Sick of my neighbour getting cats. What do I do?

[Popcorninbed]

A few years ago my neighbour bought a 1 year old cat from someone she knew. About 5 months after she got the cat she stopped letting him inside. I used to hear him meowing and crying constantly in her garden to be let in. I didn’t realise she stopped letting him in completely, until one day I was shouting one of my cats at the back door and her cat came running into my garden. He was skin and bone. I gave him food and kept my eye on him. Noticed over the next few days he was sleeping in the bush. I spoke to my neighbours who said they didn’t want him anymore. I tried to take him in but I have two cats (aged 8 and 10 at the time) and they didn’t get on. I tried to do slow introductions etc but after 3 months and a couple of fights I sadly had to surrender him to cats protection.

A couple of months later she got a female cat. One night I saw it outside looking SO skinny I could see its spine. I only saw her that one time but she never went home. We never saw her again after that, I don’t know what happened to the poor thing! Maybe someone took her in.

In August 2023 she bought an 8 week old kitten. So he is now about to be about 10 months old. I keep seeing him around and once again looks extremely skinny. He got into my house a few days ago and started eating my cats food, I’ve never seen a cat eat so fast, he was starving! I knocked onto my neighbours and she said she doesn’t have time for him and has been contacting rescue places but nowhere has any room so he’s going to have to be an outdoor cat. She’s just left him! Just abandoned him! Like she did with her first cat. I’m really stressed out because I feel like once again I am going to have to take responsibility for her animal. I can’t afford another cat, but I am so worried about him being outside. I have asked if she is leaving food for him and she said no because other cats will just eat it and she can’t afford to keep buying cat food. It just feels like the first situation all over again and I don’t want to stress my cats out who are now 10 and 12 years old by bringing him inside. He is not neutered either. But he is microchipped to her so I won’t be able to rehome him, it would have to be the legal owner but she doesn’t seem bothered.

Please help me work out what the best solution is here. I think I am going to have to ask her to hand him over to me again so that I can rehome him aren’t I? These poor cats, she shouldn’t be allowed to have them 😢

This is dreadful. Def take the cat from her and find him a lovely home. Where is she getting them all from?

Report the facts, including the conversations you've had and the rehousing via Cats Protection to the RSPCA and ask them to catch the emaciated cat.

They can consider whether to prosecute her.

The right thing to do is call the RSPCA.

Yes I thought of this too. As he belongs to someone though, will they take him in because he isn’t technically a stray cat he is microchipped. And she said she contacted them to take him but they have no room and advised her to try smaller local rescues. She said she’s tried but I’m not sure if I believe her.

Either way I will contact the RSPCA and see what they say

She's horrendous, poor cats 😬

You'd think she'd learn

I would have absolutely lost my shit with her by now. I am a 'nice', civilised, middle aged person but I would be so upset seeing animals treated like this I would have taken her to task very harshly and loudly about 2 cats ago.

If that's just not you OP, fair enough. It's not usually me either, but on behalf of poor vulnerable, innocent creatures I can be fierce.

Maybe the shock of someone telling her exactly what they think of her cruelty and neglect will make her think twice before getting yet another cat to abuse 😫

If you take the cat in a terrible state to the vet and report it is a stray they will usually take it in and scan it. They will contact her to collect it, but presumably she will refuse, at which point they tend to pass the cat on to rescue contacts who can rehome.

In a similar position, my friend drove the cat to a vet about an hour away (which she knew took strays) and said she'd found it in that state nearby as she knew the evil owner would never bother to go that far to collect it.

I doubt they will be interested.

Sweet Jesus this sounds like my neighbour until a few years ago. She got a cat. Wouldnt let it in. It finally disappeared. Next cat had kittens. She dumped it and the kittens at the rescue I volunteered with. Got another a while later. It was howling at my windows. I let it in. Mine didn't take to it so I re-homed (no chips). She now has a dog which thankfully she seems to give a shit about.

I had this exact type of neighbour, I ended up taking her cat in but had to separate her from my old cat at all time (as in keep half my downstairs closed off), what an idiot though! I’d be worried about confronting someone like this though as she’s likely a psychopath if she has that little empathy towards a poor cat starving and outdoors in the cold.

Get it in writing that she hands the cat over to you. Poor cat.
Report her to the RSPCA. Continually getting pets then mistreating them is not on.

Contact RSPCA, she needs to be banned from getting any more