To think you don't just take random cats home?

[cadburyegg]

I'm a cat lover, and recently I've joined a few cat related Facebook groups. Big mistake.

I so often see posts where some kind hearted soul has seen a cat wandering around, and has taken it home. The latest post, last night, I couldn't help comment on. Someone found a cat near to their place of work and took it home, and has decided to keep it for themselves. The cat, from pictures they've posted, doesn't look underweight or injured. It's probably someone's pet.

But most of the comments are along the lines of
"The cat distribution system strikes again!"
"Thank you for being such a lovely person"
"She has found her forever home"

There's often a half hearted attempt to find the owner, but whenever someone suggests taking it to a vet to scan for a chip, suddenly the poster goes quiet.

I'd never just take a random cat home that I saw out and about. AIBU? I see it on the village Facebook groups too, "oh I saw this cat wandering around, does it have a home?" ??

Someone did this with one of my
cats was bonkers. Apparently it was starving and skinny and riddled with fleas… she’s a bloody 10 dinner sid, flea treated and had a fucking collar on with my phone number.

Photo of said cat taken outside my house! Hilariously. One person despite her being starved remember. Said looks pregnant. Again not possible but now we have a starved flea riddled pregnant cat… but apparently nobody can see her collar 😅🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ she’s just a fat greedy cat.

People do this. My SiL and her ex "adopted" (stole) a cat. It died soon after. Bloody hell, the posts about their grief, the one year memorial, the Instagram tributes. I just want to yell BUT YOU STOLE IT.

I once rescued my neighbours cat from being "kidnapped" by a well meaning stranger!
There was a local event on nearby so lots of people were parked on residential side streets like ours. This cat liked to lay down in the road (thankfully a very quiet side road), he also had a limp from a previous accident and was super friendly. I was walking back to my house to see them carefully cradling him and about to get into their car - they thought him laying in the road and his limp meant he'd been run over and were taking him to the vets 😂
If they'd have knocked on one door to ask, everyone knew the cat and would have told them he was just a super friendly idiot!

My beautiful cross Persian went missing 8 years ago, it happened to be snowing, I often wonder if someone stole him because he was out in the snow, he was like Tramp out of Lady and the Tramp, after he went missing a lot of our neighbours came knocking to know where he was, I found out he was going in everyone’s house for treats, he’s still on the microchip register as missing, I haven’t given up hope

They're fanatical. I'm so jealous of the huge amount of free time they must have to be able to indulge in behaviour like that.

Happens all the time around here. It makes me so cross.

I had an elderly, much loved cat with various medical conditions I managed for years, specialist diets, multiple medications each day, a warm safe and comfortable home. Right at the end, when I knew he only had a matter of days left before I would have to PTS, he got confused and wandered into another garden. I had spent the day out calling him, knocking on doors, desperate thinking he had died under a bush and I would never know. I found a picture of him on FB. A neighbour had announced to the world that her son was calling the RSPCA because of this clear case of animal cruelty. Everyone piling on about how awful this was in 'such a wealthy area' etc. What a wonderful woman she was to rescue him, how dreadful the owner must be to have failed to get this poor wretch to a vet etc. I am a vet. If I hadn't taken him on and looked after all his issues, he would have been PTS at least 10 years previously.

I think people get slightly unhinged with this. One of my friends kept messaging me about a stray cat that was turning up at their patio daily - thin, hungry - and they were feeding it. I told her that I would be mad if someone was feeding our cat because he is a greedy monkey and a little chonk, and that the cat could have medical issues/special diet etc. She was eventually persuaded to put a message on her local FB group and immediately the cat was identified as living two streets up, and a young, petite female in perfect health, but a greedy little chancer.

Likewise we had new neighbours move in while we had our previous cat. The female neighbour told me about the stray cat they planned to trap and take to the vet, because it was always under a bush in their garden. That was, of course, our very fluffy white girl who just liked that bush. The fact she was never out overnight or during the working day should have been a clue?

We had someone do this with our elderly moggy, with collar. The cat was a huge wanderer (a rescue cat) but liked her home comforts. We lived in very rural countryside so it wasn't so much of an issue and we would often not see her for the whole day until she came in for cuddles at the end of the evening.

The issue was, as she got older, she needed a specialist diet due to a few health conditions, she looked quite thin but was still loving life. Some "kind soul" decided she was a stray and started feeding her up, but they did more harm than good. She lost even more weight and we were back and forth to the vets. We had just made the decision to try and keep her indoors, knowing that it would reduce her quality of life significantly. But by the time we realised what was happening it was too late.

In the good old days we were taught not to interfere/feed wandering cats as they would eventually go home. If and when they look very poor and are staying over night then is the point to step in. But not before.

We won't get another cat now. It broke our hearts.

Our local Facebook group is like this, lots of pictures of cats, posters saying this cat has come in my garden.
The reply's are always take it to the vet to be scanned as could be lost.
Poor cats just out for a stroll

If people are going to let their cats wander where they like and go in and out of other peoples homes, then it can’t come as a surprise when other people choose to keep them.

When someone breaks into your catio and takes your cat, then you have a right to complain. When someone just shuts their own front door after a neighbours cat has been allowed to go in then they’re done nothing wrong. The cat will leave if they don’t like it.

My cat turned up on my doorstep boxing day 4 years ago. She cried for 3 hours and also tried other neighbours. I wrote about it on here at the time.
I took her to the vets and there was no chip, i put notices on the internet, a paper collar and posters up in all the surrounding streets, nothing! She is still with us so no idea where she came from.
Interestingly she looks like a turkish van with calico colouring, very pretty

I think we have found a catnapper 😄

I hear you @cadburyegg . The only time I took a cat home was early this year when a very beautiful friendly with absolutely no road sense nearly was ran down in front of me.

Thankfully he was chipped so we managed to contact the owners through the vet. The scamp had ran off when a family member had gone into feed him. My lady would have been friendly but would have slapped anyone picking her up other than family. Thankfully

They have actually. It's a crime now to do just this. So maybe get your facts straight.

My parents did but to be fair it was definitely a stray. No microchip. Thin but young. Out in the snow. They put up posters but no one came for it.
Lived with us 8 years after that

I do think there are people who are vitriolic about 'saving' outdoor cats by trapping them inside.
I think it's really sad. And disturbed.
They know the cat must have an owner and they don't even try to find them because they've got on their high horse.
It's also awful for outdoor cats to suddenly be trapped indoors. Some cats are happy indoors but not the ones used to wandering long distances. They are just going to have miserable lives.

Nope, literally a law says th opposite!

It's insane the amount of posts I've seen about lost cats and I have seen a number of people say, they will keep it unless the owner gets in touch.

Firstly it's a cat and they wander, secondly not everyone has social media to identify their cat which wasn't lost in the first place.

I remember one poster posting about a lost cat and others mentioned to take it to the vet to check for microchipping but apparently that was too inconvenient. Others offered to take it, but no she didn't want a random turning up at her door but it's okay for a random to take someone else's pet 🤷‍♀️ Besides how she thought it was going to be returned without a random turning up is beyond me.

I mean if the cat looks under nourished or injured, then sure help out but if it's just going about it's day, just leave the poor cat alone.

It isn't cats wandering into people's houses. It's people picking them up off the street, in many cases healthy, young, obviously well cared for cats.

I say mine wandered into a neighbour's garden because that is what their post said, but the house in question, considering how frail he was, it is more likely they found him out front on the street. He would not have been able to clear the fence to actually get to a private garden.

Regardless, you don't just help yourself to other people's pets. There are plenty in rescue centres if you want one.

A very friendly cat that used to hang out close to one of the local tourist spots (West coast Scotland), there were quite frequent FB posts on local FB sites about him, disappeared suddenly and everyone thought he had died, but about two years later the owners were contacted by a vet in Aberdeen who had scanned his chip. Turns out some tourists saw him hanging out in his favourite spot, assumed he was feral and took him all the way back across the country to Aberdeen. When they moved they left him with their neighbours who took him to a vet who discovered he was chipped.
The owners went to get him back (it's quite a drive from here) and he had to be slowly reintroduced into the family as there were now other cats as well.

I find it hard to believe that people genuinely think they're doing a good deed when they decide to keep a (possibly) lost cat without doing anything to try to find an owner. Especially those like a PP who think it's fine to trap a cat by closing the door if it wanders in - how does anybody justify that to themselves!?

Cats can be so cheeky - one of my neighbour's very well cared for cats used to come straight in through the window to take a nap on my sofa, and I once found him upstairs on my bed. They can seem lost when they're not at all.
If you feed a cat it's likely to keep coming back...but as some are on special diets you risk harming them by doing this.

The only time I've ever taken one into my house was when a tiny cat turned up very late one night, crying on my doorstep, in the middle of a thunderstorm.
It ran straight inside when I opened the door, so I allowed it to stay overnight - couldn't leave it outside in such bad weather, and guessed that it had lost its bearings and couldn't find home. (It actually jumped onto my bed and slept next to me that night, so was obviously used to being loved by people!)
Popped up to the vets first thing the next morning, they scanned for a microchip and were able to contact the owner, who arranged to collect and asked if she could have my number.

She called later to say thank you. He was a very loved cat from a family with young children who adored him, they had been beside themselves, and this lovely lady was so happy to have him home knowing he'd spent the night somewhere safe and warm.

I feel like knowing you've helped a loved pet to get safely home is a much better reward (even if you don't get the personal thanks like that) than getting a new cat that you've decided to keep?

Yanbu. A genuine cat lover will not pick up a random cat. And if they find an injured cat they will take it to a vet or make every effort to get the cat scanned to establish ownership. That's because they understand the heartache of losing a beloved animal.

if the cat looked homeless? Yep in a heart beat! Thats how i ended up with my cat pheonix! she was wandering around a friend's property with a few siblings. I adopted her, and my aunt took her brother.

Who determines whether a cat looks homeless? Many cats don't wear collars because they can catch on things, and cats will wander around in other people's gardens etc.

Our local fb page is always filled with posts saying "I've found a cat, it looks hungry". Unless it's injured or clearly starved/ribs on show, leave the bloody cat alone.

Old cats can look homeless but might just enjoy the odd day in the sun
Cats with well managed medical issues can look scruffy
Cats receiving medical treatment can escape as they don't like it and look homeless.
Most cats don't wear collars as there are safety issues with them
Microchips can migrate or not work

@ainkeepsfalling did you knock on some doors to check if anyone knew who they belonged to or did you just take them?

Edit: Sorry @ainkeepsfalling I realise you were quoting a post but. Can't remove the tag.

@WishingForTheImpossible you're definitely not the crazy people OP means. They don't take them near a vet for a start and feral kittens would make them pee their pants! Especially over 8 weeks. (My personal favourite tbh)

They wouldn't take in and care for sick kittens either. Very glad to hear your little one is out of critical. That's a heartache and pain of horrible proportions.

Shocked at vet charging £90 for Snap testing though.

@cadburyegg Facebook is a nightmare for cat charities too. The same type of people post every cat that doesn't suit their perfect picture of pet as neglect! But they dont come directly to the charities, nor take the cat to the vet (where they might be recognised), they post all over facebook first to rally up their friends. So many distressed owners of elderly cats (thin, looking a bit scraggly, getting stiff walking), cats with allergies that are under treatment, other sick cats in general that are just enjoying their last quality of life having to defend themselves because their cats are posted all over facebook as neglected. They always know where the cat lives though. I've lost count of the ones that have been photographed and posted sitting in their own gardens!

There is a clear difference between a stray or feral cat and a domestic cat. These people need to go volunteer with charities, but they won't because those cats are rarely perfect.

@henlake7 Your friend is genuinely helping cats in need too.

I know of one cat whose owners got a puppy. The cat metaphorically packed its bag and moved on, settled in quite happily with friends of mine, after 10 days or so of hanging around miaowing purposefully by the back door. She didn't have a chip. A year or so later, the original owners were out for a walk, and spotted her asleep in the front garden. They knocked to enquire: 'We wondered where she'd gone! She couldn't stand the dog...no, you keep her if she's happy!' She lived a long and happy life.