Neighbour ‘stealing’ my cat

[WindUpBird]

Boy cat has been coming home less and less, only for interesting food - tuna & wet food etc which he eats then disappears out again. He’s supposed to have thyroid meds which we’ve not been able to give him as he can’t take them with food and he disappears as soon as he’s eaten. Obviously I’ll need to lock him in next time he comes in.
Today, he came home with his neck covered in flea treat stuff, FFS. I’d only done it last week and it’s supposed to be monthly - no idea if an extra dose is harmful to him.

I don’t know who’s house he’s going to so I’m going to go and knock on doors in a min and explain.

but how do I stop him from going there - clearly he likes them better than us 😭

Is he a bit scrawny due to his thyroid? I picked up an ancient cat who looked in poor condition he wasn't chipped so dropped him at the vet turns out he was a cat with a thyroid issue that was usually never out (explained why we had never seen him) his owners were glad to get him back

Yes, he is a bit scrawny and doesn’t have a collar, we tried him with a collar years ago but he always managed to lose it.

Is he ginger? There is a stray by us and everyone is feeding him.

Stick a collar on and/or a paper collar with your contact details on saying he isn't a stray please contact you for info, or similar.

Can you do some posters with his picture on saying 'this cat is a liar, whoever is feeding him you need to stop. He's fed at home and is scrawny due to thyroid issues. Whoever has used spot on on x date, you have overdosed him as he's just been treated' don't fall for his im starving bullshit. yours number x.

Or words to that effect

Print a load out and post them through people's doors.

I’d also add to gamerchick”s message, “oh if you want to take him on, his thyroid meds are ££££ per month. Plus the additional visits due to him being incorrectly fed.”
I had a gremlin of a cat with a skin condition that was being treated, heard our gate go one day to find a woman scooping him up. I said she was welcome, but it’s costing me an arm and a leg for meds and special food, plus the stinky dander over everything. She soon put him down. Well he also bit her.

There couldn’t possibly be a way for you to stop this from happening? You live in a home with no doors?

I was going to suggest a paper collar too. Cats Protection league suggested this recently when we had a new cat in the neighbourhood that no-one was sure who they belonged too. Cat disappeared in the end so I think it had just wandered farther than usual and found its way home, but it sounded like a good idea. If the cat is co-operative of course! I'm not sure our cat would let us put one on...

Thanks all…I’ve asked around and found the culprit, they’re not in atm but another neighbour was going to text and tell them. And I’ll chat to them when they’re back. Apparently he miaows a lot and asks for food..he does this at home.

we can’t really keep him in as we have another cat who shits on beds etc if she can’t get out the catflap!

Hopefully they will stop feeding him now…I think it’s a bit weird that they’ve been feeding him & medicated him without thinking he could possibly belong to a neighbour 🤷‍♀️

This is bloody annoying and my neighbours do the same. I have had to buy collars saying "do not feed", "l have a loving home" Woman next door encourages them in, l knocked on her door once and my cat was eating out of a bowl on her kitchen floor, she doesn't have any pets. I have told her they have food issues, they have vet appointments so l need them to be around, they are on medication, even resorted to saying they had fleas. Trouble is once they get in the habit of going round it's hard to stop.

This, keep him in for a while. It's not the neighbours fault if they're seeing a scrawny cat around. Annoying, but they have no idea without a sign up.

You could get a cat proof fence, a Catio, or at least a microchip activated cat flap.