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Neighbours kittens

767 replies

ShadowsShadowsEverywhere · 01/08/2014 09:38

We've recently had new neighbours move in next door. Towards the end of last week two kittens appeared in their garden, I'm not sure whether they'd just got them or had been keeping them inside for a few days.
One of the kittens kept popping its head over our fence and watching DCs playing.

Yesterday when I went to take the bins out the same kitten was sat on my path mewing. As soon as she saw the open door she was in the house. I ushered her out the back door, but she spent the rest of yesterday coming back in, or playing with the DCs toys in the garden. Every time something made her jump she ran to me and hid under my long skirt! By about 6.30 she was clearly hungry, had jumped up and eaten some scraps in my kitchen and drank DSs milk, so I shooed her back out the front door where I'd found her as she just didn't seem to want to go over the fence back to her own garden.

She was v v thin and seemed confused about where home was. Yesterday she was coming in the windows from the garden and mewing a lot. What do I do if she comes back today? It's obviously more interesting here as neighbours are out most of the day and we are home from lunchtime onwards most days and have a garden full of toys and balls etc which she spent hours playing with yesterday. I'm worried about how thin she looked but don't know a lot about cats or kittens so don't know how normal that is. Any advice would be v much appreciated!

OP posts:
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HopefulHamster · 22/08/2014 16:21

Please keep updating OP. The kittens would be dead without you - you've saved them.

Dayshiftdoris · 22/08/2014 16:34

So Green

You only offer love, comfort, food and water if you are guaranteed a return?

I prefer the offer to those who need it regardless of the return.

I am so glad you noticed their plight Shadow - hope the vets go well next week. They are beautiful Thanks

QuietTiger · 22/08/2014 17:56

OP -just skimmed through this quickly, so may have missed several points through the thread.

From what I can work out (through skimming the thread), Your neighbours got 2 kittens, neglected them, then pissed off on holiday for 2 weeks without making adequate provision for their welfare. They haven't been chipped, vaccinated, neutered or indeed, fed or looked after properly, apart from what you have done.

This is what I have done in the past would do. I speak as someone who has been in cat rescue a long while, BTW. First get the kittens chipped into your name. Microchips don't give "proof" of ownership, but go a long way towards establishing it. Vaccinate and neuter. Get the vet bills in your name. Again, goes a long way to legally "establishing ownership".

Then, keep the cats in for a while and your mouth shut. If your neighbours get arsey/miss the cats/demand them back, point out that you took the cats in to make provision for their care under the animal welfare act. Point out that the RSPCA would prosecute for animal abandonment as they had failed to make adequate provision for the cats - i.e. fucking off for 2 weeks.

Then take it from there. :) Congratulations on your new cats.Wink

ShadowsShadowsEverywhere · 22/08/2014 18:42

oh thanks everyone, logged on tonight braced to have to defend myself again! we got in late and was so sweet, had two toddlers and two cats sat in a line in the kitchen waiting for their dinner :D

I will definitely keep updating, esp as neighbours due back tomorrow. Interestingly the cats have started coming in at night at the time I usually call them in and lock the door, and theyve been in the house a lot more the past few days.

QuietTiger would that not be confusing for them if I kept them in? I have no issue with doing it if not, and we are home large portions of the day so they get played with a lot if they are in.

i think they need neutering asap ... play biting is becoming frequent which i can handle but 16mo DS not so much! i understand its due to a hormone surge at this age and having them neutered will calm them down?

Thanks again for all posts and support x

OP posts:
timtam23 · 22/08/2014 21:18

My stray kit was neutered around 4 and a half/5 months old, he was starting to go absolutely berserk and playfight with anything that moved

It took a few weeks (maybe about 6?) for the hormones to level off and he was still fairly play-fighty & very lively (still is very lively 1 yr on) but the neutering definitely calmed him down significantly

Good luck tomorrow OP

Fluffycloudland77 · 22/08/2014 22:09

As the weather gets cold you will find them in more, apart from snow. They love snow when they are young.

QuietTiger · 23/08/2014 13:26

I doubt it would worry them to be in, to be honest. My thinking behind it, is that they will be hidden and out of sight and it will give you a strong indication of whether the neighbours are looking for them or not, IYSWIM?

