Underweight cat, abuse? Wwyd

[ShittyGlitter]

There is a cat that frequents our garden. It's a friendly 2year old girl. We often pet her when we see her and she goes on her way.

I haven't seen her for a long time but didn't think anything of it as cats come and go.

She's showed up today very very thin. Visibly looks terrible, hip bones and spine protruding, body just looks tiny compared to her head.

I don't have cats but had some tuna so offered her food outside our backdoor for the first time. She's scoffed the lot and has now wandered inside and made herself comfortable.

Now the thing is, I know who she belongs to. I assumed she is a much loved pet, but why is she so thin? Her appetite is certainly good.

What should I do? I don't want her to move in because I'm feeding her, she's not my pet. But I can't knock the neighbours door and ask why they are not feeding it can I!?

I don’t know how well off you are, but if you can, feed as much as you can. She doesn’t sound well-loved.

She may have a medical condition. So yes you should knock and ask. One of ours had stomach cancer and was being treated with chemo and a special diet. But she looked very thin. But she needed a proper diet not just tuna from a random. Another had a grain free diet due to allergies and so could not have regular cat food and we needed to knock on doors to ask
people not to feed him.

I'd knock and check she does not have a medical condition. If you are going to offer her human food then sardines are a healthier option than tuna.

Hopefully it will be nothing sinister. I'm happy to feed the thing up if it is not on a special diet or anything, but conscious that I don't really want to adopt a cat.

I'd knock and ask the owner if the cat is elderly/ill. If you're going to feed her, offer any fish in OIL (never brine, it's not good for cats). Had cats for over 40 years

Does she seem otherwise well? We’ve got a very thin cat and it’s just genuinely how she is. She eats more than our other cat and he’s overweight. She’s been to the vets, properly checked out and there’s nothing wrong with her, she’s just a skinny cat

Okay I have canned tuna in sunflower oil and plain chicken breast, but that's about it. I'll go knock just now and ask. Will report back

This really annoys me. My 18 year old cat was on medication for a kidney problem which made him really skinny. The random neighbours feeding him meant he wouldn't come home for his medication. Stop feeding other peoples animals!

Yes she's purring and seems happy, just looks awful, like visible from a distance thin. I've seen healthier strays abroad.

She was a slim thing, but not this thin.

She could be poorly or she may have got stuck in somewhere with no access to food.

So if a cat turned up suddenly emaciated with protruding bones, you’d do nothing just in case there’s a genuine reason? The op has said she doesn’t want responsibility for the cat, and is just trying to think of a way to find out if it does need help.
@ValkyrieAssassin i found a stray oriental cat before. Was extremely emaciated and had sores all over its ears. We found out it had belonged to neighbours who moved away and abandoned it. I spent weeks trying to nurse it back to health thinking he just needed good food/worming etc, but if anything he was getting worse. I took him to the vets and he had a belly and throat full of tumors, and skin cancer :/
Op can you get one of those paper collars for him like someone’s concerned that he’s a stray (you can just put a phone number on, no name if you don’t want the neighbour know it’s you). Hopefully the neighbour will text you to let you know it’s theirs, and then you can ask if it’s ok as you’ve seen it around for a while and it’s getting very skinny

You shouldn't feed other people's cats unless you have checked with the owner. You have no idea why the cat is thin.

Speak to the owner.

Take her to a vet. They can scan and contact the owner.. And advise or report them on tje state of their dcat.

Well owner says that the cat belongs to her 5 year old. Is not ill and apparently is perfectly healthy! She lets it out in the morning it comes back at night. It always ends up in random houses getting fed so doesn't bother much herself

Either are fine to give her, they just can't live on muscle meats long term as they lack essential nutrients.

The cat should not be thin at this time of year. Even my cat that is pure wirey muscle in the summer months has put on weight for winter. Poor cat is probably hungry.

5yo can’t own pets they can barely wipe their own bottoms 🙄

Keep it. They won’t miss it.

My DD feeds the cats.

Yes she is aged 5.

She tells me or DP off if we feed them and we don't give them exactly the right amount.

The older cat used to go and get food off other people including shop owners and chefs. We still fed her.

That's awful, 5 year olds aren't responsible for family cats and certainly not for buying cat food. So she's basically outsourcing feeding her cat to random neighbours and not caring if the poor thing goes hungry.

Did you say anything? I imagine it was awkward. I've afraid I couldn't let a cat go hungry knowing the owners weren't regularly feeding it and it was obviously losing weight. But appreciate you don't want to have a Not My Cat either. Not sure what else you can do though.

@Peoplemakemedespair if it's a stray of course feed it. Don't go feeding animals you know have owners without asking their permission, which the OP is thankfully doing.

The owner sounds awful.

I'm not normally a fan of feeding other people's cats but in this case you've spoken to the owner and there are no medical reasons not to, so I would go ahead.