TLDR: What would you do about a cat that appears like it may(?) be neglected and belongs to someone in your village? Would you speak to them about it, get an emergency appointment for a vet to check it over and get their input or something else?
Last night, about 6pm, we heard one of our cats come through the back door cat flap and then start loudly yowling.
It turned out to be a "not our cat" moment. It was a long haired tabby yowling at the top of its voice until it saw us.
DH picked it up and deposited it out the front door. It then picked back up with yowling as it went all the way around the house, back to the cat flap and let its self in again.
It was undeterred by the commotion of our own three cats and German Shepherd wondering WTF was going on.
This time I had a proper look at it and realised it had no collar, its fur was terribly matted and it was extremely thin. I assumed it was stray because the poor thing seemed to be in quite a bad way so we gave it some food and then DH took it to the vet who found a microchip.
It had come from down the road - further than a cat would typically travel but not crazily so. Cat (named Muffin) was left at the vets for the owners to pick it up.
When DH returned and updated me I actually felt uneasy because I'd assumed that the state it was in would mean it had been missing for a while when obviously it hadn't been, and I felt pretty bad for the cat that seemed neglected but...well, not our cat and perhaps it's just elderly.
This morning, 6am, and Muffin is back.
I've taken a better look at him this morning and I'm even more concerned about his welfare.
- His fur is so matted that he must be in quite a lot of pain, some of the mats are a couple of inches thick and it's matted all over and right down to the skin
- He is emaciated. Not just skinny, actually emaciated like a walking skeleton. I can feel every bone and his spine, ribs and hips are jutting out so much it makes me cringe to touch them
- He is however an older cat, his teeth look pretty good but he just gives older cat vibes. His eyes are streaming but unclear whether this is age or illness.
- He has a bit of an "older cat" walk (though I suspect the matting is contributing) but has a healthy appetite so doesn't appear to be so thin because he's not interested or be off his food due to advanced kidney issues for example (which make them nauseous).
My worry is that he's neglected and that he's come looking for help/food and I just take him back again. He's so thin I can't imagine he could live very long in his state.
However my other worry is that I call the RSPCA and it turns out he's just an elderly, sick cat that hates being groomed so much they figure at his age it's better to leave him.
I know the address he lives at as it was mentioned at the vets.
WWYD?
I guess my thoughts are to try and get an emergency appointment at the vet with him and share my concerns and get their input?
The other options are - call the RSPCA and ask if they can do a welfare check just to see if everything is okay (however I don't think it's quite that easy to get them to come out) or to go round myself with him later and have a friendly chat as I drop him off and see what info I can glean to inform whether I should be worried.
Really interested in advice and thoughts from others.
(Just noting I have quite a lot of experience with cats between having had about 20 of my own and fostered several so I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say emaciated, I've had elderly skinny cats myself).