Adopted A Cat From A Former Friend, She Lied About The Cat's Health And Found Out He Needs Major Surgery

I'm going to try not to make this any longer than necessary.

I was friends with someone for 6 months, we became close and talked on a daily basis. I had told her how I've been working on a emergency fund to have a cat on my own, give them the best life yada yada. On January 4th she offers to have a trial with a cat she has. It was originally her family's cat, and they weren't compatible. I agree to a week trial at a later date.

On January 17th, I ask her if the cat has any medical conditions and she responds no, and that hes "solid". The only health problem he's had is throwing up because he eats too fast. I can live with that.

On February 4th, she calls me out of the blue and asks me if I'm busy and said she can just drop off the cat tonight. I agree, I already have all of the basic necessities, toothbrush, cat tower, food, bowls, water fountain, etc.

First month is... okay? It was a bit of an adjustment period, I'm still learning about the cat's quirks and finding out what he likes and doesn't like. I can't tell what's normal or not because again, *everything* is new to me at this point. But a few things did happen that were concerning, small drops of blood in his poop and a vomiting incident. Unfortunately, at the time he was vomiting I was also sick with the flu and delirious. Still took care of him best I could.

The cat is also chubby, and so I thought to put him on a diet and asked her what her vet said about his weight just to be sure. She tells me she hasn't taken him to the vet in the 3 years he's been under her care, this was around 11PM on March 13th. I told her I understand if it's a cost thing, but she should still take her pets to the vet once a year (she has 2 more pets). She deflects, tells me she asked her boyfriend and he also doesn't take his cat to the vet often either. I'm disgusted finding out a month after he's in my care, and I set up an appointment in the morning.

Around the end of March, we stop talking and I block her. Mostly because of the cat being neglected for 3 years and treated as an afterthought, she also completely changed once she had a boyfriend. My boyfriend was still in contact with her however because he was her dog walker for awhile. She fired him because she also withheld important information such as: her building doesn't allow dogs and she's been receiving complaints since 2021. She also has another cat that appeared underweight from the brief periods I observed it, when I brought it up she said it was a breed thing.

Now, I took the cat to the Vet on April 2nd and April 29th. The first vet called him a rescue and I have documentation showing he has stage 3 dental disease. The second vet gave me an actual quote for surgery ranging from 2k-4k, and I learned that he has fractured teeth. My former friend makes significantly more than me, she went on vacation twice within 6 months and drives a luxury car.

My boyfriend updates her on the situation and surprise surprise, she deflects and somehow I caused him to lose teeth in 2 months. All of these correspondences was through instagram messages, so I have screenshots, videos of her voice notes, everything (And yes I've already backed everything up)

I live in NYC and I'm wondering do I have a case to bring to Small Claims court? I'm thinking with the amount of evidence I have I don't necessarily need a lawyer to represent me as this is pretty straight forward. My ideal outcome is that she pays these dental bills and whatever comes up if it happens to cost more. It would be nice if she also paid me back for the blood work and cost of the vet bills that I took care of on my own (1.1k), but I understand that these costs are expected as a new owner.