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Original poster

To wish people would stop trying to rescue other people's pet cats?

124 replies

53rdWay · 19/01/2020 21:22

Every week or so on local FB page: "Anyone recognise this cat? Keeps coming in our garden. Looks lost. Clearly starving, eats everything we put down for it. Need to get it home poor thing." With photo of sleek/pudgy-looking cat.

Then there'll be a load of comments going "can you get him in a carrier???" "poor lamb it's so cold out there today :(" "get a paper collar on it!" "oooh what a gorgeous cat, I'll have it if you can't find an owner" and the local cat rescue crew tagging each other in to get someone down there with a microchip scanner right this instant. And then eventually someone turns up to say "that's my Bertie, I live two doors down from you, he's perfectly fine please stop feeding him" EVERY TIME.

It's a CAT. Just because it's in your garden doesn't mean it's lost and homeless! And just because it eats whatever you give it doesn't mean it's starving!

OP posts:
bruffin · 20/01/2020 07:22

Cats tell a lot of fibs about being starving,
The cat that showed up my doorstep was starving. She bolted the food down in seconds. She cried there for hours on boxing day. Since we have had her and fed twice a day she hasn't shown that behaviour and now doesn't always finish in one go.
If the owners had bothered to get her chipped then they would have had her back by now. I took her to the vet the next day and 2 people checked her. Apparently as we have tried everything to reunite her with owners , she is now ours

Soubriquet · 20/01/2020 07:39

My cat is chipped but I won’t put a collar on her

It’s dangerous for her to wear a collar. She gets so frantic and panicky she would actually hurt herself.

LittleMustelid · 20/01/2020 07:54

If cats are chipped this can be avoided. We currently have a cat hanging round our house at all hours of the day and night crying loudly, even in the appalling weather we’ve been having. She seems absolutely desperate for food (and I have a greedy cat of my own, so I know what that behaviour looks like). We took her to the vet to get her scanned for a chip and she doesn’t have one. I was really hoping to find she had an owner.

Now I really don’t know what to do. It’s really distressing to have her crying around the house all the time and it’s really stressing our cats as well - one of them has started over grooming and creating bald patches which is what he does when he’s stressed. So I’m desperate to find out if she has an owner, hence I have been making the kinds of FB posts that seem to so annoy PP. I’m not an interfering do-gooder, nor am I looking for praise - I just want this distressing situation resolved.

Sobeyondthehills · 20/01/2020 07:55

I had someone try and rescue my cat infront of me.

I had taken the dog out for a walk and the cat followed, we ran the field (all three of us) and my cat decided that it was too much and refused to move and kept screaming at me to pick them up and carry him home.

A lady walked by, as he was doing his I am really pathetic please help me and tried to pick him up, I asked what she was doing and she said he was hers.

I disagreed, got into a wee bit of a barney, with me asking how much she paid for him to have his leg removed. She let him go, damn fucker ran to me after that.

Hollywhiskey · 20/01/2020 07:59

Disagree completely. My cat has been missing for a few months and the possibility that one of these volunteers might scan my cat is the only way I'm going to get her home.

Mistystar99 · 20/01/2020 08:06

If anyone wants to steal my cat they are most welcome!

TulipCat · 20/01/2020 08:19

The cat of some friends of mine went missing. He'd been gone about a month, so they'd given up hope of him ever coming back. Then a.l very kind old lady rang to say she had the cat. He'd been hanging round her house for the past few days...... 50 miles from his home! We will never know how he got there but thanks to that lady, he's now reunited with his owners. So no, people rescuing lost cats is not irritating, it's kind a d caring. You sound really selfish and intolerant OP. Just scroll on by if cat posts annoy you.

TheGoogleMum · 20/01/2020 08:21

Bought breakaway collars for my cats but one managed to pull it off and the other just sat depressed for ages so gave up. They both stay indoors mostly though and both are microchipped

Original poster
53rdWay · 20/01/2020 08:27

So no, people rescuing lost cats is not irritating, it's kind a d caring.

Rescuing cats which are actually lost, hurt, starving, obviously distressed - kind.

‘Rescuing’ cats which are absolutely fine and just happen to be strolling through your garden - annoying.

HTH?

OP posts:
LittleLongDog · 20/01/2020 08:28

What does ‘taking responsibility’ look like to you @vivacian ?

