What does he want?

[bettybat]

I've grown up with cats my entire life and think that I understand them...as much as any human can, like

We live above a shop. Our flat entrance is at the back, up a fire escape type stair case and our kitchen window is above the annex of the back of the shop. There's a little forest that houses foxes, badgers, other cats and my little cat plays out there every day.

My cat is very distinct looking - she's a Bombay so completely black, massive ears, big gold/yellow eyes, a little miniature panther :) I've seen all the neighbourhood cats and they come round occasionally but never up the stairs. Only the foxes come up to the front door.

My cat sits on the windowsill of the kitchen window to indicate she wants to come in. The other morning I wandered into the kitchen, half asleep, saw a black cat shape, went to open the front door...until I realised my little cat was winding herself in my legs. Very confused, and more than a little freaked out, I realised it was an identical cat sitting on our windowsill. On closer inspection, he's a Tom, big and muscular and he cries to be let in whenever he sees me. He acts like he's lived here, though we've been here four years and never seen him.

Every single night now, he's there - either waiting for us or for my cat. She doesn't seem massively bothered, though we have to chase him away before she'll run in of an evening. He's also there every morning, crying to be let in :(

I feel so bad - my instincts are to feed/cuddle/talk to him. He's a lovely looking thing - he could be my cat's dad, they look so alike. I think he might also be a Bombay, judging from his build. Isn't that odd - to have two Bombay's in one random area?

How/why has he found us/her? She was spayed at six months so although I know Tom's can still hang around, he's not going to get anything. Why has he suddenly started coming around? He's got a beautiful coat and very chunky/well fed so he's domesticated. It's all a bit strange and them looking the spitting image of each other and the way he copies her sitting on the windowsill freaks me out a little

It's possible he wants to be friendly towards her. There is a ginger neutered male who lives in our road who used to greet my old male whenever they met outside, the upright tail, sniffing each others faces type of greeting. He also does the same with my current spayed female, and she is willing to let him come in and eat her dried food which doesn't happen with any other cat. We see him sauntering down our garden, and if we see him out at the front he will come for a stroke if we call him. I'm sure our cat has other encounters, but I've never witnessed any other friendly ones.

He might be opportunist and hope you'll give him food, or he might just be sociable. The two cats will probably have met in the wooded area, and she will know his scent. I wouldn't encourage the cat to come in, but I don't think there's any harm in being friendly to him if you meet him outside, or if you see your cat greeting him.

He's very chatty, very sociable and part of me wonders if maybe he lived in my flat before - so familiar is he with jumping onto the annex roof to get to the kitchen windowsill. You know how cats can do that...disappear for years to a new home, and then come back. Maybe he was the cat of the previous tenants?

He was there this morning and my cat was irritated...she didn't seem scared, but she was walking around the flat growling and randomly hissing. She wasn't indicating to go out and wouldn't go back into the kitchen where he could spot her. She used to try very hard to make friends with the neighbourhood cats but a few battles has made her wary. But generally she's OK with other animals - she plays in perfect harmony with the local foxes and their cubs.

When I left, and was stood at the front door, doubling locking it, he was winding himself around my legs, rubbing his chin on my shins, and scrabbling at the front door to be let in. It just really makes me wonder if he used to live here. But he definitely has a home - he's very well maintained and very friendly. An alley cat wouldn't be like that. He's very chatty in that pure breed kind of way, with that flat yowl-drawl they sometimes have. I couldn't resist and stooped to give him a stroke and he was very friendly. I tried to explain my little cat lives here and she's getting annoyed with him but I don't think he understood

Maybe I should encourage some kind of meeting (supervised) so my cat isn't so rattled when he's hanging around. Encourage her to go out when he's there, maybe.

If she isn't happy with him being around I wouldn't encourage him.

If he has a collar there might be a phone number to call, and you might be able to alert the owners. Obviously they can't keep him in all the time, but might give them an indication of where he is if he disappears for a long time especially if they think he's lost.

you could try putting a paper collar on him with a message of your phone number and ask any possible owner if they could just give you a ring to confirm he is someones or take him to a local vets and see if hes chipped, being a purebred he might be

He has met your cat and decided you a new suitable human to live with.

It happened to us. Twice. Resistance is futile. Both times the cats were being abused before I get accused of stealing much loved cats.