cat help: I was feeding what I thought was a homeless cat that was on my porch but I found out it is my neighbors. - Help.com

Take it to the humane society and tell your neighbors you cannot get rid of her and that’s why you did that. If they care about the cat, they will go to the humane society to look for it.

Cats are very independent and they choose the people they’d rather be around. Also, yes, they do like to hang around easy food sources. The cat will probably continue to hang around for as long as it lives next door. My boyfriend’s neighbours’ cats come around all the time and we never feed them or even pet them, they just like sitting in his yard for some reason and even meowing at the door as if they think they have a right to come in. The best thing you can do is ignore it.

I would not recommend taking the cat to the humane society unless it’s being abused or neglected. If you were to do so, it would cause a big rift between you and your neighbours if they found out or there’s a good chance the cat would be assumed stolen/lost/dead and they would never know where it went and it could be put down. (The Humane Society actually puts down an estimated 70,000 or so animals every year do to no one claiming them.)

Thanks. I would keep her before taking it to the humane society. When I took her back to it’s owner last week I suggested to my neighbor that if she fed her while I was there it might help lure her back and the cat went with her but then back to my porch and yard. I don’t have any cats and my dogs don’t seem to bother her when they bark at her in the window. I am a little concerned that the owner may not be feeding her like she should since she may think that I am still feeding her even though I am not. I am going to have another conversation with the neighbor to see if the cat has been eating at home and reassure her that I am not feeding her. I was mowing the yard and the cat just followed me then layed in yard and watched me mow which I thought was strange. There is another cat showing up every now and then and I hear them get into a little scuffle for about 1/2 minute at night then it is quiet again which in turn my dogs and myself are awake, but there is really nothing you can do about it without being cruel.

There is one strange thing that the neighbor said that I didn’t care for.
She indicated that she has always punished her cats by not feeding them for a couple of days if they did not bring her some kind of gift every now and then (dead bird, rat, snake, etc). I guess this is her way of making sure the cat is killing any unwanted things of this nature that are around the house. I told her that by not feeding her the cat was probably searching for someone to feed her and since I did she keeps returning to my porch and yard.