Am I the only person who does not assume a cat is lost if I see one in my garden?

[GoChasingWaterfalls]

Every week someone in my local Facebook group posts a picture of a healthy looking cat, with something along the lines of "has anyone lost a cat? This one was in my garden, I've tempted it in with some food and going to take it to the vets to get it scanned".

I'll admit, I'm not a cat owner, but I did have them growing up and they used to roam for hours (often bringing back delightful presents). So when I see a cat in my garden, I just assume it's on a jolly and leave it be (unless it tries to poo in my flower bed, then it gets chased away).

Have you ever done this to a cat? If so could you explain why? Am I missing something? It's every bloody week in our group!

Yes I agree with PPs, people who say "oh look how fast he's eating that, he must be starving!" are clueless about cats imo. My tom will eat anything, at any time, no matter how much he's already eaten that day. He is very much loved and not neglected or starving, however loudly he might whinge for the tuna.

I think some of it is that people have stopped putting collars on their cats. Not so long ago collars were used as a sign of ownership.
cats who are allowed to roam are going to eat other food- vermin, bins, kindly neighbours. If you don’t want that don’t let them roam.

I love the look on the cat's face, they have proper "fuck off with your camera love" faces. Tbf, the people who have the scanners, do a lot of good re lost pets and straying dogs. It often keeps the dogs from going to the warden. But as a cat owner, I don't like the rise in the idea that cats shouldn't be out as long as they want to be. Also these who think only unneutered males fight, so post videos trying to shame owners.

Yes this happened to my cat twice when I lived in London. He used to approach people in the local green area and meow at them and look hungry whatever that means. Then they'd steal take him to the local vet, who would ring me... He was a perfectly plump pedigree who continually lost his collar. People are idiots.

I thought this was just my local FB group. Every day there is a photo of a normal looking cat in a garden with ‘Anyone know this cat? It’s in my garden. I offered it a tin of tuna and it wolfed it down. Must be starving! Poor thing!’

Followed by replies of ‘Take it the vet’ ‘Keep him and feed him up’ ‘How can people be so cruel as to starve him’ I didn’t realise this happened in all other groups

How odd, on our Facebook group it’s the exact opposite. People constantly posting about their lost cats and asking us to look in sheds and garages.

This happens on our local group all the time. People posting a completely healthy looking cat “seems hungry” - my two cats pretend to be hungry 24/7 despite being very well fed and would eat anything I gave them, it’s called being a cat!

YANBU. I had a car stolen this way, and you should have heard her justify herself!

A new neighbour moved in across the road. Saw a well fed, looked after car by the gate. Decided it was lost,
took it home and posted in lost pets page. My other neighbour saw it and said that’s my neighbours cat. I’m the neighbour owner of cat. I ended up having to talk to the mother that lived in another state who told me, her daughter couldn’t keep it as her dad didn’t want it. Erm it’s my cat! I went across the road to get her and the daughter said oh it really did not like being in my house. No shit!

i have a feeling a lot of people don’t understand the way of the cat.

Likewise! Mine also do as a previous posters do and try to tell the DH I have not fed them we now text each other daily to confirm.

People who post this inane shit clearly don't actually understand cats. Wafting a tin of tuna under their noses and them eating it is the equivalent of offering a random child in the park a chocolate bar and saying they are neglected and starved because they unsurprisingly wanted to eat it.

And my son loved that cat-he had chosen it. Obviously, it wouldn't come back after 6 weeks away. We tried. I will always resent that awful woman with her "fresh fish" and cat stealing mindset. And they often pick the prettiest cats, don't they?

I’ve never thought this about cats I see.. started to feel bad until I read the comments 😅

.

I assume they’re either clueless or drama whores tbh.

i saw a Facebook thread once that I ended up sending to people going, FFS, read this, it was that good.

Someone came out of a supermarket, saw a cat sitting on the pavement of the fairly busy road next to it, so took it home.

someone posted within about 15 minutes going, that’s my cat, that pavement is at the front of my house, she likes to sit there. Can you let me know where she is so I can get her please.

no answer for hours, the owner is starting to get annoyed about her cat being stolen.

Then the finder appears back, she lived about 5 miles away and had in fact picked up the cat and taken it home - on the bus!!!!

The owner is going spare about her cat being kidnapped and taken on a bus, half the thread is posts going who the fuck picks up a random cat and takes it away on a bus? And the other half is, be kind, she was trying to do a good thing.

