Found a cat

HufflyPuffly

HufflyPuffly

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Aww he's lovely and very distinctive! No idea why the picture didn't show before?

All of mine have accepted the litter tray well, Squirrel I used lots of them dotted about in corners or behind things just in case of accidents, but that was more because of how young she was.
 
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chaps89

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He certainly has walked in like he owns the place and made himself comfortable, but he's very polite too. He may well just be treating us like a hotel and be ready to go back to his usual home soon - though currently he shows no signs of going anywhere!
I think @Archangel hits the nail on the head there with that one!
I spoke to my normal vet earlier about fleas and they said for now advantage or frontline from Pets at home would be ok.
My OH has said he'll go, and I just know he will come back with half the shops supplies of toys and catnip ?
We lost our old boy a few months ago so it's lovely to have a cat around again.
We have our names down for a couple of kittens and someone may yet come forwards for him or he may not settle being an indoor cat, but we'll just see what happens.

In the meantime, he does need a name, we can't keep referring to him as 'him' or 'the cat'!
So, any ideas?
 
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chaps89

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Hmmm. Popped him out in the garden to see if he would toilet (he legs it as soon as you put him in the litter tray and he's been in a long time)
No toilet but he was eyeing up the 6ft plus fence and trying to get under the gate.

Question is, do we let him back out to try and find his way home incase we have unintentionally cat-napped him, or do we hang onto him so if someone sees the FB post or calls the vet etc we still have him.

Or equally if no-one does try to claim him at least we know he's safe and can try to find him a more suitable home, rather than having unintentionally let a stray/dumped cat go?

Why oh why don't people microchip or have ID tags on their pets?
 
TheMule

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chaps89 said:
Hmmm. Popped him out in the garden to see if he would toilet (he legs it as soon as you put him in the litter tray and he's been in a long time)
No toilet but he was eyeing up the 6ft plus fence and trying to get under the gate.

Question is, do we let him back out to try and find his way home incase we have unintentionally cat-napped him, or do we hang onto him so if someone sees the FB post or calls the vet etc we still have him.

Or equally if no-one does try to claim him at least we know he's safe and can try to find him a more suitable home, rather than having unintentionally let a stray/dumped cat go?

Why oh why don't people microchip or have ID tags on their pets?
Click to expand...

Please let him out, he looks like a well loved and well cared for cat so he is most likely just crashing at yours temporarily and it is just awful when your own cat doesn’t come home.
 
FinnishLapphund

FinnishLapphund

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chaps89 said:
Hmmm. Popped him out in the garden to see if he would toilet (he legs it as soon as you put him in the litter tray and he's been in a long time)
No toilet but he was eyeing up the 6ft plus fence and trying to get under the gate.

Question is, do we let him back out to try and find his way home incase we have unintentionally cat-napped him, or do we hang onto him so if someone sees the FB post or calls the vet etc we still have him.

Or equally if no-one does try to claim him at least we know he's safe and can try to find him a more suitable home, rather than having unintentionally let a stray/dumped cat go?

Why oh why don't people microchip or have ID tags on their pets?
Click to expand...

Personally I wouldn't say that a cat that is neither microchipped, nor have any old fashioned ID number in the ear, nor have any collar with ID tags, and are itchy enough to suspect fleas, are necessarily that well looked after by someone else.

And what if he doesn't go back to where he came from? Someone sees your FB post, calls, and you have to say "Oh we let him out, and he disappeared again." I would rather do the old fashioned way, and put up posters around your neighbourhood. It seems to me as if cats with multiple homes usually have a locally living original owner.

Anyhow, it is possible that you've bought the wrong type of cat sand. We used to buy a cat sand which looked like wood pellets, then when I came home with Berta the Cornish Rex, she was horrified, and refused to use the litter box. After two, three days, we went to the nearest store, bought a small, cheap bag of a tiny bits of gravel type of cat sand, mixed it with only a little of our ordinary cat sand, and then Berta realised that it was her new litter box.
 
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chaps89

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See, that's the thing, I'd be devastated if he were mine and missing.
The roads by us are busy and we have a train line only a few hundred yards away, hence why we only have house cats but I know not everyone agrees with that.
Once he was back inside he settled on the sofa for a cuddle straight away.
We filled his tray with compost to see if that will help, I bought wood pellet litter as that's what I've always used but maybe we should try another type.
Will open the window and keep a close eye so he has the choice to come back if he wants.
The window was open most of the day and although he jumped out, he sat on the driveway, itched/licked, miaowed then came back in!
 
