Cats and possible mistreatment

[Si]

I just don't understand why people who have no ability to fit a cat flap or offer their cat any kind of shelter during the day have cats.

There is one near us, gets kicked out first thing in the morning and not let back in until late evening.  It's a thin, unhappy looking animal that just spends the whole day sat on the ground outside their front door.  In the recent spell of cold weather it's been looking really miserable.

I'd like to do something for it...but how do you approach someone and more or less suggest that they are mistreating the cat without causing offence and risking a smack in the mouth?  They obviously know that the cat is outside all day and haven't done anything about, so it would seem that they do not believe that they are doing anything wrong.

I could just call the RSPCA but I guess that there isn't much they could do, or is there?

Any ideas?

[Julian]

Phone the RSPCA cruelty line on 0300 1234 999.

rspca.org.uk - Home

[mrcharly-YHT]

I have mixed feelings about this. Cats are perfectly capable of living outdoors. When we lived on the boat, our cat would frequently take off hunting in the most appalling weather, returning in the middle of the night soaked through or covered in snow. Usually purring away with a furry animal hanging limply from his jaws.

[Mrs Pingu]

Thing is, outdoor cats are perfectly capable of moving house (and frequently do) if they don't like the quality of home provided, my family has in the past been adopted (separately) by two (sadly now departed) cheeky chaps who decided they liked the cut of our jib and that they were moving in whether we invited them or not.
I'm sure the cat could go and find a sheltered spot to hole up somewhere if it was really desperate......

<Having said all that, my dear old Dad had an old tea chest with a bit of carpet in it which sat outside, and then when that rotted through he built them a shelter out of prime cuts of wood and painted it too!>

[andygates]

Outdoor isn't cruel, not on its own.

Make friends with it and if it's unhappy it'll move in.   

[Pingu]

Phone the RSPCA cruelty line on 0300 1234 999.

rspca.org.uk - Home

Or, in Scotland, the SSPCA, 03000 999 999.

[Si]

We do have a number of cats that are 'out door' cats around here - they range and mooch and generally seem content left to their own devices all day.  This one, however, seems never to move from its front garden (in so far as you could call it a garden) area which is really what makes me think that it's not having a good time of it.

I'd love it to move in with us (we've a cat flap that let our cats in the house when ever they wanted), but it's a couple of streets away so the only way to get it to our house would be to kidnap it.  Will try the RSPCA.