It also means you can deny knowledge if you feel it appropriate as it's very easy to shut them in a bedroom with a litter tray out of sight. Not that I have done this before, you understand

IF they do get out and the neighbours happen to see them in the garden, you can be all Shock over the fact they have turned up. But what it will do is give you a clear idea of whether the neighbours actually give a shit or not or whether the kittens were a 5 minute wonder.

wantacatplease · 23/08/2014 21:02

Did they come back, shadow?

girliefriend · 23/08/2014 21:53

Wow just read thread, well done op!! Poor kittens are very lucky to have you and I am Angry at your neighbours, absolutely disgusting to leave them.

Hope when they do come back its not too stressful, can not see how they will defend themselves though Hmm

OddFodd · 23/08/2014 22:04

Shadow - I take my hat off to you - what a lovely lovely person you are :)

My boys love going out but they find it much more distressing to be locked out than in (if the batteries on the microchip catflap die, this happens occasionally).

So I'd chip, neuter and take possession. Your neighbours are expecting to come back to two dead kittens in their kitchen so they may be relieved they don't have to deal with that (the thought of that beggars belief really but no NT adult could honestly expect them to survive without food and water for this length of time).

Also they got a bit scrappy with one another as their testosterone rose and before they were neutered. The vet had to put them in separate containers. So get them done as soon as it's allowed. Finally, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, unneutered toms can impregnante many queens in a very short period of time. And once they're fertile, they will stray far and wide and you may not see them again. So shut them in and get them done.

ShadowsShadowsEverywhere · 24/08/2014 00:03

Still not back! Shock

OP posts:
WithernseaWoes · 24/08/2014 00:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ShadowsShadowsEverywhere · 24/08/2014 00:47

Yes that is right. Makes you wonder doesn't it? Like you say, why bother to collect them just to lock them away with no food/water. Doesn't make sense.

OP posts:
Dayshiftdoris · 24/08/2014 01:28

Shadow

Have you considered that they have are in rent arrears and done a 'moonlight flit' ignoring it was day

They might have thought you would have raised the alarm earlier if the kittens were with you and they had gone so protecting their own interests told you they were going away and locked the kittens away... Leaving them to die SadSadSad

The thing that strikes me is they took both cars and the dog...
Well they are going in the UK / Europe - who takes two cars if they can get away with it!

Can you see in any other parts of the house? Is it empty?

ZenGardener · 24/08/2014 02:37

I think they are utterly awful people. Even if they did come back I wouldn't want to return the kittens to them.

wantacatplease · 24/08/2014 08:54

I'm wondering if Dayshiftdoris is spot on. Shock

Greenkit · 24/08/2014 08:55

Dayshiftdoris has a point there you know, they could have scarpered

ShadowsShadowsEverywhere · 24/08/2014 09:34

No def not a flit, all their stuff still there, I can see baby's cot and mobile through the upstairs window. The type of job he does means that they don't exactly pay rent anyway (desperately trying not to be too specific.), and they only moved in a few months ago.

OP posts:
NewEraNewMindset · 24/08/2014 09:35

In a way that would be ideal scenario all round.

NewEraNewMindset · 24/08/2014 09:39

X post, shame.

As an aside if he is in the armed forces then you can complain to his place of work re. animal neglect and they take it very seriously.

I used to live in an area very close to an American airbase and there were regularly stories of personnel being punished for animal cruelty. It seemed the norm to arrive in the UK, purchase kittens and puppies and then move on without a thought to the animals. Often the animals were found in a terrible state after the owners had separated from their family and changed accommodation or buggered off back to the US!!!

ohtheholidays · 24/08/2014 10:21

They could have done a flit you know OP.
The house we live in,the couple before us had a newborn baby and just upped and left in the middle of the night one day,left everything behind even clothes.

They're housing was paid for as they were on housing benefit so no rent arrears but apparently they weren't very nice people either and had some even not nicer people after them so they did a runner.

crazynanna · 24/08/2014 10:52

I cannot believe they are still not back Angry
They would be dead now for sure if you did not live next door, shadows.

Just typing that made me cry

Utter, Utter Fucking Bastards
A plague on his fucking genitals evil twat

ShadowsShadowsEverywhere · 24/08/2014 20:31

they are back, my fence has been ripped aside at the point where the gap is and the cats are gone. I guess thats that then.

OP posts:
Methe · 24/08/2014 20:45

You need to go and speak to them!

Fluffycloudland77 · 24/08/2014 20:45

Oh no. That's awful.