Uber friendly cat-where did it come from?

[JBalways2000]

2 days ago a very very cute black cat appeared in our garden. now we live on a highly outdoor cat populated street and we sort of know most of the cats around, and atleast know the regulars to our garden etc :lol: but we have never seen this cat before-and he/she keeps trying to get into the house!

they keep sitting on our living room window sill and crying to get in-my OH has gone out a few times to pet her/him and they keep coming back for more. they have actually taken a chunk out of the wood on our single glazed kitchen window pawing to be let in :shock: and in the space of only a couple of days has got used to coming to the back door when they think its going to get opened and tries to get in every time :shock:

now the cat looks really well looked after, nice glossy coat, nice and chunky so i really dont think its a stray but i just cant figure out where they have came from! it started snowing quite heavily here about 40 minutes ago and while watching it out of the window the poor thing appeared covered in snow and took shelter in our entry way until it had stopped-as soon as it stopped snowing it was out looking for fuss and food!

the poor thing is breaking my heart because it desperately wants in the house, but obviously even if i didnt have 4 indoor cats this wouldnt be a good idea! i just wondered if we should be trying to ignore the cat rather then encourage this behaviour? if it didnt look so well looked after i would be very tempted to let it in.....;) :oops: but its just so heartbreaking having this cat begging for attention.

I know that alot of you here have outdoor cats, but i have always been of the opinion that if you let your cat outdoors you should atleast have a cat flap so the poor thing can let itself back in when its hungry/needs shelter/wants fuss, instead of them having to beg for it off strangers. it always upsets me when i see a cat sitting on its own front door step waiting to be let in. our guys dont know how lucky they have it being able to be fussed any time they want it :lol: spoilt rotten they are-someone needs to tell them!:lol:

but yes il stop babbling now and get back to the original point-should we be ignoring said kitty? oh and how on earth can i tell if its a boy or girl? silly question i know, i have looked for a sign of testicals but they are not obvious which could mean hes been neutered :? im just not sure what a girls back end looks like :oops:

oh the poor thing, he hasnt left our garden for a good 50 minutes now! just keeps wondering around waiting outside the door, looking in the kitchen and living room windows. and has actually just scratched at the back door :shock:

oh and hes made friends with our Hernie through the glass :lol: can you tell hes tugging on the heart strings? :lol:

[angieh]

Oh JB - what a sob story - poor cat. I do sympathise, as if I had a lovely little kitty pawing at my window, I would be as undecided as you. The rescues are overflowing ........ this cat's owners may have gone away and someone is going in to feed the cat (hence it's still looking in good condition) but it has a home .......

Hope someone else can come up with better ideas. Did you say you have somewhere you could put an outdoor shelter/box/warm blanket for the cat just in case? It's going to get colder tonight/tomorrow.

[Kazz]

Try putting a collar on like a paper on and writing on it "is this your cat please contact...then a mobile or something"

[angieh]

Thinking about it, given the weather - I'd have to let the cat in and find out about where it should live later. That's actually how my Smudge found me all those years ago. No way was I going to turf her out in the cold.

[dandysmom]

I'm inclined to agree with Angie ... that's how I got my Misty.

[Elaine]

You may want to ring local shelters and vets to see if the cat has been reported missing....
A paper collar like Kazz said is a very good idea.

[JBalways2000]

I think i probably made the poor thing sound more pitiful then he/she is :lol: i would do the things suggested(ring vets/rescues) if he hung around the house more often but its only been for 3 days and he comes during the day for a while and then disappears again-if he was lost or abandoned etc would we expect to be seeing him hanging around more then that? we have a nice big tree in our garden too that i suspect he would get good shelter from so for that reason alone i suppose if he had no where else to go then we would see him under that alot.

It did also occur to me after writing that thread that he actually turned up just a few days after we had to put some furniture out in the garden. we got a new bedroom set and the old wardrobes and bookcase are in the back garden until the council collect them on saturday so im wondering if that could have attracted him to ours? he has definately been curious of it all and had been using the bookcase to get onto the window ledges until my OH moved it earlier.

Im just trying to figure out why he has suddenly appeared-i guess if it continues for much longer or even past saturday when we get rid of the furniture then i could try ringing the local vets-not sure about getting a collar on him though because he doesnt have one so obviously not used to wearing one. i know if i tried to put a collar on my guys they would freak out, and they know us. wouldnt want to scare the poor thing to death with him not knowing us and us doing that to him :lol: but i guess its a good back up plan!

