Unknown neighbor cutting my cat’s fur, what can I do?

Honestly, if it were my cat this was happening to, I wouldn’t let him out.

My three cats go out but if weird things started happening to them, I’d keep them in. They woujldn’t like it, but I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something bad happened and I had a little forewarning with the fur snipping incidents.

Try putting a camera on your cat and catch the illegal cat “groomer” red handed and show the footage to the police. If you think the camera will come of hide it under the collar and make sure you have a good view before letting your cat out to find the person.

Don’t let your cat out. You have no idea what else this person is doing or will be doing to your cat.

It’s clear someone don’t like your cat outside. If you absolutely need to walk your cat for excercise purpose then you must go along with your cat and see what happens. Don’t let it go outside alone.

Another option would be to put some cctv cameras around the house. They may help figuring out what’s going on.

Regards

It might be a mentally deranged child where it starts with a not so bad hair cut & escalates from there. I’ve had cats for most of the last 52 years & they NEVER like any change to their routine that you make!!! Just remember that there could come the day that your baby doesn’t come back home & you won’t know why. He could suffer a horribly painful death because you don’t want to force him to be inside…he has NO clue what is best for him or he wouldn’t be getting a haircut now!!! With his Siamese connection, keeping him inside will be uncomfortable for you for the first 2 maybe 3 days. By day 4, he still might not be happy but he will begin to not miss being outside quite so much. By day 7, he will have surrendered with only a mild protest every now & then. During week 2, he will only have mild flashes of remembering his outdoor escapades

I like the camera in the collar suggestion that other’s have suggested. I’ve seen people strap their Go Pro to a chicken so something like that should work with a cat as well. I’m sure somebody makes a pet collar complete with a camera but I don’t know offhand who it is.

It’s obvious to me that you love your furbaby, so do what is right FOR HIM & let him get mad. I’d rather have him mad at me than NEVER to see him again!!!

I’m trying to figure out why someone would “groom” your cat. I can see why they might do something to it if it was being obnoxious. Not condoning doing something to cats, just saying. If it is vocal and is yowling outside someone’s window they might get annoyed with it. I’ve had stray (or possibly neighbor’s) cats walk right up to my back door and look in. My little dog goes nuts. So I can see how your cat could be causing problems. But grooming the cat? Huh. Would it be possible that you have a cat loving neighbor that had your cat come up to their house and it had something snarled in its fur? A cat loving neighbor might think it was doing a favor for the cat removing the snarl. And if it required cutting out the snarl they might have made the rest of the cat match.

It is the grooming that is the oddity here.

Hang a sign on the cat asking for it’s fur not to be cut. Thank you.

@seawulf Yes, that’s odd. Especially more than once.

I’d build him a catio that’s safe, maybe kitty tunnels, too. Really be careful, this seems very off.

He is a long hair black cat

Another thought…I don’t know about your neighborhood, but people here HATE black cats merely out of superstition…silly I know!!! I adopted 2 black cats & rescued 2 Black Labs close to the same time, so I was called a witch behind my back because every animal I had was black & that was considered abnormal. Knowing this, I NEVER let my cats out of the house for fear what one of my crazy neighbors might do. That’s WHY I feel that the trimming your cat is receiving could be a precursor to what might be building up in somebody’s mind!!!

I really like the catio idea @KNOWITALL suggested. They make small ones that fit over the outside of your window so the cat can step out & feel like they’re outdoors. They also make large ones that are more like a completely enclosed dog run so the cat can actually go for a walk, do his business in the dirt where he can scratch, go, & then coverup his waste.

It seems to me that your guy must have a particular routine or route that he likes to take & whoever it is hasn’t hurt him bad enough to make him deviate his route. Either that or there is a female involved & he doesn’t care IF he’s abused!!!

I got the message and here’s a camera small enough for his collar. https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Camera-1080P-Hidden-Built/dp/B07X1YLC2L/ref=sr_1_3?gclid=CjwKCAjwoduRBhA4EiwACL5RP5FFakFTELhL0xt3d4bsHVfd2SDVKvZqBC_V5TdT-rW-O1RSrdjmkBoCGGIQAvD_BwE&hvadid=583935755487&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9057178&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=9379296193464257109&hvtargid=kwd-920178000921&hydadcr=870_1012863408&keywords=tiny+camera+for+cat+collar&qid=1647811417&sr=8-3.

I’d be afraid the person responsible would see the camera. Even if it’s as small as the pics, that’s still pretty big for a cat collar. Plus, according to the product details, it’s 3.78×1.46×3.7 inches. No way would someone not see that, and no way is that the size of the one in the photos. Sounds suspicious re: advertising.

I agree with others who’ve posted here. It’s probably best to keep your cat inside.

You could get one of those plastic cone things vets put on animal’s necks to keep them from biting or licking a suture or wound, and write on the cone for the person to please stop cutting the cat’s fur. (Rather than actually hanging a sign on the animal. You may lose the cone but not the camera.)

I found a collar with a tracker which isn’t as good as a camera but you can get a good idea who’s grooming the cat. https://www.amazon.com/Generic-Anti-Lost-Accessories-Backpacks-2-24x1-46x0-6/dp/B096HL8BQG/ref=sr_1_5?crid=LHMFO6X9CD2&keywords=cat+collar+with+tracker&qid=1647876688&sprefix=cat+collar+with+tracker%2Caps%2C114&sr=8-5. Another way could be follow the cat but this could be risky.

Unfortunately, that’s just a plastic case. You have to have an Apple Air Tag. The OP has one, but the Air Tag tells you where an item you’ve lost is, not where it’s been. I’m like others here, I think the OP would have to actually follow the cat, but of course, the person who’s catching and grooming him probably wouldn’t do it if the OP was around, not to mention that the cat may not always make the usual rounds. And if he goes through backyards, woods, fences, etc, it would be hard as hell to follow him. Let’s just hope whomever did it doesn’t do it again! :)

Oh sorry about that.

no prob. I was hoping maybe you had found something, but I think a cat’s collar is just too small to hide a camera. ;(

@smudges you might be right but I’ll still look around and hope to find something.

@KRD What you think about this one??? I’m thinking for me but would it be small enough for a cat & mobile enough to roam the neighborhood??? I’m kinda interested in putting on my front porch. I have NO pets to set it off plus it’s only supposed to pick up humans. I have to be careful with some of the newer technology because they use buzz words that I don’t recognize!!!

@LadyMarissa that will work fine! How did you find it?

The OP hasn’t been back since posting the question, unless they’re coming back without signing in.

@smudges I come in every day without signing in or out.

@KRD After checking out the first one that you recommended, I decided that one was the wrong for what I needed. As I scrolled down that Amazon page, this one was showing under “recommended” & I liked it & added it to my wish list.So, for all intents & purposes, YOU lead me to it!!!

@KRD I come in every day without signing in or out.
IF you don’t Log Off, you stay signed in so you would still show up as visiting for the day when you have any activity.

Yours shows as Last visit: March 24th, 2022 Joined: February 12th, 2021