Help! Neighbour trying to steal my cat!!

random456

Tomorrow I am going to try and search out his owners again (although I'm still not sure how to broach the mat/fleas subject with them), otherwise yes, I think I'll go with that idea and send a message with our phone number in a collar. Thanks- I'll keep you updated as soon as I hear anything.

viktory

mollycat wrote: »

She hasn't "kept" the cat!

Mmm, I disagree. By her own admission the cat spends upwards of 20 hours a day in her house. This has been going on for three months and yet she has not considered taking the cat to vets to see if it is chipped. Or simply not letting it in the house.

To be honest, I am not sure we are getting the entire truth here. This:

pumpa wrote: »

Fast forward 3 months later- the cat spends 20 hours a day or more in our house.

really seems to contradict this:

pumpa wrote: »

His fur is horribly matted, I discovered tonight he has fleas.

So that cat has been spending more than 20 hours a day for three months with the OP, but the OWNERS are neglectful because the cat has matted fur and fleas!! How can they be neglecting the cat when it spends 98% of the time with pumpa? Matted fur takes time. She has had the cat for three months.!

Doesn't ring true to me and she should have not let the cat in, in the first instance, or certainly put a lot more effort into finding the cats owners. Even if she thought it was a genuine stray (and her OP appears to refute this:

pumpa wrote: »

He seemed fine- not thin or anything.

A cat that is not thin, appears in good health should not be taken in by anyone else - and if it is every effort should be made to find the owners - starting with a trip to the vets to check for a chip. Pumpa did not do this and they is her failing. Therefore, I believe that she has kept the cat as much as possible, short of actually shutting in the house.

GobbledyGook

Pumpa with all due respect if the cat is spending 20 hours a day with you then the owners have not had much chance to take it to the vet. You may not force the cat to be in all that time, but by allowing it to build up to that you have created the situation.

This is very similar to what a well meaning neighbour has done to me. My girls are heartbroken as I've have to have our cat put down over Christmas. Our boy was a hunter and wanderer so him being out hours on end didn't worry us. However he then started getting fatter and bloatier and sicklier. A 'kindly' person up the road was allowing him in (which meant they didn't actively chase him out and also meant when I called he didn't hear me and he missed an important vet appointment) and feeding him. They took it upon themselves to worm him and flea treat him despite him clearly having a collar. Due to them giving him food that he was allergic too I have 2 young daughters whose main memory of Christmas 2010 will be that we had to have the cat put down.


There is no excuse for taking someone else's cat in. At the end of the day if the cat spends 20 hours a day with you then you are basically having a cat without the expense of feeding it or taking it to the vet. If the owners know it spends so much time with you they may believe the cat is with you now - it may be someone entirely different feeding it.

I do wish people would think twice before feeding other people's cats or allowing them into their homes. Once you allow a cat in once you are basically creating the cat a second home and enticing it and have no regard for the people who have grown to love the cat since they brought it home. My girls adored our cat and if it hadn't been for someone else taking it upon themselves to feed him they'd have been enjoying his company for many years to come.

random456

I posted previously he has been coming in for long periods for just under the past month, prior to that he let himself in through the back door. I started to notice the mats then, as he was coming to us for fuss, and I could feel hard lumps in his (very long) fur. This was still at the point where I presumed he was a stray. I removed some of the mats with clippers (as recommended by vet sites- no scissors) and he seemed ok for a while. In the past couple of weeks I've noticed them getting worse again, and last night is when I discovered the fleas.

Whatever I say, someone will come back with 'you should have done xyz', or accuse me of lying. If I was lying, I wouldn't have bothered posting here for advice. You all appear to be experienced cat owners, which I am not. things that may seem obvious to you aren't to me, so I've been learning via the internet as I go along, culminating in my post here.

Even though I have asked for advice more than once, all I am getting is attacks on my character. That's fine, I can deal with that, doesn't bother me what other people think. At the end of the day, I want what's best for the cat, and I hoped that I would be helped here. Obviously, it appears that the cat is secondary to a good round of finger-pointing, accusations, and vilifying.

Whilst I go out and trace the owners tomorrow, you can all carry on being extremely helpful, repeating yourselves with the same fake accusations, and telling me what I should have done a month ago.

I asked for advice concerning how I should broach the subject if I find the owners. THAT is going to help the cat's welfare, unlike the constant re-iterating I have received so far.

@gobbledegook- I am not feeding him as yet nor keeping him in against his will. As I explained, I am not an experienced cat owner (although I have had dogs, guinea pigs and hamsters in the past) and I presumed at the time that he'd never be interested in our house for longer than five minutes because we had no food for him. I was always told that cats go where the food is, so I was surprised that he started to come more often. I didn't plan to 'keep', or 'kidnap' the cat!

GobbledyGook

Pumpa - I'm not attacking your character at all. I'm just explaining to you about the impact of someone with similar intentions to yourself has had on my family - the impact you could be (unwittingly) having on another family.

When you say he stays in your house - do you actively put him out? If you had then eventually he'd have realised he wasn't getting in. By giving in to him he realised that if he miaowed long enough he'd get in. When I got one of mine I went through over a month of him constantly whining at the food cupboard. he'd learned from his previous owner if he cried long enough he'd get more food - as a result he was massively overweight.

