Made a mistake and don’t want a cat!

[DontWantACat]

About a month ago, a young cat turned up in my garden (live rural, lots of farms, horses/livery places, therefore always lots of cats), very skinny and obviously been in some difficulty as its neck was missing loads of hair, had healing cuts on it. Definitely not someone’s pet. I put out water and food for it, it wasn’t in great shape and while I’m really not a cat person, I couldn’t see an animal in difficulty without trying to help. Fed it for a week or so and it hung around, got its strength back.

Went on holiday for 10 days and thought it would break the cycle and the cat would move on again. Nope. The minute I got home it was there. Had lost weight again so I fed it again. And I’ve now been feeding it for 2 weeks.

It’s become completely obsessed with me. If it sees me in the kitchen it’s staring in the window/door, it’s sleeping outside the door every night, if I walk outside it’s walking around my feet. If it sit outside it’s rubbing off me and wrapping its tail round me. Or talking to me and doing the blinky eye thing.

But I don’t want a cat! I lost my last 2 pets about 6 weeks ago and I don’t want the responsibility again for a while. I’m also not really gone on cats, and definitely don’t want one in my house. I also don’t want to be responsible for vet bills and such.

I’ve rang the local rescues, they’re full. Shared in groups I’m part of, no takers.

What do I do? Do I stop feeding it? Will it move on?

Stop being dramatic, it’s water, not acid.

And the cat didn’t just ‘come to me’, I watched it eat 2 other animals today, then it snuck in my house and scared the shit out of me in my bed. It deserves the water

A cat burgler? 🤔

Dramatic? You’re vile. The cat loves you, you probably saved its life. Now you’re actively planning to abuse it and starve it. Yes it ate animals, it’s an animal outdoors? They do that. No it does not deserve having water thrown on it for sneaking into your house. wtf is wrong with you?

Please take it back to your vet and leave there or allow one of the people who commented to take it

Do you think a wild dog would just eat lettuce op?

Have you called the rspca? They should take it and find a shelter even if not nearby?

Oh wow I get that you weren’t expecting the cat to be in your house but you have been giving it mixed messages by feeding it which has encouraged it to stay and get more brazen with you,

Im guessing you must know that cats are hunters, it is sad and I hate it when my cats catch small animals but I don’t get annoyed with them doing what’s natural for them.

You can’t just leave it now after encouraging it and throw water at it - please take it to the vet and hopefully they will be able to find it a nice home.

Poor thing :(

Good idea. Bye the way, I'm sure you know that dead mouse was a gift of love.

What the actual did I just read?! Who does that?? Gets an animal to trust you and then freaks out when it comes in your house and has the “audacity” to try again - you know cats don’t understand such things? So you lure it with treats and then when it loves you you throw water over it? How horrendous. That poor cat will likely never trust anyone again. And will keep killing wildlife and making more cats. If you’d have taken it in long enough to find it a home, all of those things would have been solved and the cat would be safe and happy. Not traumatised and homeless. What an awful, awful person.

WTF!?!?
Shame on you.
I hope the cat finds her person ☹️

There are charities that come and scan for a chip. Just google the one near you.

You're going to get a pile-on now by the mad animal people but I'm with you OP, the unexpected visitor in the night would freak me out big time. It's a sign that the cat absolutely cannot stay as you would not tolerate it. You already said as much. People have rose tinted glasses.

Farm cats/countryside cats are known to hunt and kill any lovely rodents and birds, but the cat lovers here will excuse that rather than seeing that some people prefer not to encourage that.

Donate it back to the vet as they offered.

Get a grip. It's clear OP is not an awful person and she is already grieving her own pets.

Enticing an animal into your house with a sustained pattern of feeding it and then randomly throwing a bucket of water over it is totally strange behaviour. You don’t have to be a “mad animal person” to see that.

The absolute least you can do today is call either your vets or the shelter and tell them it's an emergency.

You cannot just leave her to starve.

Your language is incredibly dramatic and you are over reacting.

Nope - OP didn't allow the cat into the house and actively removed it any time it attempted entry. The cat needs to learn to stay outside.

If you're saying it cannot be trained like that, then the OP is absolutely right to give it away ASAP. A cat doesn't have a right to upset her life.

Please don’t leave her to starve, that’s heartbreaking. Please take her to the vets where at the least she’ll be fed and safe.

I think the cat found you and it’s meant to be. Just keep looking after it and showing the kindness you already have x

No, it doesn’t have that right and I didn’t say that - but any animal is going to return to somewhere it has been given food when starving. The OPs behaviour and responses have been incredibly over dramatic and erratic. Just pick it up and move it out of your house and take it to the vet who offered to take it. Throwing water over it whilst also fretting it might be put to sleep is such drama 😂

the woman doth protest

take it to the vet, the one that offered to have it and may not put it to sleep
i dont know why you are dithering

Why on earth didn't you surrender her to the vet when they offered?

Your latest update is vile

Take the cat to the vet and have it PTS. It would be kinder.

It really diesntm. Cats are hunters, it's nature doesn't make them disgusting.

And suddenly abandoning it to starve is horrible.

I don’t think there’s any way that you can consider yourself an animal lover after this.

The cat, that you have bonded with and gained the trust of, behaved like a cat and now you have decided to become abusive towards it and scare it away from the place it considers home. Not only that but taking away the food that sustained it, can you not see why that is beyond cruel?

I am also a dog person, no interest in cats, but I think the switch up is disgraceful honestly. If you cared that much about the local wildlife you would’ve brought the cat inside until you knew what to do.

Poor thing.