pet owners....what do you think of this?

[bubblepop]

my neighbour,whose garden backs on to ours, keeps letting our cat into their house.

now I know cats are free spirits and all that..and that they just go where its warm etc..but she is dissappearing for hours on end and theres me worrying if she's lying injured in the road somewhere..maybe I should just get a life?!
When we first got her as a kitten she lived outside in the shed for a while and thats when she started going over there..at first they telephoned me to tell us where she was as they could hear my kids frantically calling her to come back.The neighbours have 3 small kids of their own who took a liking to our cat even though they have a pedigree cat of their own. A few times I went knocking on their door to see if she was there..which she always was, usually asleep in the bedroom!
anyway, we decided she could spend a lot more time in our house and be made a fuss of..she ended up sleeping on the end of my bed she's such a good girl. But I let her out in the morning to go to the toilet and she goes straight over there to their house and does'nt come back all day! Is this normal? maybe its me!....IM JUST MIFFED !! she's our pet,we paid for her and got her neutered so why should they take her into their house for hours at a time? does this happen to other peoples pets? Eventually I was sooo miffed I put a polite freindly note through their door askin them to stop, I explained that the kids were missing her and we didn't know where she was half the time.I also said that she was in the warm,fed well and our much loved family pet and that we were missing her! but they are still doing it
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oh I don't know..what can I do? maybe I should get a dog!

i'd be absolutely livid!

our neighbours cat constantly asks to come into our house and i refuse to let him as he's not my cat.

really horrible way to behave on their part especially when you've asked them to stop and there are children involved.

the only time i've ever let someone elses cat into my house was when the idiots in the flat next to us got a 6 week old kitten and chucked it out all night in the middle of winter the poor thing was wandering around on the footpath mewing so i took it inside and made it clear to them that if they weren't going to care for it i refused to stand back and watch it be neglected.

i think in your shoes i'd be having a far more strongly worded conversation in which i made it clear that if they so desperately want your cat as a pet they can feel free to pay for it and explain to your children why they so depserately need their pet when they have a cat of their own. and that if they continue to allow her into their home without buying her outright and having that conversation that they will be billed for any expenses you incur from that point on... ie, food and vets bills.

We had a similar problem when I was a child, one of our elderly neighbours used to feed all the cats in our area.

We repeatedly asked her not to and to not allow them into her home but she would claim that they were obviously mistreated or they would'nt come back to her (cats will go anywhere where they are fed and warm, as you are finding out!!)

Eventually our 2 cats caught cat flu & another feline disese (I cant recall the name) and unfortunatly they had to be put down along with 3 other cats that lived in the neighbourhood.

Put your foot firmly down with this woman and let her know that it is YOUR FAMILIES pet, you would'nt take someone elses dog into your home and let it sleep on your bed, so why is it okay with a cat?

Good Luck!! xx

This happened to a friend of mine. The neighbours pretty much took over the cat and my friend hardly ever saw it despite doing exactly as you have done, spoke to them and then a note - all ignored.

The cat became ill and the neighbours took it back to my friend and said "Look, the cat is ill and needs to see a vet". The friends husband answered the door and told them that as they assumed that the neighbours had adopted the cat they could take it to the vet and he shut the door.

The cat was left outside the door and the neighbours never let it back in their house - and of course my friend took it to the vet, can't remember what was wrong with it now but it is now well and living at my friends again.

I am so glad i'm a dog person

Haven't really got an answer for you, having never been in this situation, but i guess in a world where people are sometimes dreadfully cruel to animals its nice to see that people care for them wherever they go, i mean, your neighbours haven't frogmarched the cat back and threatened to shoot it with an air rifle if it dares come in their garden again (this happened to a friend of mine)

I know which situation i'd prefer

Why was the cat in the shed as a kitten? I suspect she thinks she has 2 homes.

Um.they sound like basically nice people but they shouldn't carry on doing this if you've asked them not to. Cats can be terrors at sneaking in - maybe their kids are letting it in even.

Are your kids old enough to send round piteously looking for puss when they are missing her? (or even when they aren't) That might get the message across.

my mother used never let our cats in the house at night either... they lived in the shed at night and were perfectly happy doing so for yeaars and were still the most pampered cats in the neighbourhood!

no differant than having dog living in the shed or garage, as long as they have shelter and a cosy place to sleep there's nothing wrong with it.

my mother only started letting the cats in at night when extending the house meant the shed was knocked down and even then she wouldn't let them out of the kitchen at night until years later when one of them died as they'd spend all night tearing around the house after each other keeping everyone awake

I suppose any cat given the choice of a shed or a warm bed in someone's house is going to take the house option though.
We inherited a cat with our house (the owners moved to Spain) but they said they'd inherited the cat from a neighbour. Basically the cat just moved house - they spoke to the neighbour who was happy with the arrangement.

Agree with Korma - let the cat do its own thing and be glad it's happy. Two lovely homes better than one.

I wouldn't be too happy if I was in your situation. It's one thing to take in a cat that is homeless, and it's nice to be friendly to other people's cats, but they are kind of nicking it!!

in answer to your questions..she was in the shed as a kitten because she was born outside and the mother actually lived in an old disused greenhouse,this was where her bed was along with a whole family of cats.So part of the reason why we did this was because we thought this was the enviroment she was used to.Also,it was partly because my son is slightly allergic, but we have managed to control this now with anti-histamines and limited contact with her.

ANYWAY. she finally sauntered back home at 4pm..the first time ive seen her since around 7am thismorning! she's definately been fed cos not interested much in her food.
oh well..maybe I should accept she's a free spirit after all.. im not prepared to keep her locked in because I think they do need to go out and explore..plus as bluesapphire said..atleast no one is being cruel to her and shooting her with an air rifle!

if my back door is open for a moment my neighbours cat lets himself into my house

they have loads of cats and i really like him, but i don encourage him...

quite often the 1st i know is hearing his bell as he goes up my stairs

other times he fnds me, has a little stroke etc then gets pout outside...

BUT when its hot i want my back door open, and if he comes in there is not a lot i can do about it, so sometiems i just let him be!