Feeding neighbors cats

[caramellas]

I have two cats who have started coming into my garden. They are always hungry and look scruffy and thin. I have fed them water and cat nibbles and they were very nervous but ate the snacks really fast.
I don't know who they belong to but I have a feeling they are not being fed properly.

What should I do?
Should I continue feeding them little snacks and water?
I don't want to make them sick eating the wrong food or too much.

Also I say they are the neighbors cats but I can't be certain of that. All I know is they come round daily so must live close by.

Paper collars asking if they have an owner with your number on?

Call the sspca/rspca/cats protection. If they aren't being fed, they may be strays, they may be lost etc. They can check for a microchip and identify an owner and then either get them home and tell the owner how to look after their pets better if needed. If no microchip, they can nurse back to health and rehome.

Agree about the paper collar or you can get an actual collar for £1 then can attach something to it

Oh they might not live close by really. They may have wandered too far from home and got lost and now they just wander near your home.

Aww . That's kind of you. If they're obviously skinny & look bedraggled too they prob got dumped when people moved. Happens all the time where I live. I'd ask your neighbours & if no one knows ,just keep feeding them. My neighbours cat defected to me, she was never let in, fed only occasionally,very underweight,riddled with fleas & crying on my windowledge when it was -3 outside. Neighbour laughed when I commented re the fleas & never being allowed inside, even when bloody freezing & snowing hard, so that did it.

There is a neighbor I think they may belong to but unfortunately they have a history of mistreating animals.

If I were to contact RSPCA can anyone tell me what they will need to know regarding the cats?

Well cared for but old cats often look skinny and their coats can look a little bedraggled, and basically all cats are great at putting on a starving kitty act if they think it's going to get them fed.

Definitely go for the paper collar with your details on to find out if they do have an owner (hopefully not the neighbour that mistreats them).

And it's always best to avoid feeding unknown cats in case they're on special diets, kidney problems are pretty common in cats and require specific foods.

Hope you find the owner.

I definitely would not be putting my number on a cats collar if I thought it might belong to someone who abuses it. Who knows what they will do to you? Least if it's the rspca involved, they won't know you called if it is them.

So they are now your cats? if you feed them they’ll return.
They sound homeless ... :-(

Start with a paper collar, if you get no response then contact cats protection. Keep feeding, they could be lost and starving.

Don’t contact an animal rescue centre unless you are happy to take the risk that they may decide to euthanise the cats. This is shockingly common, particularly with the RSPCA.

If you feed the cats regularly they will ‘adopt’ you and come regularly. Are you ok with that? I would be, but its up to you.

It seems unlikely that you’d be giving then the wrong food but it does happen (I know someone whose allergic cat is often made ill by her ‘helpful’ neighbour who insists on feeding it.)

Either ignore them, or accept that you’re going to gove them a snack each day.

I'm more than happy to give them a snack each day. I am concerned that they aren't having a 'proper' meal though.

I've never owned a cat. Can I ask what a cat would typically eat in a day?

At least get them to a vet and get them scanned. You can't just steal other people's cats, they maybe lost and have people missing them. Contact cats protection, say if there are strays you will keep them, if you want.

I’d contact Cats Protection- we have had recent experience with them and they were brilliant.
If you keep feeding the cats, they will keep coming back so you might want to consider getting some cat food for them.
Then CP can collect, check for a microchip and rehome if necessary.
Alternatively, you could decide you’re now a cat owner!

Phone an animal charity or do the paper collar thing. Please stop feeding them.

A local neighbour has taken to posting on facebook to beg neighbours to stop feeding their cat as it is on a special diet and under care and monitoring by the vet and it's making their cat I'll.

I'm sure you mean well but please stop. Even if the cat is undated for, at best you are treating the symptom and not the cause.

As you’ve never owned a cat some advice;

• Old cats can look thin and their coats a bit scruffy. Doesn’t mean they’re not well fed or cared for.
• All cats are great at putting on the starving act when they think they might get fed. I can feed my cat and ten minutes later he promptly puts on the starving act for DH to get a second meal don’t be fooled.

Cats will also go wherever there is food, which is why they are returning. If they are someone’s beloved pets you can cause the owners huge amounts of stress and upset as they keep returning to you. Feed them enough and they might abandon their owners altogether, cats aren’t known for their loyalty. First you need to make sure they don’t belong to someone.

Can you use a paper collar or post pics on your local fb group? I would do this before you start a feeding routine.

Or as above posters said you can scan them for a chip.

Are you sure they are actually thin. What a lot of people think of as normal is actually overweight.

They're coming back because you're feeding them! Cats are masters of the "I'm starving, feed me!" look. Plenty around here go to several homes a day and get fed at all of them!

Stop feeding other people's' cats. If you're genuinely concerned about their welfare, attach a note to their collars or pop a post up on your local Facebook site and ask if they have an owner. Someone will know who they belong to.

I can almost guarantee they have a home to go to, they're just scrounging

Owned or stray?

Old cats can look v scruffy and not cared for even when they are. Plus they are the most likely to need special diets. And practically every cat can turn on an 'I've never been fed before in my whole life act' if they think it will get them a dinner. Gods knows, one of mine does it with me twice a day.

If they are very nervous then they are more likely to be lost/dumped than a Johnny Five Dinners. Sadly my village seems to be a v popular cat dumping site and so my neighbour and her friends have regular attenders for cat dinner who are all very much strays.

Please stop feeding them.

Either put a paper collar on them to find their owner or call someone like cats protection who’ll send you collars.

Cats are very good at the “I’m starving” routine and many people cannot judge a healthy weight for a cat. My cat always looks like a bedraggled mess after 5 minutes in the garden, even though she’s well looked after and brushed daily.

My old cat was injured by a fox at night after a neighbour took to feeding him. Being fed elsewhere meant he had no need to wander home for food in the evening, which meant I couldn’t keep him in overnight as I always had. It also played havoc with his kidney medication. He had to spend the last 6 months of his 19 year life confined to our garden.