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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Fat cat pinching ndn food

22 replies

Leah2005 · 11/01/2023 13:04

Is there anything I can do??? Our cat has got overweight - partly our fault for over feeding and partly because he goes into our neighbour's house to eat their cat's food. We are reducing his food gradually but he is not losing weight because he supplements with food from next door. Additionally, he is on a sensitive stomach food at home but continues with a dodgy stomach because he is eating elsewhere. The next door neighbour likes him and doesn't mind him going in but he does also go in when they are not home. I wonder are we better to up his food at home so he doesn't eat next door (and he remains overweight but without a dodgy stomach?) He also likes to wipe his bum on my carpet 🙄

OP posts:
MrAloysiusSnuffleupagus · 11/01/2023 15:34

I’d be annoyed if my cat with tummy issues wasn’t being shooed out from a neighbours. Do they realise him eating their cats food is making him poorly?

Could they lock the cat flap when they go out or swap it to a microchip operated one? Maybe if you pose it as a ‘to stop our cat getting unwell and suffering’ request (& offer to pay to upgrade to a microchip cat flap) they might agree.

defi · 11/01/2023 15:36

Is there a picture of said fat cat?

Original poster
Leah2005 · 11/01/2023 16:55

@MrAloysiusSnuffleupagus they do shoo him away now if they are home (they didn't initially) but he breaks and enters when they are not home - I have seen him sitting in their window. They can't lock the cat flap because they have 2 cats which need to come and go. I couldn't bear to have a microchip put into our cat so I couldn't ask them to do it to theirs particularly as it's our cat that is the nuisance. I honestly think he would find another source anyway.

OP posts:
Original poster
Leah2005 · 11/01/2023 16:59

@defi especially for you 🙂. He doesn't look so fat in this picture but he is over 5kg now. He lies on his back a lot of the time now and I'm convinced it's because he's too uncomfortable to lie on his big belly 😆

Fat cat pinching ndn food
OP posts:
dementedpixie · 11/01/2023 17:00

Why would you not get your cat microchipped? It is a simple procedure and could help if your cat goes missing

MrAloysiusSnuffleupagus · 11/01/2023 17:13

@Leah2005 you can get cat flaps that work with collar sensors so they don’t have to be chipped, although it is a good idea to have your cat chipped.
We found a cat recently and vets were able to contact the owner and let them know. I’d be devastated if my cat vanished one day and I never knew what happened to them.
no other suggestions re him breaking & entering-unless you get a catio and keep him confined?

Original poster
Leah2005 · 11/01/2023 17:28

@MrAloysiusSnuffleupagus @dementedpixie sorry - my cat is microchipped for ownership - I should have said I couldn't bear him to have another chip for a cat flap. My friend had hers done and she said it was awful .🙁She had to have it done because her ndn cat kept going into her house. I just can't see a way to ask my ndn to do it. I guess I'm asking an impossible question really. I wouldn't want to keep him confined either.

OP posts:
thecatneuterer · 11/01/2023 17:36

Microchip operated cat flaps work on existing chips. You don't have to get a new one put in the cat!

I've had a similar situation a few times with various neighbours. I've solved it by supplying and fitting microchip cat flaps for them.

dementedpixie · 11/01/2023 17:36

You don't need a 2nd microchip. Their existing one can be used for the catflap

ItsOnlyWordsInnit · 11/01/2023 17:48

Hope your friend didn’t mistakenly double-chip her cat!

Assuming that your ndn‘s cats are already chipped (it would be irresponsible not to), offer to pay for a chip-reading flap to be installed. But how clever is your lovely boy? Very clever cats can learn either to hook the flap towards them with a claw, or follow straight after the ‚legal‘ cat before the flap has a chance to close. Luckily my boy is thick as mince and would never learn such skills…
BTW my boy also lies on his back with legs splayed - it’s just something some cats like (seems to be more among boys though, I suspect they liked airing their pompoms pre-neuter).

Original poster
Leah2005 · 11/01/2023 17:54

I honestly didn't know they didn't need another chip - I thought they were supplied with the cat flap (Shuffles off to Google how micro chip cat flaps work). @ItsOnlyWordsInnit We always suspect our boy to be light of brain and heavy on brawn so what he loses out on intelligence, he makes up with muscle. He can actually get in/out of our locked cat flap.

OP posts:
thecatneuterer · 11/01/2023 18:00

I'll save you a google. To programme a chip into a microchip cat flap you need to press a button, then wave the cat in front of the flap until the flap beeps, then push another button to store the chip number. And that's it.

And microchip cat flaps tend to be much sturdier and harder to force open than other types.

Beamur · 11/01/2023 18:02

The cat flaps can be programmed to recognise the chip that's in your cat. You generally just have to hold the cat near the flap and press a button.
My previous cat did not respect a locked flap either and would literally just pull it off the wall until he could break it enough to get through. Not a big or muscly cat either. Just determined!

defi · 11/01/2023 18:50

Aww what a cutey I can see why your neighbours befriending him

CharlotteStreetW1 · 11/01/2023 19:29

This is my ndn's generously proportioned cat. In my dining room. He's refusing to go back out in the rain.

Fortunately he's too thick to work the cat flap so comes in if the back door is open. Or more likely he's so entitled he expects it to open automatically for him (he doesn't have one of his own).

He's not allowed to eat our cats' food.

Fat cat pinching ndn food
Fat cat pinching ndn food
Original poster
Leah2005 · 11/01/2023 19:52

@Beamur @thecatneuterer love the idea, of waving a cat in front of a cat flap. I guess my friend's cat wasn't already chipped when they got their cat flap. I'll have to discuss with neighbours if they would be happy to put a chipped cat flap in (if I pay for it). I wonder how many more times I can say cat flap in one paragraph.

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Original poster
Leah2005 · 11/01/2023 19:54

@defi he is a lovely, loving boy. 😊
@CharlotteStreetW1 he is a big boy - looks a bit maine coone. Beautiful.

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CharlotteStreetW1 · 11/01/2023 20:54

Leah2005 · 11/01/2023 19:54

@defi he is a lovely, loving boy. 😊
@CharlotteStreetW1 he is a big boy - looks a bit maine coone. Beautiful.

Yes he's Maine Coon x Ragdoll so his size can be forgiven. He genuinely thinks he lives in two houses!**

defi · 11/01/2023 21:25

I'm soo jealous random cats never wander into my house. Don't know where I'm going wrong

Original poster
Leah2005 · 11/01/2023 21:43

@CharlotteStreetW1 he is very handsome.
@defi my in laws have had 4 cats on the trot that have just randomly turned up at their house & stayed

OP posts:
PerrinAybara · 11/01/2023 21:50

Our neighbour's chonky cat worked out how to break in through our microchip cat flap by hooking it towards him with a claw. He much preferred our cat food to the stuff he was given at home.

It was solved when we changed to a cat flap that worked on the microchip for going out as well as coming in. He was not happy with us.

Supersimkin2 · 12/01/2023 23:30

All these neighbourly kitties are lovely. And well-built, not fat.

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