Neighbours Feeding My Cats?

[LittlePenBigHeart]

We think our neighbours have been feeding our cats.
Back a couple of years ago, I found out they were feeding some cats that came by their house. They have five cats of their own. At the time, we had a cat who had to have a very specific diet, or he pooped blood, so I took them to one side and asked if they could please be careful to not feed him because it would make him really ill. They denied feeding other cats (I'd seen them do it myself!).

Now, our cats have to be on a specific food. It took a long time to switch them to this food because they had runny tummies to begin with and now they have dodgy tums when they eat anything else. Well, our boy has been finding his way into our nerighbour's garden recently and he's started having a runny tummy again. This is a problem because he has long fur and it gets caught all round his bum and is a nightmare to clean!! It's of course, unpleasant for him. I suspect the neighbours have been letting him get to their food, but given how badly they reacted last time, I can't easily confront them about it.

Right now, we're afraid to let him out, which is not ideal, but we can't think of a better way to figure out if he is getting hold of something.

What should I do if he does seem to be getting food elsewhere?

[Lilith]

Hi there. I'm very sorry to hear this. I confess I've been guilty of this sort of thing over the years, allowing all and sundry to drop in for a feed, but mercifully I never heard of any visitor being on a special diet. If they had been, they would have had to be banned for their own good.

Anyone who cares for cats ought to take your request absolutely seriously - but, if that's the way they are reacting, I think your only option is to keep your cat in at the moment (luckily it's winter.)

I know this isn't always possible, space and cost-wise, but another idea could be to enclose your garden so that he can't get out to roam and dine on unsuitable food, whether at your neighbours' or elsewhere; thy do have a talent for finding something they're not supposed to have, like scraps on bird-tables that they'd turn their noses up at at home, awkward little gits, bless them.

I hope his poorly stomach recovers soon and that you find a lasting solution, but honestly, the neighbours' attitude beggars belief!

[Janey]

It’s a difficult one this, as like Lilith, I also feed cats other than my own because we look after ferals. My neighbours feed them too, so I guess my own cats have popped round the neighbours a few times too. A couple of our neighbours cats have, in the past, had to have special diets, one was diabetic, not sure about the other, and they’ve had a collar saying “Please don’t feed me”. You can buy these collars aswell. I do feel for you though, because it’s a shame if the cat has to be kept in because of this. Another option, other than having a word with the “feeders”, is to cat proof your garden, if that’s at all possible. I hope you manage to sort it though, it can be hard enough finding the right diet for a cat with food issues, let alone it getting messed up when you do.