DM feeding cat that visits her garden

[HungryTabby]

Hi. There is a cat that has been visiting my mum's back garden on a regular basis. The cat started visiting about 2 months ago. It's a tabby. She isn't sure if it's a boy or a girl. I have seen the cat myself once. She left a bowl of cat food out for it today and she said the cat devoured it very quickly. It was also miaowing towards her before that. He (or she) seems to be a nice, friendly cat. My mum has previously had issues with rats in the garden, and is quite happy to see cats venturing in and out. The cat doesn't look to be malnourished or unwell, although I'm not a vet or cat owner so it's hard to know for sure. My mum is now worrying about the cat and thinks it might not be getting fed enough. I am now starting to get a bit worried myself too. Is she being daft and worrying about nothing? Am I? I'm curious what other people would do in this situation.

Don't feed someone elses cat, or else one may end up being called a Cat Burglar!

you can take it to the vet to have its micro chip scanned, and find out if it is local, or lost, or homeless.

The cat is coming back and miaowing because she keeps feeding it. If she's genuinely worried it's a stray then she needs to get it to a vet - but it's probably just greedy.

If she wants a cat she should get her own, not feed other people's.

We have a neighbour who does this. It's someone else's cat and they feed her, let her sleep over, post pictures online of them with the cat. Have bought her a bowl and bed even put a collar on the cat!.. They've even been warned with the owners changing the collar and and leaving a note on her to tell them to stop doing it.

I'd be super pissed if someone did this to our cat.

Some people just want all the cat without any of the responsibility. If that cat gets ill, they're not going to do anything, its not their cat!

Don't feed other people's cats.

Both of mine would cheerfully turn up doing the 'I've never been fed before, not in my whole life' act.

And then they would muck about and not come to their actual homes.

Your DM needs to find out if it is a stray or pack it in.

Cats always devour food and look hungry. This does not mean it doesn't have am owner and isn't loved and well looked after. I suspect you were hoping the "This cst has chosen you to be it's owner brigade to turn up and tell you to keep it". What I would suggest if you are genuinely worried is put a paper collar on it with a note asking if it has an owner. My neighbours cat developed obesity and eventually died because so many other people fed it.

One of our cats we think is being fed by others, he's really heavy (5.5kg) and only gets the same food as the other two cats (4kg and 3.8kg) so think he's doing a Six Dinners Sid
Put a collar on the cat to see if it's got a home, if not catch it and take it to the vets or CPL to see if it's chipped

We have a six dinner Sid too! He used to come back smelling of smoke so we knew he’d been in someone’s house.
Agree with pp - if she is worried about the cat then try to have it scanned for a chip.

My neighbours do this, they stole someone's cat years ago and still feed all the cats in the area. End result is they've turned my garden into a cat highway and rest stop area, with late night fights as well. Don't feed other people's cats.

I too have a six dinner sid, I have repeatedly asked the neighbours to not feed him.
Its all well and good they feed him, until it's time to pay vet fees. Then they are just like "oh its YOUR cat your responsibility"

Post on Facebook local page, someone with a chip reader will come out to check for a chip.