Neighbour stole cat :(

[Fressia123]

Our neighbour has been feeding the cat even though we've told him repeatedly we didn't want him to. Now our cat will come and say hello but she won't stay (nor come inside). Is there anything we can do??

I would tell the neighbour that your cat is on expensive medication and that what they are feeding it is having an affect on this. You insist that they stop feeding the cat and welcoming him inside their home. Make it clear that if they persist, they will be liable for all vet bills. After all, its "their cat" now, isn't it? So why should you be liable?

They might not be so quick to invite him in if they think a big bill will be following swiftly after.

This is one occasion where I would throw civility out the window and make my thoughts and opinions very clear. You've asked nicely and it didnt work. Now be blunt and direct.

I agree with above. What awful people! You may need to keep Six-Dinner-Sid in for a bit and feed him yummy food so he gets the message as well.

I’d cat proof the garden so she can’t get out. One of mils neighbours fed someone else’s cat, when it needed vet treatment he reported her to the rspca for neglect. Luckily she’d kept the photos he'd sent her of the cat on his sofa.

I'd buy some particularly tasty food and lure the cat in your house. Then you'll have to keep the cat locked in for at least a week if not longer. Pretty crappy thing for a neighbour to do especially as you've asked them not to.

I’d do all I could to lure her in and then not let her leave.

I bet my next door neighbour might be thinking that too!

No, we never feed their cat, or anyone's cat, ever. Yet next door neighbour's cat spends most of the day in our garden as if she owns it. And no, I have a child with severe cat allergy, so we never try to touch her or even try to go near her.

I have caught my neighbour tresspassing in our garden many time to try to get her back to their house. Not happy really, but I pretend I haven't seen it.
I can't control a cat who has free mind, certainly not get involved, but not chasing her away either.

The neighbour has admitted to feed the cat! I was able to cuddle her and she's at least twice her usual weight (she finally came in) and I've locked her in our girls' room but I know she'll demand to go out in a couple of hours.

As a cat thief myself, I would say approach your neighbour nicely and ask what wonderful food they are feeding Six Dinner Sid.
Buy loads of it and keep him/her in!

We have two cats. And yes, we did steal one. But he came to us nearly 6 years ago without a collar. Our neighbour saw him lounging outside our front door and said, "Oh there's my cat!" The story is that they got a puppy that chased the cat notoriously. There was no calming down period or adjustment. So the cat moved upstairs, never came down, then just started going out through the bedroom windows and wandering around the neighbourhood. He's 'my' cat. He's also number 10's and number 16's. But we all tell the original owner he's safe and well and we all keep in touch on our whatsapp neighbourhood watch group. We all take turns keeping our ginger boy up to date with worming, etc. It's sad. I always feel a bit guilty because I know what it's like to have a cat 'stolen'. And in the past, we tried numerous times to take him back to his original owner, but it's impossible with their dog. The irony is he lives with us and our other cat and our dog (big gun dog too!). Our dog's a softy though. No prey drive.
But in your case, there is no reason for your cat to 'leave', so lure him/her back with great food and put him in lockdown. Good food keeps them coming back. It's funny how absent my cats are when I only give them dry food for a week. I see very little of them!
In your neighbour's defense, it is SO hard to say no to that cute little face peering in from outside, waiting to come in. It's almost impossible to say no, but you have indeed had the conversation about not letting the cat inside and your neighbour should absolutely respect your wishes!

You’re just going to have to be strong op.

Cat stays an inside cat for now. Be vigilant with windows and doors. No “oh just for a few mins” outside access

In the meantime, is your cat chipped? That will help if you ever need to “prove” she’s yours.

We have a dog and baby! When she came in today she actually said hello to her furry sister (they definitely tolerate each other), so we think the baby might be the problem. When we moved in to this house (8 months ago) the first six months she became the sweetest cat. She'll curl up next to us and even sleep next to me. This is all very sudden and sad. My DD loves her very much.

We had this issue and our cat was on expensive medication. Neighbour turned viciously nasty on us, police involved, false complaints to environmental health and social services etc. Even tried to get DH sacked from a voluntary role. They were and still are complete narcissists.That was 12 years ago and we still don't speak to them. I'd turn off their life support to charge my phone.

we had this too - solution is a cat fence! They can go out in the garden but can't get out of our garden.

I was really worried once when neither of our cats touched any of their food for 2 days! Kept them locked in and after half a day they were magically hungry... would have been very annoyed if i'd taken them to the vet!

also saves me worrying about them getting hit by a car (busy road to the front of our house)

When the cats back keep it in and get a cat proof fence.

I would let the cat choose where he wants to spend time. I know our cat goes in and out of some of our neighbours houses, and they give her cheese or tuna occasionally.
She has enough Iove to go round.

Cats are ruthless social manipulators and choose their own homes :-)

@1starwars2

I would let the cat choose where he wants to spend time. I know our cat goes in and out of some of our neighbours houses, and they give her cheese or tuna occasionally. She has enough Iove to go round.

So they give her shit that's not great for her and you'll dont care?

If my cat gained that much weight as you describe OP I'd be knocking again for a chat about insurance payments and their bank details for vet bills. Talk money.

I've tried the medication excuse and it did nothing, our neighbours still insisted on feeding my cat (which illustrates perfectly that people who do this don't actually care about the welfare of the cat, only the dopamine rush they get from feeding it). My advice would be a stern word and a letter, and keep a record of delivering both. Then if he still won't stop I would go round and ask him to allow himself to be recorded acknowledging that he is feeding your cat against your will. It seems so silly but that will either get them to stop or if they refuse inform them that you will be contacting the police regarding theft of your cat.

Cats are classed as the owner's personal property so the police do need to acknowledge it. If that fails you can go over to their house and ask them to return the cat every time she goes missing. After that it is court or making your garden cat-proof. It's so ludicrous and basically depends on how adamant your neighbour is to steal the cat and how much money/hassle you are willing to go to to get the cat back.

I was actually going to give it til spring and then ask for his details to add them to her microchip. But whenever I see her I just want to keep her with me. I'll look at those cat fences thanks for that suggestion.

It's not that hard to not feed a cat!

People like this piss me off OP. We had a neighbour that kept feeding our dog smoked salmon and she would jump the fence and escape to get the salmon causing a risk. The woman would then say can I sell her the dog as she thought she was unhappy and always hungry. The dog started getting fat. Some people are idiots!

The thing with cats is, it's not always welcome in someone's garden but they come anyway.

I'd rather not neighbour's cat or any cat come into our garden. We have lots of birds coming into our garden, so, if I hated them, I would be chasing them off and getting really irritated. Adding to that, a child with cat allergy. My ds was quite panicky when they got cat and she started coming to our garden regularly. Now he is older and understand it won't come jumping onto him so it's fine.

I love cats and had them before, so as my dh. But now I don't want them dominating my garden, but what can I do? Chase them off every time I see them?

Keep your cat in if you want control over what if does and who it likes best. If not, it'll choose.

I'm pretty sure if he'd stop feeding her she'd come back to us. I've catnapped her now so fingers crossed she'll decide to stay with us

Don't let her back out if you want to keep her OP.