someone is trying to steal my cat!

[that_sarah_girl]

one of our cats Salem is dead friendly and spends most of his time outside (we have to kick him out at night as he refuses to use the litter tray...but thats another story...).

Over the last couple of weeks he has disapeared for a couple of nights on the trot, which isn't unusual, but last week he went off for a couple of nights then came back with no collar and smelling of someone else's perfume! We've always suspected he goes off to other people's houses for food and such (he's a greedy fat cat) and I put the missing collar down to it being fairly old and worn...maybe it had stretched and he'd managed to get it off somehow.

So on Thursday I bought him a plasticy collar and one of those ID tubes with a bit of paper inside with his name and our contact details on it. He came home this morning after being out from Saturday night, and collar is missing again

I'm not too bothered about him going in people's houses, he knows where his home and I don't think he would ever go away for good, but I'm worried about him walking around without a collar on in case he is mistaken for a stray and taken somewhere.

Is there anything I can do to stop this happening bar keeping him in the house all day?

[Potter's Farm]

I don't think there is, it makes me really cross when people feed other people's cats!! This happened to me when i moved house once, an old neighbour berated me for leaving my cat behind (which was not the case) then i found out she'd been feeding him!! I asked her not to but she kept on until on his way from my house to hers one evening he got run over.

How about micro-chipping your cat to prove its yours and also putting a note inside the ID tube explaining the situation briefly and asking for the cat not to be fed?

[that_sarah_girl]

he is microchipped, but they can't scan it because he's such a fatty. Although he's a big cat he's still healthy and active.

I'm not too worried about others feeding him, just wish they wouldn't take his collar off!

[Susie]

last week he went off for a couple of nights then came back with no collar and smelling of someone else's perfume!

Sorry, no helpful advice, but this made me laugh ;-). Naughty Salem. I hope it gets sorted out!

[jampot]

no advice to give sorry , but just to say that happened to my sisters cat, he was a very friendly chatty fluff ball who "disappeared" along with the next -but- one neighbour when they moved . my sister and the dog still miss him terribly. short of a tracking gps type chip there's not much you can do to control a cats wanderings.

[happyhippy]

My cat is 11 yrs old and was the picture of health....until we moved house!We noticed after a couple of months she was putting on weight.We put it down to her getting older/less active but her weight was rapidly increasing.Then she became ill.Her faeces became really runny,so off to the vet we went.The vet diagnosed a stomach/bowel infection and insisted we cut her food down as she had become very overweight.I told the vet she only had biscuits in the morning and meat at night,and could'nt figure out her unexplained weight gain.Well after the cat recovered,I happened to be speaking to a couple who live 2 doors up.They told me(they had cats themselves)they fed her regularly!!!!! I asked them not to and explained the vets visit.A week later,a couple who live over the back of us confessed that yes they too were feeding her!!! Not sure why these people were feeding her,she was never a skinny cat to begin with!Anyway since then,our cats health is much better,and she has lost weight.I think people try to be kind but infact without knowing it are doing more harm than good.If you know the people that are feeding your cat,I would advise you to have a kind word to them and ask them to stop for your cats sake.

[Jandra]

When one of our cats was being fed by unknown strangers, we put a white note on her collar (all covered in sellotape in case it rained) saying: " please don't feed me, I'm getting too fat for my health" and put our phone number on. We got rung by an old lady who put out food for all the sad & hungry cats in the neighbourhood. If they weren't hungry, why would they come to her and cry for food ??? Some people... Anyway, it helped.

Perhaps you could put up a note that people are welcome to stroke you cat but that you get worried sick if she doesn't return home at night. And also put your phonenumber on. The cat needn't walk around with yhe ' label' forever of couse. But it migth help of the perpetrators understand that the cat is loved and missed by someone.

Good luck, Jandra

[that_sarah_girl]

thanks for all the advice...I'll try putting a note on his collar. I just don't understand why whoever it is keeps taking his collar off!

I'll give it the benefit of the doubt one more time, but if this new collar goes missing again I guess all I can do is notify out local cats home in case someone tries to take him in as a "stray".

[RuthG]

There are people who think it is just plain wrong to collar a cat (they get caught in bushes and cat gets strangled - never known it happen mind!) - maybe your cat is visiting one of these people and they remove it thinking they are doing it a favour?

[Thomzo]

Has he been neutered? In my experience male cats don't stray so far when they've been done. It might just help.

I have a friend who's a private detective. One of his jobs was to trace an expensive pedigree cat that had disappeared at the same time as some neighbours moved house. He found the cat but was only able to prove it was the same one with DNA testing (this was in the days before regular microchipping). I suggest you keep a sample of Salem's DNA somewhere safe if the microchip can't be read (you know the drill, you've seen CSI right? Cheek swap with a cotton bud).

Good luck - I bet he knows which side his bread is buttered on, he'll be back.

Zoe

[bonniethomas06]

I bought a kittycam on Amazon once. It was a time lapse thing - ran for several hours and took a snapshot every 30 seconds. It was ony about £30 and clipped onto the collar - was only small. You then plug it in to your computer and download the 'evidence'.

It appears that our cat did nothing but sleep in the garage for 8 hours a day...but yours might be a bit more interesting!

Hope it gets sorted...I wish people had the same respect for cats as they do for dogs - you wouldn't just feed someone else's dog after all.

[pelmetman]

Oh dear I suppose we could be accused of having taken someone elses cat.

A few years back our neighbours cat 'Beannie' started coming round to us (we already had a cat 'Dilly Dom') and really didn't want another cat. It did't matter what we did to deter Beannie he had made up his mind to move in with us.

This went on for several months, I used to physically take him back to his own home but within minutes he would be back. In the end I sat down with our neighbour and she said it was obvious Beannie had chosen us so we mutually agreed that we would look after him. In the two or so years he lived with us he never went back to his old home Sadly we had to have him put to sleep due to a brain tumour.

Sue

[bonniethomas06]

Yes Pelmetman, but you did the decent thing and tried to solve the problem...and at least had the manners to discuss it with the owner. A friend's cat is literally eating himself to death because the owners leave their cat's food outside the back door. They get irrate because the cat eats it...and even sent my friend a polaroid of the crime the other day - not sure why they can't just feed their cat inside?

[RuthG]

They get irrate because the cat eats it...and even sent my friend a polaroid of the crime the other day - not sure why they can't just feed their cat inside?

That's just plain ridiculous. You cant train a cat not to eat easy food! They need to wise up and take responsibility. What are they going to do next? Have the neighbours prosecuted because their cat is eating food that doesnt belong to it?

[that_sarah_girl]

There are people who think it is just plain wrong to collar a cat (they get caught in bushes and cat gets strangled - never known it happen mind!) - maybe your cat is visiting one of these people and they remove it thinking they are doing it a favour?

That never even crossed my mind, I've never heard of any instances where cats got caught in bushes because of their collar! But you could be right...walking down my road yesterday there was a cat I see all the time and it didn't have a collar on.

Has he been neutered? In my experience male cats don't stray so far when they've been done. It might just help.

yes he has been neutured but he still wanders quite far...the other morning he followed me most of the way to the train station, I was worried I'd have to take him to work with me! Luckily he stopped following and disappeared down a side street.


That kittycam sounds brill! I'd love to see what he gets up to, just not sure I want to invest £30 in one just yet...