Battle over cat ownership collapses after 'star witness' dog dies

A legal fight over the ownership of a stray cat has collapsed after a dog being hailed as a prime witness died. Western Isles resident Della Macdonald sued teenager Nicola Dempster for the return of year-old feline after it swapped its affections between the two Stornoway women. Ms Macdonald, 54, planned to cite her pet dog, Hamish, to the court. Hamish was pining for his absent friend and Ms Macdonald believed the sight of the cat snuggled up to the dog would convince the sheriff of the close bond between the two animals. The pet dog died earlier this month and Ms Macdonald, who has fallen ill with cancer, has decided not to proceed with the custody battle. Sheriff David Sutherland formally decreed that the cat at the centre of the tug-of-love dispute will remain with the original owner, Miss Dempster, at Stornoway Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

The cat had wandered off from Ms Dempster’s home at Cearn Ronaidh last March just six months after she bought it as a kitten from a local pet shop. The 19-year-old hotel chef searched high and low for the vanished feline she knew as Smudge, looking in his favourites haunts, putting out a Facebook appeal and reported him missing to the Cats Protection Society and the Scottish SPCA, all without success. Unknown to her, Smudge ended up cosying to the Macdonalds, about quarter of a mile away, in Morison Avenue. Ms Macdonald says she discovered the white and black stray in a pitiful state and crying at her back door. She said it was thin and starving but she and her husband Neilson nourished it back to health, showered it with love, and called it Oscar.



But after six months the cat wandered off again and was spotted by Ms Dempster at the Manor Park roundabout - about midway between its rival residences. She refused to hand him back even after police were called to an altercation when Ms Macdonald found out where he was. The standoff ended up in court when Ms Macdonald sued for the cat’s return. Ms Macdonald, who was not present in court, said she wrote to the sheriff explaining she was dropping the legal action since Hamish had died and she was also receiving treatment for cancer. She said: "Hamish was heartbroken for Oscar and died on 9 January, exactly four months after Ms Dempster took him. He was fit and healthy until then."

She believed Hamish would still be enjoying life if Ms Dempster had returned the cat. Nineteen year-old Ms Dempster has receipts of purchase and vet bills since she got the cat from a local petshop. Speaking after the court case, she said: "I am absolutely delighted this case is over. I always felt I was Smudge’s rightful owner. I bought him and paid for injections." Putting the dog and cat together in the court "would not prove" anything and would not have been the appropriate way to settle a legal case, she believes. She revealed she had previously rejected a proposed similar test to put the cat between herself and Ms Macdonald to see which one it would go to.