Page 3 | They are stealing our cat!

Isthisasgoodasitis · 01/01/2025 08:25

72hoursinaande · 28/12/2024 19:42

Has anyone experience of this. I have had cats all my life. We currently have two beautiful boys we rescued about three years ago. Over the last couple of months one of our boys had been disappearing for days on end. Everytime we have been worried sick.
He had an apple air tag on his collar but we swapped it for a GPS and basically discovered he had been spending all his time at a house approx 0.5 miles away. We went over and it turns out an older couple (70’s ish) have been letting him in and feeding him. We have politely asked them to stop but weeks have passed and they continue. We have spoken to them a number of times and they just don’t seem to get the message - we are at a total loss what to do.
incidentally our lovely boy is gaining weight at a rapid rate as being fed in two houses! We have explained this isn’t good for his health.
Help!

Next time his tag says he’s there call the police tell them your cat is a property and his return being denied you know what property and give address tell them you are going to get your cat back they need to attend under new theft laws the couple will get cautioned keep your cat in for a week or two and then try again

RaisinFlapjack · 01/01/2025 10:17

We’ve been on both sides of this - we acquired a cat who turned up on our doorstep miaowing plaintively and we (somewhat naive to the ways of cats at the time) let it in and give it some food and over time it started turning up every day, spending all its time with us. Eventually we started treating it as our cat (got insurance, arranged care while on holiday etc. transpired eventually it had belonged to a neighbour who had a busy multi-cat, multi-kid household and this cat really wanted a quiet life.

Years later and numerous cats later our latest cat started spending more and more time away from home - she was an adventurer and we initially thought little of it but after some enquiries we found out it had been spending a lot of time with a neighbour who thought they were doing no harm because they were “only” feeding her fresh salmon and not buying in cat food! After a few conversations I said to the neighbour that it had to go one way or the other - they needed to take on official responsibility for the cat or else stop letting her in and stop feeding her. And they decided to take her on as their cat.

In so far as there is a moral to the story - I think you have to accept that cats are independently minded creatures who will make their own choices.

biscuitsandbooks · 01/01/2025 10:22

BettyBardMacDonald · 01/01/2025 03:36

Indoor cats don't have this problem...

Indoor cats often develop health issues as a result of being shut inside four walls their entire lives though.

Original poster

72hoursinaande · 02/01/2025 00:16

Just to update - since a strongly worded letter alongside a print out of rspca advice was delivered they have finally stopped letting him in and feeding him and Dcat is now back home as normal (pretending he loves us again) he goes 5 miles a day - a catio would make him utterly miserable

OP posts:

DBD1975 · 02/01/2025 01:10

Glad to hear you got your cat back OP.
Responsible, loving owners will do whatever is necessary to get their cats back, however, there are some owners who wouldn't be that bothered and would be prepared to just let their cats move on.
Cats are by their very nature animals which need to be able to go outdoors. Keeping a cat as an indoor cat goes against their natural behaviour and, in my view, is questionable.

Original poster

72hoursinaande · 02/01/2025 15:39

DBD1975 · 02/01/2025 01:10

Glad to hear you got your cat back OP.
Responsible, loving owners will do whatever is necessary to get their cats back, however, there are some owners who wouldn't be that bothered and would be prepared to just let their cats move on.
Cats are by their very nature animals which need to be able to go outdoors. Keeping a cat as an indoor cat goes against their natural behaviour and, in my view, is questionable.

Agree - although his brother is very happy to never leave the perimeter of our garden, he is just not a wanderer but they all have their own personalities eh

OP posts:

ilovesushi · 02/01/2025 20:59

Glad you got it sorted. One of our cats was being fed for years by a neighbour, we could never figure out who. She'd trot off down the garden at about 4.30pm, hop over the fence and then be back an hour or so later for a good post dinner face wash on the path. She started getting very plump and I would try and shut her in at that time but she'd just go later on. Very problematic as she is still a fatty today though the visits stopped years ago.

RaisinFlapjack · 02/01/2025 21:21

DBD1975 · 02/01/2025 01:10

Glad to hear you got your cat back OP.
Responsible, loving owners will do whatever is necessary to get their cats back, however, there are some owners who wouldn't be that bothered and would be prepared to just let their cats move on.
Cats are by their very nature animals which need to be able to go outdoors. Keeping a cat as an indoor cat goes against their natural behaviour and, in my view, is questionable.

I don’t agree that’s necessarily a sign of being a “responsible, loving owner” - we let our cat go to live with our neighbours as she was clearly happy there and had voted with her feet (paws). We were very sad to lose her but felt it would be selfish to force to come back to us. She came to us from living with a single woman, and went to live with an older couple and I think a quieter household was her preference.

Similarly I never felt particularly guilty about cat-napping a cat ourselves in the past - she was always the kind of cat who wanted a quiet life and I’m absolutely confident she was much happier with us than she was in her original home.