Help me get my cats back

My name is Tao, and I run Whiskers and Witchcraft. You might know me from my art business where I make fantasy decorative potions.

Up until now I’ve kept my personal life completely private from my business, but today that has to change. I hate asking, but I need your help to raise the court fees to get my cats back. My ex partner has taken them, and I'm fighting to get them home.

My solicitor has estimated a fee of £500 to begin the initial process, and then a further £7,500-12,000 excluding VAT to take the evidence to court and fight my case. I have put the lower end of the estimate for the go fund me with the intention of coming up with the rest myself. I have an incredible solicitor, who is specifically qualified in pet ownership cases.

I will provide further details for those who want to know more of the story. If you choose to help, whether it be sharing or donating, thank you from the bottom of my heart. It means more than anything.

The full story:

I lived with my partner (who I will nickname “J” and refer to with neutral pronouns) of four years in a house with our three cats and four ferrets. I split up with them a year and a half ago for many reasons, but we had continued living together after agreeing to try and keep things amicable. From early on in our relationship we had planned to get cats, ferrets and dogs, and we agreed that if we split, I would keep the cats and ferrets, and J would take the dogs. This was a mutual agreement between the two of us from the beginning.

On the 22nd of March, J suddenly decided to take my cats without warning and moved out. They brought 6 people over, and I was physically prevented from stopping them.

During this time I was antagonised, shouted at, and made fun of (by one of their family members) while I fell apart. It was scary, traumatic, and above all utterly devastating. Anyone who knows me knows my animals mean everything to me, which is why I believe my ex-partner did this.

J has a tendency to be vindictive, and was controlling and spiteful both in and out of our relationship.

After we split up, they imposed rules on me like how often I was allowed to leave home (2 days a week) or how often guests were allowed to visit our house. They threatened suicide frequently when we had conflict. They were controlling, had explosive anger, and had a tendency to throw things out of rage. They would take out their anger on the cats - certain things would be a trigger, like the cats climbing the curtains or trying to take human food - and J would pull or shove them hard enough for Chai or Athena to walk away limping.

I do not trust them to be a good owner, as they have shown me many times that they aren’t one.

Their mental health was self proclaimed to be awful and I urged them to seek help, which they outright refused to do multiple times over the five years we lived together.

I was in denial of their behaviour and that helped me to endure it for so long while we were together. Because I viewed them as an animal lover and a selfless empath, it took a lot of repeated instances to realise that this person was not who I thought they were. They frequently blamed me for their mental health getting bad enough to lash out at the cats, or throw things, or the many other behavioural traits they made me believe I was at fault for. It has taken a long time for me to understand that I was not the problem and never truly was. I was gaslit, and that even if I was the horrible partner they led me to believe I was, it never ever would have justified taking it out on the cats.

The sole reason J gave me for taking my cats was that “their name was on the adoption papers”. This is true - but I have evidence of J telling me that the only reason my name is not on the adoption papers is because they wouldn’t receive a staff discount for the adoption (they work at the cat rescue we adopted the cats from.) Pet ownership is dictated by overall proof - and my name is on every other document to do with their care. They ignored all of this to enforce their “rights to ownership”, which (legally and under our agreement) have always been mine.

I was the cats’ primary caretaker from the day they arrived, particularly with my job (Whiskers and Witchcraft) and full time university course being from home. Not only is one of the cats, Chai, particularly bonded to me - but I have been the sole person to actively interact with them (cleaning, training, leash training, outside walks, medication training, and more) from the beginning.

I have spoken to a solicitor who specialises in pet ownership cases. They have observed the evidence from the perspective of both myself & J’s claim to ownership, and have made it clear that I have a strong legal case for sole ownership of both Chai and Athena. They have taken on my case and are in the process of initiating court proceedings, and are waiting on me to give them the go ahead. I am 100% serious about getting my cats home. These cats, without a doubt, mean everything to me. And I need your help to get them back.

The summarised cost of the GoFundMe is the lower estimate of the court proceedings + solicitor fees, and doesn’t include VAT - it’s a huge amount of money, I know. But I have 900,000 followers across multiple platforms. If just 1% of that number donated £1 each, I would surpass my goal. Anything I do not manage to raise I will work incredibly hard to try and cover myself, and am already in the process of (I am currently close to having enough to covering the VAT costs).

If you have read this far - thank you. I know life is hard for many people at the moment, and I am one of many going through something difficult and asking for help. If you have anything to spare, I would be unbelievably grateful. If you can’t, a share would be amazing, too. With your help I have a chance at getting my girls back.

Even if we fail - if we don’t get funded, or the courts don’t go in our favour - I know that I tried my hardest. And I can look back for the rest of my life knowing I wasn’t a passenger to the decisions of bad people.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Tao,

Whiskers and Witchcraft