I asked this question of many RSPCA inspectors and have put it on every forum I have been on I think this answers my question.
THIS REALLY IS THE WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/chroniclelive/eveningchronicle/tm_headline=owner%2Ds-agony-as-lost-cat-rehomed%26metho
d=full%26objectid=18701646%26siteid=50081-name_page.htmlToday's
Chronicle
*Owner's agony as lost cat rehomed*
Mar 3 2007
By Sophie Doughty, The Evening Chronicle
Joanne Morrison and partner Stephen Collins
A distraught cat owner has been told her beloved pet is no longer hers.
Over-zealous RSPCA staff have found a new home for Herbie, even though
he already has loving owners who are missing him desperately.
Joanne Morrison was told her cat no longer belonged to her after he went
missing from her home in Denton Burn, Newcastle, a month ago.
After searching frantically for her ginger and white tomcat for two
weeks, Joanne, 23, noticed a card in her local shop window saying a cat
fitting Herbie's description had been found and was now in the care of
the RSPCA.
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A delighted Joanne raced home to call the charity. But she was told a
new home had already been found for Herbie and she could not have him back.
"I phoned the RSPCA and they said he was at their centre in Ponteland,"
she said. "I had to take an emergency day off work to speak to the
centre manager and then they told me Herbie had been rehomed.
"They said he didn't belong to me any more. I have spoken to lots of
different people at the RSPCA and they all say there is nothing they can
do.
"Apparently, he has been with a family in Newcastle for 10 days and the
kids have renamed him."
Poor Herbie had wandered onto a road and been hit by a car. He was taken
to Westway vets on the West Road with a broken pelvis, and a vet
contacted the RSPCA.
"We were really worried when he went missing," Joanne added: "When I
found out he was still alive I was so relieved but now we can't have him
back. I broke down at work when somebody asked how he was.
"I have three cats and they are my life, I have pictures of them all
over my locker at work. They have had Herbie for 10 days but I have had
him for two years and I miss him."
Support worker, Joanne, 23, offered to make a donation to the RSPCA and
cover the costs the charity or Herbie's new owners have spent on him.
But the RSPCA will not tell her where Herbie is living so she cannot
speak to his new family in person.
"He has got a loving home here waiting for him," she said. "These people
can't be cat lovers as they have taken a cat away from its owners.
"There are hundreds of cats out there that need new homes, but Herbie is
ours, we have had him since he was eight-weeks-old. I'm totally
distraught. We just want our family pet back."
An RSPCA spokeswoman said once an animal is in the charity's care its
owner no longer has any legal rights.
"While we understand the previous owner's feeling the RSPCA nursed, and
then rehomed a cat in good faith after 17 days in the Society's care,"
she said. "The cat was not microchipped, so there was no means of
tracing an owner. We urge all owners to microchip their pets to avoid
such sad situations.
"We asked the new owners if they would relinquish ownership, but they
and their child had fallen in love with the cat and wished to keep him."
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/rspcainquiry
