Neighbours have stolen my cat, WWYD?

[jennieflower]

I've had my lovely old cat for 17 years, she's 18 years old. She's a big part of the family and we love her, my 6yo son is very close to her, she goes to sleep on his pillow next to him most evenings, then I put her outside when I go to bed at around midnight. She's never liked being indoors overnight and on the few occasions she's been left in she's weed on things in the house, we have a litter tray but that is used by my indoor cat and she's never really used it.

Over the last few weeks she's been coming home less and less, at her age she goes through stages of looking a bit bedraggled but that's to be expected and she's definitely not a stray, she wears a collar and has her regular worming and flea treatments. We call her in every day and she usually comes but it's not unusual to not see her for a day or so, recently she's been looking really good, has been putting on weight and is really healthy looking.

Last weekend she disappeared for 3 days, we were all out calling her, looking under cars, knocking on the neighbours doors etc, we didn't think anything had happened to her as she's been looking so good recently...

I suspected that the neighbours 2 doors down have been taking her in as I've seen her hanging around on their doorstep from time to time, but when I was out looking for her last week, the neighbours were home and their windows were open so they must have heard me and my DD calling her, 5 minutes later I went outside and she was sitting on their doorstep! We retrieved her, I got her home and fed her and made a big fuss of her then went round to see them.

Neighbour invited me in and informed me that they have been taking her in regularly for several months, she sleeps in their house most nights, they don't have a cat of their own but have food bowls, a litter tray, a cat bed, blankets and toys (including one of those bloody awful fake cats in a basket made from cat fur). I was probably too nice to them and asked why they've been taking her in when they know she's our cat, they said that they thought she looked a bit scruffy and unloved and felt sorry for her. I explained that she's not a young cat, and that she's actually really healthy given her age. I hinted that she has some health problems due to her age and that she needs a special diet and needs to check in with us at least once a day so that I know she's ok.

Nearly a week on, they're still taking her in, still feeding her and she's only been home twice, I'm not able to keep an eye on her general wellbeing as she's always locked in their house, even when they go to work!

I don't doubt that they love her, but we do too and we just want our cat back home where she belongs. How should I handle this?

I would go and knock on their door everytime your cat doesn't come when you call.

I had similar with my older cat..he had three operations in his last year and they could see he had stitches but still kept him in. I had to cancel vets appointments and he missed anti-biotics due to these twats. They just used to simper...well he looked hungry/thin/had fleas. They just never seemed to take in they were causing him harm by keeping him in and him not getting the care he needed. Last year my other cat was ill, and I suspect them of keeping her in as she would disappear for a few days and come in confused looking for the litter tray (rarely used one at home)

I still she the kidnapper and cant conceal my hissing at him

The law regarding theft of owned pets
The Theft Act of 1968 covers companion animals, and if your cat or dog is stolen then you have the same legal rights of recourse as you would if anything else you owned was illegally taken. In an instance where an animal is lost or strays, the pet is still considered to be the property of the original owner, and anyone who finds a lost pet must make reasonable endeavours to do everything possible to locate the original owner and return their pet to them before any provision for permanent re-homing can occur. The Criminal Damage Act of 1971 also considers it an offence in contravention of this act if any person deliberately harms or kills an animal belonging to another person. This is in addition to the Animal Welfare Act clauses as stated above.

I read this claptrap and I can't stand people like that. They try to pretend they are 'saving' the cat . Ignorant idiots . Hope there dog or cat gets stolen by a neighbour 😡 Jeez! RSPCA, cats protection move your thieving a@@ down there !!!!

Zombie thread!