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chaps89

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He spent the night on the bottom of the bed, he's very polite/well trained. Didn't demand breakfast but wolfed down a sachet of food when I put one down.

We opened the windows and gave him a choice. He sat on the drive for a bit then wandered off down the road.
Cats protection have paper collars that we printed out, that say this cat has been visiting us and might be a stray and a space for our number, so we'll see if he comes back or we get a text or a call. Hopefully he will safely find his way back to his family - and hopefully they will microchip and de-flea the poor thing!
 
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chaps89

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We have de-flead him, if he's going to hang around I don't want him bringing nasties with him, and he stinks.

I spoke to my friendly vet who gave us some really good advice - she's also a cats protection person.
She said if we let him out and he comes and goes make sure he always has the paper collars because if he is treating us like a hotel and popping home, his owners won't know anything is amiss/going on otherwise. The paper collar should then alert them to an issue.
Equally, it could be that they have gone on holiday and he has got upset by the lack of routine and left home temporarily.
She suggested either keep him in for a week/10 days time, to give owners chance to notice he's missing/get back from holiday/lost posters to appear, which is probably best in the long run as should give a definite answer to the situation.
Or we let him come and go but always with paper collars on and hope that the owner sees them and gets in touch. If he comes back without them then either they could be coming off on their own or the owner is taking them off and ignoring them, hence keeping putting them back on, and why this might not tell us if he is indeed a stray or not.
Apparently we only have to do this for a week and prove we have made an effort to find his owners before legally we could take over ownership/formally rehome him.
 
FinnishLapphund

FinnishLapphund

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Personally, even though I know that cats can decide to fix themselves up with multiple homes, or completely move in with someone else, I sadly believe that it happens far more often that cats gets thrown out/abandoned.

Time will tell which one is the case this time, I suppose. Meanwhile, I can't resist posting this meme:

z-funny-animals-14.jpg
 
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Just caught up with this Chaps !!
Well he's definitely been loved and looked after well by somebody recently, despite the fleas. Doesn't look like he's been scrapping it out in the neighborhood either judging by the ears and general look of him. What are his teeth like Chaps? might give you a clue how old he is. He looks young mature to me at first glance.He's got very big ears for a moggie too , I wouldn't be surprised given his colour, if there's something pure mixed in there. He's very lovely.
I would say he's either an escapee , holday casualty or a young cat getting lost from a neighboring street .
If there is room on the collar can you ask to be phoned if the owner reads the collar? then at least you would know , otherwise as you said he could just come back without it and you'd not know if it had fallen off or been taken off.
I hope whichever way it goes it gets resolved. Lovely if you get to keep him if he's been abandoned recently ( very possible given covid) but equally lovely if there is an owner missing him and looking just round the corner or something.
Keep us posted?
My only concern if you keep him is if you do decide on a Rex kitten as i'd imagine you want it to stay indoors? that will cause major problems with one in and out and one always in...... xxxxx
 
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chaps89

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His teeth are good so I'd say he's an adolescent/young adult too, he weighs 4kg, and he has definitely got the look of an oriental in his face shape/eyes/ears. I'd be surprised if no-one is looking for him, he's definitely not an out and out stray.

We have called more vets in the neighbouring towns today (bigger chain ones rather than the local indepedants) No-one has reported him missing, but we've logged him and left our details. We've also put 4 signs up in the local shops/newsagents which cover the 4 directions he could have come from, and posted on a lost pets FB page.
So hopefully we'll get a resolution either way.

This is the page with the paper collars on (you have to scroll down a bit) They do ask for us to be called if he's found or owned, which would be the best outcome really :)
https://www.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/lost-found-and-feral-cats/found-a-cat

Plan is to keep him in tonight and in the morning to give someone a chance to notice he's gone and let him out with paper collar tomorrow afternoon, which is when he usually asks to go out and see what happens (presuming no-one has contacted us before then anyway)
I'll definitely keep the thread updated.

I'm still holding out for 2 devon kittens personally but it all depends on what happens with this chap and if we can find him a suitable home if no one comes forwards for him/he doesn't disappear when we let him out. I wouldn't have a kitten and him, it wouldn't work as you say.
I said to OH we will cross the bridge of what to do if he's still here/hanging around and we've heard nothing, this time next week!
 
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