I’m not the least bit worried about whether the peanut gallery approves of my cat, dog, horse, donkey or horse’s weight and condition.
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At the very least, put boomerang tags on your animals and get them microchipped.
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Yeah barn cats shouldn’t be covered in fleas and ticks. There’s ways to prevent that.
I vote MYOB. I have done similar things with both cats and dogs, frankly. If the owner doesn’t care enough to contain/feed/flea and tick preventative, then I’ll deal with it my way.
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Tell your neighbor. Having been in the situation where a neighbor absconded with my resident feral cat, at least let them know where it is. I know there’s nothing I can do to contain this cat, but having a clue is nice.
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Are you effing kidding me?
Yeah, I have a barn cat. I feed him every day. I lock him in the tack room at night to keep him safe. I treat him for fleas and ticks. I maintain his vaccines. When he looks unthrifty, I take him to the VET.
A cat that hasn’t been fed by it’s “owners” in SIX MONTHS is a stray.
I doubt you’d be okay if your neighbors were caring for a dog or a horse in this manner, and you should really spend some time thinking about why that is.
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Tinnamous is a barn cat by his own choice. He gets fed 2x a day, has a cat window into the tackroom, and will get his credelio pill this weekend. And pheeble is likely sleeping under the Mule. She has a dental appointment next week.
What IS your point?
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Have they even been to the shelter to look for their cat? Are they even aware their cat is missing?
I really hate people that treat cats like crap. As mentioned above it would never be tolerated on this board if it we’re A dog or horse being neglected and the fact that some people are okay with cat neglect makes me sick
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I grew up with several barn cats that never went hungry, were a healthy weight and never were flee/tick infested. Love cats; however, I have no barn cats as I am not willing to lose any to our numerous coyotes or get killed by a vehicle. My dogs are slim. I know the difference between slim and starving. No animal, pet or livestock, should be left to starve. Perhaps be more outraged at the starvation and ill health of the cat caused by the owner then at the neighbor who stepped in to better the life of the cat.
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It’s not ok to neglect any animal. Doesn’t matter if it’s a dog, cat, farm animal, reptile, or fish. Providing food for 2 animals when 1 is being pushed off of it and losing weight is not ok. That’s neglect and depending on the extent of it, abuse. Personally, if the animal is so out of the owner’s control that it’s going somewhere else every day to be cared for, I’d keep my mouth shut. If the owners care so much about the cat, they’ll be checking the shelter. If they don’t even notice it’s missing or don’t check the shelter, claim it and then keep it on their property, then they don’t deserve it.
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I am not saying neglecting is OK, because I most certainly do not feel that it is.
But I think the OP has a point here.
Now, fleas are not OK and I do not get why this owner is not treating all of their barn cats for fleas. No one wants those things around. Yuck. There are so many easy ways to deal with fleas now days, we are well past the horrible dark ages of taking your pet for a flea dip when it was offered at the local feed store.
I just want to say (again) that just because this cat was eating somewhere else does not mean it was starved at home.
I hate it when people make that leap.
I also hate people who feed a cat and then complain that it comes around.
Well yes, you fed it, it liked what you fed it.
I do the same thing for good food and I am not a cat, I have opposable thumbs and can make my own food, but darn, who can pass up yummy food.
@Bicoastal, next time you talk to this neighbor about their bully cat and the others not eating maybe point out that this is a very solvable problem. A second bowl of food, not right by the main feeder would likely be all it takes to allow a lower cat to have food time away from the bully.
This neighbor most certainly put you in a difficult place.
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If Neighbor Y hasn’t asked about their cat, they clearly did not care anyways. Going over there to tell them where the cat is at unprovoked, is known as “stirring the pot”.
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Uh, that’s exactly what was said, actually.
I don’t know about you, but if there’s some dynamic in my animals that isn’t allowing one to eat, I take care of the dynamic. I don’t just allow an animal to “get skinny” (aka “starve.”)
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This is the point that I keep getting stuck on because there are so many people that see fit thin as skinny and starved (join the pet vet group on facebook and you will realize it is crazy the number of people who think anything less than fat is starved).
I 100% agree that if this cat was truly skinny and starved it is nothing less than horrible and wrong.
I assume you read the part where I said something about this very subject.
At this point I just hope this cat finds a place that works for it and gets the care it needs.
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Sure, if the situation was completely different than what the op described, the answer here might be completely different.
As it stands, the neighbor is neglecting the cat, the op thinks that’s okay because it’s a cat and not some other type of animal, and the other neighbor was apparently the only person willing to step up for the cat.
