Cat Napping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(

[jessica]

Long story but here goes.
We have a lovley cat. He is so pretty, has some markings of a bengal but isnt quite. We rescued him from a local vets. He is chipped and belongs to us. He is a tad of a character and often goes off for two weeks at a time, then calls in to be fed for a few days and then goes off on his travels. The first time this happened we were very upset and thought something awful had happened to him. we put up posters etc in the local shops and on lamposts etc. eventually a lady brought him back to us and said he has been at her house. she had been feeding him and she loved him. she already had two house cats and he liked to pop in to eat. I politley told her to stop feeding him and that we loved him too. and that he was a bit of a rogue. however 5 months later he goes missing again for long periods of time and we get a call from "the same lady" she took our cat to the vets because she thought he was a stray(was going to get him chipped as hers), and the vet said he belonged to us. she lives 400 metres up the road incidently. she must have recognised him from before she cannot be that "strange".
I told her yet again please dont feed him he is an opportunist and she left. she had two indoor cats of her own and it is our thoughts that she is trying to entice him away. because for a short wile he started to call home everyday and then a huge big gap again and guess what the lady calls again and asks if she can have him. She tells us she has fallen in love with him. I believe her. He is beautiful and a real rogue. he is a bit if a wanderer and we accept this. But at the end of the day he is our cat and we love him to bits too. This lady it appears has been feeding him and pampering him. He still wanders from her house etc.Ans occasionally calls home.

Yesterday evening she called and asked if she could have him. I was curtious but told her he is my husband cat and it was not my decision to make. However to more i thought about what she had said. the more angry i got.
Whilst i appreciate cats choose their owners, he was ours until she started to feed him, and when we asked her to stop and she did he came home again.
she said last night he looks like a typ of bengal. this is what we think he would have been without his white markings. he didnt quite make the grade. Although he is so very pretty. this lady has two burmese indoor cats of her own. She did confess that he was gorgeous and that she had always wanted an outdoor cat.
My thoughts are:
we love him, he is our cat stop feeding him and he will come home like he has done previously.
stop stealing others cats and go get one of your own.
hubby called to chat to her this evening and apparently her hubby said she must give him back.
we have told her again )) third time,stop feeding him) and that we love him and would not be giving him up.
she agreed.
Am hoping he will be home in the next couple of days.
Thoughts please.
right now i am f................ furious......... :angry:

Edited by jessica on Thursday 28th July 21:45

[bexVN]

I think you need to stop being polite if it happens again.

I'm afraid some people are like this and will think it is their right to take others pets even when they clearly know the pet has a perfectly good home. I've seen it happen.

Occasionally cats will choose where they want to live and with the best will in the world we can't always make them stay with us, however this isn't that common and I do believe your cat is being enticed away.

Luckily her husband appears to be on your side, but threaten her with some sort of action if she does it again, though to be fair I don't know what that should be.

I'm amazed how tolerant you have been I'd have been kicking off big time by the second time if that was my cat!

Is there any chance of trying to keep your cat in for a few weeks, try and break the habit of him wandering to this house.

[BlackVanDyke]

Urgh, horrible. Totally out of order. She probably thinks she looks after him better than you do... that seems to be typical of people who pull that kind of stunt.

Agree with Bex, he needs to be indoors for a few weeks AT LEAST - tbh if he copes okay with that time inside then I'd seriously consider making him an indoor cat, build an aviary type thing so he can sunbathe and most cats are happy as Larry with same.

[Jasandjules]

Well this is strange. Clearly the cat doesn't mind which of you to live with - he will go spend some time with her but then come back to you - now the question is does he do this when she lets him out (or he escapes) or is he allowed to roam free and still stays with her? Then he decides it's time to come and see you for a while....

However, if she knew he was yours before then tried to take him to the vets to get him chipped...........

I have no idea what do say though really, clearly you are doing what you can by telling her to stop feeding him. And I guess her husband thinks she is trying to steal him from you too!

[ali_kat]

If he's not already chipped, get him done so she can't take him to a different Vet & get him done there, she sounds sneaky!

It is theft, so (I beleive) if she continues then you can report her to the Police. If they get a quiet moment they will pop round to have a friendly chat.

Tell her that he is on a special Vet prescribed diet as he can't eat normal cat food, and can't be fed by anyone else - it will make him sick?

