My cat is spending most of the time at another house/garden down the road, and it's pissing me off. What can I do about this?

Your neighbour sounds lovely and you sound very petty.

Cats are such little dicks! They aren't always into the humans who come with the free board and lodging. I have a faithless fickle little bastard who recently spent a whole week away and after finding him a kilometre or so away, we got a cat tracker collar. It does really work. He prefers the massive and jungly garden of the people the other end of the road, or the fields around the road, and when I feel he's had enough adventure for the day, I go and fetch him home - the GPS tracking is a game changer! I reward him with Dreamies when he gets in.

If you got a tracker (it's not cheap, you pay a year in advance and have to buy the tracker on top of that) you could show this woman the history of your cat and it might really bring it home to her how little time he spends with you, his actual owner. The tracker app shows heat maps of where they've been all day, like Strava, and it's mind-bending how far they can go. If you point out to her that he IS your cat and you'd like to be allowed to enjoy him, and that you pay for vet, food, insurance etc and she's getting all these hours with him ... if she's at all decent, she'll look at the heat maps and see what your issue is, and stop encouraging him.

Nothing you can do. Cats make their own rules. We had a cat that moved in with the NDN.

This is what cats are like. Nothing you can do

Dogs are naturally pack animals that would spend the day roaming their territory and hunting for food. However, pet dogs are often kept as lone animals, and are only taken on walks on a lead to certain places. Pet dogs live a life that is completely unnatural. Why do cat owners think that cats need to be allowed to ‘behave naturally’ at the expense of wildlife, neighbours and their own pets safety? Pet cats can live a happy healthy life without free roaming, and I’m so tired of the idea that they can’t.

Personally, I hate the way cat owners think they have a right to to go round telling their neighbours what to do in their own gardens. If you don't like it, keep him in the house. If someone's dog kept getting in your garden, you would be moaning. Before anyone says it, all animals like to roam, not just cats. If it's cruel to keep a cat in, it's cruel to keep a dog in. For information, we don't have either.

Unfortunately, cats are disloyal, fickle buggers. You'll probably find he's back home once the weather gets colder. I get why you're put out, but I'm not sure there's much you can do

You could fool the little tart - buy lots of dreamies and train him by shaking them in a noisy box and then rewarding him generously. When the little monkey gets the idea, shake the box early every evening and nab him when he scampers home, in the kitchen, cat flap shut and in for the night - rewarded with a handful of treats. You will need to share him during the day (your garden does sound a bit unfriendly for 🐈 😻 🐈‍⬛️) but never a dirty stop-out!

This is the funniest thread I have read on MN recently. That cheating cat! Cats have no loyalty.. will just go where suits them. If your partner starts preferring the neighbours' place as well then do have a 'word'. But Lenny is his own man (cat) and can't be constrained!

That is outrageous. What a tart!

Cat story about Robbie my rescue cat. Used to disappear at night and come back in the morning for breakfast and spend day at home. Living in quite rural environment. I took my car in to local garage for MOT. Gave my address. Guy says "oh, you are Robbie's owner!" I asked how he knew Robbie? "He comes and sleeps with me and my wife on our bed every night!". Cats eh? 😂🤣

Yesterday I opened the bathroom door after a shower to find the neighbour's cat standing there waiting for me...

I can assure you that I am not trying to 'take away' that cat.

I already have my own cat.

But the neighbour's cat starting using my garden and letting himself into the house as soon as I moved in and helped himself to whatever food my cat left in her bowl.

He just decided that this was his second home.

I can't possibly keep windows and doors closed all the time to prevent him from coming in or police what cat is in my garden.

That's just the way cats are. They will roam and make themselves comfortable in other people's gardens and even in their houses sometimes.

I love this!!!

What an absolute strumpet Ronnie was 🤣 I love the idea of Midsomer Murders and a belly full of salmon … all the while you and your family are worrying about him and scouring the neighbourhood! Cats really are the epitome of indifference.

This thread reminds me of my gorgeous departed ginger tom called Ronnie.
He was a tart.
He owned the neighbourhood. Took a shine to a lady in a bungalow a few doors down, and he’d jump through an open window and sleep on her bed. She loved him and decided to move her wheelie bin under open window so it was easier for him to climb in.

Ronnie, being the fickle boy he was, ditched her and latched on to a little old lady closer to ours who lived in a granny annex. I was friends with her daughter. Ronnie would spend days and nights awol. Daft me, calling him, shaking the Dreamies, worrying about him being hit by a car. My husband driving around looking for him. Then friend said, he’s fine, he’s with mum, she loves him. She feeds him tinned salmon and cuddles him for hours. They watch Midsomer Murders together. Great, lovely. NOT. Ronnie would slope home, full of salmon, smelling of old lady perfume days later.

I’d decided enough is enough. I got a kitten, a gorgeous little Tortie. We fussed her to bits. Cue Ronnie getting the right hump, moving back in, to take his rightful place as Top Cat. They rubbed along together and Ronnie stopped tarting around.

The moral of this story is, cats will be cats. Get another one.🐯

This is a tricky one and one of my pet peeves. I hate people who try to take away other people's cats, it's out of order, much as she might say it's not her fault because of the hedgehog food.
My suggestion would be to try to make your house more attractive to your cat. Encourage him to spend more time at home by upgrading his food, paying lots of attention to him and perhaps new toys, treats or catnip, whatever his favorite things are! You have to fight fire with fire when it comes to cats, they are fickle!
It's nothing personal he doesn't love you any less!

Once he gets too big for the hedgehog house he’ll be back at yours begging for food. I agree re making your garden more cat friendly with hiding places, greenery etc.

But she isn't feeding him, she is feeding the hedgehogs and Lenny is stealing the hedgehog food.

The OP cannot demand that her neighbour stops feeding hedgehogs in her own garden. If Lenny genuinely needed to eat a special diet for health reasons, then it would be the OP's responsibility to police this - it wouldn't be the neighbour's job to stop him from stealing stuff.

The solicitor's letter suggestion from a pp is one of the most absurd suggestions I have seen on MN.

There’s nothing you can do other than then keep him inside.

I could be that woman! We have our own cat but another cat has started coming in through the cat flap and treating our house as his own! There’s not much we can do other than encourage him to go outside but he keeps coming back in. He doesn’t even eat our cat’s food - he just want to play with his toys and chill out! Our cat normally hates other cats but strangely he’s fine with this one in his house - they even sit together!

I have also commented that it’s like having a second cat but without having to pay for food or vets bills!

We have no idea who he belongs to - we’ve seen him near various houses but as our own experience shows, that doesn’t mean anything!

What a lovely boy !
He just looks like Larry from No 10.

One of my cats loves next doors garden simply because they have shade their garden over the last 3 months and I don’t

another loves the older guy at the bottom of the street he’s not a fan of cats but he likes her cos she’s got personality

cats will be cats get him to come back home at a shake of some dreamies

Cats will cat. They are never our cats, they are cats. Luna the cat has started to spend more time in our house as the summer draws to a close but come the spring she will be off again. Cats will cat. What can you do. Cats.