Thankyou for the suggestions everyone, i shall keep you all updated! im actually not going to be home much tomorrow so might not even get to see him, sort of hope i do :oops: :lol:

[sammy]

Hiya JB, not been here for ages (spending too much time on messageboards! :oops: ), but happened upon your thread and had to respond.

A little story for you. My youngest, Purdie, went missing a few weeks ago, we were of course, frantic with worry, leafletted the whole estate, put posters up, rang all the vets/rescue places etc........nothing.:(

After 10 days of no news and me almost ill with worry and grief, the phone rang one evening. A lady on the other side of our estate had been cooking fish, opened the back door and a black and white cat had barged in scrounging for all she was worth. She thought it looked like Purdie from the leaflet I'd delivered a week earlier (in the pouring rain and howling wind, I might add!). We raced round there, and much to our joy, there she was!

Now my point is this - she was barely any thinner than when she went missing and certainly didn't look any the worse for wear. It seems to me that she had got herself lost and had survived by scrounging from people......she is extremely cute and very friendly. I had worried she wouldn't survive because she isn't a hunter............ well she is, just of a different kind! :lol:

So, this puss may be doing just the same..........visiting different houses to try and get food and comfort, while someone, somewhere is missing them terribly. Please, please ring round the local vets/rescue places, look out for any missing posters locally......maybe even put some 'found' ones up yourself if you have time. Believe me, every single day that your precious cat is missing is sheer torture.

I will be forever grateful to the lady that found Purdie and took the trouble to recognise her and ring me........she got a huge bouquet of flowers the next day, which is nothing compared to what she gave me.

Hope you can give someone the same happy ending!

[angieh]

That's a heartwarming story sammy - so very glad that Purdie was found and returned.

[dandysmom]

Thanks for sharing that. Sammy!

[sammy]

Thanks both! I just wanted to give what might be the other side of the story, you just never know......

I can't tell you how relieved and happy we were to have her back, she is such a wonderful cat, and very much loved by us.

Here she is in a cosy box the night after we got her back.....

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/Jillytub/002-1.jpg

Hope everyone here and their furry friends are well! :-D

[dandysmom]

I'm so happy Purdie is back home; what a gorgeous girl she is! Reminds me a bit of Eva!

[angieh]

What a beautiful cat - obviously she was also very glad to get home.

It is good to hear the other side of the story as you said. I hope that JB's little cat story has a similarly happy ending.

[PoshPuss]

So glad you and Purdie were reunited Sam.
We found Posh at this time of year,well a bit earlier in November, but the vet said that this is a well known time for 'dumping' so I fear this little cat may well have outlived here welcome elsewhere and is trying to get a new home. :(

Sorry to be a pessimist, I hope too this little one has a good home and anxious parents waiting, just try and do as much asking around as you can and in the meantime provide basic comfort and food if you can't take him/her in.

[Elaine]

Awww bless you Sammy, Purdy and the woman who took the time to call you, such a heart warming end to what could have been a sad tale.

Some cats, like my Bernie, are just too friendly for their own good. I know that if he didnt have the secure garden that we have, he's go wondering and would follow any one, maybe even jump into a van and end up god knows where.
These things do happen.

[sammy]

Thanks Elaine, all.

It's a bit of a double-edged sword though isn't it? As you say on the one hand friendly cats could go off with anyone, or be taken which crossed my mind when she was missing. But on the other hand, Purdie's friendliness meant she was able to persuade people to feed her. As I say, she's no hunter - biggest thing she's ever caught is a moth - so I had visions of her starving to death....:cry: In fact, you could argue we'd never have got her back if she hadn't been brave/friendly enough to wander into this woman's kitchen........and boy, was she giving her the full treatment, circling her feet, snuzzling her ankles, purring and squeaking for all she was worth! Her 'voice' was so croaky, she'd obviously been using it to good effect!

I really hope this little puss has a similar happy ending. ;)

[John]

I take it you have fed it to see if it is really hungry..which may ngive some indication if it is lost..
Tommy came to me on a cold Febuary night starving, and has been with me for 10 months now..

