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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

A cat has adopted us... what next

51 replies

Ohsoverytired11 · 11/01/2023 23:38

Hoping for some advice with this. We have had an absolutely gorgeous ginger Tom cat visiting us for about 8 weeks. He turned up on our street and wouldn't leave and nobody knew him. He then chose my house as home and started showing up all the time. He then started losing weight and there was no response when we searched for his owner via facebook and using paper collars so we took him to the vets. The vet confirmed that he was microchipped and the owner was collecting him, and they would advise them to keep him in for a few days as he has decided to stray. Well, 4 hours later and he was back! Since then he hasn't left and seemingly adopted my house as his home. I have tried to contact his owners through Facebook, posters, paper collars and letting him out at night (when not too cold) to try and get in touch with them. He comes back the next morning with the paper collar still attached!
We know his owner must be local with how quickly he came back. He definitely has not been to any other home for about a week now as he comes back with his paper collar still attached and hungry, and during the day he hangs around my house and driveway like the Lord of the Manor!
I'm guessing this means that he has adopted us and we are happy to let him stay, but where do we stand in terms of the owner? No one has been looking for him but he is chipped and they collected him from the vets. I don't know what more we can do to try and find them. Surely though as soon as we take him to a vets they will want to speak to who he is registered to and not us?
I don't want to keep having to put him out at night to encourage him to go home, I worry about him! In an ideal world I would like the owners or someone who knows him to get in touch but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. It's a very strange situation to us.

OP posts:
Catdaft · 11/01/2023 23:40

I'd just keep him as your own he sounds lovely!

Toddlerteaplease · 11/01/2023 23:46

I'd ask the vets to contact the owner and at least let them know where he is. They do have the right to pick him up again. But they don't seem that bothered.

avamiah · 11/01/2023 23:49

I wouldn’t worry about his owners too much as cats go wherever they feel happy and get fed and it seems he has decided he wants to live with you.
Your very kind for looking after him.

RandomMess · 11/01/2023 23:50

When you say Tom is he neutered or not?

Pinkbonbon · 11/01/2023 23:51

Just ask for the details on the chip to be 'updated' next time you take him to the vet. Even if you just change the address and phone number and leave the name as is (remember it).

dolor · 11/01/2023 23:52

YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN

RELINQUISH ALL YOUR WORLDLY GOODS FOR THEY NOW BELONG TO THE CAT

MROOOOOOWWWLLL

Original poster
Ohsoverytired11 · 11/01/2023 23:56

Well it's hard to tell because he's a giant ball of fluff (he's a big cat!) but although we have seen him enjoying a particular blanket, he hasn't spayed at all and he is a big softie. We are thinking from his size and interest in my fleecey blanket that he might have been done later in life? Maybe he has been a rescue before.

OP posts:
avamiah · 11/01/2023 23:56

RandomMess · 11/01/2023 23:50

When you say Tom is he neutered or not?

Good point as a male cat will roam about 97% of the time if it isn’t neutered.

SemperIdem · 11/01/2023 23:57

Are you all for real?

Stop feeding him. He isn’t your cat.

People like you are exactly why cats “disappear” - because they are encouraged to do so.

I’d be furious if this was my cat.

DomesticShortHair · 12/01/2023 00:01

If he has left an existing home, it’s for a reason. The legal position will say you’re wrong, but he’s looking for help and asking you. Of course, you can look after him, or let him down. It’s entirely up to you. I know what I’d do, without hesitation. No matter how furious @SemperIdem feels about it.

MsPavlichenko · 12/01/2023 00:03

Ginger cats are notoriously friendly.And greedy. I have an old one who visits all over. I didn’t look for him as he was never lost.

He is not your cat, and you are effectively stealing him. Stop encouraging him in, stop feeding him and at the very least let him out at night so he can go home.

If you want a cat get your own.

ADHDPI · 12/01/2023 00:03

Cats do this sometimes. Cat may have accidentally been let out again and owner might be kicking the self for it. My son let my dad's cat out by accident after he just moves house. Vet had to call my dad after someone took him in. I'd call vet back and ask them to contact the owner again. Stop feeding it it isn't your cat.

