Show us your kitty cats

Associate
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20 Feb 2007
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1,716
Have a small situation with my 10 month old burmese. There's a guy down the street that has 2 big cats and leaves a downstairs window open for access. My cat jumps in and sneaks upstairs to a cosy sleeping spot. I figured his cats would scare him off but they don't seem to bother eachother. Spoken to the guy a few times and he seems reasonable.. has invited me in to show me where he sleeps and even carries him back around to my frontdoor whenever he finds him. I'm pretty sure he's not encouraging him but I suspect he's there for hours at a time and often comes back with an upset stomach from stealing their cats food. I've suggested spraying him with water as a deterrent but he says he doesn't want to do this. He's getting into the habit of going there multiple times per day and I'm not sure how to stop this behaviour besides keeping him in entirely, which he would absolutely hate.

Got a gps collar coming tomorrow to see the full extent of his escapades, but it's not really going to do much besides satisfy my curiosity.

Really don't like the feeling of sharing my own cat and especially don't like not being able to control his diet, but not sure what I can do.
 
Man of Honour
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29,509
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Surrey
I've got the opposite problem to Souness above. There are two local cats a couple of roads away. We often see them outside an empty property being renovated. A few weeks ago we noticed one of them on one of our evening walks. The poor cat was very thin. More recently we noticed a second cat which was in a bad condition. Not only was it thin but it had open sores on its body, missing fur from its legs, it seems to have eyesight issues and problems walking with its back legs. It's also covered in what we assume are a bad infestation of fleas which you can see moving among its fur. I don't know whether the sores are a skin problem or where it has been scratching so much with fleas. It was so bad that when I got back home my daughter and I immediately washed all the clothes we were wearing so we didn't bring anything into the house.

We have asked people as they walk past whether they know where the cats live and most people said they didn't know. We assumed they were strays and started leaving food for them when we went on our nightly walk. The first time we did, the second cat wolfed down two large packs of wet food, a pile of dry food and was looking for more. But we've now found out they aren't strays and they seem to belong to an elderly lady in a nearby house. Apparently a neighbour has already confronted her and she didn't seem interested and told the neighbour to go away. So I have no doubt if I do the same then she will just brush us off too. The front of the house is overgrown and looking on the satellite view of google maps the back also seems a complete forest. I don't think she's being malicious but just can't cope with the house or looking after animals.

The first cat still stays away from us mostly. But the second cat (the poor condition one) has become more friendly. We've started taking them food every day, or at least when we see them, and have seen a good improvement in the very poor cat. As some of you may recall I inherited a rescue cat from my mum when she died a couple of years ago. She's the worlds most nervous cat and won't venture past the front garden. So I couldn't bring these cats back to mine, as my own poor cat would either attack them or run away. I can't put my own cat through that. I wish I could take them in but I can't. And they belong to someone else anyway. So instead I reported their situation to the RSPCA who seemed to take it seriously. But who knows whether they will be able to do anything.

We've continued to feed them when we see them but the poorly cat is getting attached to us. A couple of days ago after feeding it, it was purring loudly and bunting us looking for affection (it seemed to want affection just as much as it had wanted food before). And started following us until we got too far away as it has trouble walking. Not really looking for advice and am just venting. We have/are doing what we can. But it's quite upsetting wanting to pick them up and bring them home. Before inheriting my own cat I knew nothing about them and am still a complete amateur with cat ownership. Are we making things worse by feeding them if they are getting attached?
 
Associate
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St Albans
Have a small situation with my 10 month old burmese. There's a guy down the street that has 2 big cats and leaves a downstairs window open for access. My cat jumps in and sneaks upstairs to a cosy sleeping spot. I figured his cats would scare him off but they don't seem to bother eachother. Spoken to the guy a few times and he seems reasonable.. has invited me in to show me where he sleeps and even carries him back around to my frontdoor whenever he finds him. I'm pretty sure he's not encouraging him but I suspect he's there for hours at a time and often comes back with an upset stomach from stealing their cats food. I've suggested spraying him with water as a deterrent but he says he doesn't want to do this. He's getting into the habit of going there multiple times per day and I'm not sure how to stop this behaviour besides keeping him in entirely, which he would absolutely hate.

Got a gps collar coming tomorrow to see the full extent of his escapades, but it's not really going to do much besides satisfy my curiosity.

Really don't like the feeling of sharing my own cat and especially don't like not being able to control his diet, but not sure what I can do.

Suggest owner gets a smart cat flap (also leaving window open is security risk of course) and then suggest strongly AGAIN ;)

Burmese are VERY social cats so hard to see how you could stop him. I've owned Burmese for 40 years or more, your one is likely to be pretty unhappy at being kept in but my current Burmese is a stay at home cat - has access to garden but doesnt need a collar as she never leaves our garden and IF I gave her the option of staying in ALL day and a tray to use ALL day, she would be happy. But most cats of all types like outdoors.