[kado]

I would take her in but i think you all know i would say that. Its extremely cold out there now. I reported all the cats that i have found or being brought too me too everybody you could think off no one has evercome forward the only one i havent done is smokey because i think he was born outside. Maisey came too us we did let her out just incase she had got lost then i found out about her story. Could you take the cat in even for a few hours too keep it warm if it has something too eat then falls fast asleep it is more likely to be a stray. It must like you and want you too help it as it keeps coming to your house. If it is a female it might be pregnant. Please keep us informed

[JBalways2000]

Just an update to say thanks for the replies and i understand peoples concerns but as i said in my other 2 posts i really dont think this guy is a stray as we only saw him 3 times for no more then 2 hours total. we actually hadnt seen him again since i put a message on here until today when he appeared on our window sill again :lol: BUT i have come to realise that it may well have been the furniture in the garden that attracted him because we have had 2 more kitty visitors this week! im wondering if they can smell our guys on the furniture and they thought some new cats were on the block or something? lol

the furniture has been gone since saturday but we had a cat rolling around on the floor yesterday where the furniture had been! so i do honestly believe this is what has attracted them.

As i said before surely if this cat was a stray we would have seen him alot more then we have. i think i jumped the gun asking about him here, it just had me really stumped as to why he turned up when he did and was trying to get in the house, but again if he could smell our cats on the furniture and see them through the window then that would explain why he wanted in, he obviously wanted to meet them! :lol:

I did get a brilliant photo of the kittie on the outside and our Hernie on the inside of the window, i shall have to put it up here when i get a chance.

Thanks again everyone!

[angieh]

I think you've probably hit on the right answer JB. I really look forward to seeing your photo.

Merry Christmas!

[JBalways2000]

I do promise to try and upload that photo when i get a chance to put it on the laptop, its a lovely one. Havent seen kitty since the other day again, but we put some prawns out on christmas day for any kitties that might be wondering about and they were gone quick enough! :lol: didnt see who got them though. i shall update if i have any further concerns about this cutie but for the moment i think i might just have figured it out :lol:

[JBalways2000]

Just to resurrect this old thread, because our visitor has been back with a vengeance the last couple of weeks!

We had seen him on and off since Christmas when we started this thread, but the last two weeks he has become a regular in our garden and our neighbours. Our neighbours are really nice people(though we dont know them as well as we should after living here 5 years!) and they always put food out for birds and more often then not a bowl of cat food too, despite not owning a cat! We have even seen them invite this poor little guy into their home, but he definately isnt theirs(well i shall be confirming that by knocking their door tomorrow to ask lol)

Anyway back to the kittie, he has been showing up more and more the last couple of weeks and my OH is now convinced the poor thing is living in our entry way:( because we have been going out and giving him fuss and treats he has been getting very cheeky and keeps scratching at the back door to be let in, the last few times we have gone to open it to give him a treat and he has made a run for it past us:shock: when i have (gently)pushed him back out hes growled at me:shock: :lol: its definately a boy, just not sure if hes neutered? my boys are all neutered but they dont look neutered, im assuming thats the case with all males? or did my vet just do it differently?:shock: :lol:

My OH got up early this morning to wait for a delivery and he saw the kittie jump out of the entry at 7.15am. he then saw him come out from under a car this afternoon and sneak into next doors house when they were getting a delivery:shock:

He does look in good condition fur wise, but i was having a feel of him while stroking him and im not sure if it was scabs or ticks i could feel on his neck:?

He is out at our back door right now as im typing this so we are concerned that this guy actually is a stray and maybe because of how friendly he is he has managed to survive by suckers like us giving him food etc? im just not sure what to do about it. He doesnt have a collar, but i did consider trying to get him in a carrier and bring him to the local vets to scan for a microchip? He is melting our hearts, but we cant even let him in because of our guys. with them being indoor they dont even have full vaccinations and after losing Raven i have become so paranoid and over protective of my guys:( I do want to help this kittie if he is a stray though as all he keeps wanting is to get into the house. its heartbreaking watching him look at us and the other kitties through the window and cry at us :(

The local vets does seem to do alot of work with cats protection so i wonder if he wasnt chipped if they would keep him in and contact CP? i just get so sad when i think about not seeing him again, the OH would have him in a second:roll: and i do admit hes a heart melter, but i have to think of the babies i have right now. I also really dont know if i could take on another kittie after only just losing Raven, its not something i even want to think about right now. I just want to make sure this guy is warm and fed and safe. Do you think it wise to try and get him in a carrier and bring him to the vets? i would just feel bad if he did turn out to be someone elses cat and i go carting him off to the vets:oops: though saying that, if he does have owners then why on earth is he sleeping in our entry at night and scratching at our door? because our guys are indoors im not sure how it works with people keeping kitties outdoors-do people usually keep their kitties in at night? could it still be possible that he has an owner somewhere?

sorry for an uber long post, as you can tell i am worried about the little cheeky guy! heaven knows how he survived the winter if he is a stray:shock:

[calismum]

I once had a similar situation and the cat was known around the neighbourhood and got the odd bowl of food here and there so that was how he survived. He too had scabs around his neck - either caused by fighting or scratching due to fleas.

