...the cat, or its owner?
Background:
I am was a cat-hater. Would shoo them away. But a year ago a neighbourhood cat kept hanging round my door. I work FT and an out 12 hours a day but every day for about a week she was there when I got home. It was cold so I let her in one night. She had a collar so I went and knocked on the door of where she "lived" but no one was there. No one was there for days and eventually I knocked next door, who said the cat's owners regularly went away for days at a time but someone did pop in to feed the cat.
The cat carried on sitting outside my house and I started letting her in in the evenings. She was a sweet little thing and more like a dog than a cat - she needs company. She would follow me round the house all the time. I fed her. She doesn't eat much.
Three months went by like this until eventually the cat's owners moved house to a different house across the road. The tag on the cat's collar did not change for 2 months and then her collar disappeared. I wanted to get her one with our address but didn't in case her real family didn't like it. One day she appeared with a new collar with their new address on. She stayed away for a few days but then came back and since then she hasn't gone again.
I love her. The DCs love her. We all want her to be our cat. I know quite a few people who have "acquired" a cat that just one day appeared and wouldn't leave - it's just that in this case I know where her owners live.
Next year we are relocating. I want to take the cat. Obviously I can't just take her. But am afraid of going to discuss it with her owners in case they think I have stolen her already. So, cat owners: if I turned up on your doorstep in these circumstances, asking if we could agree that your cat was now my cat, do you think you would say yes?