Help please - not my cat!

[Pokethedot]

I live in a small area, I know all the cats around here, I see them pootling about doing their thing.

Anyway, Christmas Eve I spot a tortie in my garden. It’s raining, it’s cold, dark and windy and she’s trying to eat the ‘reindeer food’ my toddler had sprinkled outside (all wildlife friendly don’t panic) I open the door thinking she could come inside until it stopped raining and she ran off.

this evening my back door is open. The same cat has come in and has curled up on my sofa. What do I do?

I don’t want to tempt her away from a loving home but neither me or my neighbours know where she’s come from. She has no collar and seems really hungry and is wet and cold so I’ve just let her chill for now.

I will get her microchipped if I can, I’m thinking she might just wander back out but I can’t leave the door open all night.

Do what you can to find an owner, local fb groups, scanning and paper collar just in case the poor thing is lost, but it’s annoying when posters on here advise to ignore a cat that may need help, based on their own experience.
6 dinner Sid’s don’t eat raisins and seeds.

Oh no! I bet your neighbour was a bit embarrassed when you told her!

Hopefully I can find this one’s owners, I have asked the neighbours and nobody knows who she belongs to and haven’t been able to get close to her (weve had a couple of really nasty incidents regarding cats recently so everyone is hyper aware and check on the neighbourhood cats)

A neighbours cat sneaked into our house, went up 3 flights of stairs and into my teenage son’s bedroom. Made herself at home on my sleeping teenagers bed. Around noon I hear this almighty scream and see the cat running down the stairs. She had scared the life out of my sleeping teenager! It was hilarious he thought he was hallucinating. Never ventured into our house again though!

My boys are spoilt rotten but I still caught one of them on the bird table gnawing at stale wet bread and stuffing. Anyone would think he was starving.

It's not great to encourage a pet into your home. But if she's a genuine stray it sounds like you'll be a great family for her

I guess you will know after you've had her scanned as there is a new law coming in soon. Any responsible and loving owner will probably have got her chipped by now.

In England from 10 June 2024 it will be compulsory to have your cat microchipped from 20 weeks of age, but there is no minimum age to have your cat microchipped.

I’m sorry but that’s really funny bless him 😂 one of my neighbours cats doesn’t like it there and has slowly moved into someone else’s house, he will sit outside the new house and wail, his actual owner calls him in and he won’t go to her so she and his now new owner agreed that he could stay where he wanted.

@Hobbesmanc I wouldn’t normally encourage it and was unsure so posted here. She wandered in through the back door very wet and cold and I’m sorry if she has an owner but I just couldn’t contemplate kicking her out 🙈 I wasn’t going to give her food, just a bit of water but then she was desperately trying to eat the smaller breadcrumbs out of the carpet so I caved in.

@AutumnFroglets its quite sad how long it’s taken to bring that in, although you would assume decent owners would have their cats chipped anyway.

as I said before there’s been a few horrible cat related things happening here and maybe she’s from quite a distance away and been dumped here by owners or thieves or maybe I have new neighbours nearby whose cat isn’t too sure where she is, either way I’m happy that she’s warm and dry and hopefully I’ll be able to help her find her way back home.

Personally I would always feed a hungry looking cat whilst I was trying to find it's owners.

See if she’s chipped in the morning if not then she will decide herself what her future holds. I would have done the same thing in your circumstances.

Get a big plastic box with a lid cut a hole in it (sand down the edges) and fill it with straw and possibly a brick to weigh it down in the windy weather and leave it in the garden, that way any cats roaming late at night (and some very loved cats will be out too as they hate being in) will be able to take shelter without you luring a chancer.

If you really feel like you need to feed it do it with boiled chicken, many cats have allergy to grains in cat food

Tuna was on the menu I think.

If you're stuck for a litter tray, a metal roasting pan you don't mind never using again and a bit of sand/dirt will suffice for one night. I'm so glad you've given her a little food and water. If she's not eaten for a while and eats too much too quickly she'll be sick. It sounds as though she could've belonged to someone and got chased by maybe a Tom cat and lost her way.
Either way thankyou for doing the right thing and keeping her safe and warm xx
All my cats have been rescues or strays that have turned up over the years xx

I know the usual advice is not feed chancers but I had a cat turn up on my doorstep a couple of summers ago. He was filthy and his fur was matted. I fed him and it turned into a regular thing. I put a paper collar on him a couple of times but no joy. I posted him on a local missing cats facebook page and a charity came out to scan him. He had a chip but it wasn’t registered.
Once they saw the state of him they took him in, cleaned him up and rehomed him.

He was a pure bred Maine Coon but he had a deformed foot. This meant he couldn’t hunt or climb. With help he would have died. He’s now been rehomed and is a very loved boy.

Before and after pictures for tax.

He's beautiful

What a stunner! How lucky that he found you 😊

My cat is missing. She's a tortie with no collar on. We never used one because she was a climber and I was worried about her getting stuck.
She's registered missing on her microchip details.
If I were you I'd contact your local vets, post on all the 'found' pages on social media. There's often a volunteer locally who will come to you and scan the cat.
Exhaust all avenues as there could be someone out there, like me, desperate for their cat to come home.
Mine may have got in a van and be miles from home.

Hoping for a good outcome here for kitty

Ime dcats are very efficient at staying dry if going outdoors is their normal activity.. Maybe a house dcat op and it is lost? Dd found a house dcat in her garden. 3 days later scouring fb she found the owner.. All made for a happy ending! Vet should scan it... Make sure they scan far and wide... Was stroking ddog last night and her chip is down between 2 ribs now! Dd was chuffed if she gets lost we won't get her back!! She fondly hates that ddog!

Thank you for feeding and sheltering her. I agree, trying to eat breadcrumbs from the carpet sounds hungry. Thank goodness she found you

I hope you find the owner! I have an overweight white tortie who eats everything that's not nailed down and even if it was she'd find a crowbar. We've many times considered a paper collar saying DO NOT FEED but she'd probably eat it!

Did you managed to get the poor thing scanned @Pokethedot?

Dying for an update on the cat @Pokethedot?

Torties are my favourites ever!

Here is a pic of Cat (my sons imaginative name for her) to apologise for the late update!
She hasn’t been scanned yet as she wandered out this morning and I figured she must have just come in due to the weather being grim. When dry she looks very healthy and loved 🥰
So unbeknownst to me, Ds left the back door open and I have just opened my eyes at 2.30am to a very heavy, purring fluffball being the little spoon 🙈
No missing posts on Facebook or anything so I think maybe she has a home but is kicked out at night? Then when it’s cold/wet/windy she looks for somewhere to stay.

I feel a bit guilty that I’m potentially harbouring a loved cat with a home but also if there was another drenched cat desperately trying to eat bird seed in the middle of a storm I’d 100% open the door again.

Awww she’s gorgeous. But if she’s getting kicked out at night then I wonder how well she’s being cared for.

She is beautiful ❤️ And she looks like she has chosen where she wants to live!! 😂

She's chosen her home. Lucky you. She's adorable.