LionsandLambs · 12/01/2023 00:08

I’d take him back to the vet and get them to check if he’s neutered, scan chip and contact the owner. If they don’t want him back then I guess he’s yours.

justasking111 · 12/01/2023 00:09

Contact vet ask them to get in touch with owners again. My DIL had this. Kept taking the cat back. Turned out it was being bullied by another cat there. They didn't want to part with it. Unfortunately on one trip back to DIL he was hit by a car and died. We were all very upset.

thaegumathteth · 12/01/2023 00:12

Contact the vet and ask them if they'd relay a message to the owner

Theunamedcat · 12/01/2023 00:12

Call the vet tell them he has returned ask that they contact the owner ultimately they cared enough to collect him from the vets the last time

alsonotmyname · 12/01/2023 00:15

Stop feeding him and letting him in, it's not your cat no matter how fluffy and lovely he is - I would be so upset if someone was encouraging my (also huge, fluffy, greedy, friendly) ginger Tom.
As for the pp suggesting you 'update' the chip details that is despicable.
If you want a cat the rescue one that doesn't already have a home

Original poster
Ohsoverytired11 · 12/01/2023 01:09

Thank you for the advice about asking the vet to pass a message on. We gave our contact details and those of a neighbour to pass on at the time but I didn't know they would pass a message on if the cat returned. I will do this in the morning.

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 12/01/2023 07:42

I’d feed him if he’s losing weight and shame on all of you willing to let a domestic animal suffer.

Blueuggboots · 12/01/2023 08:14

You're stealing someone's cat as someone unthread has already said.

Unless the owners contact you to say you can have the cat, why is he even in your house and why are you "letting him out at night"??!! He's not yours!!!!

Stickytreacle · 12/01/2023 08:25

If the owners aren't vigilant enough to keep him in and remove the paper collar and ensure he is fed and neutered, then they dont deserve an animal. I've dealt with dozens of cats that are effectively abandoned by owners who couldn't care less about their animals welfare and many are deliberately dumped. An animal in need needs help not ignoring.

Usernamesarenoteasy · 12/01/2023 08:31

2 of my cats visit the elderly lady across the road, she feeds them and gives them fuss. The cats always come back to mine and know where they live. It's fine with me, as she asked first, and I know she is lonely.
However my old cat, also ginger funnily enough, used to roam. He'd literally be gone for weeks at a time. One day I saw him, no more than 5 minutes from my house, sitting meowing at someones door. What made me really angry was then seeing the owner of that house open the door, greet him and let him in! When challenged he said he hadn't realised he had an owner, despite him being in great condition, regularly flead and wormed.
Unfortunately he was run over while again visiting this person, and we sadly lost him.

MickeyMouseEars · 12/01/2023 08:37

Fucking hell, I can't believe some of these answers! Do not feed the cat, do not let it in your house! It isn't yours and the fact that it has turned back up at your house does not mean that the owners don't care about it, just that it's an outdoor cat that likes to roam.
It obviously likes you and that's lovely. Pet it, make a fuss, but do not steal someone's cat. They're probably devasted. My own ginger boy would absolutely not stay in, he loved the outdoors, so it's unfair to suggest that being allowed to go outside = neglect.

Sparklingbrook · 12/01/2023 08:40

I agree that this is not your cat. I would go with getting the vets to contact the owners to find a way to get this sorted.
Yes, they don’t seem too bothered but it’s still their cat and microchipped to them.

Fluffycloudland77 · 12/01/2023 08:55

The paper collars being left on, if your cat came in with a paper collar on you’d take it off wouldn’t you? This cat isn’t going home to have the collar removed.

My dm got a cat this way, the owners dog was using it a chew toy and the owners were banned by the rspca for life from owning animals. So she took it in with wounds on its leg and fleas, skinny and out in -c conditions overnight because they put it out at night.