Hi there! This is my first time posting, but I need some guidance on how to handle a surprising situation that happened this evening. Returning home from work this evening, I found my cat waiting at the front door with someone else's collar on! My stomach dropped, fear set in because all I could think was that someone is trying to "take" my cat. What if they take him for shots, or give him flea/tick medicine...that would be doubling his dosage of everything and it just scared me! What if they move and take him!
This is our first indoor/outside kitty. We have 2 other indoor cats. They never go outside. The "outside" kitty goes out most mornings and comes home around 4 pm and stays in at night (he is neutered). We got him when his original owners moved and just left him behind. We took him in and have been caring for him for the past 3 years (vet appointments, medicines, food, a home and of course lots of love).
In the past I considered myself anti-collar for my cats (too worried they would hang themselves or get hurt by them somehow)....Until our outside kitty didn't come home for 4 nights a few months ago. I researched and found the break away collars. He's been in one ever since. Of course there are days where he comes home with out one. Great! The break feature must be working! This happened last night when he came home without it again. I bought another collar today for him, and was shocked to see some other collar on him when I got home.
Needless to say, he is getting chipped first thing in the morning. But what do I do about this neighbor that is trying to "take" my cat? Most of the neighbors know he is our cat, but I'm angry and scared and not sure how to handle this situation. He is a very laid back cat and loves people. He loves taunting indoor cats through their windows. I have no doubt he would just walk into someone's house. I'm sure this is just an innocent mistake, but I'm just too scared/angry to logically comprehend that right now.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
This is our first indoor/outside kitty. We have 2 other indoor cats. They never go outside. The "outside" kitty goes out most mornings and comes home around 4 pm and stays in at night (he is neutered). We got him when his original owners moved and just left him behind. We took him in and have been caring for him for the past 3 years (vet appointments, medicines, food, a home and of course lots of love).
In the past I considered myself anti-collar for my cats (too worried they would hang themselves or get hurt by them somehow)....Until our outside kitty didn't come home for 4 nights a few months ago. I researched and found the break away collars. He's been in one ever since. Of course there are days where he comes home with out one. Great! The break feature must be working! This happened last night when he came home without it again. I bought another collar today for him, and was shocked to see some other collar on him when I got home.
Needless to say, he is getting chipped first thing in the morning. But what do I do about this neighbor that is trying to "take" my cat? Most of the neighbors know he is our cat, but I'm angry and scared and not sure how to handle this situation. He is a very laid back cat and loves people. He loves taunting indoor cats through their windows. I have no doubt he would just walk into someone's house. I'm sure this is just an innocent mistake, but I'm just too scared/angry to logically comprehend that right now.
Does anyone have any suggestions?