Neighbour feeding my cat

[MadameBee]

Argh.

My next door neighbour is elderly and has no family I sort of look out for them and have been doing all their shopping etc during lockdown and just call and check in every day. He is really frail and has recently gone blind, she is quite robust for her age but has “bad days” and “turns” which I think is possibly depression.

Anyway - she puts dog food out for the local urban foxes (which pisses me off and now I am doing her shopping I am actually buying the dog food 😭😭) which my 2 cats eat, as in a bowl outside.

One of my cats goes around all the houses of the neighbours and she absolutely loves him to bits but has told me age gives him a bit of “breakfast and supper” to the point that I am now chucking out most of his food.

One of the other neighbours has asked her to stop feeding her cat and NDN has taken massive offence.

I am thinking of saying my cat is now on a IAMS or something and please can she stop feeding him? (As I have no idea what he is eating and I keep taking him to the vets a lot as he is off his food and quite thin)

I don’t want to piss her off and hurt her

I had this issue, with my old cat being fed crap like Go Cat. We get on well with said neighbour who loved the cat too p, but polite requests fell on deaf ears. In the end I asked vet’s advice and he said to tell them the cat was borderline diabetic and become so if we couldn’t control what it was eating. That worked. They couldn’t bear to think of him ill.

If you let your cat out, you don’t get to control what it eats.

@Purpleartichoke

Or another viewpoint is that the neighbour has already told the OP that she gives the cat food...so OP can control the situation by finding a medical/memorable way to explain to the neighbour why her cat shouldn't be fed by another person and that "kindness" may not be the best thing here.

It's a bit punchy to say that if a cat is let out, "thats it - you don't have any control anymore". People can have conversations, they can influence the world around the cat a bit if they choose to. They can't of course stop the cat eating food found in the wild, or if the cat chooses to go into another house where the owner's feeding offering is unknown etc..

but this is a known situation so why not address that, is what I'm saying?

@DotBall "crap like GO Cat" - could I ask what you feed your cat please?

Midsommar My three are fed a mostly grain-free diet consisting of Butchers Classic wet (cheap as chips from supermarkets) and Applaws dry (bought in bulk online).

The dry is also mixed with Royal Canin Digestive which is specially shaped to slow down dry eating as our older cat tends to inhale biscuits rather than bite them so it stops her throwing up the dry food whole 10 minutes after feeding.

Go Cat is mostly cereals which is not ideal for animals that are obligate carnivors.

@DotBall

That’s really interesting.

Dog food is not good for cats. I’d be concerned about it attracting rodents, too. Urban foxes don’t need to be fed. But I’m afraid none of this is much help in dealing with your neighbour.

Oh yes it attracts rodents 😭

Hey OP - you sound lovely! Kind to animals and neighbours! Don’t feel guilty I would be fuming if someone fed my cats.

Could you kindly tell her your cat has been to the vets and diagnosed with allergies/diabetes or something??

@dotball thanks for the tip - will look into those foods you have recommended my cat is a picky little thing so I'll try something different for her than the usual stuff I get her.

Midsommar if you’re changing what you feed do it slowly, mix a bit of old/new food and increase the amount of new over a week or more. A sudden change can upset their digestion.

There are many grain free wet and dry foods on the market online. I’ve tried some really good quality wet over the years but they all turned their noses up at them! The Butchers Classic isn’t top notch but it is grain free and they’ll eat it.