Cat has just come home with a collar on!

[kirinm]

My cat has just come in with a collar on. She doesn't have a collar. I feel like someone is trying to claim her. What are we meant to do to signal that she has a home?

My sister has two cats that she is terrified of getting run over (doesnt live on a particularly busy road) but they are desperate to get outside. So she is building a "Catio" which is basically a caged run of about 3x5m. Personally I think that they will still want to get out of the Catio too and absolutely do not agree with house cats that clearly dont want to be house cats but I guess its up to her.

Mine doesn't wear a collar but he's chipped. Also doesn't hunt. He's scared of birds

He does go next door to sleep on their trampoline but comes back inside to use his litter tray so they don't mind and even fill their water feature as he likes a drink from it

Fucking hell, it's cat bin woman.

Most cats have owners. People are pretty stupid to take any cats in good condition without collars to a shelter. Very lithe, small cats like mine can't keep a collar on for five minutes. They are certainly microchipped and very clearly not strays.

My wee cat couldn’t cope with being in at night. It would be cruel to do that to him. At a certain time he has to go out. He just does the toilet thing in a certain high part of my garden. He doesn't bother anyone. Just annoys the shit out of me with bringing dead rodents to my back door. But I have gotten used to it. Otherwise he is so lovely. It’s their nature. I forgive him.

Collars with bells last literally 1 day.

There's no mistaking a cat fitted with a Go-Pro has an owner .

The neighbour couldn't really claim Well it;s what all the Wild-ey Cats are wearing now

I don't get why cats pooing in your garden is annoying, except that it's someone else's cat. My cat poos exclusively in my garden, (he never goes beyond my garden), and my garden is really small, so that's 365 poops a year (at least), yet doesn't cause any problem, smell or whatever, it just gets dissolved by rain and disappears into the soil.

This is awful. And technically classed as theft. But get her chipped asap as otherwise there's little they could do legally and you could get in trouble as you're meant to chip cats now by law.

I don't like collars as I think the cat could get tangled or strangled and they no doubt hate wearing them.

Maybe put in local FB group that someone put the collar on, you've removed it and if they want to collect it, pm you. I doubt they will!
Some people are mad for alleging any cat is a 'stray'.

People used to think that about my old boy as he was skinny with a nicked ear, and hung out in the street. I once caught a man trying to physically take him! Used to get people leaving cat food tins opened by my doorstep. Of course he never ate them but he liked the attention I think!

You realise this is literally what cats do right?

We have two....

Just keep your doors shut.

No way! Keep your cats out of my house or pick it up at the shelter.

Then keep your cat at home or accept that every one doesn't love it. Your choice. If it won't leave my house or garden it's off to a shelter.

Make it clear she is yours and yours alone.

Pretty kitty she is xx.

Maybe they are giving you a massive hint

I think keeping cats inside is incredibly cruel. Equivalent to keeping animals locked up in a zoo. Cats are only partly domesticated, meaning they are.still part wild. They shouldn't be kept locked up. Think about how crazy we all got when in lock down for a few weeks, yet it's ok keeping a cat locked up in a house for its entire life?

Just to add unless it has special needs, or is a dopey Ragdoll which is a danger to itself as it has no sense of fear!!!

Insurance works differently in different countries. I looked into insurance in Australia after one of my darlings ate three hair elastics and a rubber band and blocked her bowels. Insurance was only just a thing in Australia. For the insurance to be worth it she would have had to have a catastrophic event like that every year. Our other cat was over 8, and the insurance wouldn't cover nearly anything other than an accident. He was an indoor cat with a catio. I did look again recently and the situation had not changed, and we use one of the most expensive vets in our area (but she is bloody wonderful, so we will use her until she retires). My point is, pet insurance isn't responsible pet ownership everywhere. Sometimes it's just a rort

That is a very high effort response. They can be quite tricky to catch. Then you would have to actually get the cat into some kind of cat container and then transport it to the nearest shelter. They would then check the microchip and probably ask you to return it to your neighbour seeing as you would be going that way anyway.

Because posters have the right to roam.

Parts of Australia i believe? Districts of Melbourne?

Guess it depends on the cats. My house cats have a catio, built at great expense and freely accessible at all times from the house. One has never been in it, the other goes in about once a week and spends 5 mins in there and comes back in! 😁

So you're the nasty piece of work who sees wee kids upset and worried when their pet doesn't come home for several days as you've handed it in to some shelter who take a day or two to check the microchip 🙄
Leave cats alone that don't belong to you

Cats love going out and no way does a crummy catio compare. The mood of a cat when its raining out and they can't go for a mooch about is something else!

The bird pro lifers are out in force aren’t they 🤣 bird and mice are natures all you can eat buffet and they’re determined to fix that while eating factory farmed meat themselves.

Write on the collar in biro who put a collar on my cat. I’d have been furious if someone put a collar on the Bengal.