Legal Question in Consumer Law in Massachusetts

Re: Animal Adoption

The prior answer points in the correct direction. The key here seems to be the matter of time, and the efforts made to locate the original owner. Frankly, I would lean toward this being a matter of abandonment.

You certainly have a right to contest the claim based on abandonment. It is -rare- for cat to be in a shelter for a time so short that the original owners could not have received the message, even if they were on a foreign trip. How long were they away? Where did they go? What prior arrangements did they make for the cat?

If the cat was in the shelter over a month before your adoption, I would tend to suggest that you have solid grounds to fight (this is a "gut sense" statement of time, not a "bright line rule of law"). If the shelter was hasty -- you showed up five days after the cat did -- your case would not be so strong.

If someone cared for a cat enough to implant a chip, the fact that the calls were ignored in the modern day of message forwarding, e-mail, and so on raises questions that must be answered before you should refuse to claim your rightful ownership by virtue of abandonment followed by adoption.

In addition, if the owner wants the cat, the owner has obligations to you and the shelter for the room, board, and safekeeping of the cat. This is not a "mere reward." This should be a calculated amount looking at the costs the shelter and you have put into the cat -- veterinary care, food, litter, shelter, and personal care.

I admit to moralizing here, as well as placing fact (and factual questions) to law. My wife and I have two shelter-adopted cats. One was a stray, one from an elderly lady who could not take the cat into a nursing home. If the stray's former owner showed up now, a year-and-a-half or more later, I would try to understand the love for the cat -- but would absolutely defend the matter in court.

: Animal Adoption

It is an issue of retention of ownership vs. abandonment. You could also contact the animal control officer of the town or the MSPCA. There may be a condition where a person neglected his pet so that the person may be cited or loss their rights to the pet.

In most circumstances, an owner of the pet retains ownership rights to a lost pet.