People taking cat

[stormclouds]

So, not sure if there's anything I can actually do about this, but it seems like someone is taking our cat into their house for extended periods of time.

He's only been going out since Saturday, and only during the day, and every evening this week he's been coming home later and later - which I wouldn't mind (obviously!) if it was just that.

However, when he does come back, he stinks of cigarette smoke and air freshener (same smell on him every evening) and always comes from the same direction.

Last night it got really quite late (he's been in a routine of having 'dinner' at 7.30pm and usually is home for that), so OH and I called for him in the garden, we heard a girl laughing, then he reappeared not so long after. He came in and was so tired - I've never seen him so still and sleepy. Looked really full and a bit bloated and not like his normal chirpy self.

I've ordered him a tag saying 'Do not feed' and his name/address/number so people know he's owned.

At a loss of what to do - is this part and parcel of cat ownership (or having a cat live with you...), or is it worth finding out who it is and having a word? I really do NOT want my cat getting fed loads of rubbish, being in a house with smokers (or that much air freshener!), or getting taken and not let back out He's such a friendly boy that I'm not surprised he's found himself home number 2.

(also, he is microchipped, vacc'd and neutered).

 

[s4sugar]

Why not keep him in? As an indoor cat he will be much safer.

 

[Shady]

i hate this, i've had this alot over the years, especially with my Orientals, people don't want to buy one but don't mind trying to steal one away with food and treats, try and nip this in the bud now by finding out who it is and going to see them, probably the girl is playing with him and inviting him in then feeding him, he could well decide he prefers them to you, fickle things cats. don't leave it too long

 

[stormclouds]

This is what we're doing until we can figure out what to do. He's been in for about 6 weeks while vaccs/neutering were going on, and seemed happy enough. OH and I play with him a lot etc. Just feel bad for him during the day while we're at work - we have big French windows in the lounge and he'd always be staring outside.

May have to resort to this though!

 

[stormclouds]

Cross posted - Thanks Shady - we're going to find out who it is (lots of detective talk going in our house at the moment haha - OH wants to get a GPS tracker for his collar?! ...cat not OH's)

Makes me so annoyed - I don't want to risk him getting fed something bad (or losing him!)

 

[Shady]

This is what we're doing until we can figure out what to do. He's been in for about 6 weeks while vaccs/neutering were going on, and seemed happy enough. OH and I play with him a lot etc. Just feel bad for him during the day while we're at work - we have big French windows in the lounge and he'd always be staring outside.

May have to resort to this though!

can you pen in your garden, drastic i know but i ended up doing this, i had quite a few cats then and i liked knowing they were safe

 

[Imogen Rose]

Our neighbor did this with our cat, we ended up hardly seeing her at all. What made it worse was that they have a cat flap and would leave food out in the kitchen for their cats all the time.
We got round it by upping the quality of the food we give her! she is now on Sheba and Applaws lol.
Just a quiet word may be enough to get them to stop feeding him.

 

[stormclouds]

Hahah! I like your thinking Imogen Rose. We need to figure out who it is first (quite tricky as lots of old period houses converted into flats in our area), but yes I would like to speak with them. I'd worry they aren't giving him cat food and are feeding him things like bacon/cheese/milk.

Shady - yeah will have a chat to OH about that. The garden would be easy enough to secure. Would stop the horrid tom cats getting to him as well!

 

[meandmyself]

I'd keep him in.

 

[Pebble101]

On the other hand my friend cannot get rid of a cat - she doesn't want it but it practically lives in her house.

She leaves food in her kitchen for her cats, and why shouldn't she? It broke the cat flap when she tried to shut it out and as it was always hungry she thinks it isn't being fed enough.

The owners know where it is but she is fed up of taking it back. It is supposed to be a yard cat but obviously wants to be an indoor cat (which I think it was before it was rehomed).

I find it amazing that some of you are blaming the other person. My friend isn't trying to steal it as someone suggested, she has enough cats of her own. Maybe you need to consider why your cat prefers being somewhere else!

 

[NinjaPony]

This is one of the reasons my cat is indoors and any future cats will be indoors. My cat is diabetic, and his blood sugar was all over the place when he was going outside- he was either finding, or being given food and no amount of "DO NOT FEED" on his collar was stopping it. He is now indoors so we can control his illness better and I worry so much less- no chance of him disappearing, moving in elsewhere or getting run over.

 

[stormclouds]

Ha it's nothing to do with him 'preferring to be somewhere else' - he's just a very friendly cat who loves food and attention. Anyone giving him either of the two will instantly be his best friend.

Yeh I think we're gonna try letting him out with a collar on (in case they thought he was a stray), then figure out who it is and have a word. If they aren't doing it on purpose, fair enough, I'll ask them just to continue kicking him out. If not, we'll have to consider keeping him in again.

