Someone trying to usurp my cat!

[haileditzel]

Hi everyone,

I have been having this problem lately of one of my cats staying away for longer than normal when letting her out (up to 4 days) and she has been getting pretty chubby. At first we thought that she had picked up worms and gave her a de-wormer thinking that she had picked it up while hunting but today she came home (finally after 4 days) with a new yellow flea collar. She has always had a red flea collar and when we let her out last she still had her collar on. We've made the decision to keep her in for at least the next few days to ensure she doesn't go back to wherever she's been hanging out but we're not sure on how to proceed with things after that. As we don't know who has been feeding her etc. we don't know how to tell them that she's owned other than the collar which was obviously replaced (we thought about it having come off during her roaming but all the other times she has been out for a few days she has come back with her original collar,) and are concerned as she is leaving for increasingly longer times.

Any advice as to what we should do? We would rather not have to keep her in for the rest of her life as she is rather fond of going out to hunt and get away from her son (who is our second cat).

Thanks.

 

[arlyn]

First, remove the flea collar and don't use them, they are toxic and that poison does nothing but leach into the cat's skin, and they do absolutely nothing to control fleas.

Put a regular safety collar on her with an ID tag, and perhaps affix a note to it, asking that her other feeders please stop, and/or call you.
 

 

[haileditzel]

We're more worried that someone is feeding/ buying things for the cat when it is fairly obvious that someone owns her and she is in good condition.

We only use flea collars that have active ingredients that have been proven to be clinically effective against fleas and have very few side effects to the cat. We also use natural remedies around the house to prevent flea infestations. The collars are to prevent them picking up fleas when they are outside and always have a safety aspect to them (elastic or release clip). Unfortunately we don't use spot on applications anymore as the area where we live has bred some sort of super flea that isn't touched by it.  

 

[misty8723]

Speaking as someone who was "adopted" by a neighbor cat, when you let your cat out you have no control over who does what with/to her.  We also fed / sheltered / loved our neighbor cat - with their knowledge, permission, and gratitude.  She was an outdoor cat when they got her, and they were unsuccessful in converting her to indoor only.  We did not know who owned her initially and did not invite her in the house, feed her, or whatever, just petted her in the yard.  Then one day it was the dead of winter, freezing, and she showed up at our door.  The tag had a phone number (no address) so we called, and no one home.  We went up and talked to a neighbor, found out the owners were on vacation and a neighbor across the street was supposed to be taking care of her, and they weren't home either! That's when we went out, bought a bag of food and one of those cardboard litter boxes and brought her in for the night.  After leaving messages for the two families, of course.  Turns out we became pretty good friends with her owners, and they were happy to have someone else in the neighborhood watching out for her.  She often spent several days at our house and as long as they knew she was here and okay they were fine with it.  When they moved away, I broke down sobbing, I loved that cat so much.

I guess the point of my rambling is that if you could try to find out who has been feeding her and befriend them, ask them not to feed her if you don't want them to or tell them what kind of food to give her, definitely ask them not to put flea collars on her, you might find an ally in watching out for her well being.

 

[haileditzel]

That would be the best case scenario, hopefully we can find out who it is but unfortunately we live in an area with a lot of houses, so short of going house to house we probably won't find out who is feeding her.

That and they are feeding her quite a lot as she has been getting quite fat. 

We were thinking about putting some posters up with contact info on them to see if anyone contacts us.

 

[bastfriend]

You could put a note like someone mentioned upthread around the collar and you could write on it "read me" on the outside of the paper and then use an outer layer of tape to wrap it to the collar and make it water proof - then  you know the right person will see the message!  

 

[haileditzel]

That's a good point, I might try and write it on the collar instead, less likely to fall off then.

 

[catfella]

Sounds like something out of a horror movie. There is a scratching at the door. The wind blows, the lightning crashes, the trees sway. You open the door. But no one is there. The lightning flashes one more time and THERE it is. Kitty. Looking at you, mastering that sweet innocent expression. A note with the eery words scribbled on it "Reeeead Meeee". You reach down to grab the note. Kitty hesitates. Quickly you grab the note and tentatively have a look.

Two words, it said only: 7 Days

*Sorry, I've been watching so so many horror movies lately*

 

[bastfriend]

LOL Catfella!!!

 

[otto]

First, remove the flea collar and don't use them, they are toxic and that poison does nothing but leach into the cat's skin, and they do absolutely nothing to control fleas.
Put a regular safety collar on her with an ID tag, and perhaps affix a note to it, asking that her other feeders please stop, and/or call you.

