Hi everyone,
You may have noticed I've had to report my female cat, Dave, missing a couple of times. I need a bit of help as I'm really not sure what to do with her.
I love her very much, I rescued her when she was pregnant and raised the kittens, some of whom are still with us. She also lives with her neutered brother.
She is estimated to be anywhere between 1 year and 18 months old and was neutered about 3 months ago.
Dave has a tendency to wander. She's been spotted by friends and family on the other side of a main road close to us, but is often out for 24 hours or more. I'd prefer it if she didn't go out for long periods of time, but I think some of this is just her nature. I'm not sure how much I can change about that.
She's always been a very petite cat and has put on a lot of extra weight recently. While her frame is still small, I think she's close to being considered overweight. I feed her a combination of Science Plan and meat (usually HiLife or Encore at the moment), they also get some chicken or liver as a treat once a week/fortnight.
I believe a neighbour is feeding her. Although I'm nervous about doing it, I'm going to confront them tomorrow (and probably make myself look like a mad bag in the process). It seemed pretty obvious as she turned up while they were watching me put missing posters up this evening.
She's quite happy in her usual spot, but is growling at just about all of us, including the other cats. She's usually an incredibly affectionate cat and likes a cuddle. We joke that you just have to look at her to get her to purr. She's let me hold her, but she's not happy about it. She hasn't acted aggressively in any other way.
What can I do? I'm at a loss. I had a cat with a similar temperament when I was little and a neighbour gave him salmon fillets until he wasn't interested in us anymore, so he left and lived with them. I'm worried this is the same thing.
I know I need to keep her in for the foreseeable, but it won't be easy on a long term basis. I let her have space away from the others.
Does any one have any suggestions?