US woman wins custody battle with friend who did not return her cat after pet sitting

A woman in New York City did not expect to be apart from her pet cat Liza for more than a few months when she sent it to be cared for by a friend.

But to Ms Aliya Zaydullina’s dismay, the friend, Ms Maria Senichkina, refused to return Liza after helping to take care of it.

Now, three years later, a New York City court has ruled that the 15-year-old feline be returned to its rightful owner.

Ms Zaydullina had got Liza from a shelter in 2013.

The bizarre ordeal began in September 2022, when Ms Zaydullina asked Ms Senichkina to pet sit Liza for a few months while she returned to Russia to visit her sick mother.

After she returned to the US, she asked Ms Senichkina to watch Liza for a while longer – an extension which turned into seven months – as she had to deal with some family issues.

“We were pretty close friends and I shared every single detail with her regarding my mother’s health,” Ms Zaydullina told British online newspaper The Independent.

But Ms Senichkina insisted it was during one of those conversations that the pair agreed Liza would become hers.

Ms Zaydullina however, insisted that she had only asked for the pet-sitting period to be extended.

After their falling out, Ms Senichkina kept Liza and blocked Ms Zaydullina on all social media platforms.

Speaking to New York City-based blog The Gothamist, Ms Senichkina said: “I would never have agreed to be a temporary sitter for seven months. One month, sure. But seven months, and hundreds of dollars and hours invested, it was clearly not a temporary favour.”

She added that she had spent a large sum of money on the cat, including on veterinary bills.

Manhattan Civil Court Judge Wendy Li said on July 11 that her judgment boiled down to the well-being of Liza.

“While there is no doubt that (Ms Senichkina) and the cat have formed an incredibly strong connection with each other in the past 2½ years, this court must acknowledge that (Ms Zaydullina) shared at least a similar connection with the cat for the 10 years prior,” she wrote in her ruling.

Judge Li also determined that Liza had not been abandoned by Ms Zaydullina and proposed a solution similar to shared parental custody.

She wrote that the two parties should “arrange a way for (Ms Senichkina) to remain a part of the cat’s life in some capacity”, and that Ms Zaydullina would reimburse Ms Senichkina for Liza’s care between the agreed upon pet-sitting period of September 2022 to May 2023.

Ms Zaydullina said: “I am open to re-establishing the connection if we re-establish some sort of trust and communication.

According to The Independent, Ms Senichkina is hoping to appeal the court decision.