I'm posting here for some advice on a very awkward situation.
Our neighbour's cat has been visiting us for the last year and made us his permanent home.
Just before Christmas he became very poorly with running nose and eye and after some research on here we suspected cat flu/feline herpes, after taking him to the vet diagnosed cat flu prescribing a 7 day course of anti biotics.

Shortly after finishing the course his symptoms had not gone away. As we were nursing him through this time, a dispute began with our neighbours/his owners who decided that after all this time we should stop letting him into our home and that they wanted him to return to their home and live with them permanently.

We were heartbroken, but respected their wishes as they have rightful ownership despite him having lived with us permanently for one year. As far as we knew, they were going to lock him in their house for 3-4 weeks and had bought feliway to help him refamiliarise himself with their other cat and to help him readjust to his surroundings.

Today,after being let out for the first time he has turned up at our window having lost a lot a significant amount of weight and with a severely blocked respiratory system. His condition seems to have worsened quite dramatically, so much so that it looked like he'd been out in the cold for days which was really distressing to see. We were so concerned, we contacted our neighbour immediately.

It turns out that our neighbour had only just let him outside for the first time in 3 weeks, and was very shocked that he had immediately come to our house literally within minutes.

They went on to tell us that over the last three weeks, he had stopped eating and they had to administer food to him with a syringe. He had been very very poorly indeed despite their vet prescribing anti-viral drugs and eye drops. According to them, the state he was in now was the best he had been in the whole time they had kept him at home and they believe he is finally starting to recover.

We are in no doubt that he is being well-cared for, but after more research on our part we're more than a little concerned that the stress caused by the dramatic change of environment and routine is what has worsened his condition in every way and prompted the weight loss. Its very clear that our home is his preferred place to be and has been for the last year. He has always been very happy with us, possibly because our neighbour has another cat and young children. When our neighbour came to collect him, he was very distressed about having to leave again.

Our main concern now is that him revisiting us and then being immediately locked inside at our neighbour's home is going to create more stress for him and therefore reactivate the virus and cause him more pain while he is already extremely weak and vulnerable. Any advice is gratefully received as we feel completely powerless to help him and wouldn't be able to forgive ourselves if anything happened. Can anyone please confirm that how stressful a house move can be for a cat with severe cat flu, and could this situation have caused him to stop eating?

N.B Both vets who have consulted him use the term 'cat flu' - we are under no illusion that this is just a cold, and could be feline herpes or worse, FIV. And are particularly worried as our neigbor hasn't had him vaccinated for either condition.

I'm very sorry to hear about your current dilemma and can only sympathise with you. It's perfectly clear to me who cares more about his cat and I have to disagree with your view that he's currently well cared for because he clearly isn't. To allow him to deteriorate to this level is truly awful, in my view. Are you absolutely sure he's visited the vets in their 'care' ? Frankly, I'm not convinced of this, at all. Sounds to me he needs another course of antibiotics or some other treatment, for one thing. What on earth prompted them to want him back after a year is beyond me.

Yes, it's very possible the stress of being forced to live in his former home had an negative effect on his appetite though as well with respiratory problems cats frequently lose their sense of smell. Was this the case last time? Also if it's herpes L-lysine would help.

I really don't know what to suggest apart from convincing your neighbours to allow you to regain control of the situation if they're not open to suggestions about his health, though success depends a lot on your current relationship with them. I can only hope they lose interest in him again for his sake.Hope someone else will be along with some ideas.