Kidnapping a kitten

MsFifers

This might be more of an ethical question rather than a pet issue, but my neighbour's kitten is forcing me to kidnap it.

It is such a cute little thing, and every time it knows I am at home, it sits outside the patio door, all big eyes, begging to come in. So, I cave and let it in and then its in for the night, sleeping on my bed and eating my other cats' food.

It literally never wants to go home. I have brought it back to them a few times, but they never seem that bothered - just say "Oh right." - they don't seem to ever wonder where it goes all the time.

I put it into their garden every morning when I'm leaving for work but on nasty mornings like today I feel really horrible putting it out in the rain. It would much prefer to stay in my house for the day.

My question:
Should I just keep letting it in?
Should I keep it until the neighbours come looking?

The Sweeper

Call around and offer to buy it off them. Offer something paltry like €20 or something. If they snatch it off you, they care. If they take the money, congratulations on your new kitten. Either way don't poach it by just tempting it away, that's a bit mean.

BlackCat2008

Many cats I've none choose their own homes, the kitten may be happy having two mammies to care for her, but if you believe she is not being taken care of properly, next time you are dropping her in just say to them you think she needs to see a vet she's been coughing a bit or throwing up or something then later ask them how the vet visit went or if they keep her in to see if it was getting worse that should give you your answer, if your not happy don't worry, she sounds like she has chosen to pick you as her mam so just take her in and if they come looking for her then give her back and she'll be back as soon as she gets out, they'll give up on her eventually if they really don't care for her. That should tell you every thing, the last boy like that I had they tryed to claim him back months later after I spent a fortune on him as he was in a bad way and they weren't bothered with him, all of a sudden he's better we'll have him back, as soon as he got out he came home himself and they never asked about him again, he even found a second home up the road from me and spent his time living between us, he's passed on now but a least he had a good live with people who cared for him.

lubie76

Be careful Ms Fifers, I got in trouble before on this forum for wanting to neuter an uncared for cat in my neighbourhood. It was also a crisis of conscience but apparently theres a fine line between caring and caring too much, regardless if you want to do whats best for the cat.

Glowing

Ah I don't think that's fair lubie. There is a big difference between taking someones cat that isn't yours and putting it through surgery without the owners knowledge, and offering a new home to a kitten.

I don't think anything should be done without the owners permission, but it does sound like he's picked his new home

The Sweeper

I'll double back a moment to express something more strongly:

I believe it is the height of rudeness to feed other people's animals. Unless the animal is a stray, in poor condition and you intend to involve an animal care agency of some kind, by feeding someone else's animal you create a bond between you and it. It's not fair on the owner, and it's not fair on the animal. You also don't know if the animal has a specific diet for health reasons or even for personal welfare reasons (my cats are better fed than some people's kids - my cats, my choice - but I'd be seriously pissed off if my neighbours were leaving supermarket-own-brand dried kibble out for them).

My cat doesn't like my house mate. It's her own fault - she mishandled him a few times when he was very young and he's never forgiven her. She's been known to try to redress that balance with branded cat treats - the sort designed to be handed out two and three at a time - but she does it by the handful. For a while he started to put on an alarming amount of weight and I had to ask her repeatedly to stop overfeeding him.

That's not to say this is what MsFifers is doing, but don't assume someone else's pet "prefers to live with you" because you feed him and let him sleep on your bed and they don't let him do that in their house.

If you want the cat, offer to buy the cat off them. Otherwise, leave their pet alone.

Sigma Force

If someone allows their cat to roam freely this is what happens and it happens a lot. I wouldn't pay them anything for the cat it may only encourage them to get another one.

As long as they keep allowing the cat out and the cat comes of it's own accord (don't leave out food etc so they cannot blame that) then it's tough on them basically. If you allow a pet to wander anything can happen. They are lucky that you are a cat friendly neighbour the cat could easily plod down the road to some nasty neighbours house where something horrific could happen to it.

We had a cat that adopted us many moons ago, we found out that she belonged to a neighbour but they weren't that bothered. She was very timid for many years was pretty scared at first. But she took to one of our other cats and they became best mates and she wouldn't leave. So eventually she just stayed and we had her for many years.
Neighbours never bothered about her and we hadn't encouraged her but we did have other cats and food around for our own cats, wasn't our fault if another cat came along. Tbh our own cats would chase other cats out of the garden but this one they took to.

sam_mom1

i had a kitten earlier this year, i went on holidays and asked my neighbours across the road to mind it for a week. when i came back the kitten had decided that it liked goin between the two houses.. i politely asked them to stop feeding it and letting her in to their house and they laughed thinking they knew better... needless to say i had to stop feeding the cat myself (i didnt want it to get killed crossing the busy road) but i was annoyed that the neighbours had taken it upon themselves to keep looking after her..

bottom line is, i would have prefered if they had just asked could they keep her rather than 'stealing' her from me....

MsFifers

Thanks for the opinions. The thing is, I know they like cats because the lady tells me she feeds strays etc. I think they just have a traditional attitude that cats should be let wander & stay out all night etc. The kitten probably is more comfy in my place, but I suppose I shouldn't encourage it.

Maybe I better just send it home anymore - as a few people have said, it is bad manners.

But if it starts to look a bit uncared for I think I'll go back to letting it in.

Sage'sMama

I have three cats living with me at the minute. Only one is mine and she lived with me in an apartment from the day i got her she only went outside when i brought her to my parents house. Now i live with my parents again and i am constantly afraid that she will get out and wander as she is an indoor cat and has no consept of roads,cars etc. Anyways my parents live down from a woman with thirteen cats indoors and outdoors. She gave me ma a kitten and it was living in the house one day it got out and we were looking for it everywhere. We called to the cat lady and asked if she'd seen it and she said no. A few days later i called again to see if they had seen the kitten there was no one there and the kitten was sitting in the window of their sitting room. Needless to say we never got her back and my ma was gutted. You should be affectionate toward the cat but i would decline feeding it for a few days and see what happens. Cats will go where there is food and maybe the next time you bring the cat back to the neighbours you should tell them that you let it in your house and that and maybe they would let you keep it but they sound like the type that if they let you take it would quickly replace it and then you will have another one at your door.

sam_mom1

to be honest, if i were you i would go ask her could you have the kitten, as you say she feeds strays so chances are that the kitten is stray or is the kitten of one of her strays... im sure the kitten would prefer to be sleepin on your bed at night rather than under a bush... worst she can say is no...
in my opinion the ISPCA would look more favourably on someone who wants to look after a cat, keep it warm, fed and get it nuetered than havin it roamin the streets gettin up to all sorts of mischief i.e. gettin other cats up the duff and leadin to more unwanted kittens hee hee