would you be happy if a neighbour was feeding your cat and letting it into their house to curl up by the fire

[crazedupmom]

Hi
W egot our cat from a kitten for my 7yo ds who is very fond of it.
However two doors away from us is a an elderly lady who is a cat lover and I feel as though she is taking over our cat. she is feeding it, and letting it into her house in the day and she frequently tells me how it has been asleep on her sofa all day or curled up by the fire.

I mean for gods sake I pulled up on my drive the other day and she was letting my cat out of her house as if it was hers.
While I know this woman doesn,t mean any harm I don,t really feel its appropriate thats she is doing this as its my ds's cat not hers and I feel as though she is taking our cat away from us.
How would you feel am I overeacting on this.

YANBU. she may be elderly but she knows what she's doing. tell her to get her own cat to feed and let curl up by her fire. it's your daughter's cat and an old woman is snatching it up. geesh!

sorry, SON'S cat

Next time she tells you he's been in the house, perhaps you could gently say that actually you would prefer that he wasn't allowed in, so he knows where his home is and that it might be confusing. Also he may be being over fed.

I suspect mine are being fed; they're getting fat and it's not me. 2 pouches a day and a handful of biscuits at night. Don't feel there is much I can do, as I have no clue who it is.

i had a lovely cat who took to jumping through my neighbours' window, luckily they are animal lovers and they just let her patter about til she wanted out, they fed her aswell, to be honest i was just glad they didnt try and poison her and when she went missing they were really concerned and asked about for me if people had seen her. they have their own cat now and our replacement doesnt tend to venture overthat way alot so its not an issue now but maybe you could suggest to the lady that she should get herself a little kitten, and mention that you think yours is putting on weight and think he might be getting too much to eat, she probably loves the company and im sure you wouldnt want to offend her by telling her bluntly to back off as she may come in handy if you go on holiday but subtle hints might do th trick

Rolacola. it isn't unusual for cats to put on a bit of weight during colder months, they often lose it again when spring comes.

Have you thought that yours might be sneaking into some other houses via their catflap and helping themselves to other cats food, without any knowledge of the owners? I have this problem with the one cat mine is sociable with in the close, and he tries to sneak in and eat her food, she just lets him, but I always chase him out as soon as I'm aware he's there.

Crazedupmom, could you raise the subject with the elderly neighbour by saying that your vet has told you your cat is overweight and needs to be on a special diet, so could she not feed it please? You could give her details of rescue centres, etc, saying as she obviously loves cats so much, there are many in need of a loving home?

Cats can't be owned legally, they are free agents. It's why you don't have to report an accident that kills a cat, but do for a dog. Perhaps your cat prefers a quiet life, and chooses to spend the day in the warm.

I think you should probably work on making your home more attractive to your cat rather than being upset that he finds another home comfy.

We have a similar problem - my cat goes into next-door-but-one's house and eats her cat's food! We've told her to just throw him out, but I think she likes him a bit too much to do that. (Not sure her cat would agree though)