My cat hates the stray in our garden

KittyBoo_2

A young male cat keeps turning up at my door trying to get in the house but my 1 year old male keeps arching his back at him.
The stray is not put off by this and I'm not sure whether to offer it some food outside. No one seems to know anything about this cat and it's now sheltering in the old rabbit hutch.
I know my cat wanders around the neighborhood but I think it's a bit strange that this one is always here.
It looks well, by the way.
Do you think I should "adopt" it and feed it?

Pollycat

As your cat is not an indoor cat, if you encourage this other cat by feeding it, you are potentially putting your own cat at risk as they may fight over territory that both feel is theirs.

You call him a stray but are you really sure he is a stray?
If he 'looks well', he's probably just a 'chancer'.

I have a little black cat who comes to my door for a bit of fuss - and sometimes a lie down under a warm radiator on cold or wet days.
I've seen her calling at all sorts of different houses locally.
She's well fed and has a lovely glossy coat.
I think she just has an army of part-time 'auntie's' that come in handy when her owner is at work as she doesn't come round in the evenings.

moggymutt

Try a paper collar on the 'stray', with a message asking for his owner to get in touch with you.

meritaten

moggymutt wrote: »

Try a paper collar on the 'stray', with a message asking for his owner to get in touch with you.

Yep - I would try this before feeding it - especially if it seemed wellfed.

Froglet

KittyBoo wrote: »

A young male cat keeps turning up at my door trying to get in the house but my 1 year old male keeps arching his back at him.
The stray is not put off by this and I'm not sure whether to offer it some food outside. No one seems to know anything about this cat and it's now sheltering in the old rabbit hutch.
I know my cat wanders around the neighborhood but I think it's a bit strange that this one is always here.
It looks well, by the way.
Do you think I should "adopt" it and feed it?

If it is sleeping in the rabbit hutch at night then maybe it does not have a better home to go to.Maybe it has ben abandoned by it's owners,but only recently and that is why it looks ok at the moment.

I wouldn't ignore it just because it looks well now.I would certainly keep a eye on it and if it is around as the weather gets worse,then yes i would feed it and make further enquiries about it.If it truly does have no home then it will be glad of shelter and food.

dementedfeline

Definitely do the paper collar - and if you could catch it, your local vet should scan for a microchip without any charge. About 2 months ago I noticed a cat hanging round my back garden/sleeping in the garage. As with you, resident cat was singularly unimpressed. Stray looked fine, but when I finally broke down and put resident spoilt cat's leftovers out, he ate like there was tomorrow. If he's not being fed regularly, you'll definitely be able to tell by the way he eats - this one not only hoovered every morsel at high speed (to the extent that I fed him very staggered meals as I was worried he'd do his tummy a mischief), but then cleaned the bowl better than any dishwasher!

Took a few days, but gradually built up enough trust via the food bowl to get a decent photo of him which I then sent to all the local vets and cat shelters. He didn't have a microchip, but fortunately someone at one of the vets recognised his description as being on their lost list and put his dad in touch so he ended up going home He'd been missing for over 3 months, poor lad, and although he was only a couple of miles from home, it was the other side of the city.

KittyBoo_2

Thank you all for you replies.
The cat is still visiting and I do believe he sees me as his part time Auntie.
A neighbour who has cats, thinks it's a female and my cat now takes no notice of it at all.
I put it some cat biscuits in the hutch and it still comes to the door quite often. I think it fancies the look of the kitchen but I've decided I won't let it into the house. I'll keep my eye on it and make further enquiries down the street.
I don't want to sound silly, but how do you make a paper cat collar.
Thanks again.

paddypaws101

How to make a paper cat collar

http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/BlobServer?blobtable=RSPCABlob&blobcol=urlblob&blobkey=id&blobwhere=1164732651162&blobheader=application/pdf

KittyBoo_2

Thanks very muchpaddypaws101. What a great idea. I'll try that tomorrow.
The cat outside has realised that my cat scratches on the door to get in, (he's always done this for some strange reason). The other cat has started doing this as well which is a nightmare. I get woken up in the night and when I open the door, the Chancer is there. I feel terrible shutting the door on him/her especially if it's raining. I know it's trying it's luck but when you're an animal lover, you can't help it.

Froglet

Kitty is it hanging around all the time? if so it very much sounds as if it has been abandoned.If it sleeps in the hutch and hangs around waiting for food i would be tempted to let it in sometimes and see how it reacts.

Give it every chance to go home,or even take it to a vet to be scanned for a chip.But it is looking more and more like you are the only one caring fior it.And with winter just around the corner it would be sad to think it is craving some love and affection.

Thank you for caring enough to keep an eye on it.

Pollycat

If you are at all considering 'adopting' this cat (as per your first post), please do have it scanned for a chip first.

It may have managed to get itself lost and have a worried owner somewhere.

Keep us informed.