Neighbor's cat...

Hi,

I'm new to cats. My neighbor's cat comes and sits in my patio chairs all the time. It's insane! Our patio is the only finished patio nearby, and its gone a nice stone/brick flooring unlike the other houses. We also have some patio chairs near a corner of the patio, and two huge pine trees provide great shade in that area. The cats get in through a hole at the corner of the fence. While I don't mind them chilling, I just want a few answers.

1) I almost ran over one of the cats the other day. I noticed and stopped in time, but I realized it was the same cat that chilled in my patio. The owner (my neighbor) seemed to be trying to catch it, but it just ran across the street. Why did it run away from its owner rather than towards him?

2) Why are they still scared of me? I gave them dry cat food (which I got from a friend since I do not own pets) and they ate it. Twice I did this, yet when I try to leave food for them when they're in the patio they just run away then eat when I'm gone. Why?

3) How can I become friends with them? Like friends enough that I can pet them? I feel that the owner is not very responsible...He constantly is outside without a shirt, and judging by the blinds and what I see from his windows....they're like a dark, stained kind of yellowish color (the blinds). He is also a beer belly for sure (I've seen bottles outside his door before). His cats are ALWAYS outside no matter. They are in one place or another, but outside constantly. I find them, like I said before, either on my patio chairs or behind the bushes in front of my house (I live on an end unit townhome).

Please help me out! I'm just trying to get the cats to feel comfortable and as safe as possible!

Thanks!

--MachinimaZ 

I'm by no means an expert on these issues, but it seems to me that the fact that your neighbor's cats run from him might just mean he doesn't have much of a bond with them and not necessarily that he is actively mistreating them.  They might not be socialized very well, since they live outdoors only.  Have you ever spoken to your neighbor about some of your concerns?  I think it's great you're willing to watch out for these cats, btw.   

It is not unusual for cats to wait to eat until people they don't know well leave the area.  As they grow used to you, they will feel safer with you around. This can take months so you have to be patient.   If you are going to feed them (and I'd find out if that was really necessary), you might want to switch them to canned food as cats who just eat dry food are prone to urinary tract issues.  I'm hesitant to suggest this because if your neighbor is already feeding them, they actually don't need you to feed them as well.

If you want to make friends with them, leaving them food is definitely the way to start.  Do they run as soon as they see you?    Try getting down on your hands and knees and calling to them in a soft soothing voice,  waving a toy gently back and forth to get their attention.  They might pounce on the toy.    After you get up, leave them a few treats.   This is different from actually feeding them on a regular basis so should not encroach on your neighbor.  You do want to be careful of that.  

Your neighbor's cat is outdoor which does not necessarily mean it is being mistreated by its owner. Is it active, look healthy and alert? 

Feeding it without telling its owner might not be a wise move. Your good intentions might offend your neighbor. And there is the risk you might be giving  the wrong food. 

Letting the cats rest in your patio is the best you can do for them now. In time they will get used to your presence and not ran away. Wait some more and they might let you pet them too.   

Um yeah,

So thanks for the advice guys! I ended up just doing what I was doing normally and one of the cats decided to trust me. So at first i took a couple of bamboo poles from my sons Boy Scout project and taped them to boxes. I then placed these on the underside of my fence where the cats were getting in. They ended up breaking through and chilling, and even brought some boxes (which I didn't know were even outside my fence) into my patio. I investigated the houses and it seems that the one cat chills underneath one of the trees right outside the fence. The area under the tree has some old rusty, metal...thing? The grass is also overgrown in that area. I found him, clapped, looked at him for a while and then turned to walk away but he just followed me with every step. I got a bit scared. I then stopped and just knelt down and he sat down as well. He began to roll around in the grass (kinda like a dog lol?) and just looked at me. I didn't want to pet because I was scared...I also noticed the cat didn't have a collar. I just ended up going home and putting more food in my patio, which was eaten an hour later by the other cat (he seems to be the hog). Any advice or suggestions? Why did the cat roll over and does that mean something good or bad?

Thanks!

MachinimaZ said:

 
Um yeah,

 He began to roll around in the grass (kinda like a dog lol?) and just looked at me. I didn't want to pet because I was scared...I also noticed the cat didn't have a collar. I just ended up going home and putting more food in my patio, which was eaten an hour later by the other cat (he seems to be the hog). Any advice or suggestions? Why did the cat roll over and does that mean something good or bad?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

rolling around is just like a very content hog in the mud. Same effect. All of my guys do it. Done in front of you also means they trust you.

Don't put too much on collars - cats loose them all the time, and most aren't very safe for the cat anyway (except the BeastieBands which also get lost very easily). 

Then, cats will run away from their human if they 1. are freaked out by something or 2. don't want to be picked up right now (or, in the case of my Oberon, that he fears I'll try to put Omega 3 fish oil supplement on him again). It doesn't have to mean the owner mistreats them (unless you count putting fish oil on someone, of course - Oberon for sure does).

So would it be safe to pet this cat? It's owner (just found out who it was) is really not the type of person who would seem responsible. I rang his doorbell after writing the post and asked if the cat was his. He talked to me while shirtless (revealing a multitude of unidentifiable tattoos) along with a stench of alcohol. He also said that he just left them out all day and then allowed them back inside after he came back from work. I don't mean to judge, but he doesn't seem like the kind of responsible owner who provides a nice environment to live in either. But yea, aside from that, the cat is ok to play with/pet? I knew the following and rolling mean something good

Thanks!

MachinimaZ said:

 
So would it be safe to pet this cat? It's owner (just found out who it was) is really not the type of person who would seem responsible. I rang his doorbell after writing the post and asked if the cat was his. He talked to me while shirtless (revealing a multitude of unidentifiable tattoos) along with a stench of alcohol. He also said that he just left them out all day and then allowed them back inside after he came back from work. I don't mean to judge, but he doesn't seem like the kind of responsible owner who provides a nice environment to live in either. But yea, aside from that, the cat is ok to play with/pet? I knew the following and rolling mean something good

Thanks!

Click to expand...

sure. Well, as sure as you can be with a cat