WeHaveSnowdrops · 20/01/2020 08:29

There's a chap in or village who captures any cat lurking in his garden for any length of time and takes it to a cat sanctuary.

When owners remonstate he tells them to keep their cats out of his garden then he won't have to do it. He shows no sign of stopping despite much hoisting of bosoms locally.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 20/01/2020 08:31

On the other hand, people will change cats' environments by getting other cats, dogs, having babies and suchlike and they seem surprised when said cat votes with his or her paws!

I've had this happen to me - cat moved into my back garden and so I made a shelter for him, then found him injured and had to contact his owners. All they would talk about was their toddler - seems it used to be the cat that was the centre of attention, poor puss.

frillyfarmer · 20/01/2020 08:35

@LittleLongDog is it not fucking obvious? Don't own a cat. I don't get this little British mentality that everyone has a right to own a cat, in a populated area, where it is likely to shit in other people's gardens and get run over.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 20/01/2020 08:41

Can we say the same for dogs that fucking bark at every hour of the day?

LittleLongDog · 20/01/2020 08:42

Jeeze Frilly, are you having a bad Monday? No it wasn’t ’fucking obvious’ that being a responsible cat owner means not actually owning a cat. Hence why I asked. Hope your mood perks up.

vivacian · 20/01/2020 08:43

What does ‘taking responsibility’ look like to you @vivacian ?

The opposite of, "My cat shits in your garden? Well, durr! That's what cats do!".

Notthebloodygym · 20/01/2020 08:49

Taking a cat without permission is theft and illegal-

https://www.cats.org.uk/media/1024/eg13catssandtheelaw.pdf

EnglishRose13 · 20/01/2020 08:51

My elderly cat looked a right state. She was very small and skinny despite eating more than our other (fat) cat.

First, someone took a photo of her, on our drive, and put it on Facebook saying they were going to catch her and take her to the vet.

A few years later, she'd been in a fight and had an injury which was being treated by the vet. The vet said it was fine to let her out as she would get distressed being trapped in. Someone found her and took her in, causing her to miss her follow up appointment.

Most recently, someone did take her to the vets where she was diagnosed with a thyroid problem (hence being so small) and in the end it was agreed to have her put down as she wouldn't take the medication and people taking her away from her home was distressing her.

Just leave cats alone!

Alaimo · 20/01/2020 08:57

I have 2 cats, both wear collars with tags that have my number on it. Still a new neighbour decided to 'rescue' my (slightly overweight and definitely not starving) cat and only phoned me after several days.

WeHaveSnowdrops · 20/01/2020 09:27

Taking a cat without permission is theft and illegal-

But he has no intention of keeping it. It goes straight to a sanctuary. he tells them it's been hanging around his garden and appears lost.

bruffin · 20/01/2020 09:50

Taking a cat without permission is theft and illegal-
The vet told me if the cat is not chipped and you have used the paper collar for 7 days then you can adopt the cat.

gamerwidow · 20/01/2020 09:54

My cats are chipped but I will not put collars on them, too easy for them to snag them on stuff crawling into spaces and seriously hurt themselves.

Jiggles101 · 20/01/2020 10:01

I'm paranoid about someone 'rescuing' my Ivy, as she's a rather eye-catching madam. Unfortunately I'm her 3rd owner and she's chipped to the breeder in South Wales, vet is aware but only the registered person can change the details on the chip so they won't talk to me! I have messaged the lady I got her from about sorting it but to no avail 😕

To wish people would stop trying to rescue other people's pet cats?
UnicornPug · 20/01/2020 10:11

I have a cat that won’t wear a collar. We have a cat flap that activates with a magnetic tag, so strictly speaking she needs one but she absolutely refuses. I put it on, she goes out and comes back without it. She also has no trouble getting into the house so we think she’s probably got a set of keys or something Grin
She is chipped and I don’t worry about people taking her in as she’s a vicious little madam and would most definitely refuse.
My brother and his girlfriend have adopted a cat (he has a bed at their house etc) but he isn’t theirs. They are moving now and know they can’t take him with them but they’re distraught. I’m keeping my I told you so’s to myself.

drspouse · 20/01/2020 10:29

So @vivacian is doing the equivalent of saying to the parent of a child with SEN "have you just tried telling them not to?"

OK, I'll just tell my cat "you see that garden over there with the lovely pristine fresh earth? Don't do a poo there".