Is it okay to feed someone else's outdoor cat?
Feeding a neighbor's cat without knowing their dietary needs can cause unexpected health issues or make it hard for the owner to change the cat's routine. It leaves well-meaning neighbors torn between ignoring a persistent, hungry animal at the window and risking the cat's safety.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Keeping outdoor pets indoors to prevent strangers from feeding themDid this help you?
- 2Putting a tag on the cat asking not to be fedDid this help you?
- 3Stopping feeding the catDid this help you?
- 4Physically walking the cat back to the owners' homeDid this help you?
- 5Closing the window to prevent the cat from enteringDid this help you?
- 6feeding plain cooked chicken as a temporary snackDid this help you?
- 7contacting local rescuesDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Gave it some tuna because I don’t have cat food, I own dogs and am sadly allergic to cats so I immediately washed my hands after this lol”source ↗
“She is currently scratching my window and of my fuck I feel so bad. She’s 6 years old and I know she’s theirs but ffs give her some treats or something not some bland bs brand at least for a couple days until she changes her routine ugh.”source ↗
“I honestly don’t know like should I just ignore her if she scratches at my window? I probably should but she looks at me so disappointed and sad ugh and she hasn’t eaten properly for days now”source ↗
“I wondered if catnip would be a bad idea, after all, I realised I was wrong to feed him treats.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 22How to help an outdoor stray cat without a vet or money
- 2Why is my neighbor's cat obsessed with my apartment?
- 21How to tell if a neighborhood stray cat is in heat
- 2Why outdoor cats keep losing their collars
- 9How to stop cats from darting out open doors
- 7How to stop indoor cat from constantly crying at the door after escaping