I put a collar on him with a message in a barrel saying 'if you own this cat please call....'

I started a regular feed/worm/deflea routine. With no response to my message - except from other concerned folks - I took him to my vet, got him neutered, tested for FIV etc and he came to stay. My indoor girl accepted him on her terms.

I know you have recently lost Raven - sometimes a cat just arrives at the right time, but if you feel that this is not your right time then I am sure your vet would link to local CP for you.

Whatever you decide to do, the poor cat deserves a loving home rather than scrounging a meal wherever he can, and possibly feeling miserable due to worms/fleas and the occassional fight for a bit of territory.

Let us know what you decide to do.

CM

[angieh]

That sounds like a plan CM! Might it work for you and uber-cat, do you think JB?

[farthing]

This is how we got Samson, he was wandering around the estate and trying to get into peoples houses, he came in through out cat flap one evening, it was very strange because we were having a BBQ and I was telling people Mike would love a ginger cat and Samson appeared on the fence just as I said it. We went to bed and got up to find him asleep in the utility room. We put adverts up on the local radio and the local newspaper, but the few calls we had obviously weren't him. After a couple of weeks we knew we couldn't part with him so he stayed- been here 15 years now. I found out from a neighbour that he kept trying to go into other houses and another neighbour had called him Boomerang because he kept coming back. It still upsets me when I think about him being homeless.
A funny bit to the story- a lady came into the vet a couple of years ago with a cat very like Samson, it turned out he had been taken in by her at the same time, and she lived another part of the estate, and he is also hyperthyroid! We are convinced they are brothers and had been dumped.:(

[JBalways2000]

Thankyou for the replies. Kittie was back this morning sitting at our back door :( my OH gave him some food and some fuss and he stayed for a little while after that but then wondered off.

My main concerns about taking him in if he is a stray, are him upsetting my 3 boys. Hernie is bottom of the pack, always has been, and one of the days when we were fussing the kittie at the door Hernie popped his head around the kitchen door looking for us. As soon as the kittie saw Hernie he was pushing harder to get in and weaving his head about to see Hernie and Hernie did get scared off bless him.

My other worry is the fact that he is an outdoor kittie-any cat i took on i would want to keep indoors and if he is used to being outdoors and roaming then would that even be fair?

I also worry because we have smaller animals too(ratties, mice, bunnies and guinea pigs) and all four of our boys came to us as kittens and grew up around smaller animals knowing they can be watched, but not touched! lol but obviously again with him being outdoors and probably having hunted we would be extremely wary about him going near the other animals. Obviously we dont leave our kitties unsupervised with the other animals either-well apart from the bunnies that is because AJ believes he is a bunny rather then a cat:lol: but they do get let into the animal room at feeding time to say hello to everyone, and they do stay out sometimes when free ranging the ratties downstairs.

I guess it all comes down to worrying about my three and how they would react to a new comer and possibly upsetting things between them when they too, have only just lost their brother. AJ is only just starting to act a bit more normal, since losing Raven he has been very quiet and not himself:( He and Raven are blood brothers though so were together from birth.

I would give this kittie a home in a second if it werent for my boys and as i said im not sure if it would be cruel to try and turn him into an indoor cat after being out. I think if we can i shall see about bringing him to the vets to check for a microchip-not sure if he will let me put a collar on him if hes not used to wearing one? i know if i tried with my boys they would take my eye out:shock: :lol: but definately dont want to leave things as they are if there is a chance this poor kittie is a stray. Its a shame that we dont know more people to knock and ask-dont think most would even answer the door to us if we did on this street!:shock:

[JBalways2000]

