Not sure what to do with this lovely little cat...help!

[Alabasterangel6]

I won’t dripfeed so apologies for the long backstory.

I had a cat for 22 years. I am a cat person. DS was born when DCat was 20, so for 2 years he was around cat, touched cat and grew up with a very furry environment.

When DCat died we said no more pets for a while. A year later, at 3, DS went into the home of a dog and with no warning at all had an acute and severe asthma attack. A&E blue light job. It isn’t the only dog he is allergic to because he has less severe but obvious symptoms if we even go in a car where a different dog has been. We are very very vigilant to avoid dogs (due to the acute and severe nature of the attack) and DS is now 8. We’ve always wondered if he is the same with cats but a) hoped not due to earlier exposure and b) daren’t risk finding out. Note we lived in the house that the cat had lived in for another 2 years but moved when DS was 4.

Minding our own business, going about life, and for reasons unknown to us this little cat arrives. She is small, fed (as far as I can see), clean, very used to humans and for some reason is also very very very determined to get into our house. We have NEVER let her in or fed her, not even once. DD (10) will stoke her if she’s playing in the garden but the cat is very affectionate and absolutely adores DD. When we come home from school Cat comes running miaowing. She spends hours every day miaowing on the kitchen windowsill or at the kitchen door. She stares at us through the door all evening and scratches at the living room door all evening (see photo!!). If DD or I go out to her she will literally jump from the wall or garden table to DDs shoulder. As I speak she is outside miaowing at the door.

I’ve been round circa 25 houses in the direction she most commonly comes from and everyone sees her but no one knows who owns her. So....

What do I do to locate her owner? I don’t want to take her to a vet, I don’t have a pet carrier for a start.

Should I put a note on a collar and put it on her? Would that work?

In light of the above, I don’t want to claim her as I am 80% sure she is owned but if she was your cat wouldn’t you want to know she was trying so badly to invade ours! I want them to know i haven’t fed her or tried to steal her!

DS has allergy testing at the end of Oct, but IF (if if if if) it turns out she’s a random, what are the chances of him being allergic to dogs but not
Cats?

Thoughts on the above, please?

I'd bet a significant sum of money she's owned and just a friendly chancer. I see it all the time where people pluck random cats off the street thinking they're strays. She's immaculate, fed, friendly. She has a loving home, leave her be.

Well, we have some progress. A chance discussion with another neighbour leads us to believe she is owned by a house to the back of us, three doors up. I had called there but no answer. The neighbour of this person who I know says they have bowls of cat food in their back garden. The house concerned is a couple who are known alcoholics and drug users. The neighbour says she doubts the cat is ever let indoors and not neutered.

Fair enough although I don’t like it, cats have lived in worse situations. However the lack of neutering makes me concerned. I don’t want her to turn up at the door pregnant or with a trail of kittens!

Well, the cat obviously wants to get indoors and if the people won‘t let her in, I would let her into my home TBH. I hope your DS turns out not to be allergic to cats!

Please don’t adopt her until she has been checked for a microchip. She could be someone’s much loved pet, perhaps lost. In my area there is a lost and found Facebook page with several members who own a microchip scanner, willing to come and scan any found cats. Perhaps see if there’s something similar near you? Or borrow a cat carrier from a friend?

cat as per above I cannot adopt her, I have a DC with a severe allergy. I have found her home now but sadly I think she is kept outdoors and isn’t neutered.

If your son's allergies are that severe definitely do not let her in the house. I can tell when someone has had a cat in a house within about half an hour because of my allergies. I even reacted when we moved into a new rental property. The people before us didn't have a cat, but the people who lived there before them did

Is it her home OP? I was hoping for a better outcome. She is clearly not happy since she is looking elsewhere :(

Well I’ve put a note through the door asking for them to contact me because apparently they never ever answer the door (all the curtains are permanently shut). I can see the food outside - swimming in rainwater.

I didn’t word the note as if it WAS theirs. I said I would assume it was a stray if they didn’t contact me to say otherwise. I thought that might stand a better chance of triggering a response.

Cat saw me (she was sitting on the pavement nearby) and followed me home and is now under our garden table.

And no orange I wouldn’t. No way. His reaction to dogs is very severe. However as I say he did live with a cat as a baby/toddler and in that same house for half his life. At least the testing will happen soon!

What’s the fucking point of having a cat & not letting it inside or feeding it? If their addicts how are they going to be vertical long enough to look after her?.