 

[Thriller]

My cousin has one of the hit in the face with a shovel cats and cause of his worth and as part of the sale contract he is NOT allowed outside alone and unleashed/not in a pen or my cousin will forfeit the cat and the money back to the breeder. (he also had to be neutered and microchipped..breeder is a bit ott and also jealous she won't let anyone else have a good cat that can breed in the area)

Anyway, my point was that she made a pen for him in the back garden. A bit like an aviary. The cat had a weatehr proof box, a scratchy post, a few tabley shelf things.

 

[paddi22]

an elderly friend of ours called into the house next door at one stage, and they had an oil painting of his cat done and hanging on their wall! It had been successfully living a double life as their cat half the day!

 

[twiggy2]

cats make their is own choices, if they were catching it and holding it hostage then the cat would stay away from them-it is what cats do, we often get cats bought in at work that when scanned for a chip prove to be living a double life (or more), personally I don't think keeping cats in alone during the day is fair.

 

[honetpot]

I have had this happen a couple of times, its frustrating but cats are free agents and will go where the mood takes them. We had two lots of people feed our cats, even though they were fed at home, so we got two more kittens. One lot of people then got their own cat and ours moved back so we ended up with four. All ours are neutered and micro chipped, I do wonder if people would be so keen if they were having kittens and spraying all over and of course they are definitely ours when they need the vet.
I found a starving cat and after looking for the owners had him neutered and chipped, he decided he preferred to live next door and spent more time watching my neighbour work and climbing on their roof, when we moved he formally became their cat and is much loved.

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

We had some neighbours letting our cat into their house and feeding her. She has sensitive skin so we watch what we feed her. We went and spoke to them about it and gave them the number for the cats protection saying that they had plenty of cats that needing rehoming. As they liked cats perhaps it would be an idea to get one of their own and stop feeding ours as she was on a special diet. Others food made her skin itchy thus causing discomfort.

They did stop thankfully.

 

[nianya]

I have two cats that are too friendly for their own good. They are indoor only because of it. When I have a yard again I'll build them a cat playhouse but that's it in terms of outdoors for them. We lost cats when I was young to neighbors because they were too nice so they just got kept (at least we hope it was that, there were sickos who tortured cats too). Also lost one to a dog or coyote because he wasn't afraid of dogs. I've also had neighbors who would leave out food to intentionally make local cats sick...

The only cats of ours that have been outdoors since don't let anyone but us near them, and don't go searching for food off the property because that would bring them too close to people.

 

[Pebble101]

I am interested to know how you think my friend should stop the cat going into her house. She was going to get a catflap that would open when it recognised by a microchip, but once this cat had broken the flap in its insistence to get in the house she went off that idea.

She does keep food out for her cats but that's what she has always done.

This cat is coming quite long distance to get to her - she is rural.

 

[nianya]

I'm not sure who you're responding to Pebble101, but roaming cats will go wherever they find food. One of our indoor/outdoor cats was a very fat siamese. She was very obviously cared for and had access to food all the time, but she would roam the neighborhood to see who put cat food out that she could sample. People who didn't have cat food didn't get visited. All the other neighborhood cats would come by our place to get food as well. Once we quit keeping food outside that quit being a problem (we don't use cat flaps, as with our dogs they go out and come in at a specific time).

We have in the past intentionally put food out for a stray that was starving until we could catch it and take it to the vet. A cat that will break the cat flap to get to food suggests that to me.

Your posts about this seem somewhat hostile like you're being accused of something. The OP wants to know how to stop neighbor from taking her cat in. While your friend is not doing this, there are people who will intentionally take cats because they're so friendly. Our neighbor who knew full well that the fat siamese was ours tried to trap her because if she was coming for food obviously we weren't caring for her. One of the others we lost we put up posters everywhere and we are pretty sure we know who took her, they never let her outside again. So it does happen, it's why mine don't go out if they aren't suspicious enough of people.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Cats will change home if they find a better one and I suspect that this is what the cat in Pebble's posts wants to do. It is different from other people purposely tempting someone else's cat away or trying to steal it.

My sister's burmese was stolen once (with a cat trap, set specifically to catch him by one of our neighbours) but after leafleting the village he was tracked down and returned home. One of our past siameses came home complete with pink and green stripes painted on his fur (lord knows what happened there, but he was a very friendly cat who often went round to the village pub) and he wasn't stressed or upset, so we just washed it off. My cat is very beautiful (even if I do say so myself ) but he is very fearful of people and things that he doesn't know. I can't imagine him letting anyone stroke him, let alone paint him.

 

[MagicMelon]

Problem is, your cat might have just started wondering into your neighbours house through their cat flap or open window so its not necessarily that they enticed him. I hated the year we spent living in a village - every sodding cat in the neighbourhood would wonder in through our cat flap and begin helping itself to our cats food (and beating ours up). In the end I had to close the flap and just let my cats out into the garden when we were around to keep an eye on them. I guess if you let your cats be free-range you can't really have a say where they go... If you're worried about him being fed dodgy stuff, you could put "do not feed - on special vet diet" on his collar, that would make them think twice more than just "do not feed".