Should I charge my friend.....
 

He left his cat with me for a week while he went back to the UK on holiday and the fucking thing has destroyed a nearly new 5000E leather sofa.

I wasn't even going to say anything to him, but everyone is saying I should send him the bill.....

I know GFY is not the first place you think of when trying to make moral choices, but he is a regular on the other forum I use...

If he is a good friend you wouldn't have to ask him to as he'd feel obligated to right the situation himself.

Now whether you should ask, I don't know. It depends on the relationship.

wow... I hope your friend has 5 g's laying around

Your first point gives me an idea - I will drop very unsubtle hints......

He can easily afford it - and to be honest I really cant at the moment.

He should be asked to pay for replacement or repair,if he doesn't ,I'd consider small claims on which you would win at least half

Maybe he can claim it at his insurance. Not sure about the name for the insurance, but for example in NL most, if not all, people are insured for these things. It's like a liability insurance.
Like if your kids break the window of the neighbors wile playing soccer, this insurance pays for it.
So basically it covers if you unintentionally break other peoples stuff

It's fucked up situation,wouldn't know what to do...probably wouldn't charge him but would tell him what happened and would never babysit his damn cat again:)

Talk to your friend openly rather than dropping unsubtle hints. I live by something I call the Springer principle. What would guests on the Jerry Springer show do? What would they not do? They would not calmly discuss the situation, so that's what I would do. Maybe just show him the couch first without saying anything and see what he has to say.

Just say "I'd like you to see something and tell me what you think." You may reasons by saying he feels terrible about what happened and ask relay he can do to make it right. He may even have a creative solution, like he may know of a similar replacement sofa available at a greatly reduced price.

I can't think of any legal theory that would hold him responsible for the cat acting like a cat and scratching after you volunteered to have the cat in your house. Cats scratch sofas. That's what cats do. You volunteered to have a cat in your living room.

i would just outright tell him what the cat did. if he is a friend, he will feel sorry and try to compensate it somehow. if he is a Best friend, he will laugh and leave his cat and his dog at your house this weekend :)

cats are doing things like that

Did the humans in this equation have cat scratch stuff available for the cat? Cats are pretty smart and will use scratching posts unless none are around.

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do that to a friend would ya?

You are a moron for 'cat sitting'

I got the same situation before but I never charge my friend for that it wasn't his fault nor you, you cannot command or request that cat what is going to do. For me talk to your friend calmly then if he is a real friend of yours he will do the right thing! :)

Just have the cat put down.

hmmmmmmmmm., serious question.,

depends on the relationship between u guys.,

if you ask for the cash, it will be the end of yourfriendship.

you may be abel to get the money back on the insurance.

Eat the cat ...

Just suck yah mate off, let him shoot his load, but dont swallow... Spit it on the cat... Or something... Probably?

he left you cat, and you let her fucking with your 5k sofa, really not a friend fault, but he could give 20% and end friendship :D

no.

if you had a couch worth 5000 euros and you said 'yes' to your friends request that you take care of his/her cat, it's on you

kinda like if you had left something possbily flammable and the cat managed to knock that over and burn your house down

that all being said, mention it and the person should pony up 50%

If it happened to me no I wouldent ask him to replace it, but I would expect him to offer to to replace it or at least pay somethign towards a new one

Did you act to minimize the damage immediately? When you saw the first scratch did you put the cat in some other part of the house, or did you just wait and see the problem get worse and worse?

I thought you would have replied something like "can't afford a sofa right now :( "

Also talk to a leather repair place and an upholstery shop. Sometimes they can do amazing things with "destroyed" leather.

I think your friend should pay for the repair - not the whole sofa. You cant ask for 5000E from him - that's a price you can buy a new one, and you already have used it. Yes, your friend should know about that damage, but you cannot ask for 5000E from him - this will end your friendship with him, but to clear the things you can ask him to take care of the repairs - if the costs for it are 2000-3000 your friend should pay for that.

And in future - don't accept to watch out for animals without getting more info about their behaviour - the owner should know what they do and how they act - the owner have to inform you and to warn you. For example if another friend of yours asks you to watch out for his dog he should warn you whether the dog is full of love and won't hump you while you're butt naked and washing the floor with a tooth brush / that's for example and it's optional and I hope you won't be offended for this fat joke/ - but the basic advice is :
- don't accept to watch at any kind of animals, kids or old people who will fuck up your furniture, unless these are not yours.