Help, sick cat that isn’t mine

Hello, I need some advice as I have a sick cat that is currently at my house, but she belongs to a neighbour. The cat is 14/15 years old and she’s suddenly lost a lot of weight and is very lethargic and has diarrhoea. She’s had diarrhoea coming out of her like water for 2 days. I took her back to my neighbour last night and suggested she be taken to a vet as she’s very poorly. Her owner is elderly and has mobility issues and said she’d take her tomorrow. I even offered to give her a lift to the vet or help in anyway I could. But the cat was let out last night and she returned to my house. This cat is more of a neighbourhood cat and visits many houses. She’s been a regular at mine since January this year. At this point I wanted to try and do what I could for the cat, so I’ve tried to make her comfortable and I’ve given her some chicken and rice and some rice water, and she’s eaten a bit but she’s just so poorly bless her. What do I do? I’ve taken her back to the owner before and the cat is always back within and hour or two. Can I take her to a vet even though she’s not mine? She is microchipped to the owner, as when I first met her I thought she was a stray, so I took her to the vet to be checked for a chip.

Hello - in the eyes of the law (we are based in the UK) animals are property.  It wouldn't be okay to abduct someone else's pet to take it to the vets.  There might be some reasonable flexibity around this in the case of an acute emergency eg you being first at the scene of a car accident, but the vets would still have to scan the cats' ID chip and call the owner for permission to treat as soon as they reasonably could eg having put a patient that can't breathe into an oxygen tent and before doing any investigations or giving drugs, for example.  If you feel as though the cat is unlikely to survive / cope overnight, you could seek the advice of the RSPCA, who may have a local emergency line / Inspectors and offer advice. However, just because the cat comes to your house a lot, doesn't give you any right to make decisions on the owners' behalf; nor does it necessary mean that it is being treated badly at home.  Some cats are intrinsically skinny and 'hungry,' because of hyperthyroidism or cancer, for example, rather than neglect. We would therefore reccommend extreme caution and asking the owners' advice / permission before interfering.

Rereading the second half or your post - and just in case you feel that it is nevessary, it's worth being aware of the following information:  there is a UK RSPCA emergency line to report possible cases of 'neglect, cruelty and concern.'  This is currently available online (UK).

Thankyou for caring about this animal and we hope that the cat gets any care it needs very soon.