Question for our vets.

Gwyneddlesliegrace

Back story. 

When we lived in our apartment the neighbors left their cat when they moved. He is this beautiful black long haired cat with a great personality. After four months of him living on our porch, he came into our house and never left. He is boxed trained, never has accidents, is great with our kids, and doesn't scratch the furniture. Best cat ever.

Anyway a few years ago we moved to this house and literally found it impossible to keep in indoors. (I know many people disagree with letting cats outside, if he had not been an outdoor cat to begin with, we would have made him an indoor cat.) We live at the end of a culdesac, it is safe, and all of our neighbors know and love him. 

In the winter he typically stays inside. We went away from Christmas and my mil watched him. She called us frantically one day saying that he went out and never came back. Days went by and we came home. A neighbor down the road LET HIM IN and didn't bring him back. We found out they had been feeding him and put flea medicine on him! ( I WAS LIVID.) They then took him in their house later in the winter. H and I made a huge deal to them, that he is our cat, we do not want him in their house, we do not want them feeding him, and we absolutely do not want them putting flea stuff on him. (We do it year round).

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. We do his monthly treatment, he is happy and healthy. A few days later he starts to look really scraggly and begins to act strange. Meowing constantly, not letting us pet him, being really skittish. His fur got really greasy and patchy. I then saw him rolling in a puddle getting his back side wet, as if to clean off. Now he is no longer greasy and is acting a bit more normal but from his ribs down his fur has turned a brownish is color and he has bald spots! 

Do you think they put flea medicine on him again and it reacted to ours? Or do you think it is something else going on? If they did is can we do anything legally to make these people leave our cat alone?

I know we are going to get flamed for letting him out doors. We have tried so many times to make him an indoor cat and it just doesn't work. 

bkeane619

Butting in...sounds like a vet visit is required.  I've seen cats like that with FIV.

shelley1002

I'd call your vet.

blondolphn

Good luck. I hope your adopted furbaby is ok! 

SuperTreesa

First step, take the cat to the vet. Everything you've mentioned is serious enough to have the vet take a look. Secondly, you are seriously gonna have to get over the issue with the neighbors. Yes, they shouldn't be treating the cat for fleas if you already are. Discuss it again and make sure they have stopped. Im sure they dont want him getting double dosed either. Obviously they love him too or they wouldn't be treating him, feeding him or taking him in. But the cat goes to their house because he likes it and you allow him to be outside. The fact that he goes there isn't their fault. It's yours.

chicsahm

Go to the vet, and send them the bill.... and tell them that they are over dosing your animal on a medication you already use! Say you will file a police report on them if this happens again. You can also wash your cat with Dawn and it will wash off the oils from the flea medication. SOunds like they did it again.

OH!! Get one of those animal trackers... I think it is something you put on the collar and you can see where they are on your computer! So you will know when your cat is there!! Then you can catch them!! MUAHHAHAHA!

Gwyneddlesliegrace

awwwpuddin said:

giving cats baths is hard.

awwwpuddin said:

giving cats baths is hard.

Lolz. My friend is our vet. I would normally have called her sooner but she just suffered her second mc in a row. I'll email her today.

huntjul

Sorry to hear about your sweet kitty.  Skin issues will require a vet's visit to diagnose.  It's possible it's a reaction to your flea meds, or the neighbor's, or it could be something else altogether.  Hair loss and greasy skin can also be things like allergies, mites, or a skin infection, and I can't determine that via internet.

Ultimately, your neighbor probably thinks that he/she is a do-gooder by putting flea meds on your cats, and do-gooders are the hardest ones to stop because they think they're justified.  If you had a heart-to-heart about not applying flea meds previously and it didn't work, I have no reason to think talking to the neighbor again is going to do anything (though you're welcome to try). 

I also don't think applying flea meds to someone else's cat is business for the police, but that's just me... Technically since animals are considered property in the eyes of the law, if you could prove that what they did caused the skin problem (which you probably can't ever prove), then theoretically it could loosely be interpreted as property damage.  Realistically, nothing's going to come of reporting it.

The solution that makes the most sense is to keep the cat indoors, for this reason and others.  I've seen too many sweet kitties go missing and never return.  A few weeks ago I was so sad to find our neighbor's cat had been hit and killed on our dead-end street that carries NO traffic.  I literally cried for an hour, which I'm sure is more than the neighbor did.  Anyway, I'm not going to flame you for letting the cat outdoors, but the safest place for this cat is indoors.

chicsahm

huntjul said:

Sorry to hear about your sweet kitty.  Skin issues will require a vet's visit to diagnose.  It's possible it's a reaction to your flea meds, or the neighbor's, or it could be something else altogether.  Hair loss and greasy skin can also be things like allergies, mites, or a skin infection, and I can't determine that via internet.

Ultimately, your neighbor probably thinks that he/she is a do-gooder by putting flea meds on your cats, and do-gooders are the hardest ones to stop because they think they're justified.  If you had a heart-to-heart about not applying flea meds previously and it didn't work, I have no reason to think talking to the neighbor again is going to do anything (though you're welcome to try). 

I also don't think applying flea meds to someone else's cat is business for the police, but that's just me... Technically since animals are considered property in the eyes of the law, if you could prove that what they did caused the skin problem (which you probably can't ever prove), then theoretically it could loosely be interpreted as property damage.  Realistically, nothing's going to come of reporting it.

The solution that makes the most sense is to keep the cat indoors, for this reason and others.  I've seen too many sweet kitties go missing and never return.  A few weeks ago I was so sad to find our neighbor's cat had been hit and killed on our dead-end street that carries NO traffic.  I literally cried for an hour, which I'm sure is more than the neighbor did.  Anyway, I'm not going to flame you for letting the cat outdoors, but the safest place for this cat is indoors.

but she could threaten, sometimes that is all it takes to know you are serious. 

Gwyneddlesliegrace

Chickypoo2468 said:

You can't be mad at someone for taking in what they thought was a stray.

I doubt they put flea meds on him if you told them you do it.

They know he is our cat. They have known since we moved in. They also continued to feed him after we asked them to stop, and brought him into their home after we asked them not to. Our next door neighbor saw her trying to convince him to come in. He then saw her pick him up and bring him in.

Im not going to involve the police, the neighbor that saw that is local pd. I don't want to put him in that position.

Oh also, we put advantage on him and always have. We are going to try and bring him indoors again when the fall hits (he doesn't try to run out as much).

huntjul

Gwyneddlesliegrace said:

You can't be mad at someone for taking in what they thought was a stray. I doubt they put flea meds on him if you told them you do it.

They know he is our cat. They have known since we moved in. They also continued to feed him after we asked them to stop, and brought him into their home after we asked them not to. Our next door neighbor saw her trying to convince him to come in. He then saw her pick him up and bring him in. Im not going to involve the police, the neighbor that saw that is local pd. I don't want to put him in that position. Oh also, we put advantage on him and always have. We are going to try and bring him indoors again when the fall hits (he doesn't try to run out as much).

Sounds like they just want your nice cat for their own!

allymp13

I have nothing add other than I can't believe your neighbors are trying to steal your cat!  Maybe you can get them one for christmas or something so they leave yours alone!

Gwyneddlesliegrace

allymp13 said:

I have nothing add other than I can't believe your neighbors are trying to steal your cat!  Maybe you can get them one for christmas or something so they leave yours alone!

They have two! They are both retired and do yard work all.day.long. They have 600 nick nacks and water fountains in their back yard. Crazy people.