Next Door's Unwell Cat

[TentUpFirstBunkUpLater]

Our neighbours have a cat that we have known since he was a kitten

He frequents our garden, our girls have spats with him and he just runs away. He is a lovely boy

My DH discovered by chance that he has a lump on his chest and we have realised he is very thin - to the point of emaciation

DH spoke to our neighbour telling them that there is a lump on his chest and they said they would take him to the vet.

This was last week

This poor boy is deteriorating before our eyes; my DH is broken hearted

DH spoke to the RSPCA and apparently they have visited based on our call. They have stated (when we called YET AGAIN) that they have seen him and 'some cats are just thin'

He is very very ill. He can barely walk - we don't know what to do

Any advice please

Is it worth talking to the neighbour again? It could be that the cat has been looked at, is indeed declining, but isn't in pain. That might reassure your OH.

My older dog has degenerative myelopathy, and is slowly losing control of her back end, which is also thinning as she exercises those muscles less and less (and she's not suitable for hydrotherapy). She sees our vet every four weeks for another condition, but anyone who didn't know might worry that we weren't looking after her - she does look quite thin back there, which breaks my heart. As she's not in pain and it's being managed, I'd hate to be reported without someone chatting to us so we could explain.

I hate to see other people's pets suffering, but I'd double-check the facts first.

Thanks @Gruffalo

We can see he is in pain, he is very wobbly and we can count his bones

We have knocked on the door when we know they are in. They are avoiding us, so probably think we are just nosy neighbours

We will just invite him into our kitchen when he wants and wait and see

I’d take him in too. If it’s cancer it’s a blessing to pts but if he’s chipped your checkmated.

Evil so and so’s though leaving a cat to suffer like that.

Take him to the vet, they can scan him for a chip, say you found it - if it is ill they may know the way to proceed - ie report to rspca as neglect.

@Gruffalo clearly you love your dog

This boy has suffered a little bit of neglect when a new fluffy girl came into their household, so we are also a tad biased

Sorry for the drip

@TentUpFirstBunkUpLater - In that case (obvious pain, some neglect), I'd consider taking him to the vet, saying he looks like he's in pain. If he needs to be put to sleep, I'd hope a responsible vet would do that regardless of him being chipped or not, though obviously informing the owner if he's chipped.

I hope this doesn't make things much worse between you and your neighbours if they find out. Hopefully he's not microchipped and, if he needs to be put to sleep, the neighbours might just think he crawled off to die.

I have to be honest and say I'd take him to the vet as a "stray" and see what they say.

Sorry but I would be taking him to the vets and working out later what to say to the neighbours.

I’m having the same thing the boy next door has lost half his body weight but they said he’s still eating and not messing himself so they aren’t taking him to the vets. They are entitled to free health care as well.

I’d take him in if you can afford it.

Sounds like he's dying before your eyes. If neighbours are heartless enough to neglect the poor love, I wouldn't hesitate to take him to vet. How bloody cruel to let him out in such a state. Wonder how long it'll be before their latest cat is neglected by them? Cruel bastards.

We had similar but it was our cat! She had a wasting disease that responded to steroids, we spent over £2000 trying to get her better and took her to the vets every 4 weeks for a new set of steroids. Three times different neighbours took her to their vets as they thought she was ill and we were neglecting her, thank god she was chipped. Each of their vets would ring us and then threaten us with the RSPCA before speaking to our vets who explained the situation and we could then go and pick her up.

I am glad the neighbours did it in a way because at least if she had been neglected it’s the right th8n* to do but it was bloody annoying at times. I wish they’d have come and spoke to us first!

She had to be pts after 2 years, she hadn5 been in any pain but finally the steroids stopped working :(

Take him to the vet. If he's chipped then vet will contact the owner and if the vet deems it as neglect, they will also report it to the rspca. The rspca may have already looked at the cat, but they may take more notice of a vet reporting it. (Plus, correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't think the rspca send out qualified vets to examine/ visit reported animals)

This is hard because I prob would have spoken to them to find out what the vet said before calling in RSPCA.
Its difficult because you don't know what is going on and only have suspicions they are ignoring situ.
Given they are now avoiding you do you know anyone else they are more friendly with that could try and find out?
Either that or a local cat sanctuary rather than RSPCA to get their advice.

Personally I would not take him in in case what he has may be infectious and even keeping him in a separate room from your girls might not be enough. I know that sounds heartless but there are some nasty things out there and so there are probably better ways of helping this poor old guy without putting yours at risk. Cat sanctuaries will have proper isolation areas till they know for sure

It might be something easy like thyroid but there are plenty of nasty things it could be too. What area are you in?

Please take him to the vet if you’re able to. If not, call a sanctuary for help and advice. It’s against the law for his owners to ignore his suffering, and if he’s wasting away before your eyes without medical treatment then he certainly will be suffering.

I have little time for the Rspca but if you explain the situation to a local rescue centre there are creative ways around a situation like this. If they don’t give a damn about him then he probably won’t be chipped anyway.

Thank you for all of your comments.

Its very difficult as we think if we took him to the vet, he would not be coming home and that is not our right to do that to someone else's cat

However, we have seen the owner leave their house with a cat box, so hopefully they are doing the right thing