Advice needed on a possible stray/lost cat that followed me home.

[NaturalNature]

Hi, I came across a cat earlier who was crying loudly by the side of the road. I knocked on doors and asked passers by but no one knows who it is. It is terrified of traffic and dogs beyond normal ranges and followed me home. None of my neighbours know it but have seen it before.

I have taken it in, told everyone I know, put a found poster up. Will do more tomorrow.

It is starving, jumpy but eating, drinking and cuddling. I don't want to put it out due to the heavy rain but don't know what to do?

Oh and it's collarless and an undressed tom, roughly adult sized but not old.

Worth contacting any local vets too - they often have a "missing" board.

Poor thing - glad he found sympathetic shelter.

What is an "undressed tom"?

Still got all his bits (as my grandma would have put it.)

I took a very similar sounding cat in a year ago. he followed us home and was determined to seek shelter with us.

Take him to a vet to check for a micro chip. Our cat had a chip but all three registered addresses denied all knowledge of him.

He stayed with us as a 'foster' because shelters were full and when they called to take him, we'd become his loyal subjects and he stayed.

Give him small frequent meals to start and be prepared for maybe an accident if he stays in for a period of time unless he's very house trained. Sudden restlessness and seeking out odd corners of rooms etc usually indicates a need to go out to pee/poop.

I hope you fall in love and keep him because there are not many shelters with room now.

Poor chap, I would confine him within your home. May well have spraying habits.

Well I noticed he's 'cuddling'. Sounds like he's already made a decision? Woul you keep him, OP ? (If an owner isn't found.)

Check with local vets and Cats Protection, and if no=one claims him, keep him? My PILs were adopted by a cat. He appeared on a snowy night and was let stay in because SIL thought it would be cruel to put him out again. He was buried in the backyard 14 years later...

Are you enjoying the cuddling, OP?

Because I feel he has already found your 'sweet spot'!

I lost my girl cat in april and still have all her stuff and left over litter but have had to borrow food from a neighbour tonight, feeding him little and often.

He has "bollocks included" from my DS.

Yes I'd keep him, he has made himself at home, has zonked out on me so I presume I've been officially adopted.

I'll ring the vets tomorrow, see if he's chipped and get him checked.

if he's been turfed over being a tom though.

I love a (potentially) happy ending.

We had a cat stalk into our home and settle down about 6 months after we moved in. After a few days and posters etc (it was 20 years ago so microchips not that common then) we identified the owners as the people we'd bought our flat from. They took him back, but a week later he was back again. They asked us if we'd like to keep him, which we did, and he lived to a grand old age of 17.

Wouldn't have thought of getting a cat at that stage, but so glad we kept him ...

Sorry to hijack a little, but why are Toms 'bad'/ likely to be kicked out?

I took in a little boy kitten once, and he's still undressed. Had no bother in 1.5 yrs. Could this change (not that I'd get rid of him)?

If unneutered, they tend to spray, roam, fight and are generally not as 'sociable' as people might like. Surprised yours hasn't done this. (Maybe he's out on the tiles when you're asleep.)

.....And make more unwanted kittens if there are stray females around....

Quite so.

Thats so kind of you, lots of people would have shooed him away.

They usually chip at the same time as neutering so I wouldnt hold out too much hope of finding a chip. I think ours cost £15 to be chipped while he was under having his bits chopped off.

I wonder if he's a house cat who got stressed and sprayed and the owners couldnt be arsed to look after a spraying cat so the chucked him out and he's not used to cars.

Well it's not a rich area and I've had to advise neighbours where to get free neutering I do animal charity work and boys do get turfed if they spray and the owner can't be arsed afford the neutering.

Or he could be a new move and lost his direction, he is house friendly. I will try everything tomorrow to find his owners but he is out of the weather tonight. It's a small town so shouldn't be too hard to find the owners. I'm just worried if they're worried iyswim.

He is a cutie.

Ah - a devoted slave already, I think.

Cozie yep have sucker on my forehead.

I have phoned cats protection/rspca and checked their missing cats pages, no matches.

He does snore

Do we get photos? we need proof he's a cutie!.

Theres a lot of lost/ found animal pages on facebook, have you tried there?

I was beginning to think it might be our cat, until you mentioned the fact he was affectionate.

We got him when he was supposedly 16 weeks old, and from a woman who it became increasingly apparent, was a bit of a loon (telling us we were not to look at her cats or the or the kitten we had directly and other random stuff).

Anyway it turned out he was older than she said, and had socialising issues, as he had been isolated from any human contact aside from the mad cat lady, and the vet was unsure if he would ever fully overcome this. As well as that, we were told he was fiv positive, so decided the best thing would be to keep him as a house cat, which suited him as he was so incredibly nervous and just wanted to hide for the first couple of months.

Eventually with hours of input, he got to the stage where he was comfortable enough to come out of hiding, but was only happy to let one of my dc's near him (with everyone else he would run off if we got too close), and one time when he thought my bf was going to pick him up (he wasn't he was just trying to open a door to let him into the room), he got so freaked out he turned round and attacked my bf, digging his claws into his bare legs and just kind of stayed there too terrified to move!

Fast forward a few weeks later and he was by the kitchen door one day when i opened it to take the rubbish out, and rather than try to go outside, he ran back in and hid.

A few weeks later he was by the door again when i opened it, and before i could do anything he darted outside, and that was that! He would hang out in the garden but could never be caught or persuaded back in the house again, and after a while he didnt even stay in the garden.

The kids were worried so we put signs up asking if anyone had seen him, and we did get some calls, and amazingly he let us bring him in the house overnight, but the next morning as soon as the door opened he was gone again, and hasnt been back for weeks.

We see him occasionally around the area, but he wont be caught or persuaded back. The kids miss him, which is a shame, but I am not sure what else we can do.

We had a cat for 5 years before him, which sadly died after being hit by a car, and never had any problems at all, which should have been more likely, as we found him as a stray or abandoned kitten by the side of the road!