I've had cats all my life so if I can offer you any advice then I will. How bad is his matting? It could be that his owners take him to the vet or groomers to sort the mats every so often.

Are you actively trying to find the owners? To be honest if I were you I would start limiting his time in your home. Give his owners a chance to sort things by making sure their cat isn't in your home all day when they could be attempting to get him to the vets.

If you do decide to take him to the vet then please do the owners the courtesy of taking him to the vet as a way of seeing if he is chipped to track them - nothing else. There could be many reasons for him to have mats and if they are only seeing him for a couple of hours a day then they may not have spotted the fleas given you've only just noticed them yourself.

purplepardalis

If my cat turned up at any time full of fleas and matted even if I hadn't seen him for months then I would shut him in and get him to the vet. Pumpa is asking the right questions and being compassionate and being thoughtful. She hasn't stolen him. She's being the only person that gives a damn. This is nothing like the original situation that was posted and all of you who are criticising and being so judgemental are ridiculous. The best advice is indeed to put a note on a collar and see what happens. And as for all of you who feel it's necessary to be so nasty to someone asking advice - shame on you. You are quite frankly horrible. I like this forum for it's diversity of subject matter but I hate all the vile people whose only pleasure is to try and make others look stupid and make themselves out to be holier than thou. Just stop it. If you have no relevant advice then stay out of the conversation.

BitterAndTwisted

I've read the last two pages of this thread and I'm ashamed of the way Pumpa has been attacked merely for asking a few innocent questions. It wouldn't surprise me if the cat in question has a number of different homes where it's being fed. If I had a cat sitting at my back-door crying to be let in when there's snow on the ground and sub-zero temperatures I'd let it in too. So shoot me.

random456

@gobbledegook: Thankyou! This is what I was after- advice. As you said, it was never my intention to hurt anybody by taking him in. I don't mind being called misguided- but I truly have his best interests at heart, and I am not malicious.

Yes, when he first started coming in I did put him back out. For about a week. Then we all started getting used to him, and then the snow came, and he cried outside the back door for so long I cracked and let him in- that was the start of it.

His mats- when I first noticed them, they were over his stomach and neck, a couple of centimetres each. There were about 10, which I removed, and he stopped scratching and seemed much happier. There were days which I had to put him out (nobody in the house) and each day, his mats seemed to come back. So, I'd groom him and clip them. In the past couple of weeks, I noticed a HUGE one to the left of his neck- it appears to be welded to the skin, and at least 3 inches in length. It's a solid mass of fur, and feels very hard. I removed half of it with the clippers, as he was scratching at it, but it's so bad I can't get rid of it all. Now some of the long fur has been cut surrounding it, it is glaringly obvious. This is why I wanted to take him to the vet. It's too matted for a non-professional to remove.

He still has a lot of smaller mats under his stomach which I don't dare touch. I don't want to frighten him.

Yes, I've posted 3 times now I am going out tomorrow to try and trace the owners to the best of my ability.

To the two posters above me- thank you.

viktory

purplepardalis wrote: »

The best advice is indeed to put a note on a collar and see what happens.

No, the best advice is for the cat to be taken to the vets to see if there is a chip. Then the owners can be traced and the vet can raise the issue of the matted fur and fleas. Pupma would be able to walk away from the vets, knowing that the cats real owners would know nothing about her - important I would have thought considering she has expressed concerns about their reaction to her taking the cat in and criticising their care of the cat. The cat gets the care it needs, the owners are notified and Pumpa walks away knowing she has done the right thing. This should have been done months ago.

Frankly, a note is a ridiculous idea.

NB I have NOT attacked pumpa, I have advised her on the best course of action for her and the cat from the start.

GobbledyGook

If you don't find his owners in the next few days then I'd take him to the vet to scan for a chip. Perhaps try postering the local area if you have no joy.

If possible you need to find his owners before getting him to the vet as they'll likely know if he's got any issues with being sedated or knocked out - which if the mats are really bad he could need. You are quite lucky really, if you'd tried to cut Boris' mats out then like me you'd have ended up in A&E needing stitches :rotfl:

Your vet may not be willing to treat him until you find the owners so fingers crossed he's chipped.

If you do find the owners please be prepared that they may not be best impressed with you. I wouldn't go in all guns blazing about the mats and the fleas, just explain how you thought he was a stray, but someone just told you that they thought he was from their street etc.

If they are decent people and owners you may have to develop a very thick skin and learn to be tough with not allowing the cat into your house all day. That will be very upsetting to you, but be prepared it may be what the owners ask of you. They may also decide to keep the cat in so I'd look out the number for the RSPCA in case that you have genuine concerns that they are just downright neglectful.



Cats are very fickle, but just because they go in someone else's house doesn't mean they are not well looked after. One of mine will allow any female to stroke him and tickle his belly. Another would give his left paw to be let into a house with warm air heating! Just because the cat will happily move on from it's owner doesn't make it right or fair for other people to encourage it to do so.