Omg I'm fed up of cat 'rescuing' weirdos on fb

[OhForkItThen]

Not much more to say than title. Basically weirdo recuses healthy looking cat from being outside and posts on Facebook about the poor kitty they’ve ‘found’. Over and over on my local groups. Ok if it’s thin/ looks ill etc I’d intervene... but it’s a fucking cat. Most go outdoors. Today’s effort is ‘because he was outside a church’, accompanied by a picture of a healthy adult cat being stroked in a car.

Same around here. Drives me round the bend. I used to find my previous cat posted on FB regularly, because he was a bugger for open windows and doors in fine weather. I started doing an almost weekly post saying 'this cat has a home, he is just a cheeky fucker, just kick him out and he'll come home' type of message.

Haha I have those people near me too. Someone 'rescued' my cat once as they didnt recognise him. I had just moved in along the next street. Ridiculous

Can't you just put a collar on him, or get him chipped?

We have a local group that is hilarious for this sort of thing. Bin chaos reigns supreme, everybody loves to claim a “lost” cat and a woman posted today berating a careless driver for running over an endangered badger. Hours of fun for the rest of us but must be annoying if it’s your cat.

My cat is pretty and I feel scared to let him out! My previous boys were black, you never see black cats posted and I felt more secure...

Ffs I didn’t know this was a trend. Sad that they’re not used to seeing a cat roaming about
There’s one round here that comes out for a walk when it’s owner takes their dog out

Some of them keep in/ feed it and don’t scan! Some are off to the vets, but some get all determined that because they are ‘hungry’ (for tuna/ chicken!) they must be well lost/ not cared for.

Oh god I rescued a cat once! My friend had posted on Facebook saying she’d seen a lost cat half way up a mountain who followed her and was clearly starving. I was going up the same mountain that afternoon so said I’d take the cat carrier. Found the ‘starving’ (greedy!) moggy. Thought well I’ve come this far, might as well ‘rescue’ him. The lovely owner had seen the original post, I got in touch with her. It wasn’t lost at all but I was the 5th person to ‘find’ him! He was clearly doing it for shits and giggles!

Oh yes!

It’s the photos- “is this anyone’s cat? Keeps coming in my garden and is always starving” photo of a sleek, fat, six dinner sid with his nose in three dishes of cat food

I always want to point out if they stop feeding the cheeky fucker it’ll stop coming in their garden!

Then the comments saying to take it to the vet for a chip because it’s obviously starving/neglected/lost. Or worse the ones which say “oh he’s chosen you, you’re a cat owner now”.

This is one of my biggest peeves in the world. Some people have a rescue complex i think, but they never check for microchips and just keep the cat locked in!

My neighbours over the road did it with my beautiful boy because i "locked him out at night and he was starving"... he was a huge cat, certainly not thin and they were giving him human food like tuna/chicken whereas i had cat food down for him so of course he'll take it. And as for being locked out... i have an unlocked cat flap in my back door

Poor lad was killed by someone setting dogs on him and ive never forgiven them for locking him in their house and keeping time with him away from me

He used to lose his collar every time I put one on. And he was chipped. Unfortunately, he had allergies, so often had bald patches which were obviously signs of neglect

Right at the end of his life, when he was pretty decrepit, someone catnapped him and kept him in, while I was frantically scouring the neighbourhood worried he had died under a bush.

They still get taken in with collars alot of the time. Where they are apparently scavaging for food.
People need to learn that if you feed a cat they will come back.

For a minute I thought you must live near me as my local page is this allllll day and most of the time it’s the same bloody cat who has an owner!
I did appreciate the local lost pets page though when one of mine went missing but this is beyond a joke

Collars and chips wouldn't work, these people aren't really interested in finding out where the 'lost' cat lives, they want the kudos of being a cat rescuer - even though the cat doesn't need rescuing and is probably terrified because it's been kidnapped by a random.

FedUpParent, your poor cat, I'm so sorry you lost him in such an awful way

On the flip side, I know of several cases of people who lost cats to be reunited with them years later because of someone who cared enough to check on the stray. If only someone had done that sooner they may have got their cat back before it got old and sick.

I'll always be grateful for the person who found my sick old cat that had wandered off, and my young cat that had been scared away by a neighbours dog. Yes, some people may be a bit overzealous about it, but at least they care.

This happens round here too & even to the extent that I have seen these 'Cat rescuers' then try to rehome the cat

Luckily a few people commented that it wasn't appropriate to rehome a cat you've just found wandering!

They do this on our local FB page as well. A few months ago somebody posted about finding a 'lost' bird that they tried to catch but it kept getting away. It was a pheasant. A wild pheasant 🙄

my first cat was a bugger for visiting and the most godawful thief! We moved into a village and the elderly neighbour was introduced, both cats wore collars then, just in case

anyway he'd entice him in and feed him food which the cat would yak back up on my carpets when he came home.

only thing that stopped it was when the cat stole OldMan's fish he had bought when the fish van came around, I told him it was his own fault and he'd been told time and time again about my cat and his bad habits. Neighbourly relations were a bit frosty for a bit, but he didn't lose any more dinners and the cat stopped yakking up cheap cat food on my carpets.

On the flip side, I know of several cases of people who lost cats to be reunited with them years later because of someone who cared enough to check on the stray. If only someone had done that sooner they may have got their cat back before it got old and sick

I saw one recently where someone had been reunited with their cat after 7 years.

For 7 years someone had been feeding and caring for this cat. Then it got ill and they called the RSPCA, because it wasn’t actually their cat. RSPCA scanned it and lo and behold, chipped to a family a few miles away.

I’ve seen on here too though posters telling “rescuers” to feed the cat that appeared in the garden because it’s probably starving. That it’s better to feed it than not.

Don’t feed it. It’ll go home. If it doesn’t, and it’s condition deteriorates, get it scanned. No cat will starve if not fed for a few days.

I had an ancient, skeletal, threadbare cat a few years ago. It was on a diet of bloody hand knitted fairy raised tuna and chicken due to various medical conditions. If some well meaning idiot had fed it whiskers the resulting diarrhoea would have killed it.

Don’t feed the cat!

There’s a cat on my road that loves coming up to people to say hello and keeps appearing as a “lost cat” on Facebook. It has a perfectly good home but just seems to like socialising with strangers.

Oh god this drives me up the wall. The "Lost cat" post is usually followed by loads of comments saying. I'll give them a home. Or aww poor thing i'll take it and give it a proper home.

It doesn't need a fucking home, it has one. Probably 3 doors down from where you've seen it, and it's only been outside for 10 minutes before you tried to catnap it.

If you want to rescue a cat go to a rescue centre.

I agree don't feed the cat, but if you genuinely think it is a stray and it's been hanging around for a while, pop a paper collar on it asking the owner to contact you and if you get no joy with that then get it scanned.

This amuses me no end too.
I’ve also noticed it with horses several times. “I’ve found this poor abandoned horse clearly STARVING. Who can help and share this post plsssss!? I’m DisCusTeD!!!!”
Attached a picture of a horse with a field full of grass desperately trying to snatch the carrot behind waved at it over the fence.

Round here it seems every other person has their own scanner and will pop round to you house to scan the poor lost starving cat.