I alternate between calling her Sweetie and Little Cutie.
She’s a neighborhood cat, someone’s pet I’m sure, but always very friendly towards me. Tonight, the temp is already down to the mid-twenties Fahrenheit, so I invited her in to my house. She’s quite skinny, and Hungry! but doesn’t feel emaciated.
When I returned from the store to get some cat litter and food, she ran out, paused and then ran back in.
I think she just wanted to make sure she could.
She seems a bit restless, maybe nervous, but not disruptively so, not yet anyway.
Anyhoo, she has a comfy hidey-hole she doesn’t seem inclined to use, food and water and a temporary cat box. We’ll see how it goes through the night.
Here are a few pics of my guest exploring Vaderlings shoes, eating and declining to acquiescing to use the comfy-hidey hole I provided. Aarrrgh the li’l Pirate!
Yeah, I have a few neighbors first on my list to check with tomorrow. If that doesn’t pan out I’ll take her in to get checked for a chip and then go from there. It’s not out of the question for her to be an abandoned cat. Wouldn’t be the first kitten I’ve adopted that way if she is.
Beck can’t be allowed to have all the fun Gato, she’s gots ta let some of us minions and underlings and other subjects have a few crumbs of our own sometimes. Otherwise we get a stinky-tude and start to revolting, like little boys playing hard on a hot summer day.
Hey, I’m of the opinion that unless someone’s out there frantically searching, the person who won’t let a cat stay out all night in freezing temps is the one who should keep her!
I agree. Would have kept a couple last year who showed up on my patio in literally sub-freezing temperatures, but one just couldn’t get along with the established cats and the established two puts me at my lease limit. I did find foster care for them, and have since received updates that both were spayed when appropriate and quickly found forever homes afterward.
@DorkVader, too bad you don’t live near me. I own a chip scanner. About $20 on Amazon, and given how enthusiastically the Universal Cat Distribution System keeps sending them my way, it’s helpful.
Little Miss Sweetie Pie(bald) The Pillow Pirate has definitely been to Sing-a-purr as evidenced by her deft mastery of “pins and needles” milk treading demonstrated on my scalp and the treasure map of Australia on her left side as noted by Die Capacitrix above.
Yeah, one of mine meowed at the door late in the afternoon of a day with a weather forecast of below zero F for the coming night.
I never did find out where he came from, though I tried. But he didn’t have a barn cat’s super thick winter coat on. And he was used to coming into a house.
Looks like a plan.
Has she already reached the point of your hoping you don’t find her people, or that if you do they don’t want to keep her? (Cold Night Cat took about one day, for me.)
Well, she was at that point pretty much right away. However, she does belong to a neighbor. It’s sort of bitter sweet. She’s cute and smart and clingy. Everywhere I went(except outdoors) she went. I only had to lift her off the kitchen surfaces a few times and she stopped getting on them and Dread Pillow Pirate Miss Sweetie Pie(bald) is a pretty cool formal title. I didn’t really want the responsibilities of another pet though. My pet days are over, for now anyway.
Eh, she’ll be back to visit. She was not interested in being an outdoor cat one bit.
Yes, she is(at their house) an innie/outtie cat.(I suspect mostly outdoor myself) Are they feeding her enough? I don’t know, as you said, some cats are just skinny.
I don’t think that the neighbor or his daughters are deliberately abusing the cat. I just think that he is the sort that doesn’t look at animals as thinking, feeling beings with personalities and so his girls view animals that way also.
The sad thing is, there is (or was)at least one person in the area who traps and gets rid of cats and there are several birds of prey in the area that will carry off a cat. That one I’ve seen happen. There are a few outdoor cats in my neighbourhood, but not as many as there used to be in decades past.
I suspect the cat would rather live with you. However, maybe having your place as an occasional refuge will suffice. Check your doors on cold nights, and lay in some cat food.
An Update; as predicted, the cat I sheltered came by for a visit today. She brought a friend, and a curious change of behavior. I’m not actually sure if the little tabby was a friend or just a new (to me) cat in the neighborhood. I’m also not sure if the tabby was a boy or a girl(didn’t bother trying to look). The tabby was curious, friendly but somewhat skittish, interested in exploring. Didn’t seem interested in moving in though. Little Miss Thang! in the other hand came right in and went straight to where the food and water were kept during the short time she stayed with me. She has also lost some of her friendly demeanour and gained a collar. Pets and chin scratches are okay but the second I went to pick her up she went all growly and claws out bitey. Radically different behaviour from last time. I now do wonder if she’s been “disciplined” at home.
Could you tell whether there was any contact info on the collar?
ETA: never mind, I just looked back in the thread and realized you’d already figured out which humans think she’s their cat.
The new spookiness is unnerving. Some cats are like that to start with; but for a cat who previously was fine being held to now act panicky about it does seem to imply that something unpleasant was done to her while she was held.