Neighbours kittens

[ShadowsShadowsEverywhere]

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!

Mythical have you read this thread all the way through or did you just skip to the end? These kittens were shut in for 2 weeks without food. If I hadn't let them out they'd be dead. They are routinely left for two-four days across weekends with no access to food. They aren't neutered, they aren't fed enough. I haven't just decided I like the look of them. The owners have said on several occasions that they don't see the point in feeding cats that can hunt, yet don't grasp that these two tend to scavenge bins rather than hunt for food. Tortie has gone from a cuddly affectionate kitten to a cat who won't tolerate being anywhere near people, who snarls and hisses if you try and handle him. I have spoken to CPL in the past and they were happy to say that off record unofficial like, if I could take the cats on when the owners left that would be no bad thing. They were even happy to lend me a cat trap if needed although that was several months back.

You mentioned upthread calling the RSPCA. Have you thought that through? The people have moved out and I've got no idea what their new address is. So that would be an interesting call ... Or I could take in a cat who was desperate to come in and eat as was so very hungry, who has been neglected and nearly starved to death in the past by his "owners" and who would be loved and cared for with me. You think I should just let him go because "it's theft" and then have it on my conscience for ever more that I let him go off to an uncertain and potentially horrendous future? No thanks.

No news. Had a lovely evening playing with the two boys, buttons likes to play on her own terms (when everyone else has gone) so that wasn't unusual. Merlin and Pumpkin spent over an hour chasing a piece of string together then curled up asleep one on each side of me while I watched tv!

The H is still there. I did think yesterday around 5pm that he was looking to leave, lots of trips out to the car and bins but he stayed last night. I haven't seen Tortie again, either last night or this morning.

The cats are all shouting at me to be let out today. It's going to be the stressful hauling Merlin off windowsills all day again. Unfortunately I don't have a single window in the whole house that can't be seen by neighbour if he either goes out the front or back which he inevitably will do as he's clearing the last bits out of the house and garden judging by yesterday's activity. I can't go out with the kids either as they both have colds so we will be all going stir crazy again by lunchtime. DS who has just turned 2 is a quite a good cat entertainer though, he runs round the looped lounge/kitchen trailing a toy behind him and all three chase. Killed a good few hours that way yesterday

So yeah, I'll update if anything more happens but atm it's more of the waiting game.

Am wondering if I could attempt to section off part of the house to let my two out for a few hours later, but if the kids start opening doors we will have a problem as Merlin will get out and would be very visible from my garden as my willow fence came down in the winter storms and I haven't yet replaced it meaning only waist high chicken wire between mine and neighbours garden.

Can you borrow a dog crate from a friend or the local vet/shelter?

Just skimmed the more recent news.

OP, you're a saint to those poor cats. Their 'owners' haven't the faintest idea about how to look after them. Fingers crossed you don't see the neighbours again.

I've shut Merlin in the kitchen which is a big room, with food and litter tray in. Have had to push a cupboard up against both doors so the kids don't keep opening them. Then I've opened up the utility room door which leads off the living room, and which has the back door attached and the cat flap. So my two can get out. The kids are playing upstairs out the way and I'm doing laps making sure everyone is where they are supposed to be.

There is one obvious flaw with this plan, in that the kitchen is at the front of the house and has two large windows with no curtains or blinds of any description - I'm a bit strange, I like the dark and have lots of bare windows with fairylights across.

However, for H to see Merlin in the window he would have to come out of his house and then walk away from his car, past my front door and along the road. There wasn't another room I could put Merlin in that the kids couldn't just open the door. The doors to the kitchen both open outwards so can be blocked but all the other doors in the house open inwards so couldn't be blocked unless from the inside.

I'm giving my two a couple of hours to play outside and then they will be shut in again. Hopefully that'll help decrease the yowling, scrabbling at windows and knocking things off shelves to get my attention

Haha that didn't last long. Pumpkin has come back in and is refusing to go out again, Buttons stuck her head out and came straight back in. It's super windy here, trees have come down, so I'm guessing they prefer it inside in the warm. At least that makes me feel less guilty about shutting them all in for the rest of the day!

Of course I have read the whole thread. But it's still theft. Does anyone think it isn't theft?

Come on then mythical what would you do in this situation?

Mythical, would you seriously let these cats be taken by people who don't feed them or care for them in any other way? I'd rather be a thief than condone animal cruelty. Someone has to look out for these poor cats and I'm glad they've got someone like Shadows to care for them.

Can I just also point something out.

I'm a lone parent on benefits with a smidge of additional income from a very small craft business. I already keep ex battery hens, have two young children and 2 cats. I can afford the boys because I want to be able to afford them and will make adjustments accordingly but I am not in anyway sitting on piles of savings. I would not be looking to take on extra cats generally. I took on Buttons and Pumpkin with the knowledge that the boys could potentially become my responsibility again and I was always prepared for that. However if this were any other cat/animal I would be contacting a shelter because I couldn't justify taking on extra pets. So Mythical, I would not be doing this unless I was sure that I needed to. You are going off what I've posted here, I am witnessing the situation first hand. We know for a fact that they wouldn't have survived those two weeks in that kitchen if I hadn't stepped in. If you would hold back because of a questionable legal issue, and therefore watch these cats drive off to a negative future then I'm really quite shocked. I wouldn't forgive myself and I think my self respect would go down the drain frankly if I just sat back and did nothing.

