AIBU to just let her go despite DD being upset?

[sephrenia]

A few months ago, we were given a grey kitten by my brother who told us to look after her carefully (having lost/had stolen) two before her. Naturally, I said we'd take good care of her and I'd try to keep her inside.

Of course, two weeks after we got her, one of the children left the front door open and boom, she was gone. It took a couple of weeks but the children got over it.

Tonight however, a grey kitten with the EXACT markings our kitten had has come inside the house (the door was open to let some air in) and looks about the right size our kitten would be had she still been here. I'm pretty certain it's our kitten who went missing, especially as she's going to where we used to keep her food and litter tray and going mental over DD (she was the kitten's favourite while we had her). The problem is, she's obviously been well looked after and has a collar on so whoever took her (whether or not they knew her origins) obviously now has a bond with her.

I think we should let her go and see if she chooses to come back or not but DD (backed up by DH) is saying that we should go tit for tat and nick her back*. I think it's completely wrong but I seem to be on the losing end of this argument. What do you think?

AIBU to just let her go and see what happens?

*Obviously I haven't shut the door on her to keep her in, I'm holding out on this as much as I can.

I was thinking Six Dinner Sid too.

Shame - I'd put a note on the collar and say "MY cat returned home today. Please contact me to discuss this " - and then be prepared to share. And make a fuss of the cat - she may have been kept in and unable to return to you and has done so when she could - fussing her will encourage her to come back again.

NewShooz That's right, one got out and was unfortunately hit by a car before I could grab her again (we live near to a main road), the second was stolen (although it couldn't be proven that the people who took her, did in fact take her even though they'd been bragging about it) and this was the third.

I agreed with you by the way, this was my final allowance for a pet in this house and I said when we got her, if something happened to her, I wouldn't allow the children to have another pet whatsoever because I'd had enough.

Bonzo, she's scarpered now so it's all up to fate now

This is a really weird idea but I saw a camera thing that you can attach to a cats collar! It takes pictures say every half an hour so that when the cat comes back you can see what it has been doing albeit from the veiwpoint of a cat which I suppose might comprise of a series of shots of the pavement!

I saw something about those in the newspaper that should never be named Norfolk. I thought it was quite interesting but I'm not sure that her new owners would be best pleased having her turn up with a camera attached to her and taking pictures of them

Sorry for jumping on you before knowing the full story Sephrenia, it just sounded a bit when first reading it.
It sounds like you have had a lot of bad luck in the past, and I agree with it being up to fate now if she has scarpered now. I hope things work out the way you want them to.

That's okay NewShooz, I know what it looks like when I say we've had three cats and yet none are with us, that's why I told the children they weren't going to get another pet until they were 18 years old and then only if they paid out their own money for one ----

Thank you for the good luck wishes too

Has the cat returned?

She's YOUR cat...no question about it! How ca you even consider letting the cat napper take her again!

Change her collar and get her chipped.

Many moons ago I found a cat (Im not particularly fond of them) but this was obviously a pedigree so I watched it for 2 weeks, gave in and started feeding it out side as it was looking a bit thin, caught it, trundled off to the vets with it -it wasn't microchipped. I contacted all the local rescue sites etc. Checked all the newsagents windows locally.

Two weeks after laying out for bowls and beds etc, I randomly bumped into a bloke asking if I'd seen his cat!!! Honour bound to give it back I'm afraid. Wish I hadn't because she kept on and on coming back and he told me that he only bought her to breed from - £400 a kitten, nice little earner. Mind you, she'd been out and about and if the local tom cat hadn't knocked her up, I sincerely doubt she was fertile.

Moral of the story is: cats will choose where they want to live anyway. I know a lot of cats who have 'two homes' - nice lifestyle!

Once a cat has escaped outside and stopped being a house cat, you will have the devils own job to keep it indoors.