I've got the opposite problem to Souness above. There are two local cats a couple of roads away. We often see them outside an empty property being renovated. A few weeks ago we noticed one of them on one of our evening walks. The poor cat was very thin. More recently we noticed a second cat which was in a bad condition. Not only was it thin but it had open sores on its body, missing fur from its legs, it seems to have eyesight issues and problems walking with its back legs. It's also covered in what we assume are a bad infestation of fleas which you can see moving among its fur. I don't know whether the sores are a skin problem or where it has been scratching so much with fleas. It was so bad that when I got back home my daughter and I immediately washed all the clothes we were wearing so we didn't bring anything into the house.

We have asked people as they walk past whether they know where the cats live and most people said they didn't know. We assumed they were strays and started leaving food for them when we went on our nightly walk. The first time we did, the second cat wolfed down two large packs of wet food, a pile of dry food and was looking for more. But we've now found out they aren't strays and they seem to belong to an elderly lady in a nearby house. Apparently a neighbour has already confronted her and she didn't seem interested and told the neighbour to go away. So I have no doubt if I do the same then she will just brush us off too. The front of the house is overgrown and looking on the satellite view of google maps the back also seems a complete forest. I don't think she's being malicious but just can't cope with the house or looking after animals.

The first cat still stays away from us mostly. But the second cat (the poor condition one) has become more friendly. We've started taking them food every day, or at least when we see them, and have seen a good improvement in the very poor cat. As some of you may recall I inherited a rescue cat from my mum when she died a couple of years ago. She's the worlds most nervous cat and won't venture past the front garden. So I couldn't bring these cats back to mine, as my own poor cat would either attack them or run away. I can't put my own cat through that. I wish I could take them in but I can't. And they belong to someone else anyway. So instead I reported their situation to the RSPCA who seemed to take it seriously. But who knows whether they will be able to do anything.

We've continued to feed them when we see them but the poorly cat is getting attached to us. A couple of days ago after feeding it, it was purring loudly and bunting us looking for affection (it seemed to want affection just as much as it had wanted food before). And started following us until we got too far away as it has trouble walking. Not really looking for advice and am just venting. We have/are doing what we can. But it's quite upsetting wanting to pick them up and bring them home. Before inheriting my own cat I knew nothing about them and am still a complete amateur with cat ownership. Are we making things worse by feeding them if they are getting attached?

Option 1 RSPCA - not caring for your pet properly is animal cruelty...
Option 2 Adopt the cat and bring it home - I doubt such a lady would care or notice
 

ljt

ljt

Soldato
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4,540
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West Midlands, UK
Gutted. Just got back from the vets and it's not looking good for our remaining Burmese Meg :(

She went in a couple of weeks ago as she had a small lump under the one side of her jaw, and started to drool a little on that side. Vet said her teeth/gums were infected so she went in for them to be removed. Everything went well, she was on antibiotics for a couple of weeks, seemed a lot brighter, eating better, but the lump got bigger and a 2nd appeared closer towards her chin. So took her back this evening, and he thinks it's a tumour, and if it is then the kindest thing to do is have her put to sleep :( He said there is a very slim chance it still could be some nasty infection, so to make that horrible decision a little easier he advised taking a biopsy tomorrow. Then if it is what he fears, it'll basically make the decision for us.

It's only been just over 12 months since we had to have her brother Ozzie put to sleep so things are still a little raw. I keep telling myself we've given them both a good life, and I've managed their diabetes as best as I could for over 10 years. She's 17 now, diabetic, arthritic and has failing kidneys, but she's still has that sparkle in her eyes as she's a proper fighter just like her brother was.

Sorry to bring the mood down in here, but I needed to vent a little!
 
Associate
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Location
St Albans
Gutted. Just got back from the vets and it's not looking good for our remaining Burmese Meg :(

She went in a couple of weeks ago as she had a small lump under the one side of her jaw, and started to drool a little on that side. Vet said her teeth/gums were infected so she went in for them to be removed. Everything went well, she was on antibiotics for a couple of weeks, seemed a lot brighter, eating better, but the lump got bigger and a 2nd appeared closer towards her chin. So took her back this evening, and he thinks it's a tumour, and if it is then the kindest thing to do is have her put to sleep :( He said there is a very slim chance it still could be some nasty infection, so to make that horrible decision a little easier he advised taking a biopsy tomorrow. Then if it is what he fears, it'll basically make the decision for us.

It's only been just over 12 months since we had to have her brother Ozzie put to sleep so things are still a little raw. I keep telling myself we've given them both a good life, and I've managed their diabetes as best as I could for over 10 years. She's 17 now, diabetic, arthritic and has failing kidneys, but she's still has that sparkle in her eyes as she's a proper fighter just like her brother was.

Sorry to bring the mood down in here, but I needed to vent a little!

burmese popular here... I've never had one last much beyond 10 years though so a little jealous of that. I feel for you though... I had to have my "longest" lived Burmese put down and I confess I cried.... Hope you get some good news but if not, take comfort you have given them both good lives and good treatment to help where you can.
 
Soldato
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11 Nov 2009
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4,784
Location
Edinburgh
Spotted a couple of handsome visitors to the communal garden, these two used to hiss and spit but I see thet are getting on better now. Buttons will actually come into my flat through the cat flap which is fine, Felix has looked through it but as yet not come through.So armed with camera and treats I went down to say good morning.

Buttons.
Wr4G8Re.jpg

Felix.
TkqdIX5.jpg
 
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