Well said, OP. Mythical, it's a difficult situation because technically, yes, they are the neighbours' cats; but the neighbours have shown repeatedly that they don't know or care how to look after kittens/young cats. The OP has tried talking to the neighbours and other routes (Cats Protection) but the cats' situation hasn't changed.

Technically it might be theft, but sometimes compassion and responsibility just has to override technicalities. These cats wouldn't be alive now if they didn't have the OP as a neighbour, I'm quite sure of that, let alone healthy and pretty well-adjusted.

I have a friend who ended up in court in just these circumstances. I'm concerned that the OP may find herself in the same position.

It cost her a fortune in legal fees and the neighbour got the cat back.

I'm sorry about your friend, but I would think/hope that was quite a rare situation.

Op, any news?

No news, he's still there, cats still shut in ... I'm going through a fortunes worth of cat litter! He went off to work today ... I'm wondering in horror if she's gone on to the new house with the majority of stuff and he's staying here .... Because I had originally been told they were moving mid April which was why them going last weekend took me by surprise so much. So I'm thinking his notice period takes him to mid April and that he has to work that notice period so is going to be here for two more weeks. I have no idea what we do if that is the case, and added complication is that I'm on holiday from fri night and a friend is house sitting .... He's lovely and on board but I don't want to ask him to deal with the level of litter tray cleaning I'm doing. My two mostly go outside so not an issue normally. He has some mobility issues as well so won't be able to physically do a lot of bending down. I'm thinking it may be wise to try and book Merlin into a cattery for the two weeks. It'll be expensive but needs must. The three are starting to rub each other up the wrong way, it's just because they are all shut in together. Merlin as a Tom is starting to pick on Buttons, she can hold her own but if they had a bit more space I think tensions wouldn't be so high.

You can't just take the cat and put him in a cattery! He's not your cat. If you believe he has been/is being abused you should report to the RSPCA but you can't just catnap him. This is so wrong on so many levels. I can't believe people are egging you on.

I do wonder if the neighbour who stole one of my cats spun a similar tale to her friends about how badly he was being treated (he wasn't treated badly, we worshipped him and we are STILL paying his pet plan insurance to this day in case anything ever happens to him even though she, being a witch, keeps him trapped in her house all day long so we only ever see him peering at us sadly out of the window sometimes).

You need to take a long hard look at yourself and your actions, return the cat to his owner and then, if he genuinely has been mistreated, contact CPL and/or RSPCA.

Exactly. You wouldn't have dreamt of leaving your cat shut in 1 room for 2 weeks, with no food. Or move house and leave them behind. Not bother to get them neutered or chipped. Not feed, because "cats should hunt their own food." Let them scavenge from bins because they were skinny and starving.

Bless OP for trying to save these cats. Some people just don't deserve to keep animals. We're they're guardians, not owners.

Did you even read the thread in its' entirety?

Yes I did and I find myself asking the question - if it's as bad as she says why the fuck didn't she call the RSPCA or CPL when the cats were supposedly shut up for 2 weeks without food? Instead she burglarised the owners' house.

Clearly the owners haven't moved house and left the cats behind - the man is living there still and has been looking for his cats. Meanwhile the OP is keeping one of them (a cat that is apparently very much an outdoors cat) a prisoner in her house and is now planning to spirit him away to a cattery. That is theft. If she is concerned she should report them. She has had plenty of opportunity but hasn't done it. Why? Perhaps because the real story isn't as she is painting it. She is trying to steal one or both cats and seeking permission from posters on here when nobody knows the true story.

If I was aware of a cat being abused I'd report it straight away. I wouldn't steal someone else's cat(s).

Oh, and rubbish - have a yourself. I wonder if you have actually read the thread in its entirety.

Well said Rubbish. I can't believe that some people believe these poor cats should be left to it. It's a shame there's not more people like Shadows.

Incidentally - when OP gave up trying to steal her neighbours cats the first time, she got new cats from a breeder. Not from CPL. So, no home visit, no assessment of her suitability to own a cat...why?

The world seems to be full of people who take a fancy to other people's cats and think they can just take them. And full of people who think that's a fine way to behave. Well - it isn't.

Pink If they have been abused (IF) then OP should contact CPL or RSPCA who will take the appropriate steps. That's the right thing to do. Not steal the cats! OP should have contacted them as soon as she realised the cats were trapped in the house. That she didn't speaks volumes.

She has contacted Cats Protection but they said they couldn't do anything. The OP said at one point that 'everyone's hands are tied'; it seems that protection of animals can only kick in very late, perhaps too late if she hadn't been there to step in.

I find your suggestion that the OP is telling us a fake story pretty offensive.