It’s incredibly generous that they gave the shelter the name the neglectful neighbors use. It would take the barest modicum of investigation to find the cat and claim it. Bail is probably less than the medical care it’s received while at the shelter. But it sounds like the barest modicum is still too much for them, which certainly tracks with how they’ve cared for this animal.
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Around here the rule is that if you feed it, it’s yours. Barn cats disappear sometimes. People look around for them, but might assume the worst. By not notifying the rightful owner, they took over the care of the cat and essentially lured it away. If a neighbor starts to feed a free roaming barn cat, it’s now their barn cat. Taking it to the shelter was dirty. That was actually an owner surrender rather than a stray. Especially because they were feeding the cat for six months. They attracted the stray to their property by feeding it and did nothing to care for it properly over a six month period. They could have gotten it vaccines, treated it for fleas and ticks, etc, if they were going to take over care. The catnapping neighbors are the neglectful owners at this point.
I would let the owner know their cat was taken to the pound and not coyote bait.
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Hold on. Owners provide hard food 24/7. Neighbor Y provides canned food twice a day. So cat packed its bags and moved. Then Neighbor Y is done, lies to themself that cat doesn’t have a home, and lies to shelter that cat doesn’t have a home. And wants me to lie by omission.
I had concerns so I talked to owner. I saw the housing, the food, the water. I even saw the other cat chase it. So I offered suggestions, such as a separate feeding station.
We can’t know if cat was gaining weight because owner changed something or because of Neighbor Y. For all we know, cat was returning home every night.
COTH has a high standard of care. COTH also has a high level of protecting their rights to do with their animals as they wish, sometimes a paranoid level of ‘but there’s a slippery slope to PETA.’ So the overwhelmingly enraged responses here surprise me.
A peanut gallery neighbor was judge and jury about someone else’s animal. Neighbor Y created a narrative without ever speaking to the owner. I don’t want them near my animals now. They could decide annimals out in the rain or snow or sun don’t have shelter. Or a thin dog isn’t being fed.
I came here for feedback and what I received surprises me. I will reflect on how my reaction is in the minority.
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@moonlitoaksranch, yes that’s how I feel: that by feeding it, they lured it. They were told it has an owner, food, and shelter. They continued to feed it, thus adopting it. You can’t create that dynamic then suddenly take it to the shelter.
I don’t agree with the outdoor pet thing. But if I was that cat, I’d probably prefer to take my chances outside vs live in a 24”x24” cage.
I don’t think I’m evil, cold hearted, or ignorant. But I’m hearing the majority’s opinion loud and clear and promise to reflect on that.
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If I put out a round bale, and one horse doesn’t allow another to eat, to the point of significant weight loss, to the point of driving the horse through the fence and off the property, to the point that the horse figures out the neighbors will hay it, is the answer “well, I put out that round bale” 
? Or is that very serious neglect? Take your time.
The fact you’re okay with the neighbors not feeding “their” animal (and yes, not having an environment in which it CAN eat is not feeding it) is shameful. That you would want the cat to go back to that situation is also shameful. Why would you want it to suffer like that?
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You must have missed the part where @Bicoastal said the owner put out another feeding station and the cat was gaining.
Bicoastal, I would not trust neighbor X either.
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@Bicoastal. Life is rarely black and white. I started a thread on here 3 years ago about a neighbor’s skinny intact male cat that kept showing up for dinner. Owners absolutely thought they were doing the right thing. Cats are disposable right ? Cat was flea ridden and the typical intact male so fighting other ferals and in the course of all that his eye got injured badly. I watched this cat wander around for the first year of its life. Barely cared for. His eye turned dark.
He was a lover. I asked the COTH collective if it was all right if I trapped my neighbors cat and neutered him. The COTH collective said yes and I did! And vaccinated and tried to keep him inside. He was a lovely cat. But he HATED being indoors. He’d lived his whole life outdoors. He would literally crawl up my walls tearing up the drywall to escape during the day. So I let him out during the day. He’d return at night to sleep on my sofa. During those couple of years his original owners STILL thought he was their cat. whatever. A holes never put Advantage on him. Never realized his balls were gone. I just tried to give him a chance. I spent $ and time and made him an outdoor shelter in the winter and they still thought he was their cat. One afternoon he didn’t come home. I found him on the side of the road dead hit by a car. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so hard. I hate irresponsible people beyond measure. You can try to do the right thing and still fail. Miss that cat every day but he was not mine.
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