Look what the wind blew in ml!

[TheLongRider]

Myself and DD were cycling to school yesterday morning. About 500m from our house DD spotted a cat trying to cross the very busy road near the park. I called the cat and it mewed and it's tail shot up in the air. We stopped the bikes and I managed to grab the cat and get it and DD to safety.

The cat wasn't injured and purred when I picked it up. I had to make an instant decision, take DD to school and hope the cat would be ok, or bring the cat home and check it properly. The decision was made for me by DD bursting in to tears declaring we couldn't leave the cat.

With the cat in one hand, bicycle in the other, myself and DD trudged home. The cat was pretty good. I had to put it down to get the gate open and it meowed and followed us home.

Once home I had a proper look at it. It sniffed around, registering that there are three other cats living in the house, they were out at the time. My DH brought our now chirpy DD to school with a tale to tell.

We brought the cat to our vet. It was easy to catch and put in the cat box and apart from some unparliamentary language there was no trouble.

The vet gave the cat a good going over and ascertained that he's an un-neutered 7 month old boy. Apart from some matted fur, he's in great condition. He's booked in for the snip on Thursday.

At the moment he's at home. He's a real purr monster, very people friendly and confident. He's used the litter tray and scoffed plates of food. He's growling at the other cats who are put out but tolerant.

This is Leaf!

Goodness, he's a handsome lad!

Are you now a 4 cat household?

Oh my word, that's the look of the new king of his castle, paws under the drawbridge me thinks, he's lovely op 😍

He's lovely but doesn't he belong to someone?

I assume you've put up "found cat" posters around the park?

Your post sounds like you've stolen someones cat?

Are you sure he doesn’t belong to someone?

No microchip. I'm away this weekend but I'll look for posters on my return. There's nothing on any of the local lost and found sites either.

The vet reckons he's been living rough for a while. Whoever owns him will be getting him back snipped.

You don’t sound like you are making much of an effort to find the owner?

He probably was/is someone's cat and I will do my best to find his owner, but unchipped and unsnipped is usually not a good sign.

I hate to say this OP - but since he's only about 7 months old and clearly very tame he does sound as if he probably belongs to somebody.

He's not local to my area and I live in suburbia so I'm not going knocking on a couple of 1000 doors within a 1sq mile area.

Flame me if you want, but he's landed on his four paws here and he's guaranteed a long and well looked after life.

But why have you catnapped him? He wasn't injured, just walking near the road presumably near his home. You can't just pick up any cat on the street and 'rescue' it.

He is obviously socialised and litter trained which means he is someone's pet!

Awww well done op. And we'll done on getting him snipped. Vets round here do it for free for stray/found cats that aren't chipped.

Stick a post on your local FB and maybe approach any other local vets to see if they have had any reports but perhaps start preparing for another permanent addition :)

I am a cat lover and have owned them my whole adult life and I'd be well miffed if someone stole and neutered my cat.

At 7 months he could have already been booked in for snipping and chipping - and didn't fancy the idea so escaped

What if he dies under anaesthetic. You would've killed someone's cat.

I can't believe you think this is a good thing. Flame me if you like. I'm horrified.

I'm pretty shocked by this. Please advertise the cat and do your best to find it's owners, they may be distraught. You need to put a notice up at the local vets and advertise on Facebook. The fact the cat purred and was friendly tells you someone has been caring for it at some point.

Well the woman who stole my cat said she was thin. She wasn't. She was a rag doll who had shed her top coat for summer and had been declared not too thin by the vet a couple of months previously. Cat wouldn't come home though (one cat household there compared to three at ours).

So do check. The lady who had my cat helped herself to an expensive cat for free, on bullshit grounds. And upset my son greatly.

He's not local to my area and I live in suburbia so I'm not going knocking on a couple of 1000 doors within a 1sq mile area.

And yet you know every cat within that 1sq mile?

As an aside, the chip in one of my cats failed and was unreadable so that isn't always a reliable sign.

You have just stolen someone's cat.

There is probably a very upset family with children who think their cat is dead.

I can't believe you literally just picked up a cat you saw and decided to keep it on the basis it wasn't microchipped... some people....

I’m in the ‘you can’t just take someone’s cat’ camp.

The wind didn’t blow him in - you carried it home!!

I'm baffled at this.
You've stolen someone's cat.
Whether he would have the most wonderful home with you and has landed on his paws or not unless he qas filthy and skinny and had clearly been lost then you still stolen a cat.

And I agree we have had an issue with an unreadable chip too.

Agree with other posters- you need to make far more effort to find the owners.
I have a very skinny, very friendly tabby who will happily wander up to anyone and do his poor starving act. I'm terrified someone will assume he's homeless and do what you've done