WIBTA, would I be the asshole for calling my landlord on my roommate for not taking care of her cats?
Im reporting her for having two cats not the fleas. Just having cats not on the lease thats all.
Long story short my cat got fleas recently at least that’s what we’re assuming because she ran outside for a few minutes.
No my cat didn’t have any signs of fleas at first but maybe a week after she ran outside my roommate claimed that her cats have fleas and she found two on her blanket.
I immediately jumped into action and bought flea collars for my cat and flea medication and flea spray for my floors and fabrics. I spent a good 4 hours spraying down the apartment and vacuuming and cleaning my cat. This resulted in a good 3 weeks of my cat not having fleas until one day I realized she was itching a little bit more than normal and checked her and she has them again.
So I asked her if she treated her room and gave her cats flea baths which she didn’t she only gave them medication. Of course this made me mad because this made it incredibly easy for the fleas to remain in her room and just jump back on her cats once the medication was out of the system.
I then told her she’s going to have to take her cats to her mom’s house and quarantine her room to make sure that she does not have an infestation because she left them for so long and she basically didn’t do any of that at all and that is affecting my cat’s health so would I be wrong for calling the landlord and alerting her of the two extra cats?
If I were to report her to the landlord she might have to take her cats back to her mom’s house and or pay upwards of 260$ plus 40 in pet rent a month.
(Edit)
Let me specify i let her move her cats in in secret so she wouldn’t have to pay it now she isn’t taking care of them thats why i want to report her.
Edit 2 Ive also already given her an ultimatum to clean her room and she ignored me.
Absolutely NOT! It’s called adulting
Not sure how much the landlord would appreciate you knowing there were cats not on the lease for an undetermined amount of time.
Your roommate does need to try to get rid of the fleas properly, though.
Mildly, I think you ATA, or would be if you reported her as they were brought in originally from your cat. Treatments usually need to be repeated atleast once as there could have been eggs in the carpet etc. I’d recommend you treat all the cats, board them for a little bit, and fumigate the property. Also as you did before thoroughly vacuum and wash all soft furnishings and beddings. Then continue with treatment on a schedule. Don’t just stop because they are indoor cats etc
I didn’t even get through the entire post of childish drivel, YTA; grow up! We could tell by your post that this is likely your very first time living away from home, huh? You sound like you need more time back at Mommy and Daddy’s to mature.
YWBTA. Your landlord could decide he doesn’t want you to have any pets at all in your apartment. That’s his prerogative and if you complain about your roommate causing problems due to her cats, he might just decide that any cats are not worth the trouble. Try again to get your roommate to treat her room. If you are both giving your cats flea drops on a regular, coordinated schedule then the fleas won’t be able to survive without anything to eat and you should still not be having problems. Synch up your treatment schedules.
I live at apartments that allow pets and I’ve already paid the pet rent for my cat she hasn’t paid anything for any of her cats because I didn’t want her to have to pay a $200 deposit plus pet rent plus I asked her to treat her room and she refused that’s why I’m getting upset.
Landlord can’t do anything besides evict you both…..
You would be. I understand the frustration of having a roommate who had pets they don’t care for- especially when it negatively affects your pet. However, you could also put your own pet at risk by involving the landlord, because the landlord won’t differentiate between whose cats are extra, only that two need to go. This is your roommate, not a neighbor. This is a place you both pay for together and have to live in together, causing her to have to pay more or make things even more strained between the two of you is not a good call if you intend to keep living with this person.
Personally, I’d be looking into a new living situation if this roommate refuses to help with getting rid of these fleas. Fleas, if bad enough, can kill your pet. They can become anemic to the point of organ failure and pass if there is enough of them on the cat. It’s a serious issue that your roommate needs to take seriously.
YWBTA if you go straight to the landlord without one clear ultimatum. Give her a deadline: “Treat your room properly by X date (vet-grade meds + cleaning plan) or I’m contacting the landlord because this is affecting my cat.” Then follow through.
None of that stuff works you need the stuff from the vet. Every time. Calling the landlord is an idiotic thing to do. What’s supposed to happen? Its your apartment. You should speak to her directly like an adult.
ESH your cats should be on flea prevention. Your cat ran outside and caused the issue, your roommate didn’t clean like they were supposed to but imo if your cat brought in the fleas you should’ve helped with the cleanup even in their room and made sure it got done. Your roommate should have their animals on the lease and should’ve cleaned regardless if they had your help. What good would calling the landlord do? At best they make the roommate update the lease and pay the deposit/pet rent and your roommate gets resentful and moves out and you have to find someone else to live with. At worse you both face eviction or not allowed to renew your lease.
YTA – Landlords aren’t there to solve roommate conflicts. They’re not your mother.
Assuming you’re both on the same lease (ie: you’re renting the whole apartment/house , not just individual rooms) it’s on you to solve conflicts with your roommate like adults. All the landlord is going to care about is if you’re violating the lease by having pets or damaging the property by letting fleas run rampant.
Now, if you’re renting rooms and the shared areas are the landlord’s responsibility then you may have reason to ask them to treat shared areas for fleas. But a landlord isn’t a mediator. They don’t care about your problems. They just want the rent.
Just a quick note: if you are in the US, many fleas here are immune to the active ingredient in Frontline and similar over the counter flea preventions. If you didn’t go to the vet for your treatment or treat all animals for multiple consecutive months until you were certain the infestation was eradicated, you likely didn’t do enough yourself to be rid of them. This absolutely isn’t a judgement or accusation, but the unfortunate reality as someone who has had to deal with a similar scenario. I had to treat all my pets, spray my carpets, and vacuum DAILY for weeks.
There is basically no available treatment that works on all stages of the flea life cycle, so you and your roommate are going to have to get on the same page about cleaning, treating the cats, and continuing to provide prevention to keep this from happening again. It’s going to take a couple weeks of consistent work to wipe out the fleas completely. If you’re unable to afford immediate vet care to get preventions for all cats, try a Seresto Collar for each of them. Make sure you are getting a genuine one mnaufactured by Bayer because counterfeits can be toxic. They should be close to $60usd, and if they’re less than that, be suspicious. Also, capstar is available over the counter as a verrrrry effective quick head start. 1 tablet will cause any fleas actively on your pet to fall off dead. It works for about 24 hours so it allows the other medication time to start working!
NTA, hygiene and infestation is an acceptable reason to call the landlord. It’s on her for not being responsible. Also, if the lease is in your name, do not do favors for anyone. Even if rent is coming from another person their issues fall back on you.