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Random cat coming in and eating our cat's food

post #1 of 10
2/13/11 at 5:17am
Thread Starter 
Exactly as the title says, theres this random black cat that keeps sneaking into our house. The cat food is in the garage, which has a cat door, and thats the door hes been coming in from.

We've resorted to locking the cat door overnight so he cant steal our cat's food, but then our own cat cant eat either (he's an indoor-outdoor cat).

Ideas anyone? Any help would be appreciated!
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post #2 of 10
2/13/11 at 5:25am
Can't think of any easy solution, and be glad you're not getting insects, mice, possum, racoons and the like.

Safest for kitty if possible would be indoor/indoor, heh.
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post #3 of 10
2/13/11 at 6:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_smiley View Post
Exactly as the title says, theres this random black cat that keeps sneaking into our house. The cat food is in the garage, which has a cat door, and thats the door hes been coming in from.

We've resorted to locking the cat door overnight so he cant steal our cat's food, but then our own cat cant eat either (he's an indoor-outdoor cat).

Ideas anyone? Any help would be appreciated!
Mr. Smiley,

I am not a cat expert, nor play one on TV LOL. My advice would be to wait for the black cat to come in and make a loud noise/spray him with water. May take a couple of times but I am pretty sure that will discourage him.
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post #4 of 10
2/13/11 at 6:23am
I'll vote for the loud noise, but if you're in an area as we are with cold weather, I would hope you wouldn't spray him with water.

I thought most indoor/outdoor cats came home at night; Ours did; if he didn't he was trapped somewhere. Does yours go in & out during the night? Is he allowed in the house where you could feed him? Maybe just keep the water bowl in the garage?
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post #5 of 10
2/13/11 at 8:39am
Aren't cats that don't come in over night considered outdoor/outdoor cats? Honestly, other than keeping your cats inside at night, which would probably be better anyway, there isn't a single thing you can do.

If money is no object, get an RFID cat door, where an electronic chip is put on his collar that sends a signal to open the door when he's 1 foot away. Those are almost $100 though.
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post #6 of 10
2/13/11 at 9:36am
A friend of mine had that happen. She has 5 orange cats, and noticed a black cat eating their food. She found out the black cat was a stray, no neighbor owned him, and none wanted him. She kept him
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post #7 of 10
2/13/11 at 3:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by My4LLMA View Post
She has 5 orange cats, and noticed a black cat eating their food. She found out the black cat was a stray, no neighbor owned him, and none wanted him. She kept him
That's what happened to 4 of my cats.

My cats are also indoor/outdoor. I always make sure they finish their meals before they're off somewhere. They also know the word "surprise" which means I have treats or there's an off schedule food in their dishes. I would not leave food out that is easily accessible to other animals.
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post #8 of 10
2/13/11 at 10:26pm
Thread Starter 
Hi thanks for all the replies!

Im seriously considering the loud noise/spray with water option as well hahahaha. Its summer here atm so the black cat should be fine Just means waiting a long time for him to show up...stakeout time!

Yes our cat does come home at night usually, but sometimes hes just out doing cat stuff, and we dont really want random cats running around our house at night.

Indoor/indoor isn't really possible for various reasons which I wont get into but thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks guys
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post #9 of 10
2/14/11 at 4:12am
Trap the stray and bring him to a shelter or rescue. He's probably starving and only wants a meal. As long as he's around he is a danger to your cat by way of possibly spreading disease.

Chasing him out with noise or water is cruel, in my opinion and will not solve the problem. If he is starving he will continue to come to a food source. Either rescue and adopt him yourself or take him to a shelter.
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post #10 of 10
2/16/11 at 2:56am
Thread Starter 
Its definately not a stray, as there's a collar on it and im 99% sure its one of my neighbour's. It just wants all the nice food we put in the bowl for our own cat :P
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