To think you can't steal a cat?

[brasty]

This is in reference to a conversation with a friend. As long as the cat has access to outside, I don't think anyone can steal your cat. Your cat may decide though to live elsewhere, because of better food, because it is quieter, or some other preference.

My DH's grandparents used to actively steal other people's pet cats. They had a hatch in their gate to their backyard with a really high wall, they used to put out tuna/salmon/etc with the hatch open then when the cat came in they'd lock it behind it! By his own admission DH said they weren't nice people anyway but they used to deliberately steal their neighbours cats, lock them in their house and not answer the door or lie when said neighbour came round looking for their cat. Apparently they felt they were entitled to as the cat was free to choose their home and they couldn't help it if they provided a nicer home for it (conveniently forgetting the locking it in against its will!) but really they were a pair of nasty twats who enjoyed their little power trip over people (they had form for other controlling nasty behaviour that resulting in DH's parents going NC with them)

I would only feed an obviously hungry cat (not a greedy bugger like dear departed wtffgs cat ) if it kept appearing I might take it to a vet to check for a chip.

Current Miss Wtffgs Cat has no truck with other felines entering her garden, so the problem doesn't arise!

Surely there are enough cats to go round...?

More than enough

There was a case in Manchester where a woman was found to have around 20 stolen cats in her house. The police were trying to locate their owners so they could return them. Pedigree cats are often stolen for breeding. Cats are also stolen for dog fighting and abuse.

This article says that up to 360,000 cats are stolen every year.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4793938/Up-360-000-moggies-stolen-year.html

It is a crime and it can be reported to the police.

Don't steal people's cats!

It's so sad that maybe 360k cats are stolen (or lost), that is a huge number if accurate.

I think the penalties for this should be stronger, if my house was burgled I'd be most devastated by far if my cats were taken, everything else can be replaced.

I think it should be illegal to intentionally feed other people's cats without checking it is a stray as well, as if the cat is allergic to what it is fed why should the owner have to foot the vet bill for someone else being inconsiderate. Yes it would be difficult to prove but may deter most people from doing it.

Cats are legally property so yes than can be stolen. You can't really argue otherwise.

God this thread has made me so angry

People don’t know anything about a random cat that wanders into their house. They shouldn’t assume or do anything based on what they see

My step daughters cat looks unkept and bedraggled because he’s old and although he’s fed a million times a day he is still thin, the RSPCA have checked him over and the cat is fine but old. People who keep feeding him are upsetting her because he disappears. She loves him and he’s been in her life for 18years it’s not exactly fair that because cats often follow food that people assume they can keep him

I adore my cat and have a microchip cat flap to stop other cats entering my house, if people were persistent about throwing a cat out of discovered or squirted with water if they enter their visits will lessen but strange if you feed them a tasty treat of tuna they might be inclined to return

I wouldn’t squirt water at any animal. If a beastie comes by I’ll pet it. My neighbour’s cat adopted me. Neighbpur continued to feed it whereas I didn’t but she had to compete with another cat, 2 dogs and 2 toddlers for attention. Eventually we agreed she wanted to move in with me

I clicked on this thread thinking it was a lighthearted cat one.

My DP often teases that we (my family) “stole” a cat as teenagers. Neighbours got rescue cats, we had seen them a few times in the garden and they were playful albeit shy. We just used to stroke them. Then owners went on 3 week holiday, left food with another neighbour who had a cat but the food was to be left on the drive and other cats ate it. Neighbour expressed concern to my mum (neighbour couldn’t do this due to her own cat) who picked up a box of dry cat food and we used to give them a little in the garden.

Over time they used to come over (and the holiday thing continued too, despite neighbour who did feeding telling owners). Most of the time they didn’t want food but would be turfed out of home at 6:30pm before children’s bedtime. They would come into our home often (doors open in summer or sneak in when getting home etc) and just want to sit in the warmth in winter or be stroked.

If we were directed not to do xyz then of course we wouldn’t have but tbh I think it suited them to know where their cat was and not need to worry about care when they went off on their holidays. If they said the cats are yours now then we would have taken them on, but they never did.

It works both ways - some people really do get cats and do not adequately provide for them or take care of them. Cats do adopt new homes!

if people were persistent about throwing a cat out of discovered or squirted with water if they enter their visits will lessen

With some cats that just isn't true. I spent months throwing out my visiting cat every time it appeared in my house. I'm sure as hell not squirting water round my house and making a mess. I don't have time to spend all day patrolling my house to make sure it hasn't sneaked in. I don't feed it. So I give the house the once over at night and put it out, and when I do it wanders straight into my garage and goes to sleep on the boiler, curled round the pipes. I've got no idea who feeds him or who he belongs to, although I have tried to find out (asking in the area, and multiple social media posts on local pages/lost and found pets pages etc).

If an owner somewhere is furious because their cat likes to sneak into my house and sleep in my laundry basket, their anger is misplaced, because the only way I could stop it is by not opening my windows, and I don't see why I should live without fresh air in my house just because someone else's cat sneaks in.

We actually get quite a few cases of cat theft where I live - It is horrible to have to say - don't read this if you get upset!!!

thugs steal cats to use to bait their fighting dogs with :( It is heartbreaking, but it does happen! The latest one was this weekend, the evil bastard was caught on CCTV and the police are looking into it - a family pet was grabbed from the garden and later found dead and it was obvious what had happened.

treaclesoda

Is it a male white with tabby?

