Surely This Isn't Normal for a Cat?

[Icequeen01]

My neighbour has a cat who is very friendly with my two cats so they are always comfortable with him I or out of our house!! However, he is incredibly greedy and if I ever leave my windows or patio doors open he will be in like a shot and will eat any food my cats have left. Mine are grazers so often leave a lot and will return every so often for a few mouth fulls. I have seen him literally clear out two bowls of wet food and a small bowl of dried biscuits in 5 minutes. We have a microchip catflap but he literally straddles on the back of my cats when they come through so that he can get through the flap before it closes so he can get in.

This morning he has outdone himself. I came back from Sainsbury's late last night and had left two loaves of bread in a plastic bag by my front door for my DH to put in our freezer early this morning when he left for golf (lazy I know ☺️). Well neighbours cat has obviously come through the flap during the night and has literally ripped open one of the loaves and has taken big chunks out of the bread. It's definitely not my cats.

Surely this is not normal? I get in very well with my neighbour and she is aware he steals food and is always apologetic but it's not the cost of the food that worries me. He is a chubby cat (no surprise!) and her vet has told her he needs to lose weight. I have suggested perhaps she should get his thyroid levels checked and she said vet had mentioned this but that's only because they want her to pay out for blood tests 🙄 I use the same vet and I know this totally wouldn't be the case.

Does anyone else have a cat like this and could it be just pure greed? I'm not sure if to mention it to her again but don't want to be ' one of those neighbours' if you see what I mean.

[Icequeen01]

I should have pointed out the freezer is in our garage - not in our kitchen. I'm not quite that lazy!!!

[Mistoffelees]

Our cat is very food driven, in our first house our NDN fed him despite us telling her he had a sensitive tummy and this was making him poorly. Now we've moved none of our neighbours feed him and he is constantly on the look out for his next meal, especially when he's bored it's raining and he doesn't want to be outside, we can't let him graze as he'd just gobble it all up and throw up. He has been known to eat bread, pizza, peas, broccoli, wraps, McDonald's chips are his favourite...basically anything he can get hold of!

[0ellenbrody0]

Nothing useful to add other than one of mine is exactly the same.

Literally nothing is sacred, she eats anything that is out and if there's nothing out, she tries to get into the bin or the compost caddy which is on the windowsill. I have also caught her in the dishwasher, trying to lick plates. She jumps up on the table when we're eating and even tried to snatch a sausage off DH fork!

Unfortunately, she often eats things she shouldn't and then is sick.

Unsurprisingly, she is overweight (her sister is 'normal' but prefers to graze, which she can't as old fatty would just scoff it down) but vet is not concerned.

Is just pure gluttony I think!

[GeordieGirl233]

Sorry but this really made me laugh! The little fat bastard 😂

[soupforbrains]

My girl cat is like your cats. A grazer.

My boy cat on the other hand will eat anything and everything. All. The. Time. And forever.

He never seems to get full even when you can visibly see he is stuffed with a big swollen tummy.


My girl cats only weakness is frozen gin, apple & elderflower cocktails. Leave one of them somewhere and she'll have the lot before you can blink.

[Icequeen01]

Well I never! I have had cats all my life and have never had any as greedy as any of yours 😀😀 I guess I'm relieved that he is probably just a greedy bugger. I can't believe the cat who pinched a sausage!!

Well true to form the greedy blighter has just been in again as I've got our patio doors open and finished off my cats breakfast. He actually licks the bowls clean. With my two I am always throwing uneaten food away.

He actually waddled - probably his tummy is bloated from all the bread 😀

[lovetheway]

My vet politely described my cat as 'food motivated' . He is just like a dog - always hungry, will try most things if he can sneak it off the plate.

Embarrassingly, he actually got stuck in my neighbour's cat flap when trying to steal her cats' food.

[LanguidLobster]

Geordie!!!

Omg the greedy little sod. Sorry nothing useful to add OP although maybe try to deter him from coming in...? Water pistol...?

He sounds a bit above and beyond the average glutton cat!

[allthegoodnameshadgone]

A gin drinking cat. A cat that likes my favourite gin cocktail. That's made my day

[saucepot8]

Our cat used to be a stray and is the same. We call him fatty puss, rather than his real name. While our dog was sitting before he could start his food, fatty puss dived in and began to eat it! Another of our cats will jump up on to the work surface for any kind of pudding or cake.

[RandomMess]

Friends cat will eat ANYTHING it's very irritating tbh!

[Vinorosso74]

Our young lad is greedy-he was handed into a vets as a stray (or owners couldn't cope with him!). He has also got into bread bags and had a few bites, he did get egg shells off the table once and the noise when he started crunching them, he spat them out. He likes cucumber too.
Our old girl wasn't greedy but when her diabetes was playing up she would try and get anything-on her cattery stay last summer they spotted her put her leg through to the next pen, reach the food and lick it off her paw. The cat next door was oblivious (but likely hungry).

[Yogagirl123]

Oh the greedy little monster! I have owned 3 cats, two girls and one boy, girls were grazers, boy was greedy! Perhaps it’s a boy thing!

[AnneWiddecombesHandbag]

My mum used to have a cat like this. As a result my cat (who used to live there) is a greedy guts as well. She soon learnt she had to eat quick!

[NC4Now]

Mine stole my pain au chocolate off my plate this morning.
He’s been known to pilfer the kids’ tuna sandwiches when I’ve been doing the packed lunches too.

[Toddlerteaplease]

We had a cat that would eat anything. She had to be shut out of the room When we were eating in the end, as she'd just steal food from our plates.
I went out with a friend once and came back to her house to find the posh lemon biscuits we had opened had little teeth marks all over them.

[EachandEveryone]

I’m starting to feel sorry for mine for only having had cat food all their lives!! How do they get a taste for real food?

[Beaverhausen]

OP pop him a designer could be intestinal worms.

[Hidingtonothing]

My old boy is exactly like this, will literally eat anything and regularly raids the bin if I don't keep my eye on him. My girl is a grazer so she now has her food on the kitchen windowsill which is safe because old boy can't get on the worktops anymore. If you're looking for solutions OP I think your only options are a microchip cat flap and removing your cats food when windows or doors are open, it's a pain but I don't see how else you can stop him.

[Icequeen01]

I love the cat with a taste for G & T's - you can't leave one lying around me for too long either 😀 That cat has class!

Someone mentioned it being a boy thing but my two cats are boys as well and they hardly seem to eat.
I've been out and just got back and already NDN's cat is hanging around waiting for a chance to get in. Well my cats are out and I'm not putting any food down until they appear. As my mother would say 'that'll fettle him"

[Beaverhausen]

Not a designer a dewormer lol

[Icequeen01]

Beaver he was wormed a couple of weeks ago by my NDN. She's very good at worming him regularly.

Hiding we already have a microchip catflap but he straddles my cats so he can shoot through before the flap closes. I've never seen such determination in a cat.

[Branleuse]

my neighbours cat became like this when he was on steroid treatment. He was insatiable

[soupforbrains]

@allthegoodnameshadgone and @Icequeen01 she's a funny one.

Once I was eating the frozen gin cocktail with a spoon and I was obviously a tad too slow getting the spoon from the glass to my mouth as the cheeky minx got her gob round it before I could! She once also got her head stuck in a gin bowl type glass trying to get the dregs out of the bottom!