Lovely little cat apparently lost. Help! I know seriously nothing about cats.

[MypocketsarelikeNarnia]

Beautiful little cat in the alley beside my parents' house miaowing since about 4pm. We are staying the weekend. Cat has now worked its way into the garden.

Have given it a bit of a burger and someone else gave it a bit of fish. Have put down water. We're not cat owners and dps won't bring it into the house - they don't want a cat and are reluctant to make it feel like it's at home.

No collar so unlikely to be chipped I think? Rspca say on their website they won't come out to healthy strays. We're going home tomorrow.

What can I do to help the poor little cat and help the problem go away for dps who are elderly and will worry terribly about it?

It's very friendly :(

Absolutely not the case that no collar = no microchip. The whole point of microchips is that you don't need a collar to identify the cat. Ours have chips but not collars as even the "safety" collars can get caught and cause injury.

If the cat is friendly and seems to be in good health (no obvious injuries, not skinny, etc) then it's most probably got an owner and is recently lost, not a stray.

Take it to the vets so they can scan for a microchip.

If you're worried about the cat getting cold you could leave a cardboard box outside for it to shelter in - cats love cardboard boxes!

Yep - pop it to a local vet to check for a chip. My old boy didn't wear a collar but was chipped. My new lad doesn't go out unaccompanied so doesn't have a collar, but if he ever got out and lost - he's chipped.

Cardboard box with a blanket in to keep him/her comfy if he'd/she'd like.

See I know fuck all...

Have put a box out. Will a vet scan it for free or will it cost a billion pounds? And how do I get it there?

When I said stray I meant feral, ie it may be a lost/stray cat but it's not feral.

There is really good advice on this page, including a template paper collar and posters you can use to try and contact the cat's owners.
www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/cats/straycats

But the quickest and easiest thing is to take it to a vet for a microchip scan.

A scan at the vets should be free.

Have you a car with you?

Vets will scan it for free. Ideally you would transport it in a secure pet carrier, but if you don't have one, you can use a cardboard box. You'd need to cut plenty of air holes in it and seal the lid. And maybe line it just in case the cat gets stressed and urinates (but our cats have never weed in their carrier!)

Definitely not feral. It looks like a pedigree (if that's a cat thing) gorgeous grey fur big green eyes.

We have a car. Bank holiday Monday tomorrow. Parents in their 80s so keen to resolve if we can.

What if it's not chipped?

They scan them for free. Pop it in the box and get someone to sit holding the lid down. Also worth finding nearest mad cat woman who might know who it belongs to. If you can't find a vet open Bank Holiday Monday then pets at home often have a vet onsite.

Agree ours are microchipped with no collar due to unfortunate incident before we adopted them. If it seems friendly and cared for then it may well have a home.

Have they any friendly neighbours that might help out as well?

Any reasonable vet wouldn't charge to check for a lost pet.

If you don't have a carrier a roomy box will be sufficient for a one off trip.

I'd leave him/her some water too, not milk as most cats can't tolerate it, but will do almost anything to get their paws on it :)

Likely it's just wondered off a bit, enjoyed your company You running around after it like its normal slave and will pop along home later this evening.

If it's not chipped, you follow the advice on the link I posted.

There will be a vet open on bank holiday Monday. Is there a Pets at Home nearby? The bigger ones have vets in house, you could check bank holiday opening hours. Failing that, Google out of hours vets.

And yes you can get pedigree cats

Any news on the cat?

On Monday morning two of the families opposite my dps saw her and started to take an interest in her. We were heading back but one of them said they were going to do 'found' posters and Dh spoke to them about taking her to a vet to be scanned. It seemed ok to leave it with them as they are a. local and b. not elderly like the dps.

Just trying to find out from dps what's happened and if she can't be reunited with owners and no-one else is stepping in I think we will think about taking her on.

I will keep you posted. Thanks for all the advice.

Just for future reference it's also worth knocking on a few doors as my cat was picked up just by my house and driven to a vet who scanned her and called me. I didn't mind as I know the people only had her best interests at heart and I am grateful that they cared, however.... I was at home and it was right by our house. Her face must have been a picture as she was driven away from home. Lol teach her for speaking to strangers!

Apparently dm has now seen her popping into the house opposite where they were gong to put up the found posters. There are four children in the family so I am guessing she's getting lots of attention!

I was really just worried about her being lost and alone and sad so that's answered my fears for her.

Will check again next time I'm down in a couple of weeks.

Thanks brilliant MNers!