Correct protocol for possible "stray"

[VictorianSqualor]

Where I live since we moved in 6 months ago there has been a plethora of cats in and out of our garden, lately say the last two or three weeks a large ginger one has been making it's way closer and closer to our back door.

I'm still quite amazed at how they don't fight (often look out the window to see our cat joined by three or four others) but this ginger one seems to have been bought home by my own cat! Whenever I feed ours it goes outside and miaows to the ginger one who then comes to the door, today it actually came in the kitchen so I gave it some food, it finished a whole tin of cat food in seconds and ended up eating what my cat left too, then went to curl up by the radiator, but my cat went out so it followed.

I have no idea whose cat this is, if it has a home or not, I'd suspect the way it ate it hadnt eaten in a while, but having had a cat that disappeared regularly only to discover he had three homes I don't want to 'pinch' someones cat!

The house behind us has been empty for the last month, except for a young couple that have been with an estate agent a few times and has now been put up for sale, I think but cant guarantee that the owner has died and left the house to family so was wondering if maybe it was their cat.

What would you do?

I was thinking maybe taking a picture of the cat and putting it through the houses in the village asking if it belonged to anyone, not sure if I should just leave it be though.

You could ask the vet to scan it to see if it has a microchip, that's the first thing I'd do. If not I think I'd try a few posters just in the local area, as you say it might be your former neighbour's cat and someone might be able to recognise it.
Then if you are still keen I suppose local rescue charities/vets etc? Lots of places have lost pets registers now. I think after a certain length of time you would be able to assume ownership of the cat as long as you have taken reasonable steps to trace the owner. My mum has just taken on a puppy that was found by a lady whose daughter is a policewoman so did quite an extensive search for the rightful owner. After 28 days she was allowed to claim the dog.
That's assuming you want another mouth to feed of course .

Leaving it be might not be an option now it knows you are a soft touch. If it's that hungry you'll have to have a heart of stone not to feed it again!

Soft touch? Moi?

Don't feed it !!! Many cats on a diet trawl the local neighbours looking for a soft touch

Scanning the cat at the local vets is a great idea.

Another easy way on establishing a cat's status if you can touch him, is to lightly selotape a thin strip of paper around his neck. Write on it (before you attach to the cat) saying 'Does anyone own this cat, please ring me on YOUR NUMBER so I don't rehome your cat'

This only works if the cat returns home with the collar intact and the owners bother to ring you. It worked a couple times for us though. We use to trap, tame and rehome feral cats and worked with local cat rescue centres etc. Which is why we have eight cats !!!

Alternatively you could put cat in your spare room for a few days, whilst postering FOUND CAT posters in the local neighbourhood and registering the fact you have him with the local vets and rescue centres. Wouldn't do this myself unless the cat is in difficulty.

Another idea is to ask the local busybody they usually know everything about the local families and their pets.

Good luck.

It was hungry !!!!

I'm not goign to lock it in anywhere as it's not harmed, I'll try the note first, then if I get no joy, the vets and the posters.

VS, How things with you and your bump ? All your test results still looking good ? Remind me how many weeks have you got to go ?

I'm 33+1 so hopefully not too long.
The tests are still coming up well, saw cons last week and she apologised for making me cry last time, even though it wasn't her fault, has agreed to leave it til 38weeks to see how things are but said she would prefer to CS at 38weeks whether everything is still seeming ok or not, but she said we can just leave it til 38 weeks and discuss what I want to do then rather than have to decide now.

Seems a bit 'by the book', to do a CS at 38 weeks even if everything is alright....hope you get what you want in the end

Well, she said that even if the tests I have fortnightly are fine, babies growth etc the point of restricted blood flow is still there so not all 'ok' iyswim with the restricted flow they like to CS at 38weeks because of the increased risk of stillbirth.
I don't think I'll have much of a problem with her though, she's a good doc and has said on a few occasions that it is her medical preference but my pregnancy and that it's ultimately my choice.

How's it going with the doula???

I am going to the hospital to discuss my blood results, the antibodies I have in my blood. Hopefully it will be goodish news.

Doula wise I have the forms to fill out but unsure what to write in the 'why do you need adoula ?' box...I want to write that I am having nightmares about the birth and I need to see a possible solution so I can stop being upset and worrying...Not sure that is what they want to hear.

And I feel intensely guilty and cheeky that I am applying for charity funds

I will be filling the form in this week and I do desperately want the doula services, she is so lovely. I am thinking that when I get a job in the future I could pay money back to the Doula fund, that would make me feel better.

Sorry that was a longer post than I intended to write

hospital appointment tomorrow, which I need to get out of the way first (fingers crossed)

I'd imagine previous birth trauma and feeling unable to actually do labour without extra emotional support would be a perfect reason tbh. Many doulas go into the job because they want to help, what better way to help than aid someone who otherwise would be petrified?
Hope your blood results come back as hoped.

Thanks VS

It would be a great idea to do a bit of TNR if there is a lot of stray cat's in your area to prevent any further breeding, a local charity/rescue could help with this and I'm sure the vet wouldn't charge too much.

Actually the known cat charities don't TNR cats. They have too much to do dealing with normal domestics. Our local RSCPA and Cat protection use to give our number out !!!

My husband and I use when we lived in Yorkshire use to tame feral cats and we use to trap (with our own cat trap) get help from the local RSCPA to have cheap (NB.not free) neutering and blood tests and we would rehome them ourselves. It was a labour of love, hard work and very rewarding.

We cleared our home patch and had a few people ring us refered by the local cat charities but when we moved homes feral cats are not a problem around here and with our DD in our house it is no longer feasible to have cage/rooms of feral cats whilst we tame them down.

I did enjoy doing it though.

I look forward to having a go myself sometime, it does seem like a very rewarding thing to do. If the OP isn't in the position to take in feral's to try and tame them she could always ring around local farms and stables who might let a few cat's live in their barn.

forgot to add, only after they'd been neutered of course!

If you follow the 'letting them live in your barn' suggestion, please tell them that the cat will have to be fed - I have two friends who have rescued three starving cats between them from farms. The cats hadn't been fed, one had become pregnant two of her kittens died; obviously couldn't catch enough mice and needed catfood too.