So I come home from work, and immediately after getting out of my car, a snow-white cat with one green eye and one gold eye runs up to me. I pet it, and proceed to walk home. The cat follows me to my front door and I had to struggle to get inside without letting him in. The cat then proceeds to claw and meow endlessly. I relent and let him in and he proceeds to make himself at home.
He’s very friendly, but I don’t want to keep him.
I left a message with animal control in case the owner calls, but since he has no collar I doubt anyone’s looking for him. I really need someone to take this animal off my hands.
Given that this cat is so friendly and also comfortable in a house, I think there’s a good chance that he’s someone’s lost pet. I would post some signs around the neighborhood and wait a bit to see if someone calls.
My husband and I twice found cats that seemed clearly to be pets. In fact, both appeared to be purebreds. We put signs up both times. We found the first cat late on a Friday. Late on Sunday, a couple (a man and a woman) called us. It turns out they had been staying in the cat’s owner’s apartment in order to watch the cat, but had gone away for the weekend! Apparently when they left for that weekend they inadvertently let the cat out without realizing it. They explained this on the phone. The thing that was especially annoying was that they did not appear to be the least bit grateful. They just came over, got the cat, and left, saying very little. I guess they were pretty embarrassed, but I thought they could at least have said “Thanks!” Can you imagine if someone had not taken that cat in? They would have had some job explaining it to the cat’s owners!
The second time we found a cat who seemed to be a lost pet (clues: he looked like a purebred Siamese, he was clean and friendly, plus he was neutered and declawed!), no one responded to our signs. After a couple weeks, we took him to the vet. It turned out he had feline leukemia virus. It makes me mad to think that he was probably purposely abandoned because of that. He seemed to be in good health even though he was infected, so we kept him. He died about a year later from the disease.
Anyway, good luck with this kitty. I hope someone claims him. The “red eye” in your photo does make him look a bit scary, but I think he’s cute anyway!
I’ve given it a valiant effort to find him a home, but I’m about 24 hours from kicking him out for good or handing him over to Animal Control where his life expectancy is probably about one week.
If you absolutely cannot keep this cat until you can find a home for him, please go with option b. While turning him out to fend for himself may be easier emotionally, it is really the crueler of the two options.
Cats that are used to living with people fare very poorly on their own, often suffering greatly before they are killed or die. While the odds of his finding a home at your local shelter are probably vanishingly low, at least he will not suffer.