[SmokinV8]

difficult one, cats know where they like to live, our shop cat had a owner, they picked him up several times took him home but every day he was back, could of been something to do with them having a new baby in the house, eventually they gave up collecting him, this was 4-5 yrs ago.
one of our cats goes into the neighbours house, uses him for his warm sofa and lap then comes to us to be fed.

[Granville]

I had the same problem with one of my cats (now deceased).

The old dear opposite kept picking the cat up and taking her indoors, feeding her all sorts of really nice things. We hardly ever saw the cat, sometimes for days and only when she got let out. No matter how much we asked, she would not stop taking our cat inside and feeding her.

In the end we asked her if she would like our cat, and the old lady said she couldn't afford a cat so we said again to please stop feeding her and taking her inside. We didn't even know our cat had been missing until the old dear came over and said she hadn't seen her for a couple of days. Turns out she'd been run over and someone down the road had contacted the council to dispose of her. No one thought to check her chip and the old dear had removed her collar so no one could notify us.

[jessica]

ali_kat said:

If he's not already chipped, get him done so she can't take him to a different Vet & get him done there, she sounds sneaky!

It is theft, so (I beleive) if she continues then you can report her to the Police. If they get a quiet moment they will pop round to have a friendly chat.

Tell her that he is on a special Vet prescribed diet as he can't eat normal cat food, and can't be fed by anyone else - it will make him sick?

Good Idea Ali, about the diet. He is chipped. Last time she brought him back, (2nd time) she said she had been to the vets and he had told her he was ours. But she already knew that, hence why we think she thought she would go and get him chipped as hers only to find he was chipped already to us. She even bought him a new collar FFS.
I am really losing patience now. I dont really want to make him an indoor cat as he is a bit of a wanderer and would hate being in all the time.

[jessica]

Granville said:

I had the same problem with one of my cats (now deceased).

The old dear opposite kept picking the cat up and taking her indoors, feeding her all sorts of really nice things. We hardly ever saw the cat, sometimes for days and only when she got let out. No matter how much we asked, she would not stop taking our cat inside and feeding her.

In the end we asked her if she would like our cat, and the old lady said she couldn't afford a cat so we said again to please stop feeding her and taking her inside. We didn't even know our cat had been missing until the old dear came over and said she hadn't seen her for a couple of days. Turns out she'd been run over and someone down the road had contacted the council to dispose of her. No one thought to check her chip and the old dear had removed her collar so no one could notify us.

GRRHH!!! Just plane rude. This lady has two indoor cats of her own. She said she always wanted an outdoor cat ( SO go and damwell reecue one then.Like us. Don't take someone elses.)

[jessica]

Here is Lynx 2 years ago when he was a large kitten.

[monkey gland]

jessica said:

GRRHH!!! Just plane rude. This lady has two indoor cats of her own. She said she always wanted an outdoor cat ( SO go and damwell reecue one then.Like us. Don't take someone elses.)

Or she should stop imprisoning her own cats, the dozy prat. It's almost like she thinks there are two types of cats, indoor and outdoor ones. I expect her two cats would like the choice, frankly.

[Mubby]

id tell her to f off and get her own bloody cat!!! cheeky cow, I think you should stop being nice you have tried and that hasnt worked! tell her straight you do not want her feeding him or allowing him into her home, of course he is going to go to her house if she feeds him!! and ok its nice she is fond of him but he is YOUR cat!!

I like the idea above saying he has been to the vet and has a stomach problem or something is good and that he is on prescribed food only she is harming the cat if she feeds it, if she loves it she surely wont want that!!

My cat tiggy goes to 2 houses, I guess im lucky, one next door who feeds him the odd slice of ham etc, as Tiggy spends alot of time following him around his garden as he is often in the garden pottering, and they love tiggy but know he is mine! the second chap across the road loves him too as he visits him daily for attention and likewise gives him the odd nibble and he looks out for him and thinks he is a great character but they know he is mine!!

Edited by Mubby on Friday 29th July 18:56

[jessica]

monkey gland said:

Or she should stop imprisoning her own cats, the dozy prat. It's almost like she thinks there are two types of cats, indoor and outdoor ones. I expect her two cats would like the choice, frankly.