This is how we got Samson, he was wandering around the estate and trying to get into peoples houses, he came in through out cat flap one evening, it was very strange because we were having a BBQ and I was telling people Mike would love a ginger cat and Samson appeared on the fence just as I said it. We went to bed and got up to find him asleep in the utility room. We put adverts up on the local radio and the local newspaper, but the few calls we had obviously weren't him. After a couple of weeks we knew we couldn't part with him so he stayed- been here 15 years now. I found out from a neighbour that he kept trying to go into other houses and another neighbour had called him Boomerang because he kept coming back. It still upsets me when I think about him being homeless.
A funny bit to the story- a lady came into the vet a couple of years ago with a cat very like Samson, it turned out he had been taken in by her at the same time, and she lived another part of the estate, and he is also hyperthyroid! We are convinced they are brothers and had been dumped.:(

Missed this because we posted at the same time! lol That is such a sad story with a happy ending, how lucky that they both found loving forever homes.

It does break my heart to think this boy is homeless. i will be kicking myself so hard if he is, just because we have known about him since before christmas and i was convinced he was owned by someone because of how friendly he was and how healthy his coat looks. Part of me wants him to have an owner so that he hasnt been homeless all these months, but then another part of me wonders what sort of owner he has that would lock him out so much that he has to sleep in someone elses entry way:(

If anyone does have any advice for us over our concerns then we would appreciate it. I honestly dont know if i feel ready to take another kittie on, but i would never see one homeless either. My problem is that i get attached to animals just by looking at them, so if it didnt work out with my guys it would break my heart even more.

[angieh]

JB - no one here is going to think any less of you for not taking this cat on yourself. Having said that though, you have struck up an alliance with this poor cat and you need to find out if he has an owner or find him a loving home. To this end, I am sure I read in one of your posts that your vet does some CP work - ring the surgery and ask them for a contact name and number for the local Cats Protection. Contact them and tell them about it and take it from there. Make it clear that you can't consider taking the cat on atm. I know you sort of want to, but you are right to put your own cats first.

Fingers crossed!

[dandysmom]

Agree 100% with Angie's excellent advice!

[Shelley123]

Jb i hope you get this poor boy sorted out, its hard when we care so much.
We have two cats who live next door to us who are never allowed in the house, it breaks our hearts to see them cold and wet.
We too have felt obligated to try to help and before getting the pup, let them in. Now the best we can do is provide a cardboard box in our outdoor porch which one of the cats uses.
If i could find a home i would take these two as i feel they deserve a better life.
You could try putting a few found notices around your neighbourhood.

[lisa01uk87]

my mums cats go out at night but they come in first thing in the morning get fed, then go for a sleep, however if the weather is really bad she will put out a cat litter tray and keep them inside, i would try taking him to the vets and explain the situiation, at very least they should check him over and scan him to see if he is chipped and if not beable to put you in touch with a local rescue or keep him there and hand him over themselves, i have a little ginger stray who follows my cat home, he used to allow me to stroke him, but not anymore i have tried to catch him a few times to take him to a rescue but with no luck i always get his front end in the box but he wont go near it unless im far enough away that i cant get to it in time to push his back end in and close the door, but i will keep trying none the less, please take him to the vet if this is possible, if it was one of mine id want this too happen, i know what its like to lose a cat (although pretty sure mine was stolen) and not get it back i still check peoples windows as im going past now just incase she is there (she was only a kitten at the time she was taken though and will be about 1 now i reckon)

[JBalways2000]

Sorry its taken me so long to update about this, im not online much and im still feeling very low about Raven so i havent had it in me to come on and talk kitty on here :( but wanted to let you all know that we were worrying over this boy for nothing because he does indeed have an owner! I did think this might be the case because of how well he looks, but because of him hanging around so much it threw me off! lol

Hes still a cheeky little boy and visits us nearly every day, scratching at the back door when he knows we are in the kitchen, sitting on the fence looking in the living room window and crying to get us to give him attention!:lol: he always tries to push his way further and further into the kitchen when we do open the door to fuss him or give him a treat-and growls when we push him back out!:lol: hes a lovely little lad though, shame we didnt just steal him when we thought he didnt have an owner ;) just kidding! but he really is a heart melter, and he certainly pulled one over on us tricking us into thinking he was a starving homeless cat! :lol:

Anyway, his name is Alfie and apparently he is a night cat, which i guess explains why we thought he was homeless with him being out so late at night all the time! atleast we have been able to stop worrying about him and just worry about the chunks he takes out of the window and door when he scratches :lol: