AIBU to think some Facebook found cat posts are really cat napping?

[TotaleclipseinFrance]

In the last few years I've noticed that there are a lot of posts on community Facebook posts regarding 'missing' cats.

The word 'missing' is in inverted commas because these posts are not by people who've actually lost a cat- which is reasonable- but by people who've 'found' a cat in their garden.

These always start along the lines of: 'beautiful boy is in my garden' so it's not as if it's a person who is complaining about the cat being there-which would be legitimate and fair if you dislike cats.

These are from people who like cats.

Then the faux naivety about the cat being in their garden a few times - as if any reasonably intelligent adult doesn't realise cats roam. It's what they do.

Invariably the cat in the picture looks well fed and in good condition. So clearly not a stray.

It's clear to me that this is an attempt at claiming the cat as everybody knows that cats roam and if they're looking healthy and well fed they belong to somebody.

Besides which, don't they realise not everybody's on social media so some old lady may now find themselves catless because some f*ing numpty on fb doesn't realise this or just uses it as an excuse to cat nap and feel better about it: "OH well I tried. It's mine now."

I find it annoying as hell. Aibu?

It's not as if I am a cat lover. They're OK but I'm not crazy about them.

Yes, everywhere and sometimes the cat even has a collar or a tracker on but may be 'missing' so weird

I think it's an attention seeking thing, they just want to be part of the 'group' and have a reason to post on these fb groups.

YABU to think that all of these posts are potential cat stealers. Because the other cat posts are "not seen kitty since 6pm yesterday and it's really unusual, has anyone seen her", sometimes they do get a bit lost for a few days and sometimes it's because someone is feeding them, but not always. That said, it really annoys me when people feed and take in well looked after cats, they don't need the encouragement not to go home.

I honestly think the algorithm finds me lost, injured and rescue cats constantly.

The idea of the so called "cat distribution system" really gets my goat. Someone posts that a cat has come and sat on their doorstep and dozens of people chime in saying "congratulations on your new cat, this is the cat distribution system in action " . I won't be held responsible for my actions if someone tries that with my cat 😡

Yeah the “cat distribution system” really pisses me off.

no, just because a cat wanders into your garden (and you keep feeding it) does not mean you have been “chosen”, or that a family somewhere is not missing it.

if you don’t make a reasonable attempt to find it’s owner, it’s theft.

What did they say when you said she's yours?

Yes! My cat was almost stolen on fb. I don't have fb but my friend seen the post thankfully and she contacted the poster for me.

They were going to take my cat to the vet and if he wasn't chipped they were going to keep him.

He was literally a street away just on a walk ffs!

They mumbled some words about her being a stray as she had no collar.
I said no. We made some chit chat and they went away.

No collar is pretty normal though?

mine never have collars due to the risk of snagging. Yes I know you can get quick release ones but they get lost so often it’s just easier to not.

We have a street WhatsApp. Someone posted a pic of my cat sitting on my roof with ‘anyone missing a cat’? I said that’s mine, sitting on our roof doing the neighbourhood watch. I then posted a pic a few hours later of him eating saying he was on a dinner break.
People should know the regular neighbourhood cats. Occasionally people will post about their own lost cat but not about one they’ve seen (except above) unless obviously in a bad way.

IME it’s not claiming the cat as theirs, it’s just attention seeking. They love the engagement in the comment section and the ones with ‘rising contributor’ badges will even go as far as taking the cat to the vet, or there are even some that have their own scanner that offer to go around the community scanning chips. It’s all for the ‘omg you’re so amazing thank you for looking out for the cats’

Ours too. I had to buy a special plastic box they can’t get in

Somebody took mine to the vet because it meowed at them. He wears a collar and is obviously well fed and cared for.

I agree. Maybe they thought, as a few people do, that owned cats have collars maybe they were justifying it. I don't know.

They'd have brought her back quickly, she is a beautiful cat, her face reminds me of a young Judi Dench 😁 but she can be very grumpy and growls (the cat not Dame Judi.)

in the town where i used to live, there was a cat that lived in the town car park. he was probably left behind years ago. far from a normal stray in the tennis court area he had had a proper heated shelter built for him, a lady took him fresh fish, biscuits, chicken etc every night. that lady also took him for vet treatment if needed, flea treated him etc.
lots of people knew this cat and many took food etc for him but some people kept taking him to local vets which drove them mad. obviously the vets knew the cat so kindly returned him to the park
he is a little thin but that is because he is now 20 years old. there are now big posters in the park explaining this is where he happily lives, he has food, shelter etc and is very loved by many so please do not take him to the vets!

Someone did this with MY cat.
Posted a photo of him and said they haven't seen him in two weeks and asked if anyone had seen him, they had even named him a stupid name.
I had to comment and say he was being kept inside as they were overfeeding him and he was coming home and throwing up from gorging himself and to stop stealing my cat.

Luckily they listened and stopped, but I built a caito in my garden. People are weird, you can tell when a cats feral and when it has a home.

I don't see why anyone would bother "stealing" a cat. There are thousands in shelters needing homes.

I wonder di you live in my town. We had similar on my local facebook page although the person who posted was outraged that they were being denied access to the cat.

We have muppets who will find something lost in the street and instead of handing it into somewhere like the local supermarket or hotel they will hand it into a business that is open when there is a blue moon and then only between 10.20 and 10.22.

Omg so many in our area, me and partner now joke whenever we see a cat it must lost 😅