 

 

[shadyferret]

You could always include something "scary" on the note like how this cat has a digestive-related condition that's negatively impacted by types of food or quantity of food. Eventually it builds up enough and the cat's life-threatening condition will flare up. That's actually the deal with my cat so you can use his megacolon condition. He has to be on daily medications (not available OTC so not cheap) and too much food or food without a lot of moisture causes his colon to expand to dangerous conditions and nearly caused his bladder to rupture. If these events begin, the only remedy to fix it before it becomes life threatening is an enema, which can be very expensive unless the vet trains you to do it at home. If you post flyers, this would also help.

Just another way to discourage someone from taking a cat they don't truly know Worst case is they take the cat to the vet and find out the note is a lie. If you don't like dishonesty, then remember: these are people who took off your collar and put their own on your cat. They aren't looking for her real owner. They may have even convinced themselves that they are taking care of the cat better than you, so this could make them think twice.

Also, is your cat chipped? If they try to change the chip to their info, you will be contacted (assuming the information is up-to-date). If they take your cat and you find out who by asking around, you can call the cops because they are stealing your "property." If you pay the yearly or life-time fees, the chip company is supposed to get you help so you and other people can knock door-to-door when the pet disappears.

I don't know what kind of backyard you have, but you could try giving her less space than a neighborhood but still give her some roaming ground. Use chicken wire for a large area  (make sure it's high to discourage her from jumping), and then throw in some boxes, blanket/tarp, toys, etc, to give her entertainment. you could build something so that the cat door aligns opens up to this space or a tunnel that leads to it. They do make cat doors for screen doors that don't actually attach to the screen door. At the very least his can be a temporary fix so she gets some exposure, the occasional prey since cat prey can fit, but she's safe from being stolen. Last I checked, chicken wire and 2x4s are cheap. My chicken wire is held up by nylon rope.

 

[angels mommy]

I agree w/ the above. You should defiantly get her micro chipped ASAP, (before they might!) as a precaution. Then, there is no contest that she belongs to you.  I would try to convert her it indoor only. It's much safer, & then you don't have to worry about things like this. Trust me, I never thought my boy would be able to be indoor only, but he is now, & I feel much better not having to worry about him.

 

[hexidecimal]

I've seen personalised 'do not feed' cat collars for sale: http://www.kittycollars.co.uk/personalised-cat-collars.htm. At least the message wouldn't wash off or fall off like with pen or a note.

Maybe go for something slightly scary like: "Warning: this cat has Anatidaephobia" or something. I wouldn't pet a cat that had that… 

 

[lunariris]

You could always include something "scary" on the note like how this cat has a digestive-related condition that's negatively impacted by types of food or quantity of food. Eventually it builds up enough and the cat's life-threatening condition will flare up. That's actually the deal with my cat so you can use his megacolon condition. He has to be on daily medications (not available OTC so not cheap) and too much food or food without a lot of moisture causes his colon to expand to dangerous conditions and nearly caused his bladder to rupture. If these events begin, the only remedy to fix it before it becomes life threatening is an enema, which can be very expensive unless the vet trains you to do it at home. If you post flyers, this would also help.

Just another way to discourage someone from taking a cat they don't truly know Worst case is they take the cat to the vet and find out the note is a lie. If you don't like dishonesty, then remember: these are people who took off your collar and put their own on your cat. They aren't looking for her real owner. They may have even convinced themselves that they are taking care of the cat better than you, so this could make them think twice.

Also, is your cat chipped? If they try to change the chip to their info, you will be contacted (assuming the information is up-to-date). If they take your cat and you find out who by asking around, you can call the cops because they are stealing your "property." If you pay the yearly or life-time fees, the chip company is supposed to get you help so you and other people can knock door-to-door when the pet disappears.

I don't know what kind of backyard you have, but you could try giving her less space than a neighborhood but still give her some roaming ground. Use chicken wire for a large area  (make sure it's high to discourage her from jumping), and then throw in some boxes, blanket/tarp, toys, etc, to give her entertainment. you could build something so that the cat door aligns opens up to this space or a tunnel that leads to it. They do make cat doors for screen doors that don't actually attach to the screen door. At the very least his can be a temporary fix so she gets some exposure, the occasional prey since cat prey can fit, but she's safe from being stolen. Last I checked, chicken wire and 2x4s are cheap. My chicken wire is held up by nylon rope.

I completely agree.

I've been through this exact same thing, and as a precaution I'm telling you to please take and keep your cat inside.

