A cat followed me home from the train station tonight. I think it's a kitten because it's pretty small and has those little sharp teeth. It was really friendly and followed me in, it wouldn't leave either. I gave it some water and cooked a chicken fillet for it, which it loved. It doesn't have a collar or anything.
Its sleeping on a cushion downstairs now, I've just come to bed. What does one do with a cat in this situation? I've never had one before, Is this how people get a cat? I suppose I'll ask round the street tomorrow.
by sevtua
26 comments
You can take it to a vet to check if its been chipped
Take it to a vet to check for a microchip. It could be lost.
It does look pretty young. It also looks pretty healthy and well groomed, I wouldn’t be too sure it’s a stray.
Like others have said, take it to a vet and get it checked for a chip. My guess is that’s a pet.
Check on Nextdoor. Someone might be distraught looking for it
Absolutely not. That is not your cat, it is just visiting.
Some cats are incredibly friendly and will follow strangers into their house if they’re bored/cold. Stray cats aren’t a thing in the UK that’s somebodies cat and if you’ve fed it and gave it a warm spot it will likely come back for a visit when you get it back to the owners. My down the street neighbours cat used to come in all the time through the car flap and just hang around, also whilst feeding it is good intentioned you don’t know if this cat has specific dietary requirements or takes medications. My dogs on a raw food diet so a whilst he’d love a cooked fillet it would also likely make him shit his brains out. Echo what all the other commenters have said take it to a vet get the microchip checked.
No you don’t have a cat now. They’re opportunistic little things and it was hungry. Knew you had chicken.
Take it to get it checked for a chip and make some effort to find its owner
No, cat has a human now, adding to its collection.
Just a note that if it is a younger cat it may not be chipped yet, so email some local vets to let them know you found a cat in case the owner is asking around.
/r/catdistributionsystem working as intended. Check with your local vet and keep an eye out for flyers, but you might just have been delegated to servant status for a lovely looking mitten.
You’ve stolen someone else’s cat.
No, it’s someone’s cat. Let’s not encourage reddit’s obsession with cat-napping.
The fact that it followed a random person home and it doesn’t look in poor condition, suggests it comes from a nice home that misses it. I would put up flyers or post on the neighbourhood fb. Don’t rely on neighbours knowing the owners have this cat because it could be mainly an indoor cat.
Its sad theres so many missing cat posters and probably because people just assume cats that are outside are free for the taking.
It’s a cow kitty!
Take it to the vet to see if it’s chipped.
You don’t feed it for a start………
If kittens don’t have enough human contact in the early weeks then they turn feral, and a feral kitten will absolutely not be friendly towards you. So if it’s a kitten and friendly then it belongs to someone.
I’m so glad to see the majority of replies here saying the same thing: do not take in cats that don’t belong to you! Our black cat Bean loves being outside and hates wearing a collar, so never used to. Then one night she didn’t come home and we were worried sick. She came back the next day with a full tummy so it was obvious someone had kept her overnight. Now she has to wear a collar, which she hates, so that selfish dickheads don’t try to “adopt” her.
You shouldn’t have taken the cat in in the first place, as it looks perfectly healthy and looked after. But now that you’ve stolen someone else’s pet, albeit temporarily I hope, it’s on you to give it back. Take it to get scanned for a chip, then put up “cat found” fliers in the vicinity of where you found it, not where you live, and preferably take the cat back to where you found it.
You’ve gotta do your due diligence to try and find the owner, check for microchip, and keep an eye out for any missing cat posters that match the description. If it’s a manned station maybe ask the staff, if the cat is a regular stalker they will probably know it and maybe know the owner.
If you try to find the owner and have no luck, you would be fine to look after it, just don’t be upset if in 6 months after you’ve got attached someone claims it. But if nobody does then it’s yours. Just make sure to get a vet to check it out, that’s the most important thing
Nice lotion 😉
No that’s not your cat it’s someone else’s. Do not feed or let in other people’s cats. Take it to check for a microchip.
Pop it to the vets to get checked and scanned. If no details come back I would get some posters up with a picture. If you believe it to be a kitten it will need suitable food, water and a litter tray.
It’s a cute situation but I would be heartbroken to lose my house tiger so best to try to reunite first.
You’ve got a cat until it sits in the window and the owner sees and comes knocking your door all angry like.
This is how I got a cat.
But. You gotta do it properly.
* Go to the vet, see if there’s a chip
* If there is, see if the pet log people can get in touch with the owners
* If not, it still could be someone’s cat. Make posters for “found cat”, and post them up around the neighborhood. Maybe post on local Facebook groups too, if anyone still uses those.
If no-one gets in touch – congratulations on the new cat!
There’s lots of slightly aggressive comments telling you what to do with someone else’s cat. If the cat does become yours, here’s some things you can do, that maybe its current owners could’ve learned from:
Make your cat wear a collar, ideally with a bell and/a ruff to prevent unnecessary wildlife slaughtering. If it won’t wear a collar, keep it indoors.
If you can afford it, get a GPS collar. They’re worth it for peace of mind.
Get it chipped and keep your contact details up to date.
Don’t let it stay out at night!
If it does go out, Spend some weeks making sure it knows your garden and the neighbourhood before letting it have free rein so it doesn’t get lost like this one probably has.
Edit: get it spayed! We don’t need more cats in this country.
Thats a nice car. If it stays with you for couple of days then likely a stray car and you can keep it!
No, the cat has a YOU now.