Help! Neighbour trying to steal my cat!!

BitterAndTwisted

Do you honestly think this is a situation so serious that it warrants going to the police about it? I'll save you the trouble of having them laugh in your face: no it is not. Cats are not treated in the same way as dogs by the law: that is, they are not considered to be a person's personal property. That's because a cat will go where it wants and do as it likes and nothing we do can influence them. Your only plan of attack is the stupid neighbours.

I'd be tempted to write something out in English, use Babelfish to translate it into Polish and then print it off and hand it to the neighbours next time you have to go round. I'd do my best to make this as strongly-worded as possible, short of threats of violence.

cinderellacomplex

There wouldn't be any harm in trying with the police. If you took the position that the cat's care was being compromised by this situation then they might have a quick word with them if they aren't too busy at that time. You could say that this could turn into a situation where the cat gets vaccinated twice, medicated twice, fed twice etc and that this would put the cat at risk. You could also mention seeing them physically throw her out of the house and that you are worried that the cat may be injured.

NOTTINGHAMLASS

We have a similar situation with one our of neighbours who has done her best to take one cat over and is now working on the others! She came over a little while ago on the pretext of telling me I had left my keys in the front door and just slipped into the conversation with my other half that our big boy (who is like a donkey but she says is starving) was asleep on her settee. That was his chance to say put him out but oh no he said that was ok which of course gives her license to continue. I will be having a word myself tomorrow!

gettingready

loddellbosh - I know your post is from Jan but if this is still going on, PM me with what you want to translate into Polish and I will happily do it for you.

Please do not use BabelFish as it makes a total nonsense of Polish......its my native language though so happy to translate if needed.

madmexican

knock it straight on the head with an official warning, sent recorded delivery, and clearly stating what will happen if she shuts your cat in again stopping it from coming home, what a cheek, if it was a dog, it wouldnt got as far as this, its shocking, also the worry of thinking is moggy with her or injured.

she sounds quite weird to me so all steps to get her to back off need to be taken

good luck

organic_choc

I think many of those people who try to steal / lure others' cats are people who are afraid of long term commitment (e.g. the Polish guys above may be worried that they aren't always going to be in UK), or they are afraid that they might not make a good cat owner. I think these people have the potential of becoming great cat fosterers. If anyone is found to be trying to nick your cat, one solution is to recommend that they become a cat fosterer for a local rescue. Many rescues are short of space and they can only help more cats if they have space in their pens. If the cats in pens are farmed out to fosterers, the rescue will have more space and more space means more cats helped.

If you appeal to the cat thieves this way, it might really appeal to them. Being a fosterer means that they get to hang out with cats, depending on each rescue's arrangements with fosterers it may costs less than having a full blown self owned cat, and if they want to be of help to strays that's another box ticked too. As the fosterers have to shut their foster cats in it means that your cats can't wander in either. Problems solved all round and many more moggies living happily ever after.

helen_clare

One of the things I love about cats is their ability to laugh in the face of human property laws.
It does always amaze me that people get cats because they think they're going to be less high maintenance, more independent and then they become apoplectic with righteous indignation when the cat shows itself to be just that.
What you need to remember about cats is that they don't know they are your legal property, that they have a monetary value, that they are accessories to your life, peripheral to your needs. As far as the cat is concerned it is the centre of it's own life and it will go where it feels it has the best deal.
If you can't cope with this, get a dog.
I've never really understood how people can claim to be cat lovers and then spend a small fortune on an artificially bred animal rather than taking one of the thousands of wretched creatures abandoned at rescue centres every year. It smacks of human vanity to me.But this aside, it also seems very obvious that there was no financial incentive in this "crime". To your neighbour it is just a lovely animal to you it is "an expensive pedigree". Maybe this is why it has chosen her over you.
If it's sleeping on her bed and watching tv with her then it is clearly not being held captive. Yes, it is strange that a person would want to woo another's cat, irresponsible even but bonds do happen between humans and cats in exactly the same way as they do between humans. It would, no doubt, make you angry if someone tried to woo your husband but ultimately you would have to let your husband decide.
It is also possible that if this cat was roaming for some time it was looking for another owner. If the cat roams by nature it will behave the same if the neighbour has legal custody.If not, and it has found the owner it wants, it will continue to look even if you resolve this current sitaution. Legally, physically or in any other way.

calicocat

:mad:
I know a few people this has happened to,my mother for one but she's too non-confrontational to do anything about it. Seems to me she's after your cat and personally I would be fighting to the death if it were mine (not that I actually mean violence)
Can your vet not proove that you have had these cats since babies?? That's the route I went down at 12yrs when it happened to me,and eventually they gave up as I wouldn't.
Try writting a letter first though and keep them in for now (get ear plugs)
Personally now due to personal experience and hearing of these things happening I keep them in 4 a year as kittens unless they ask to go out and they tend to stray less,but maybe I've been luckier recently.
Unfortunately if you have a roamer though this may happen again.
Keep up the fight though and all the best.
Hope it gets sorted soon as these things are awful.

lilmrspanda

Long shot as I know this was back in 2008 What happened in the End ?

We are having the same problem with someone who lives up the street from us and Would Really like to know how you got on?

Sally_A

I appreciate this is a 4 year old thread, but also acknowledge you may have done a search for a similar problem and found this one.

I'm at the other end of the dilemma, I dislike cats, I've always been a dog owner, you know where you are with a dog, they are not sneaky.........anyhow, dog PTS in June next thing I know is cat miaowing outside the back door. A cat seems to have adopted me. Luckily I found out who the owner is quite quickly, and let them know that should they ever be missing their cat, to give me a shout. - this does not stop 3 - 4 visits a day, and the cat kipping on the back doormat. If I did not know who the owner was, I'd have stuck a collar on it with a message on.

People have cats because they are independent, and can happily be to roam, dog owners on the other hand have to ensure they are regularly around.

Cats sometimes choose gullible people to smooch up to....it's just the way they work.