Our ex stray cat is coming home with food

[CELA312]

We recently (4.5 months ago) adopted a lovely cat ‘Banoffee’ who was a stray. He’s around 4 years old and had now been neutered and chipped. He’s settled in really well - he seems to love having a home and has gone from being nervous and jumpy to loving fuss and play. It was quite slow going with introducing him to our other cat Lola (thanks those who offered advice on here!) but we have seen good progress there recently - they share a space a lot now and are friendly towards each other (nose touches, sniffs) at least most of the time (we still have the odd chase and hiss but it’s reducing more and more).

Our issue at the moment is around food. Banoffee understandably is incredibly food driven and has shown a lot of food insecurity from his time as a stray. He has relaxed a little here as he doesn’t wolf his meals down at quite such a pace and he will now actually sit patiently and let Lola eat her own food without trying to take it off her! However, on a number of occasions he has come home after time outside with large chunks of cooked meat (e.g. ham or chicken) - we have no idea where he is getting these - we guess out of a bin of a possibly overenthusiastic thrower-away, or even from someone’s dinner table! I don’t think anyone is likely to be giving them to him, as the ham in particular was a rather large chunk so I can’t see it being likely that anyone gave that to him. He’s also quite wary of strange humans. So we are worried that a) he might be taking someone’s hard earned food, b) that someone could get angry and hurt him if that’s the case, and c) he’s getting plumper because it’s hard to know what food intake he’s having if he’s also scavenging when out!

Any ideas?! We already feed him grain free but are thinking that if we feed him only very high quality, high meat food that it might lessen his scavenging (read some research that suggested this significantly reduced hunting in cats so maybe it would also decrease scavenging?) and also made sure we try to stick to very regular meal times for him to increase food security?

Thank you!

 

[Caspers Human]

I don't know where he's getting the food but I can venture a guess as to why he's bringing it home.

Cats bring dead animals home to their humans because they think of them like family.

Lions share kills with other members of their pride. Mother cats bring food home for their kittens. House cats bring freshly killed mice home to their clan... All for the same reason... Because they share food with the ones that are important to them.

I don't see bringing home a hunk of cooked chicken to be any different than a dead bird or freshly caught squirrel.

As to where and how he's getting food? This is going to take some detective work.

You're either going to have to follow your cat wherever he goes or, maybe, put up signs in the neighborhood to the effect, "Have you seen this cat?"

I suppose you could also get a GPS or camera to attach to his collar but that's going to cost some $$$.

 

[Norachan]

The best thing to do, in order to prevent Banoffee from eating something that makes him sick or getting into any other kinds of trouble, is to make him an indoor only or indoor/enclosure only cat.

Cats with outdoor access don't live very long. Not only are they at risk from cars, predators, unkind people and other cats but they can get trapped or poisoned if they go out scavenging for food. He survived his time as a stray. One of the best things about having a home is that he is safe from all of those outdoor dangers now.

Take a look at these articles on how to help him adjust to being indoors.

The Five Golden Rules To Bringing An Outdoor Cat Inside – TheCatSite Articles

Cat Enclosures – TheCatSite Articles

 

[vince]

Was he taken in from around your neighborhood? I was thinking he might have been going to his old haunts, where people in the neighborhood fed him. Since they didn't see him for awhile, maybe they figured he needed an extra big helping!

He definitely is bringing some home to you. He seems to figure you aren't capable of hunting for yourself. All you can do is thank him profusely, then bring him into the house.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. It doesn't sound like he is actually eating much, or any, of it before he brings it to you, but I would still want to canvass the area to see if you can determine where he is getting this food. It is not likely that anyone is accidentally leaving it out somewhere that he happens to come across - if that would be the case, they would stop doing so in order not to lose the food.

But it is hard not to be suspect of someone baiting him with food that if not already poisoned may be down the road. I agree with the above to do some investigative work.

Also, agree with considering a nice cat enclosure to allow him time to be outdoors, but in a confined space so you know where he is at all times.

 

[CELA312]

Thanks for all the replies.

That’s terrifying that someone could be planning to poison him! Does that happen a lot? Was worried about someone throwing something at him or similar but hadn’t thought of poisoning.

He is from our neighbourhood so could also be possible that he has old friends around who do feed him.
Will try posters. We put some out when he was a stray and nobody responded to those or Facebook posts to say they knew him but can try again and see if anyone knows anything.

I’m not sure how happy he’d be as an indoor only cat, though think he might eventually settle as he doesn’t spend as much time out as our other cat Lola. But Lola really would not like that at all so we’d have to be able to let her out (she loves the neighbourhood and the neighbours all seem to like her)! I’ve also read much more mixed things about indoor vs outdoor cats and possible toll on their well-being from being inside so don’t want to restrict either of them really unless being outside looks like a big threat (our house is a small 2 bed semi so not loads of space and we already have long play sessions with Banoffee at least twice a day). This is generally a fairly safe area for outdoor cats I think (our others lived to 15.5 and 17.5 years and Lola is 13.5). Maybe enclosing the garden is ultimately the way to go for him for a balance between indoor/outdoor but we cannot afford that at the moment.

 

[Norachan]

That’s terrifying that someone could be planning to poison him! Does that happen a lot?

It does, but not always deliberately. People leave poison out for rodents. If you cat gets a mouse that's been poisoned eating that mouse could be enough to kill him. A friend of mine had to have her cat PTS after a neighbour sprayed the edge of his garden with weed killer. The cat rubbed against a fence, got weed killer on her fur and then suffered acute liver failure when she tried to lick her fur clean. I've also heard of cats getting very sick from eating human food that contains garlic, onions, high levels of salt or spices. If your cat drinks from a puddle where antifreeze has leaked out of a car he could almost certainly die from that.

Even very quiet cat-friendly neighbourhoods are not perfectly safe. Enclosing your garden wouldn't be very expensive. I built a cat proof fence out of fence posts and deer netting. If you already have an existing fence or wall around your garden it would be fairly easy to cat proof.

 

[vince]

Definitely happens accidentally. I left a bag of "weed & feed" on the back porch over winter a few years ago, and the neighborhood cats got into it and used it for litter! I had to go around and contact all the neighbors to warn them what happened and offer to pay any vet bills occurring from the incident. Fortunately, there were no problems.