"But there Burmans and someone might steal them". Thats why they have a run and stay in.
Well how much irony is there in that statement then?

[bexVN]

Turnips said:

As has been said before, a cat will, given a choice, choose where it wants to live. Are you at work all day? Do you put the cat out when you go to work/bed? Do you have a cat flap?

Rightly or wrongly the woman is feeding your cat because it turned up at her house. Tom cats do wander but will ultimately stay where they're happiest. As long as she's not locking the cat in I think it's obvious where he prefers to live.

Only because the other woman has encouraged it. i'm assuming this is a neutered Tom so this tends to remove the wandering urges. The only way to know if this cat really wants to 'move house' is for the other woman to completely ignore the cat and shut it out of her home. If after a few weeks it still wants to hang around them then it's made it's own choice.

[bexVN]

Turnips said:

bexVN said:

Only because the other woman has encouraged it. i'm assuming this is a neutered Tom so this tends to remove the wandering urges. The only way to know if this cat really wants to 'move house' is for the other woman to completely ignore the cat and shut it out of her home. If after a few weeks it still wants to hang around them then it's made it's own choice.

I disagree. We have regular cats that turn up at the door have some biscuits and wander off. We've also had three that turned up and stayed.
Her cat isn't getting the love/attention/food (delete as applicable) at 'home'. Simple as.

Agree to disagree on this then. It is not right to feed other cats unless you know for a fact they are stray or looking starved simple as in my opinion and experience.

[bexVN]

Turnips said:

bexVN said:

Agree to disagree on this then. It is not right to feed other cats unless you know for a fact they are stray or looking starved simple as in my opinion and experience.

Fair enough! In my limited 32 years of experience of cat ownership we've never had a cat wander off yet. We've gained some though.

But I have had to help and deal with very good pet owners who have struggled time and again to stop other people feeding their cats even when those cats have been on special diets, this is what I do not agree with. There is no excuse for feeding another cat on purpose unless it is a known stray. I had someone frantic the other day because they thought their cat had been killed/ run off etc, turns out a neighbour had assumed it was a stray and kept it housebound for a few days. Luckily she saw sense and got it ck'd for a chip and as a result we were able to reunite the owner with her cat whom she very much loved.

Don't get me wrong, I know cats move house on their own accord, my parents ended up with their current cat due to this. The difference is they did not feed her, she just used to use their house for peace and quiet! After a chat with the owner (also their friend) they took ownership of her as it was realised that Rosie was stressed at the chaos (lots of animals and children) in her first home!

[bexVN]

Turnips said:

bexVN, I totally understand what you're saying, I really do. Unless a cat has a collar with number on you don't know whether it's a stray or not. What we've done in the past is either attach a collar or note to an existing collar with our phone number to get in touch. On two occasions so far the real owner has got in touch and it's been sorted out. Funnily enough both households involved had screaming kids..........

Ok. I'll let it rest there . I wish others had the same sense as you, sorry if I went on, obviously an emotive topic for me! No hard feelings I hope.

[Mubby]

bexVN said:

It is not right to feed other cats unless you know for a fact they are stray or looking starved simple as in my opinion and experience.

100% agree with this..

Wish my cat would keep a collar on , there must be dozens laying in a hedge somewhere!! or maybe some mad woman is taking them off to steal my cat

[jessica]

bexVN said:

Only because the other woman has encouraged it. i'm assuming this is a neutered Tom so this tends to remove the wandering urges. The only way to know if this cat really wants to 'move house' is for the other woman to completely ignore the cat and shut it out of her home. If after a few weeks it still wants to hang around them then it's made it's own choice.

There is always someone home at my house. we do not have a cat flap, our other two cats are more than happy here. Said Lynx is neutered and always been a wanderer,but used to call in every 3 days or so to eat and sleep and we often saw him around and about. This lady is letting him into her house and feeding him. to be honest he doesnt stay with her too long. just till he is full. BUt she has asked to keep him. We have said NO.

[jessica]

Mubby said:

100% agree with this..

Wish my cat would keep a collar on , there must be dozens laying in a hedge somewhere!! or maybe some mad woman is taking them off to steal my cat

every time he comes home we make sure he has his tag on his collar. It reads:
Please do not feed me, i have a family and am just greedy. with a contact telephone number.
subtle or what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!