Cat advice

CLAWS

CLAWS

CLAWS

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Joined
13 Jun 2005
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1,416
Location
West Midlands
Hi guys,

The wife and I are renting in the South Wimbledon area. Since moving into this place back in April a cute little cat has been scoping us out to see if we're kosher. On Sunday the cat decided we were cool enough to associate with and is now quite friendly with us i.e. comes in, plays on the rug, expects heaps and heaps of fuss and also expects a bit to eat when it visits.

This morning it was waiting outside the patio door to the garden looking into our living room. When it saw me come into the living room it got all excited hehe :D

Anyways, whilst the cat looks pretty clean and flea-free its a little scrawny and we can't tell if it has an owner(s). Whilst I don't mind feeding it and giving it lots of attention it's using my garden as a toilet.

Should I stick some posters up with the cats photo asking who the cat belongs to? Also the wife asked if we should take it to the vet to get it checked out since it pretty much visits us everyday and sticks around until we shoo it out when we're going to bed.

I don't mind looking after the cat and making sure its in good health because I love animals. At the same time I don't want some angry old biddy knocking on our door accusing us of seducing her cat away from her.

Any advice would be nice :)
 
Assuming there's no collar you can take the cat to the vet and ask them if it's been chipped. If it has, the chip will contain all the info about the owner that you'll need to contact them. If the cat hasn't been chipped, you can treat it as a stray and decide whether you want to keep it or let someone like the RSPCA rehome it instead.
 
Yeah would be a good idea to take it the vets get it checked out, get some flea & worm treatment and if it's not chipped then if you decide to keep it you could get it chipped there and then. Which brings up another point, if you do decide to keep it you'll want to think about getting it neutered or spayed if it's a female.
 
If you're feeding it you'll never get it to bugger off :)

However you shouldn't really be feeding it mate, it's not your cat and it could have allergies or a special diet. Always best to get it checked out at the vets ASAP though, but you'll probably be handed a bill :(

It it's not chipped and it likes you two then as far as I'm concerned it's your cat. I know if either of mine started visiting someone and prefered to be with them I wouldn't kick up a stink - cats are independent little sods and I won't force one to be "mine" if it doesn't want to be :)

We don't put collars on our cats so it's not really a sign of ownership (both are chipped) as they just chew them off within minutes!

What colour is it? Personally from experience I've found:

Black cats - very vocal, like to talk to you and will essentially never seem to stop complaining. Are obsessed with being petted and brushed.

Ginger cats - slightly mad, don't talk that much but when they do it's very, very cute. Don't really like rules much and are perhaps the most insane of all moggies! Love playing, slightly hyper.

White cats - most content/happy cats, like being petted but seem more fanatical about sleeping than anything else.

We currently have a black tom and his brother is a ginger, they couldn't be less alike. Black Tom tops the scales at 6.5Kg and is one musclebound hunter. Likes killing pigeons and crows. Ginger one likes bringing in baby mice :( then throwing them about like some sick Prototype-killer style cat! :)
 
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Ill get a pic up as soon as I can :)

I had a feeling I shouldn't have been feeding it but then when it looks at you with those round eyes and keeps miaowing its difficult not to :D

Will a vet charge me to just check if the cat is chipped?
 
Just had a thought you could try ringing a cat rescue place and ask if they're able to do it for you, not sure they always have the little scanner though but it'd make sense if they did!
 
Kami said:
If you're feeding it you'll never get it to bugger off :)

However you shouldn't really be feeding it mate, it's not your cat and it could have allergies or a special diet. Always best to get it checked out at the vets ASAP though, but you'll probably be handed a bill :(
Click to expand...

I'm assure that helping a neglected pet is a good enough argument, also if it did then i'd expect it would be too late now after feeding it.

MW
 
I can't tell if its a male or female. I dont want to go fiddling with it since its only just taken a liking to us. It likes ME more than the wife though :D
 
I had this same situation when I was at Uni. We had a gorgeous <1 year old tabby come to our house all the time since one of my housemates fed it because "he looked hungry".

Anyway, we nicknamed him "Flea" and he came and visited us most days if not every other day. He was really affectionate and would often just sit on someones lap for hours and hours.

Anyway, about 1-2 months later, a neighbour sees Flea waiting outside on our doorstep and my housemate opens the door to let him in...the neighbour comes over and tells us he belongs to a little girl up the road and they get worried about him dissapearing for several days at a time as he is quite a young cat.

Needless to say we never let him back in again, although he did try and visit us. It was quite sad but worse thinking of the little girl without her awesome cat.

Moral of the story: Cats on the streets play people for fools. My parents used to do the same thing to a local cat, until one day they realised he wasn't so hard done by. When they kicked him out one morning to goto work - he ran straight across the street and played up to another neighbour who let him in.

They are oppertunistic animals and if you have "SUCKER" written on your forehead they will stick around as long as neccessary :)
 
I'd just give him a quarter of a normal feed...

Chances are he's getting fed by more than just yourself :p


If he starts becoming super boney etc, then treat him as your own and just feed him a normal amount :)
 
Buy it a collar and put your phone number on it, if it has a 'proper' owner they will soon call.

Dandle on these forums had a similar thing happen and the cat had another home.
 
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