People who pick up ‘lost cats’

[SweeetFemaleAttitude]

Wtf is their thought process? All our local Facebook groups have a stream of a version of ‘I just found this cat…’ and a picture of a healthy calm cat.
They take them home, then post they have them and are looking for the owners. They drop them at the vets, or they post their location for other nutters to go find the cat. Or they decide it’s hungry and feed it every day. Today’s post that triggered this moan says ‘I just found this cat at xxxx. Seems friendly, where can I take it for scanning’. Has a picture of an adult cat being stroked on someone’s lap that looks healthy.
The better end just get them scanned, though even that tbh I don’t get for a one off encounter with a healthy cat.
It’s once in a blue moon there’s a reason like the cat has an injury, or seems neglected or is in an unsafe location or has moved into their garden full time.
I’m on all the local lost cat groups and fb just because I have a friendly cat. Last year he went missing for four weeks due to being taken in, he’s also been fed at numerous other houses over the years who’ve decided he’s a (very fat) stray (in robust health). None scanned him, though one tracked him here and said he was their stray they’d taken in after I’d had to shave off some matts in his fur.

I was visiting my neighbour and as I was leaving my Siamese cat came down the stairs!
Another time I went back there and he was lying by their Aga. Very annoying, but my cat seemed to be enjoying it lol! 😂

I became a cat owner due to finding one hanging around in my garden. He kept appearing and I’d talk to him and stroke him and he wouldn't leave. After a few days, I put a collar in him with a note in a tag with my number on it. A few days later someone phoned me saying it was their cat…but would I like to keep him?

Turns out the owner had another cat, a dog and a baby and ‘my cat’ didn’t get on with the other cat or the dog. I was very happy to re-home him as he was a beautiful big Ginger boy and he was my fluffy faithful companion for years. Still miss him. 😢

This was way back in the early nineties before social media.

Let me guess, you also think any young child making any kind of noise is poorly parented and you think dogs should be welcomed everywhere.

THIS!

my friend had a 15 year old dodgy looking cat that had the best vet treatment possible. Refused to wear a collar and paper collars lasted 30 seconds

the stress of being taken to the vets killed the cat. Thing is it never went beyond the garden wall that it slept on but was still taken

all cats must be microchipped from June 2024. Does that mean I can take action on anyone who takes my property

You are SO not being unreasonable OP. My areas Next Door page is absolutely full of these nutters "finding" perfectly healthy cats and running off to the vets. Some of them even have their own scanners. I'm looking at you "Tanya" you virtue signalling idiot

Once a man that lives on my row of houses posted a picture in the neughbourhood chat of a cat with the message along the lines of “large ginger stray cat, I think she may be pregnant as her tummy looks so swollen and I fed her she was absolutely starving, she’s on my couch currently and I’m bringing her to the vets tomorrow”
I messaged back to say “that’s my cat, he’s not pregnant he’s male, neutered and a fat bastard that will eat and sleep just about anywhere, I’ll be over in 5!”

I have a scanner but..
I don't take healthy cats, or elderly ones
I scan cats that might be stray to see if they're lost with a chip and can be reunited. Or injured/deceased cats
99% of the cats I collect and go to the vets are deceased

This does seem to be getting worse.

I love seeing a young tabby each day; I’m clearly on his route and he gives me a quick smooch; found him asleep on my bed a couple of times when it was warmer and doors were open. But he’s not lost! He has a very busy timetable, monitoring his area, bless him.

Collars are tricky: in 10 years my lovely cat went through about 10 of the safety collars that come off easily. I has them printed with my telephone number. She would just arrive home after adventures not wearing it. I think the collars were at least a tenner so I became a person who had spent a hundred quid on cat collars!

i really don’t think cats should be allowed to roam now. years ago was fine and safe, less traffic etc. Now it’s just not safe at all and very annoying when cats poo in your garden where toddlers are running about. i don’t have pets because i don’t want to clean up animal poo.
At the end of the day if you can’t control a pet or keep it off someone else’s property then don’t have one at all.

I think the problem is like denial about obesity, people no longer understand what shape a fit cat should be and think perfectly normal cats are thin.

Yes, cats really vary too. People say "Ooh, your cats are tiny!" But their mum and dad were not big cats and they are part Siamese, with tiny little heads and paws and they are only 3-4kg, they aren't meant to be bigger.

I've had a shorthair who was 5kg, proper Post office girl and a chonky tabby boy who was 6kg and they were just so much a bigger frame and bigger paws to start with!

Mine kills robins. It's not something I am proud of but she doesn't seem bothered by other birds.

I've been asked if she is part bengal, as she was a stray I have no idea. I was talking to someone who has a bengal cross that does the same.

@Onethingatatime23 yep mine does a great kitten / young cat impression. Apparently if they give birth they stop growing. I don't know if that happened to mine but she was estimated to be one year when she arrived.

Well, he took the cat to the vet for scanning, vet called number on microchip, who was the son of the owner who had gone into residential care a few weeks prior to cat turning up at friends, son hadn't even considered the cat and didn't want to know. Poor thing had travelled right across london. So now friend is the official and happy owner and getting a cat flap fixed, and neighbours are delighted because they love her too. So what's worse? Just ignoring them (which he did for a few days) or being kind and doing what you can. The only way cat owners can control what happens to their cats when they're out is by not letting them out and if I'm ever lucky enough to be able to have a cat I would not mind at all if it was having fun being fussed over by well meaning neighbours