That bastard is trying to move in to my place, in through the window, eats my cat's food then finds somewhere to sleep.

It has a collar but just seems to like y place, he is known as 'that bastard cat, cheekiest of cheeky pusses' .

Cats are shit pets because they don’t have the ability to love you enough to stay loyal. Cats do find their own homes. They go where they prefer - whether it’s for more peace, better food or a warmer bed. Why do you think the people spending hundreds on a hairless cat don’t let it outside? Because it will fuck off down the street to the old lady that has 400 tins of tuna and a heated blanket. No you cannot steal a cat. You can hold a cat against its will, but not for long because it will rip your eyes out and leg it through a window

Well I do think you can “steal” a cat and if you do you should take it lock stock !
Example my parents had sibling pedigree cats that were fine for years then one went a bit weird and territorial and the other dissappeared
Mum assumed it ran away until 6 months later a knock on the door-the children’s home down the road had been feeding lost cat when she visited so clearly she decided to up sticks and stay there - can’t nlame her - but the reason for the knock? She was sick and needed the vet and they expected my Mum , her owner, to take care of it (oh and then bring her back to them obvs or the children would be sad!!!)
The boggling thing was they knew where this cat came from and who the owners were, fed it anyway and encouraged it, didn’t let Mum know it was now there so she thought the cat was gone / dead and only told her months later when money was needed for care !! Mum would’ve been ok if a discussion was had before feeding the cat and basically making it theirs - have the cat it’s yours now in full and happier there
Otherwise I think it’s stealing !!

Feeding a cat is appropriating ownership? And cats are being compared to children

What if your child gets given an ice lolly by the neighbour? Are they appropriating ownerships of your child? Would you call the NSPCC? If a child wonders into my house have I stolen it? Or does said child just have shit parents? The replies on this thread are hilarious. Legally, yes you can own a cat. Of course you can. But physically? Nope, not a chance. If a cat doesn’t want to live with you then it will leave and there is nothing you can do about it. Other than keep it hostage? Which if it were a child, like some delusional people are saying, that would be illegal.

Also if your cat has medical problems and you still allow it to roam the streets because you are a shit cat owner then shouldn’t your cat at least have a collar with a special tag on explaining this? Just the same as children wear diabetic bracelets. ‘Oh IM Not A SHiT CaT OWNeR IF otHEr PeopLE FEed mY Cat’ - well yes you are because if your cat is roaming looking for food it will either eat from a neighbours house/bin/some rat in a field and that isn’t the neighbours fault. It’s the cat owners. If a neighbours child ate dog shit off my front lawn that wouldn’t be my responsibility, it would be the shit parents fault.

I just don’t believe a lot of the stories on this thread as no decent cat would want to live with some of the cat-stealing nobheads on here by choice. Cats are very choosy.

You can definitely steal a cat, but I really wouldn’t recommend trying to steal one of mine.

I think the point prosecco is that most cats would return “home” to be fed even if enjoying love and attention elsewhere
By feeding a cat that person is encouraging the cat to either stay or return which seems a bit u fair on the person who originally “owned” the cat
In my Mums case she was cool with the cat leaving home for a better life but it was the fact that when it came to medical care or any bills suddenly the cat wasn’t their cat anymore / make sense ?

@expat38matt legally your mum had responsibility of the cat so yes it was her place to pay for medical treatment. If she was happy enough to let a stranger ‘own’ her cat then she should have signed over ownership

Agreed prosecco however she thought the cat was kost and ran away meanwhile she’d been adopted by someone who knew where she lived and who owned her who for 6 months didn’t give a heads up and ignored lost cat signs - wanted to keep th cat essentially so hid its whereabouts until vet care needed
I don’t deny the responsibility but surely that goes both ways - if you are aware someone thinks their pet is lost and you know where that pet is to tell them ? Come to an agreement ? It’s not really even about money or bills it’s about hiding the cats location because you want it to stay with u!!

@gobster People don’t know anything about a random cat that wanders into their house. They shouldn’t assume or do anything based on what they see

I'm sure in many cases that's true, but in the case of my lovely ginger fluffball I knew where the owners lived and I knew they weren't looking after him. He was a young cat with no health problems, he was just a hassle to look after because of his long fur - for them anyway, after they moved and the cat moved in with us and was being regularly stroked he had very few mats and those small ones he did get were snipped off straightaway.

As I said before they also denied ownership of their other cat when he was ill.

The neighbouring cat to my mum used to come in and use mum's cats litter box. Would come in for a crap and then leave as it preferred her kitty litter. Mum's cat didn't even use the litter box as it went outside, she kept it there for emergencies. Cats can be bastards - I know I have three of the slippery critters

Cat owners are just hilarious, when your cat shits in someone else's garden he is a free willed animal and not your responsability, but then you get annoyed when someone feeds him...
(sorry, I know all cat owners are not like this)

Well I learned something today!

www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/your-pets-and-the-law.html

One cat goes visiting the neighbours, but tends to always come back. The other one, I don't think would leave, he has put to much work into me being his slave. Plus he loves the dog

My two used to regularly spend time with our neighbours- ziti was a quieter house with more willing laps.

The outrage when the neighbours got a puppy was very entertaining.