To break into my new neighbours house *THREAD 2*

[Catsos]

Following on from my thread yesterday https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4881905-to-break-into-new-neighbours-house-serious-question-not-trolling

to update all of the lovely people who are trying to help me rescue my cat who has got himself stuck in an unoccupied house.

Updating very shortly

I was responding to the poster who doesn’t want pets in her house, not talking about OP’s neighbours.

Many cats do indeed love to roam freely around the neighbourhood, it's why sadly so many of them are injured and killed on the roads.

My neighbour's dog would likely kill a cat who wandered into his house or garden - hopefully most cats have the sense and timidity to steer clear.

I’m sure cats are well aware of which houses have dogs in them.

I’m so glad your cat is ok and safe at home with you. I’ve been out all day and this was first thing I checked when I got home.
if I was the new home owners I’d honestly laugh and just be glad the cats ok. A bit of carpet shampoo and paint will sort it all. Hope they’re ok.

You obviously don't know the first thing about cats! They like to wander around their neighbourhood and see what's happening. Any time my cats have had to stay inside, even for a short time, they absolutely hate it. There are lots of cats where I live, the neighbours mostly have their own cats and really don't care about visits from other cats - and getting run over isn't a given. I would hate one of mine to be killed on the road, but would rather they had a shorter happy outside life than a long miserable one where they were confined.

I'm glad to hear your cat is safely home OP, and please ignore the unpleasant posts on your thread/s.

OP, I’m only just posting but read your first thread and now this — and I am so SO glad you’ve got your cat back. (I have dogs not cats, but completely get where you’re coming from — I’d be frantic if anything happened to them.) The new owners might not get it, but if they’ve ever had pets, they will, I’m sure (either that or they’re heartless sods), and in their situation, I’d absolutely say look give me a few quid towards cleaning up, and that would be the end of it. Good luck — but in the meantime, I’m so pleased your cat is okay. X

So glad you got him out safely. Good luck with the owners tomorrow. Try not to stress too much, either they'll be nice about it or they won't. When explaining what happened it might help to say that you were panicking, which you clearly were, and therefore not thinking straight, hence crab sticks and ham which may not have been the best idea but you were desperate at that point. Throw yourself on their mercy and hopefully they'll be understanding. And if they choose to be nasty about it, do you really want to be friends with them anyway? They clearly have the upper hand in this situation, and how people behave when they have the upper hand can be very telling I think.

As to everyone saying it's the house owners fault for the way the cat flap is set, presumably it was set like that when they bought the house. If they've never had a cat themselves how would they know to rush in and change the cat flap settings the moment they got the keys? I've never owned a cat and, while I do know cat flaps with one way locks on them exist, it really wouldn't occur to me to check it when I first bought the place (or perhaps it would now having read this story). Personally if I was the home owner I'd be relieved the cat was alright, and just give the place a good clean myself, though I see nothing wrong with them requesting OP pay for professional cleaning.

Let us know how it goes tomorrow OP.

If you had raised them to be indoor cats though then they wouldn't be miserable. Maybe you couldn't make your current cats enjoy being indoor cats, but you could in future if you got more.

Even Peta and the animal humane society say it's best to keep them inside.

For a start I don't give any credence to a word Peta say, they are a bunch of idiots.

As for being raised as indoor cats, you do realise they can look outside through windows and see what they are missing. I believe keeping cats indoors is cruel and I will NEVER confine a cat to a half life. A friend of mine did have an indoor cat and after its death he told me he did actually feel guilty as he could tell that it really wanted to go outside. What a boring life it must be for an indoor cat. As I said, you know nothing about cats and so don't see the pleasure they get from being outside. Maybe you might like to try living inside yourself and see how you enjoy it?

Then they should have secured their external cat flap before leaving the house unattended for any length of time

Was the cat really at risk here? Surely can survive more than a few days without eating. Water would be my main concern but perhaps would have been able to get into a toilet or something if desperate

I'm just dying of laughter. I mean obviously only because it was a happy ending but still. If it had been my cat I'd have just waited a few days to see if she makes her own escape before any manouevres. Also the neighbours should fix their clearly malfunctioning cat flap.

I didn't say to keep it in-doors, I said to cat-proof the garden or choose another pet.

I love living inside 😀

You know with 'indoor' cats that you can actually take them outside don't you? You don't just leave them inside all the time. But it requires effort to have a pet then like it does with dogs and a lot of people aren't bothered because they just want to feed them and let them roam.

People say dogs are different but dogs enjoy the indoor life because a good owner devotes a decent chunk out of their day to walking the dog, bringing it outside to play, playing inside, training, enrichment activities, toys etc.

Unless the builder sucked his teeth and shook his head, it’s probably not too bad -he could be your ‘friend’.

As soon as the builder arrives tomorrow go and speak to him, ostensibly to ask when the owners are going to arrive, but also to see how bad/what the damage is in his opinion and get a his thoughts about how the owners might react (he might have called them).

Offering tea/coffee/biscuits etc. could be helpful 😉

Hope your cat is appreciating being at home with you.

Somehow I doubt it will be a problem in this case 🙄, but obviously a pet shouldn't be allowed to roam if it makes a habit of getting into other people's homes and being a nuisance, whether it's a cat, dog, hamster, or pet chicken, regardless of how cute it may be. I wouldn't be pleased, much less amused, if I were these new neighbours. Irresponsibility doesn't tickle my funny bone.

One of my cats was killed by dogs. He didn't roam, the dogs escaped their garden and into mine.

I was responding to someone else with my latest post, not you.

I will not cat-proof my garden. My neighbour's cats come here all the time, and mine go to their gardens - it's what cats do. My last flat was next to a house with a huge garden, which my cats loved and spent most of their time in - and before you start, my neighbour was happy with that, and it wasn't only my cats who were there.

I also will not choose another pet just because you think I should. Why are people like you even on this thread? The OP asked for advice on getting her cat home, not posts from a bunch of people who obviously don't know the first thing about cats, and appear to have nothing better to do than lecture others about how they should house theirs.

Our neighbours new cats keep getting into my house because we have to leave the windows open to keep it cool. I hate cats and I hate them invading my space. I keep a water pistol by the back door so I can squirt them every time I see them in my garden. OP, if I was your neighbours and I ever saw your cat near my house again I'd be furious given the damage it's done. You'd better be prepared to pay for any and all repainting and cleaning, and to grovel a lot.

Once again, you don't know the first thing about cats! How should I take them outside, on a lead? Maybe you are mixing them up with dogs?

As for loving living inside - do you never go anywhere? Actually, it wouldn't surprise me to hear that you don't. I rather suspect many posters on MN have limited social activity and try to make themselves feel important by pushing their unwanted views on random strangers online.

My oldest cat lived in a crate for three months after an injury. On the day before his last check-up with the vet I took him outside for a couple of minutes, before I had time to do anything sensible he was off, over the fence and gone.

I have also had dogs in the past, so please do not insult me by insinuating I have cats because I can't be bothered. I spend vast amounts of money on my cats, not to mention time with them, and they have the best life.

Why have you, and others, hijacked a thread where the OP was asking for help in getting her cat back? We don't actually care what people like you think, and continually telling me what I should do with my cats is falling on very deaf ears, so you might as well give up.

I'm so glad you got him out!! Ignore all the weirdos on here. I wouldn't charge you for the rug if it was me. I'd laugh my head off. Hope they see the funny side.

@BakedTattie I take it you thought this was clever when you typed it? 🥴🥴