It's the opposite on the WhatsApp group for my estate. Almost daily there's a
"had anyone seen Francisco? He has't come back for his supper"
or
"My Deirdre is missing, haven't seen her since last night, she's black, three legged, blind and deaf, I'm so worried"
Followed by,
"I saw a black cat last week on the green"
"No that would have been my Clarence, he's always on the green"
"I think there was a cat on my drive this morning but it could've been a bin bag/fox/badger..."
Then about an hour later,
"Panic over Francisco has just strolled in with a mouse, oh bless him"
"Deirdre has been found, she was asleep in the spare room"

And repeat 🙄

My cats are going to eat my neighbours?? Holy moly.

By the way - collars can get caught on trees, fences etc and can therefore pose a danger to some cats. Some cats will also get rid of any and all collars their owner attempts to put on them. I've had both things happen and I will never again put a collar on a cat. My cats are, however, chipped, well fed, and trained to come home for food/toileting.

These posts drive me mad! Of course the cat is coming every day if you've fed it! My own (dear departed) cat had several houses because they all fed the poor starving boy (he wasn't starving, he was a lump!)

If I see a cat in my garden I try and stroke it, I love fussing cats, but I would never feed them. The exception was one cat that we thought was covered in lumps and suddenly appeared. I tempted him with dreamies and took him to the vet. He wasn't chipped or neutered and the lumps were matts of fur. They told me to release him with a collar with my number. Which I did and the owner phoned and said he was a wanderer (try neutering him) and didn't like being groomed?! Next time I saw him the matts had been cut off. Poor thing. Why have a cat if you're not going to do the basics of care? I didn't see him again after that, so I'm hoping they neutered him to stop him wandering.

Yes our local fb group is exactly the same. They don't seem to understand that cats roam. There is a local moggy called Ranger that is forever getting lost and then found but people have got used to his shenanigans.

The best post was a lost chinchilla a few years ago that somebody found. It didn't look well, she picked it up and took it home and was posting to find the owner. Except it wasn't a chinchilla. It was a rat from the local Tesco that was likely dying from rat poison.

I know the cats that come in and out of my garden regularly and just leave them be but a couple of times I've had a couple I've not seen before being very persistent about trying to get inside my house and clearly asking for flood.

One had a tag on so I called the owners and they were pleased I'd callled as the cat had been frightened by a fence panel coming down in their garden and had been missing for a couple of days.

The other kept turning up and crying to come in and would try to rush into my house when I came home so I took a photo of it and posted on local Facebook. Turns out the cat spends all day going in and out of neighbours houses asking to be fed and fussed even though he has a very nice home of his own just down the road.

My cat is on the local FB group about 4 times a week.

”This wee cat has a collar that says don’t feed me, but it’s miaowing like it’s starving”

99% of the time someone will declare her “very thin looking”

I have a stock “That’s Raven. She’s fat and has health issues. Unless you want to take over the £100+ a month bills please respect the collar request. We use X vets if you want to double check what I’m saying.”

funnily enough the don’t get so desperate to feed her after that. And the vet (lives in the area) often comments and then adds a general “if you’re concerned send us a photo, we know most cats locally. Please don’t feed random cats” message.

If I see a cat in my garden I chase it out, not invite it in. I don't want you digging up and shitting in my vegetable patch thanks.

I use to get this with my cat alot.

It would usually be
Cat is yelling in my garden
Think he is injured as he is limping alot

I would then have to reply that it was my cat and he was limping because he only had 3 legs

Eurgh my greatest bugbear. I'm loosely involved in rescue and have a scanner.
I'm regularly called out to perfectly healthy, well fed, friendly cats who have decided to hang round someone's house on account of the all you can eat seafood buffet kindly provided.
My other annoyance is people who can't tell the difference in a feral and a pet ( " if he was feral I wouldn't actually be stroking him right now ... I am not some kind of cat whisperer, this is someone's pet")

Random cats in our garden get chased away by us or our cats. Otherwise fights are inevitable!

YANBU - I get cats all the time in my garden. Well not so much pottering around in the garden, more jumping on the fence and leaping on the trees.
I recognise most of them.

The person on our village FB who seems to come across loads of lost and injured cats is a 'mad cat woman' and is very quick to invite them into her home, feed and care for them before stealing adopting them. She does a lot of good i.e. will leap in to help with an obviously injured cat or a stray, but I feel does tip into interference at times.