He followed me home - can I keep him?

[OneMillionScovilles]

First up: Only kidding on the keeping front!

A beautiful cat followed me home last night after I stroked it - I went into the house and thought no more of it. It made its way into our back garden and when DH opened the door to put the bins out it came inside and had to be shooed out again. It was still hanging around the (closed) back door this morning as if it thinks it lives here, and has come in and had a wander around when I opened the door.

I'm familiar with the cat-stealing neighbour threads, so I haven't fed it, shut the door behind it when it's wandered in, etc. - hoping to appeal to collective MN wisdom on what to do if it keeps hanging around. It has no collar (flea or name) but looks in far too good condition not to belong to someone. Is there a chance it doesn't know how to get back out of our garden having made its way in? How long would you leave it before you took it to the vet to scan for a microchip? I hate the idea of someone else being stressed out about their lost pet...

Apologies if these are common sense questions - we aren't cat people as DH is a little allergic, so don't really know 'normal' behaviour (although I'm tempted to let this particular cat rub all over the soft furnishings to see if he can really tell - did I mention it's gorgeous?)

This is how we acquired WaggonCat no. 3. Once we'd fallen in love with him there was no way he was going to a shelter. He is currently asleep with all four paws in the air after a tough day terrorising the local small and furry population. You have been warned....

Looks like mine too except mine are girls we have 2 pure black cats the best type but one of them seems to prefer our neighbours to us. We're too rowdy, she likes a quiet comfy sofa.

Puss bit me last night - twice, and fairly viciously! He has therefore been renamed 'Shitbag' and sold to a dog food company. Bastard.

In seriousness - we picked up the cat box to transport him to vet yesterday, so hoping to resolve it v soon. But could the 'other cat smell' have put him out of sorts?

Sadly DH is adamant that we'll have to get him rehomed if we can't find his owners - he's not bought into the allergy exposure principle :( I am equally adamant that he's not going to a shelter, so if we have to rehome him he'll stay with us until we find a loving home. This makes me very sad, but seems to be a compromise we can both kind of live with

To all PP, I'm London / Kent borders, so I don't think he (or she) is yours. Sorry - I've become so attached to 'ours' over the last 6 days I can't imaging how much you must be missing your little wanderers. Hoping they return soon!

MiLs cat vanished about 10 years ago. Cue posters etc... no, gone for good. 2 years ago Bella [the cat that came back] waltzed in and demanded dinner. Apparantly the little old lady she had moved in with had died so puds decided to 'go home' for tea.

What a gorgeous cat. Very like dc2 when I first adopted him. Have you found out if he's microchipped yet? Black cats are the best.

When you say he bit you, were you stroking him loads or touching his tum? Some cats can suddenly go into overload when petted and lash out, and tickling some cat's tums can stimulate their prey drive and make them claw and bite.

I do hope you can keep him. You will be his slave forever. Re your h - they always come round in the end! X

If its a boy maybe he is wondering and hasn't been nurtured, have you checked?

I'd always feed a cat who was hanging about because there's a Celia Hammond worker on the litter tray section who says not feeding is how some strays end up starving to death.

I wouldn't feed a cat who is obviously on a mission or leave biscuits out randomly.

I'd want to keep him as well though, they do sometimes bite but it's usually something you've done wrong. Like go away for a week and leave them in a cattery.

Black cats and black and white cats are least likely to be re-homed in a rescue, people want grey, tabbies and torties but not these.

A cat followed me home a few months ago and quickly demolished the food we gave her. We found her owners on FB. They had only had her a few days and had let her out. My kids were distraught at her going but I told them it was a good thing, she was going back home etc. Within about 3 days she'd gone missing again which, to be honest, has made me think I might not be so quick to try and reunite lost cats with their owners in the future if they're not going to take care not to lose them again straightaway! (Disclaimer, in reality I obviously would always try to return them to their owners!)

The week has been a bit crazy so we've not had his chip check yet - spoke to the vet today and if we run him in first thing in the morning they can do it. He's currently sleeping in my lounge (we usually kick him out overnight, but it's chucking it down outside and he was crying at the door) - I'm so sad at the idea that he might not be mine after tonight especially as he has blossomed from a skittish little thing into the epitome of affection over the last week - may be unfair and just related to us as 'new people' but it does make me wonder about his previous home...

words you're spot on there - DH has given me a list of conditions as long as your arm and stressed that he thinks it a Bad Idea, but if puss' owners can't be found I'm allowed to keep him as my cat. You should have seen my ever-widening grin when I realised we were building up to acceptance!

He's been allowed unrestricted access for the last day and a bit to assess how bad the allergies are and DH has actually been okay (tick!) so it's all on the vet visit in the morning.

Going to stop staring lovingly at a sleeping cat and head to bed - wish me luck for the morning

I have five (5) cats. No, not a hoarder..or crazy cat lady..yet! All are well looked after. My darlings are all someone's cast off's, one pure black, two are black and white and two sweet ginger girls. I love them all to bits. My dh has put his foot down though, no more felines. I am of the opinion there is always room for one more..

