Artist sues for custody of cat; gets visits

CHICAGO — When her cat dashed out an open door, Logan Square artist Rae Bees turned to her Facebook community for help.

“i’m Reggie and i’m lost (again),” Bees, 30, wrote over a photo of her cat, hoping the tongue-in-cheek meme would help widely circulate her plea for his return. “i don’t have a collar. i coulda been catnapped. i will escape again.”

But her attempt to spread the news of Reggie’s disappearance with some internet humor instead sparked a fierce custody battle with Feline Friends, the all-volunteer nonprofit pet rescue Bees adopted her cat from five years ago. Feline Friends requires its cat owners to keep their pets indoors. When leaders at the pet rescue, which had recovered the cat, saw Bees’ social media — complete with pictures of Reggie with friends in her backyard — they decided not to return the cat.

After attempts to resolve the dispute failed, Bees sued the nonprofit in Cook County Circuit Court, asking a judge to declare her Reggie’s owner. Feline Friends countersued, asking a judge to award it custody based on Bees’ alleged breach of contract for allowing the cat outside.

No ruling has yet been made on custody, but Judge Michael Mullen awarded the agency temporary custody and allowed Bees to have one-hour weekly visitation. She meets the cat — shipped via one of the city’s most specialized couriers — in a Logan Square vet’s office.

It’s a rare but growing predicament as more people consider pets as part of their family and are willing to go to court to fight for them. Pet custody cases — typically in domestic situations like divorce — are on the rise, according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in Chicago. This month, an Illinois law took effect that allows judges to consider the “best interest” of pets for custody in divorce cases rather than treating them as property.