Cat stealing other cat's food
Discussion
We have a cat; he's a rescue cat and probably about 3 years old now. He's a regular British shorthair and we've had him for just over a year. He was neutered by the RSPCA before we had him. I'd post a picture but he's adorable and I don't want every other cat owner on here to feel jealous .... 
He's a big character, quite an extrovert and very confident. He's fed the recommended amount of Hills Scientific food every day but is putting on weight; he used to be quite sleek but now there he has a definite podge in the middle. He's also clearly going into other people's homes and stealing their cat food; he often appears during the day looking quite fat and happy and has vomited cat food that is quite different to the stuff we feed him four times over the last 3 days. He's a greedy bu99er and we can well believe that if he came across a large bowl of cat food he'd scoff the lot and make himself ill.
The question is what to do about it? We live in a terraced house with a long run of gardens at the back and there are several neighbourhood cats. To keep him in would be difficult as he likes the outside and he'd destroy the place if not allowed out. Him stealing food is not good as some other cat is going without, it is making him ill and it won't be long before he annoys some other cat owner who may do something unkind. It's also quite embarrassing!
Simple Q: is there anything we can do about it? All (sensible) suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.
He's a big character, quite an extrovert and very confident. He's fed the recommended amount of Hills Scientific food every day but is putting on weight; he used to be quite sleek but now there he has a definite podge in the middle. He's also clearly going into other people's homes and stealing their cat food; he often appears during the day looking quite fat and happy and has vomited cat food that is quite different to the stuff we feed him four times over the last 3 days. He's a greedy bu99er and we can well believe that if he came across a large bowl of cat food he'd scoff the lot and make himself ill.
The question is what to do about it? We live in a terraced house with a long run of gardens at the back and there are several neighbourhood cats. To keep him in would be difficult as he likes the outside and he'd destroy the place if not allowed out. Him stealing food is not good as some other cat is going without, it is making him ill and it won't be long before he annoys some other cat owner who may do something unkind. It's also quite embarrassing!
Simple Q: is there anything we can do about it? All (sensible) suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.
Good point about the scavenging but he wasn't a stray; the RSPCA were quite guarded about what they said about him but he was a 'Welfare Case' and had been taken from a previous owner. This doesn't discount the scavenging habit possibility though I guess.
Cat-proofing the garden would be fantastically difficult although it's an interesting idea! He's an extremely adventurous chap and would climb for miles to get his freedom.
Thanks for your input though - it's appreciated.
Cat-proofing the garden would be fantastically difficult although it's an interesting idea! He's an extremely adventurous chap and would climb for miles to get his freedom.
Thanks for your input though - it's appreciated.
Hi,
Thanks for the answers.
KiS - a tracker is a good idea actually, although it would need to be accurate to a fairly fine area; we're in London and the gardens aren't exactly large, and we'd want to knock on the right door if possible ....
Moose/BigMon, could be. He is essentially a big outgoing thug so will happily steal stuff (including the pastrami from my lunch today) so we assumed it was clandestine, although could be wrong. That may be harder to stop, as per BigMon's story (although the sod of that piece wasn't the cat!)
Henrycrun/AliKat, such a note would only work if he was being fed by someone else. If - as we suspect - he is stealing then I doubt it will make much difference. Worth a try though, although we'll need to persuade him to wear a collar first.
AliKat, he may not have been used to regular meals previously but he's been with us for over a year now and he's been fed regular as clockwork since then, and the problem has only occurred in the last 10 days or so. I cleared up a VAST pile of puke from my study floor this morning so it would be good to do something about it soon!
Thanks for the answers.
KiS - a tracker is a good idea actually, although it would need to be accurate to a fairly fine area; we're in London and the gardens aren't exactly large, and we'd want to knock on the right door if possible ....
Moose/BigMon, could be. He is essentially a big outgoing thug so will happily steal stuff (including the pastrami from my lunch today) so we assumed it was clandestine, although could be wrong. That may be harder to stop, as per BigMon's story (although the sod of that piece wasn't the cat!)
Henrycrun/AliKat, such a note would only work if he was being fed by someone else. If - as we suspect - he is stealing then I doubt it will make much difference. Worth a try though, although we'll need to persuade him to wear a collar first.
AliKat, he may not have been used to regular meals previously but he's been with us for over a year now and he's been fed regular as clockwork since then, and the problem has only occurred in the last 10 days or so. I cleared up a VAST pile of puke from my study floor this morning so it would be good to do something about it soon!
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