He's gorgeous, I don't blame you for falling for his feline charms!

Cats do pick their owners. Years ago I had a lovely cat that decided to go live with an elderly woman with cancer. Came back for the odd visit.

I have a snow leopard Bengal now and live in daily fear he will leave me! He is well known in the neighbourhood and thinks he is lord Bengal. Just the other night I had a neighbour knock on the door to ask me to collect lord Bengal that waltz into his house, headed straight up the stairs to the children's room, woke them up with cat kisses before settling down for the night.

I also have a black moggy cat, he is basically a walking ball of fluff and is very aloof.

And I have a little ginger white princess that I rescued from a now ex staff member that thought it acceptable to punch her in the face when she scratched him.

I wish I could have ten more cats.

Dear god why are people so basic? what a scumbag punching a cat.

Good luck.

LadyVape where do you live? I m moving there now, and leaving my doors an windows open in the hope of Bengal cat kisses!! And well done for rescuing the ginger and white puss - bloody hell, some people are actually deranged! But be careful what you wish for re 10 cats.

When our old rescue cat died my daughter wanted to re home one cat. A lady wanted a home for two sisters who could not be apart. Then other daughter offered to foster one kitten, but we actually ended up with two - which we kept. A month later daughters boyfriend bought her a kitten, (wanted to get a pedigree one for some reason) when he went to collect the kitten the breeder also had a runt that he didn't think was going to make it, and apparently wasn't worth a big vets bill. Bet you can guess what happened next!! So six cats later, older girl cats spayed, males neutered, I took our young girl to be spayed but she was too small/young for the op. But not to worry, said the vet, she is also too small to fall pregnant as yet. That night she got out. She stayed out overnight. She had four kittens two weeks ago. I have 10 cats.

If puss' owners can't be found I'm allowed to keep him as my cat

I'm afraid DH isn't quite on the right page yet, though hopefully puss will lead him there ... it will be the cat who decides who belongs to who, not its staff

I'm actually crossing my fingers for you now that it won't be chipped; if you do get to keep puss, be prepared for DH to fall in love and for the cat to desert you, in favour of the one who didn't want him in the first place!!

Oh this reminds me of a beautiful little ginger Tom I met recently. He was no older than 6 months old and he followed me home. Every time I left the house or the kids played out he reappeared. He was so friendly and gentle. I asked around the neighbours who he belonged to and put out messages on my local fb animal and community pages. Someone replied from 3 streets away and said it was her little fella who'd escaped out of her garden. I said I'd get him and bring him round. I went to call him and he didn't appear. Later on my neighbour messaged me and told me to come outside. There he was dead in the road. Some heartless fucker ran him over and scarpered. Don't get me wrong. Round here it's not that uncommon a sight to see dead cats and it is sad but this made me feel wretched. Had I not been friendly to him he may have gone home and not hung around. I have my own beautiful black and white moggy and she's so gentle and loving. I'd be devastated if it happened to her. Having to message the lady to tell her was terrible.

I would be mega peed off if someone kept my cat in their home and fed it- I would be devastated if she went missing

Will I totally get that, which is why we're trying to reunite him with his owners if possible (even if I have fallen for his feline wiles). He's not on any lost pet websites, no local Lost Cat posters, not in the window at the local cat charity shop, we've notified the only vet around for miles in case someone reports him missing and made arrangements to have his chip checked (although tbf we failed to take him down today because he didn't show his face until after lunch when the vet was already closed). I also didn't start feeding him until the vet advised us to. I'm not sure what else I can do to try to get him home - DH and I both wfh on Mon so will try again on the chip front then. If you have any other ideas please let me know - it's why I posted in the first place after all!

That said, it doesn't seem like any previous owners can be as distraught as you'd be; they aren't exactly meeting us halfway trying to find him

If he doesn't have a home I hope you get to keep him
I love mine so much

If mine was lost I'd want someone to notice and feed him.

They always disappear when you try and vet them. The number of appointments I have to cancel because he's buggered off.

I swear the little sod understands everything we say. DH mocked me earlier for spelling out V-E-T - as soon as he said 'vet' cat scarpered!

I do adore this little guy...

If he has a home and they want him you can have a rescue kitten, or two to help you get over the loss.

The rescues will have a lot of kittens now and the black/black and white ones don't tend to get picked.

Fluffy you are a genius May be harder to sell DH one that we've chosen rather than vice versa, but will definitely keep it in my back pocket...!

Happy wife, Happy life.

Please do take him to the vets in case he
has a microchip!. He may have got lost or his owners moved. If he has no microchip, you could put a collar on him with an id barrell on it, with a note inside saying your name and number and asking the owner to contact you as you're concerned he's lost.

Frankly if you try all this, plus posters and notify vets etc and no one comes forwards then I think you have a new housemate, sounds like he'll be needing lots of food and attention

We've just come back from the vet - no microchip and 'he' is a she! So looks like we have a new housemate long term