My DM has had a cat coming to her house for approx a year now - at first she encouraged it as her grandson (2 years old) liked to see it and just occasionally gave it cat treats. Grandson comes around every so often, doesn't live nearby.
Then, she decided to give it those Lick E Lix treats with some other cats treats mixed in and turns out she's giving them to the cat every morning and course it turns up for these.
The cats' owners don't believe in cat flaps, my mum says they let the cat in by the back door and the cat (and her sister) have been seen out late at night, overnight etc and have come to her house in the snow, rain etc and also my DM has let the cat sit in her house when it's awful weather. The cat is also very small but that may just be the 'breed' - it's a normal tabby/white moggy and seems quite street wise, always catching small mice etc. The cat's sister has moved into another house nearby about a year ago permanently and apparently doesn't go back to her old house. My mum thinks the owners feed the cat but don't seem to take it to the vets etc. She also said that another neighbour saw the male owner of the cat go to hit it once, slap it.
They got a medium sized dog (Schnauzer) a couple of years ago (after they got the cats) which is 'looked after' by neighbours who have 3 kids, the dog is very yappy and barks a lot. The cat doesn't like the dog and hisses at it if she's seen the dog in the street.
This cat is very affectionate and my mum thinks it would move in if she let it, but she's loathe to do this without speaking to the cat's owners (who live at the back street of her street).
Anyway, what would you do? leave well alone, speak to owners? Tell my mum not to feed it anymore? Mum would love to adopt it - the cat is only 7 years old and she used to have her own cat which died a few years ago.