Several months ago a cat turned up in my house, I found him eating my cats food, he had a big open sore on his neck and was very scruffy, he was very scared of me too, so we thought we had a stray cat coming in.
He came in nearly every day for a few months and was always starving (eating 3-4 pouches of food in one go some days), he sometimes came in after we had gone to bed and liked to let us know he'd been in by spraying in the conservatry (he isn't neutered)
So we printed about a hundred flyers and posted them down our street, found the owner that day and told him his cat was coming round, eating and spraying, and he laughed, I asked the man what the cats name was and after thinking about it for a good minute he eventually said his name was Dominoe, I'm thinking 'you really should know what your cats name is without thinking about it'. The man said he hadn't seen the cat in 2 weeks, a few of his neigbours phoned too and they had seen the cat around so he knows how to get home.
I remembered putting a flyer through his door because a little dog nearly bit my finger off when I posted it.... so I'm thinking the little dog is the reason the cat isn't eating at home and possibly how he got his neck injury.
Anyway we weren't sure what to do about him, we were going to call the rescue shelter before we found his owner but I don't think we could knowing he does actually have a home. Over time we have gained his trust and he will now let me stroke him, not that he likes it much.
Sorry this is getting long.........
Well we hadn't seen him for about 2 weeks and he definatly hasn't been in to eat while were asleep, he turned up again this week and he has put on quite a bit of weight since we last saw him, he is getting fat! I've been conned by a cat pretending he needs food!
The problem isn't really the stealing of food but the spraying, first it was the conservatry, then he started doing the kitchen, the hoover, the microwave and today I've found he sprayed the plates/bowls/ cutlery on the draining board, the brand new plates and bowls I brought on Sunday
. I am very very annoyed to put it politely!
I know now I should have just chased him off in the first place, but he came in all bleeding and looking sorry for himself, what else could I do!
Phew, I feel better for a rant! Were going to lock the catflap at night for a few weeks so he can't spray in the house while were asleep, I'm fed up of the first job of the day being cleaning up cat wee!