How can I stop a neighbour feeding my cat?

[rogerzilla]

He's diabetic and what/how much he eats is important.  He is also on various tablets.  The neighbour is the reason he became obese (5.9kg and he's a small cat) and diabetic in the first place.  She thinks I don't feed him enough and was giving him entire meals.  She becomes stroppy if confronted about it and said she would just give him a small piece of chicken so he goes away.  Last night he came back at 10pm and (no exaggeration) threw up the equivalent of half a chicken and half a sachet of cat food, all undigested.  His liver medication was the last thing in, so he didn't get that yesterday.  She will kill him if this carries on.  I can keep him indoors but he will hate that.

[fruitcake]

I think you have to speak with her. The problem is she thinks she is being kind and that you do not feed your cat enough. You have to convince her that you love your cat, that the cat's diet is part of the vet's instructions, and that additional food will prevent his medication from working which would make him poorly and uncomfortable.

She might deny an accusation. Perhaps say, 'we love Mr Tiddles and we are concerned about his diabetes and have strict instructions from the vet not to over-feed him and to make sure he gets his diabetes tablets. Recently he's been throwing up and the tablets the vet prescribed for Mr Tiddles's health will have been in his vomit and so he won't have been getting the benefit of them. We don't want to prevent him from leaving the house, because he would hate that, and we care about his wellbeing as well as his physical health. Do you know of anyone in the neighbourhood who might have been feeding him half chickens and cat food pouches? I know it can't have been you because we discussed this previously and you promised to cooperate with us.'

Does your neighbour have pets? Is there a particular reason why she wants to provide for your cat?

[Jaded]

Go round with the last vet bill and say that it is only fair that, since she is sharing the cat, she shares the vet bills.

[Mrs Pingu]

My symaphathies. What fruitcake says all sounds very reasonable, but I don't envy you trying to have the conversation. Jaded's might be the next step after that.

Alternatively, do you have a fenced in back garden that you could put this cat proof fencing on? (I know you probably don't want to do that, what with trying to sell your house in a bit.
https://protectapet.com/pages/cat-fence

Not sure if RSPCA would help given that overfeeding is also animal abuse... https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/general/feedingpeoplespets

[Jaded]

I've thought of another possibility.

Although it looks like you have retired, that's just a cover (as was the job) and you are still fully involved at The Doughnut.

You've been developing nano-bot spy-catcher fleas and testing them on Dumpy. There is now a nano-bot flea infestation in her bathroom and you have video recordings.

[rogerzilla]

My symaphathies. What fruitcake says all sounds very reasonable, but I don't envy you trying to have the conversation. Jaded's might be the next step after that.

Alternatively, do you have a fenced in back garden that you could put this cat proof fencing on? (I know you probably don't want to do that, what with trying to sell your house in a bit.
https://protectapet.com/pages/cat-fence

Not sure if RSPCA would help given that overfeeding is also animal abuse... https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/general/feedingpeoplespets

He's just been over there again and finished her cat's food while she was out - she came home and found him in the house.  As well as her giving him "snacks", she leaves food out at all times and he just goes in and gets it if she's not there.  This will make him puke later as he is also on a sensitive stomach diet - he scrounged food over there last night and was puking until 1am, which is dangerous for a cat on insulin as it means he's effectively not had a meal.

I have told her he is genuinely at risk of dying if he gets a hypo at night when I am asleep. I have asked her to throw water at him if he appears.  The problem is that he is incredibly clever and will treat it as a game, only going there if she's out.

Maybe she'll let me buy and fit a chip-controlled cat flap, although I understand they are a bit unreliable.

[SteveC]

Maybe she'll let me buy and fit a chip-controlled cat flap, although I understand they are a bit unreliable.

We have had chip-reading flaps for about fifteen years.
We did have a problem with the first one when we first set it up, but after that they have been trouble free.
Ginge (before he officially moved in) did work out how to get in by tailgating one of our Maine Coons, but that only worked because she had a very long tail.