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!

No community FB group is complete without the "lost cat" posts, and a photo of a well fed cat with a collar on. And then the people who go on to say that cats choose their owners so that means the poor cat, that might be new to a neighbourhood, gets snaffled up by someone whose kid is too upset at the idea that is might actually be someone else's pet.

It is not just cats. A lake local to me has resident terrapins in, all descendants of a pet let loose many years ago. There are often posts about lost terrapins, and taking the now wild beasts to some rescue place to live their life out in a tank.
Our area has also seen ring necked parakeets out in the wild, living their best life.

I keep finding someone's cat in my house, much to my own cats horror. He was eating their food this morning, bold as brass in the kitchen having come in through a window. It never for a second crossed my mind he was lost - just a cheeky bugger!!

I guessed mangy.

Thanks for the CatWordle.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Omg that's hilarious and really grim at the same time!

I'll echo this comment about collars. One of my cats in particular just won't wear a collar despite me trying to get him used to it from kittenhood; he'll get quite distressed and will remove it. Safety collars that snap off last about 30 seconds and I simply won't bother with non safety collars, because he'll either injure himself getting a leg or his jaw (yes, jaw, not paw...) stuck trying to remove it, or because - knowing his exploits - he'll injure himself (or worse) by getting the collar stuck on something like a hedge, fence or tree branch...
Cat is at least chipped, neutered and knows where home is for food, cosy bed and medical attention when required (bloody cat is always getting into scrapes and comes in shooting me a pathetic look until he's checked over and dealt with accordingly... I'd say he's 'clever' for asking me to help, but what would be more clever is not getting up to mischief in the first place and then costing me money at the vet).
He does like to roam and I suspect he visits other people, but he is most definitely an outdoor cat and will drive you mad by 'meowling' (yowling/meowing/growling) if you attempt to shut him inside (and is also quite a destructive escape artist), so there's no chance of someone trying to keep him in to steal him!

My local town had a celebrity feline who had his own FB page and was also well known on the community FB page (he recently died and it was touching how many people were saddened by it). People would post photos of him getting up to mischief and update about where he'd wandered to. Every so often someone would post 'is this cat lost' on the community page and someone would say "nope, that's just 'Edward'" and tag his owner. Or his owner would post and say "it's been a while since I saw 'Edward', has anyone seen him?" and would then receive loads of updates/photos with his current location.

I have a few cars visit my back garden, never thought they were strays. There is one who cries for hours in the front garden, but when I go out to see, it runs off. Not sure what is up with that cat, but the sound is distressing.

We have a regular post on our local fb page, there's a cat who follows his owner to their place of work (shop) and sits outside until they finish work.
The amount of posts about that cat! People picking it up, taking it to the other side of town to a vet to be scanned. It's become the fb joke now, leave the cat alone!

There's now a poster in the shop window saying that it isn't lost, it just sits there all day waiting!

I guess the whole thing is encouraged by people posting about their lost cats when it turns out they’re just out for a wander and they turn up after a bit. People want to be praised on social media and be seen to be doing a good thing so they start scooping up and “rescuing” cats that don’t need rescuing.

if you get a cat and let it out you have to be prepared for the fact sometimes it might not come home on time. You don’t need to rush to Facebook to make a post just because you haven’t seen your cat for 3 hours.

It makes me chuckle when someone says ‘has anyone lost their cat?’ ‘No, but he’s just shit in your flowerbed Susan. Enjoy!’

I know!

and the logistics... like, I can’t imagine carrying my own fairly chill cat loose into my car, nevermind a strange one on to a bus, how did they manage it? 😂

This is how I ended up with my cat.

someone down the road decided they liked a cat. So basically stole it. Then got bored with it. U know …. Having to pay for food etc.

so they basically stopped looking after it. But as much as we tried we couldn’t get it to go back to the original owners. But by that time it had taken a liking to my house and so he stayed with me. I love that boy so much. But he should be with his original owner and not have been stolen by someone who decides they liked the look of a cat.

Perhaps leave your local FB group. They wouldn't miss someone with common sense.

You clearly know nothing about cats. Cats don't want to be kept inside, it's in their nature to roam. It's cruel to keep them indoors IMO.

It might be a female on heat

There's a woman who lives behind me and is "saving" all the abandoned strays she can by feeding them all inside and outside of her house.

We're a small village and do not have a feral cat colony. We have no strays. None. Each and every one has an owner and it explains why my cat got very sick at one point and was throwing up every other day. She was being double fed and can't handle a certain brand. She was collared and had a healthy weight for her small stature (runt) and a lovely shiny coat.

I wish these eejits would stop luring cats away from their owners

The best one on my local FB page was a student house who were concerned about a cat in their back garden that they had fed, then put it on the pavement outside the garden and they said they were worried because it had 'stood there and looked confused'. Wtf. Advice from the other nutters on there was to trap it and take it to a vet.

@OoooohMatron You clearly know nothing about cats. Cats don't want to be kept inside, it's in their nature to roam. It's cruel to keep them indoors IMO.

I wholeheartedly agree. If you live somewhere where it's not safe to have a cat, don't get a cat. Don't get one just because you want one and keep it inside. It's not fair to the cat.

This annoys me too. These busybodies evidently never read Six Dinner Sid as a child!

Our neighbourhood WA grp with this nonsense! And posts about cats being ‘ missing’ after a night or day or even for a few hours. ‘please check your sheds’ etc
Drives me mad!
they’re
cats, it’s what they do, they always come back!

Yanbu

One time before we catproofed the garden one of mine ended up on a lost per page. Apparently riddled with fleas looking lost…

If you had of got close enough to her to see these magical fleas you would of seen her collar with tag that says her name, the street she lives (where she was seen) and my phone number.

but nope someone made up some bs failed to mention her collar or anything all to look like a local hero. I could actually see my lost cat from my kitchen window.

To be fair, IME... cats keep a really predictable routine for years, then randomly don’t come home and wait just long enough that you start to go, hmm, maybe I should be worried? As soon as you start asking if anyone’s seen them, they waltz in.

I think they’re just testing you, like they’re waiting just out of sight going, huh, can’t believe she’s not missed me yet 😐😂

Oh god op don't leave the group! Sounds like they need a grown up to supervise them! God knows what they'd get up to without you there.

I work at a vets and all these people agreeing cat kidnappers are stupid is so reassuring. Tiddles is not lost, Doreen, and no one is giving him his insulin while he's in your bathroom being poisoned with inappropriate food.

We only see the slightly more sensible end who bring them to be scanned, most of the time the cat is less than 3 doors from home. They will sometimes argue that we must be wrong and make us ring the owner instead of just going and putting the cat back! Sick in the head!