No bloody wonder she wants to move in with you.

Tell me about it. These twunts have kept us awake singing into the wee small hours in their garden. The nice neighbour tells me they are out there smoking weed. She pointed out she is an elderly lady with chronic lung problems and the smoke is coming into her house. They told her to fuck off. Nice.

She said they’ve probably acquired the cat ‘from a man in the pub’ where they spend most of their lives. One of them has a job for a few hours a day, goodness knows how, but I tried to time putting the note through at a time when the neighbour says this person tends to come in so hopefully catching one of them sober. Nice neighbour says they don’t even open the door to the postman or anything. All very odd.

Poor cat is very wet today. It’s been raining and she’s clearly been out a while.

You can get cat shelters on amazon, at the very least she’d be dry & you can put hot water bottles under a fleece.

That’s a thought. I’m wondering what next steps if they don’t reply. I suppose it’s somehow checking for a chip. I just hope they reply one way or another. I suspect they won’t and I’ll be back at square one.

Put up a cheap small tent in your garden. My old cat wanted to stay outside in all weathers towards the end of his life and after we put a tent up for him he lived in there during the day.

Shes come back to the door soaking wet and mewling. I’m currently sat guard with her just in the threshold on the mat and she can’t get any further in the house. She’s having a wash and looking comfy. I’m going to feel like such a cow when I have to put her out. We have a shed. I might open the door for her for a bit as it has a carpet and is dry and DS doesn’t go in there. Can’t do that overnight though as tools and bikes are there. All she seems to want is company.

No response from note despite lights being on in the house.

Poor baby :(

Poor cat. Get her a shelter box safe,out,of,the weather.

We had neighbours who kept their cat as an "outdoor" cat. Poor little thing was out in ALL weather. Wind, rain, snow. They NEVER let her in. We opened our shed for her to sleep in and put a bed in there. She would try to come into our house but was very nervous. When we invited her in out of the snow she wouldn't, just sat on the fence staring intently into our house. She was quite thin too. They moved out and we were hopeful they might leave her and we would have had her. They took her though...I thought 'what is the point?!'. Poor little thing.

Cats need food, company and warmth. This cat sounds like it is definitely outdoors and the fact that its well fed could simply be people taking pity. My mums cat gained a huge amount of weight because he was begging for food off other neighbours! And he was bloody spoilt and loved!

I’m doing the paper collar tomorrow with a more direct message. I’m going to put on it that if there is no response within 48 hours we will be assuming she is feral and taking her to be Rehomed. If that doesn’t invoke a response then what will?

If still no response then I’m going to give one last shot - I roughly know what time the drunk woman comes home every day (thanks to the nice neighbour) so I’m going to walk up and down that road around that time on Monday to effectively force a face to face meeting. If she tells me to F off or denies the cat is hers, then I have my answer.

If that isn’t clear cut then I’ll take her to look for a chip as a final resort. After that it’s wait for the allergy tests (tenuous) or take her straight to the local cat charity where I know she’d find a lovely home.

I really can’t think what else to do.

If you had a note through your door asking if your cat was actually yours, what kind of muppet wouldn’t even reply?

A pissed up one.

All these outdoor cats 🤦🏻‍♀️ Even farm animals get bought in for winter.

My mums neighbour left their thin cat out in all weathers, she found it one night and cat napped him. They’d been banned from keeping animals.

I mean what are they expecting her do when it’s snowing and -5c??

Ahhh she is beautiful. She’s making me want to get a cat! Hope this has a happy outcome OP! And shamelessly place marking to see if it does! :)

Right!!! Pissed up man has called me!

Not their cat. Apparently he doesn’t do pets. I did query why they had bowls of pet food down and he said ‘hedgehogs’ which is a fair point but he was slurring his words. He claims he has seen the cat but it’s not his and he doesn’t want it or any other cat. And I must have fed it because cats don’t scratch doors unless you have, apparently

Back to square one.

Paper collar tomorrow.

She’s dissapeared now. I am hoping to a warm cosy house but who knows.

This cat won’t be out in snow, trust me, it’ll be resolved one way or another by November!

Thank you for looking out for her. I hope your DS isn't allergic and that you can adopt her. She obviously wants to be with you. 🐾🐾

I’m not buying the hedgehog story.

Nor am I fluffy 😂

But on the other hand if he’s hers then he’s pretty much said he’s not bothered. So that’s one less problem.