This is a long story, so bear with me. Growing up, we had indoor-outdoor cats (I worried even as a kid that someone would hurt or take them outside but my parents thought it would give them more freedom and exercise than being inside only). We had 3 who always wore their ID tags and collars and came when called, and after them all being indoor-outdoor for well over a year, one went missing, an orange tabby, first for a few days here and there, and then for the whole summer in 2005. We had one crazy neighbor that lived down the street, that took off the collars and tags on ALL 3 of our cats, putting their own flea collars they bought on them (at the time though, only the one who went missing first had his collar removed). (It is illegal to remove the collar and ID tags from an animal that is not yours, so the person who did this to your cat could face a fine if you cat prove he/she did remove it)

I went up the street calling for him and found him in a yard between both of ours, staring at our house, but afraid to come home because I saw a cat chasing him out of our yard. I saw him after searching for several months and he came running the second he heard me call him. When the neighbors realized the cat I was calling was the one they put a different collar on, they came over and asked what I was doing with "their" cat!! He and his brother were born and raised at our house, they are very much our cats, not theirs because they see them visiting their yard. They played nice and took the collar off and apologized and I told them they could see him and pet him, but that he is our cat. (I then went on like an idiot to tell them we had two other cats, also with tags, so if they see them, they knew they were ours too and allowed outside). What I didn't know being 13 and naive is that they were extremists with PETA (meaning the crazy neighbors were anti-outdoor any pet and decided automatically that if it's out it's not loved or cared for, so they would try to take them and say they rescued them because they assume they ran away from you or you 'don't deserve them', so by me telling them we have 3 ALLOWED outside they had a personal vendetta I didn't know about). Well only a few days after we had that "talk" I found them trying to bait him into their house with wet food and the door wide open, and I know my cat, he's a sucker for wet food. I called him immediately, and ticked off the neighbors because he started walking over there, turned and looked at me, back at the food, and then came over to me. I've never seen someone so mad. I convinced my parents to let me keep him in until the next spring.

I thought that was it, but no. Then after about a week, the other two cats' collars all of a sudden came off (remember all 3 of them had their collars on for over a year without a problem), and then Halloween came around and his brother, a black cat, vanished without a trace. We looked everywhere for months and still have ads online for him even now. When we knocked on their door they said they hadn't seen him and slammed the door but I heard a cat crying out in the house, and the guy had soapy suds all over his arms from, I think, giving a cat a bath. And of all the posters I put up in town, the one I put up on the phone pole across from their house was repeatedly torn down even though I secured it with duct tape. It'll be 8 years this Halloween and I'm still just as annoyed now as I was then. I still miss him so much, he's my kid. Only because it was Halloween I can't say for sure it was them, but if it was any other day of the year they would have been my only guess. Then on Christmas Eve, the same year, our 3rd and only other indoor-outdoor cat went missing for 2 days, and the day after Christmas I went out and thought I saw our lost cat from Halloween, but it was our other cat, hiding under our porch, and when I called him he mewed and came out onto my lap and buried his head on my lap, he smelled of shampoo, and his collar had been cut off and he was really jumpy like something had really scared him. He's been indoor-only ever since. But the orange tabby my parents said let him back in and out in spring because he liked being in the yard, and I have to admit that he did. We went without incident for almost 5 whole years, but then he started to be afraid of his carrier, which I used to feed him near. He became very skittish and wouldn't go anywhere near it. I had to move where we kept his dishes, which is very odd. Then he goes missing over a weekend, and I bring one of our other kitties to the vet, and who do I see in the vet's office but the neighbor's with our cat??!!!! Things like this DO happen. They even said he was a "stray" who "chose" them that "took them two weeks to catch because they hadn't seen him around", bragging in the office. We didn't know what to do there, but did call the cops when we got home, and had photos and everything to prove he is our cat, and the neighbors tried to say he was "abused" because he was allowed outdoors!! Then they played the "we didn't know it was the same cat" card. The cops knew that legally they had no case and took him without any right, and he was returned to us, and because they had no right to take someone's cat, we were not required to pay them for their wasted trip to the vet with our cat. He's still home safely and indoors-only now with everyone else. And now that I'm no longer a kid in school, I got to decide that everyone stay indoors and is microchipped. We even built and enclosure for the yard so they can go in the yard but not get taken or hurt by any person. 

If there's anything you got from this story, get your cat home and keep her in and get her microchipped or tattooed, as well as keeping an ID tag and collar on. If she must see the outdoors, maybe build an enclosure. You can even teach a cat to take walks on leashes if you want to. We have gotten a few of our guys to walk on a leash and they will come running over when you get it because they know it means it's time for a walk. Also remember that it is the law in most places to have pets up-to-date on rabies vaccines. I am letting you know because if you do have to call the cops if someone tries to take a pet it is the first thing they will ask is if you have their vaccinations. Then they ask for pictures and proof of ownership.

 

[otto]

Thank you for sharing your experiences LunarIris. I agree with you completely.