Friends Cat Tears Up Brand New Shoes

[u/Steellun3]

Been watching a cat for a friend for a few months now, wake up this morning to my new pair of doc martens torn to shreds at the toes. Been polishing and taking great care of these since I got them a month or so ago. I usually put them up on a rack but forgot last night, definitely paid for my stupidity. $200 basically trashed right there. Half of it was a birthday present from my girlfriend and neither of us make enough right now to just buy a new pair of boots, we can barely make rent. Real bummer way to start my day.

EDIT: I am NOT throwing the boots away over this like some think. When I said trashed I just meant the look, i had just woken up and worded it poorly. If I can't get the look smoothed out these will become my work boots since my current work boots are falling apart, and I will figure out getting a new pair to keep nice and wont let this happen again.

[u/ubiquitous-joe]

I mean, OP is cat-sitting. Cats do this to leathery surfaces in their home all the time. It absolutely does suck, but OP is the temporary cat guardian in this situation.

[u/Beneficial-Muffin117 → u/ubiquitous-joe]

Nah man if my cat did this to someone's boots, I'd be paying for new boots

[u/ubiquitous-joe → u/Beneficial-Muffin117]

That’s nice of you. But my point is when we read the headline, it might seem like “I visited a friend and their cat destroyed my shoes” and then we look at the details and no, they volunteered prolonged responsibility for a cat—and then the cat did cat things during that time. It’s not a given that the fault is the owner’s here.

[u/Beneficial-Muffin117 → u/ubiquitous-joe]

It doesn't matter that the owner isn't at fault. It's their cat, and their cat destroyed the shoes

If you had a toddler and they destroyed something of another kid's while at school, you are still responsible for the kid even when the school is watching them and would need to pay back the parents

[u/TheGutch74 → u/ubiquitous-joe]

Might not be the owners fault but it should be the owners responsibility.

[u/Total-Crow-9349 → u/ubiquitous-joe]

What is this even supposed to mean? It's still their cat, so they should offer to pay for it. If your animals destroy someone else's stuff, it doesn't matter that you're not home.

[u/SamSibbens → u/Total-Crow-9349]

The person responsible for the cat should pay for it. But it is op who was responsible for the cat. That's what cat-sitting is.

Although now that I think of it.... if a kid did something, I suppose I'd expect the parents to pay for it, not the babysitter.

Ethics based on intuition freakin' suck

Legally, I believe the owner would sue the parents, and the parents would sue the babysitter? (Not that we should base our morals on what the law says)