someone is feeding my cat and now he does not want to come home?

Question

I have had my cat Tia for 3 years since he was a kitten and he has always been an outdoor cat going out of his own accord.

Wev'e moved house twice and never had a problem . We have lived here for 6 months and just this past 3 weeks he has stopped coming home and i'm having to go looking for him. I only find him on a night suggesting he is being kept in all day and when we get him back we can smell that he has been in someones house as we do not smoke and can smell it strongly on his fur.

I cannot sleep and have tried everything to get him to come back...even sardines, tuna and other treats but still he cries to go out no soon have i brought him in.

I have even put a collar on him which i hope will stay on this time and still this other house is feeding him. I am sure it is someone on the street as he is never far when we do find him but i know everyone knows he is our cat as he always used to sit outside and follow us to the shop.

What should i do?

i am sur ehte people who live nearby know the cat is not a stray as he is well groomed and has a collar.

They will also know that the cat is outside of his own accord as he is very intelligent and cries at the door to go out. He is walking round the house now crying as i type and it is upsetting me that he does not want to be here.

I am sure there are people who think that i should let him go and stay with who he wants to be with...but the cat does not know if these new people will look after him properly, theres one thing feeding and petting a cat but do they want the responsibility of worming and fleaing him and taking him for his boosters every year?....and if he had an accident could they afford the treatment?

Answer 1

Ask some of your neighbours if they've seen your cat being fed by someone else or going into someone else's house. As everyone knows he's your cat they will have recognised him & someone has probably spotted something.

Make up a story about the vet having put him on a special diet as that will give a bit more clout when you say you don't want anyone else to feed him. Go around the neighbourhood & knock on the doors asking people, telling them that you are concerned because the vet has said he must only eat special food. That may persuade the neighbours to keep more of a look out and if you do find the person who has been feeding him it may be easier to persuade them to stop if they think he's on a special diet under the vet. (It's a white lie but it's worth it if it works.) Then, when whoever it is stops feeding him he'll hopefully see you as his home again instead of this smoking mystery person.

Good luck. I hope you get this sorted out.

Answer 2

If I were you, I would tie that note to his collar asking, well telling, whoever it is that this cat is yours, and that you have taken good care of it for it's three years of life and that if they wouldn't mind, stop feeding her. If you find out who it is, of course talk to them, but I would be somewhat annoyed. After all, it is your cat and while people can misunderstand what an outdoor cat is, they have no right to take in a cat with a collar who obviously has a home. If they were worried they should call the owner, not steal the cat. Maybe even think about keeping the cat in for a while and spoiling him so he knows who he can really trust?

Sorry to have gone on like that, but I know it would be heartbreaking to me if my cat never came home (which is one reason why I'm keeping my newest kitten an indoor cat). Good luck.

Answer 3

Maybe it's not the food. Something in your new house must be annoying your cat.

Based on what you wrote here, it is impossible that the people, who are currently feeding your cat, give the cat better food than you do.

So my theory is, the cat is currently feeling more comfortable eating at their place than in your house. I suggest you quickly identify the problems before your cat is gone forever.

Probably not relevant but maybe helpful:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cats-1606/Cat-Living-street-Drain.htm

Another suggestion is to put a note on the collar says:
"The cat is under special diet due to health reasons, please do not feed." If the people who feed the cat indeed love the cat, they'll stop the feeding or reduce the food quantity.

Update:
I found another discussion regarding this:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cats-1606/luring-cat-home-neighbor.htm
Hope this helps.

Answer 4

I would try letting him out in the day and follow him around. He should lead you to whomever is feeding your cat.

Just go up and ask, and voice your opinion on whether you want them to feed your cat or not, I'm sure you'll be able to work somethin out with them.

I have a cat who likes to go over to my neighbors house because their kid loves her. It was sort of the opposite as your situation though because I had to ask to make sure it was ok that my cat went over their, but now my cat is over their half the time and at my house half the time and never seems to get tired of all the attention she gets.

Answer 5

Can I suggest you have some flyer's made up with his picture on saying. This cat is on a special veterinary diet,hes got intestinal problems.and whoever is feeding him is causing him much pain and distress.
If as you say hes going local then just put them through your neighbours.-Fingers crossed Maybe the "do gooder" will get a pang of guilt,
Other than that ,remember .you never adopt a cat all ways adopts you. so if hes happier "doing the rounds" then so be it.

Answer 6

aw, i'm sorry about your cat, I should have three cats, my two "rescue" cats have left home, and they now live in the house opposite (long story, but while i was away at my parents house, my 2 cats must of got the hump!! and when i returned, they were living happily over the road!!! my boy cat always comes to say hello, my girl cat runs like hell when she see's me.. don't know why!!) I tried bringing them back home and keeping them in and feeding all kinds of treats, but they behaved like yours, constantly crying to go out etc, in the end i let them, they know where i live if they want to come back, and their new owners love them to bits.. what can you do?? it is upsetting though especially cos i choose those 2cats as they had been in the rescue center for so long and nobody had even looked at them cos they each have a deformity.. now they are spoiled for choice for homes!!! good luck hun, xx

Answer 7

The only thing you can do is tie a note to his collar saying that you'd like to know who's feeding him and include your phone number. The other house may well phone you and you can sort the situation out.

Answer 8

Find out who it is, talk to the people and make sure they know he's not a stray and that you do not appreciate them taking him into their house. They probably don't mean any harm, but some people might just conclude that if he's outside, he's not being cared for and they will just take him.

Answer 9

Okay sounds like you have a little issue!!

First what you need to do is to contact where you got it from! If you found it as a stray contact the vet that you took it to! Then Hopefully it has been micro-chipped and the vet can track down where he is and you can go and get him!

I'm very sorry about what have happened and I wish you good luck!

Answer 10

I have the same problem. It's not your fault. Cats are very willful creatures and if it's anything like ours it demands its freedom - our rescue cats literally destroy the place if we try and keep them in, yet someone is feeding one of them as she comes home smelling of meat, licking her chops with a hint of an older woman's perfume in her fur. She's also gaining weight and getting lethargic which is very uncharacteristic as she's a very active cat.

I'm not sure the best plan of action but I feel a collar with a message is ideally the first thing we'll try. Failing this I'll try following her, however she seems to only disappear at night and tends not to wander far if I'm outside with her.

It is a very irritating situation and I wish people would just stop and think before they make prostitutes of our pets, it does no good for the cat.