I've NC'd as I've talked to people about this irl.
Around a week ago my friend found a young cat late at night and beside a very busy road. She took it home to keep it safe and to post on SM to try to find its owners. The post was shared many times to different local group and lost pet groups by a few of the local 'cat people'.
A day or so later, with no one having come forward to claim the cat my friend took it to the vet to check for a microchip. The vet confirmed that the cat had no microchip and was not neutered. He is around 5 months old and in very good health. He was also wearing a collar with no id tag.
My friend, having older cats at home said she was struggling to look after him so I offered to take the cat in until the owner was found.
After having him for a few days we are of course all in love with him, she has settled straight in, has a very sweet nature and is not nervous of our DC (who are very good with him too). We are of course still trying to find his owners but do think it's strange that no one has come forward so far.
It's obviously still early days and his owner may still come forward but we're thinking about what happens next. We would be delighted to be able to keep him but are not sure about how this could work and if he could ever be considered 'ours'. He will need to go outside (although hasn't attempted to try to get outside yet) but obviously can't do that until he's neutered (and microchipped) but we obviously can't neuter and microchip someone else's cat!
I've googled but couldn't really find anything relevant to this situation. I'd be grateful if anyone could advise or if anyone has any suggestions or guesses to the situation of where he may have come from (I appreciate it's hard without a crystal ball though!)
Thank you.