So, in 2012 we got two kittens, a brother and sister, A & A. Sadly, not long after we moved in 2014, (we did the whole 3 weeks indoors to settle thing), the brother was hit by a car and died. We were devastated. Later that year, we got an older kitten, C. The owners hadn't said anything, but she'd been badly traumatised by children, and because we had children in the house, understandably, she didn't really settle well, and we really struggled to get A to get on with her. So sadly, we found another owner for her, who seemed fine, and assured us she'd be well cared for, and that they would change the registration of her microchip. A little later after that, a friend of mine had a litter and she gave me a boy kitten, SP. He's big, boisterous, and again, we had problems between SP and A, but as they've matured, it's got slightly better and they seem to get on ok now.
Fast forward to yesterday, when I get a phone call from a vet's clinic on the other side of town to say a cat had been handed in as a stray to them, and they'd scanned her and she was registered to us! Apparently, the person who handed her in was a builder working on a newly purchased flat - the story is that she'd been coming into the garden of the flats building for the past year, and the residents in the ground floor flat had been feeding her and made a shelter in the garden for her over the last couple of months, but they had now moved, and not done anything about her. He just leave her there, so he took her to the vets, they scanned her, and of course, our number came up. She didn't have fleas, and isn't scarily underweight, seems fine, so the vet gave her to us once I showed them an old photo of her and proof of our address.
So, of course, we dropped everything and went to pick her up, got a large dog cage and a litter tray, and have put her in that for the moment in the front room. Later this morning, we'll probably put her in our bedroom, so she's more out of the way from the children and the other cats, but I don't think I want to take the risk of rehoming her again as I think she's probably gone through enough, poor thing. She seemed quite friendly in the car, obviously got very pissed off once she was in the cage, but she's eaten ok and was sleeping last night once the kids had gone to bed. Does it sound like we're doing this right, though? We've tried to keep the other cats out of the front room, but SP did get in briefly, seemed very curious and C hissed at him, before I managed to get back in there and whip him out again. He tried to get back in for a while so I had to stand by the door to make sure he didn't get in, before he lost interest and went outside. It should be easier once we get her in our room though as we can keep the door locked, but we have to make some space somehow for the cage first!