked her to come up with a "safety plan" to keep her from self harming again, and her safety plan involves our cat. That night I told my husband I suspected she was trying to lay down the groundwork to take our cat with her when she moves. He said he didn't think she would do that to us.
A few days later, she brought up her "safety plan" again and elaborated further that our cat is the only source of joy in her life and she doesn't know what she would do without him. I played dumb and agreed that he is a pretty great cat and she should try to find one like him when she moves. Then she said it - "or I could just take him with me..."
I said absolutely not. I reminded her that my husband found him as a stray kitten a decade ago and loves him almost as much as me. She kept going on about how she needs him more than we do, and joked that she's going to run away with him. I told her in no uncertain terms that she will not be taking our cat. She pouted and went in her room.
I don't think it will come to this, but if she does actually take him while we're away at work or something, what are our recourses/options?
Edit: pet tax! Here are a couple of pictures of the cat in question. Be gentle, he has deformed paws.
orangemaid3000 on September 3rd, 2018 at 13:43 UTC »
While I wouldn't be surprised if the OP just views the sister-in-law as being infantile from the situation being as it is (lord knows my own sister accuses me of being infantile because I had to move back home for a while after college)... but if the sister is throwing genuine pouting fits whenever she doesn't get her way that needs to be checked by the therapist.
If the sister is viewing the other adults around her as free-gifts-and-affirmation dispensers on top of her other problems, it could be inhibiting any sort of progress the therapist thinks they could be making otherwise. Worst situation, her issues could even be getting exacerbated if said therapist isn't be tipped off by her behavior/threats to steal the OP's cat.
michapman2 on September 3rd, 2018 at 13:04 UTC »
There should be a subreddit for people who punish kindness like this. They let her live with them for almost an entire year and she wants to pay them back by stealing their cat??
If I didn’t know better, I’d say that this was a ploy to coerce the LAOP and her husband into letting her stay past the end of the year.
themrsboss on September 3rd, 2018 at 12:56 UTC »
Another one that belongs on r/legalcatadvice.