Update: everything is going swimmingly!
My mom has been texting pictures and updates. Ollie (as they’re calling him) has been perfectly happy as an indoor cat, and my parents just love him. So a happy ending for all!
Thanks for update; and glad everything’s going well. Happy cat and happy humans!
– maybe I ought to drop in and update the Who Are You thread, come to think of it. (Who he is, is Merton. How he is, is fine.)
Pretty kitty! So glad it worked out for everyone!
My parents adopted a little black kitten one of their employees found on the street (and couldn’t keep because employee’s cats were having none of this interloper.) Initially the kitten wolfed down food and showed no interest in the outdoors. But after a few months, she became secure enough to snub her food just for fun, as cats do, and began mewing to go out. They decided to let her out a bit during the day. Years later, she’s picked up fleas once or twice and has come home with scratches on her nose, but she’s always come home and seems like the happiest cat that ever lived. I don’t know how she would’ve responded if she hadn’t been allowed out; hopefully she would’ve accepted it and found some socks to hunt.
Beautiful story
Yeah - when we had cats (30 years ago): cat #1 came from the shelter. He’d been on his own, and I think he was delighted to have a place where there was abundant food and all the sit-on-able laps he desired. He never tried to get out.
Cat #2 had been abandoned by his owners (like your Ollie - and I sure hope there’s a special place in Hell for people who do that) - but their neighbor started providing him with food while she looked for someone to take him. So when we took him in, he’d been living outside, but with plenty of food and water - and he thought being outside was just dandy and did not understand why we wouldn’t let him go out. Poor fellow got caught in the door once or twice when despite our best efforts he made a run for it. He did eventually give up.
The plot thickens… I just got a text from my mom:
I replied that if Ollie was abandoned there’s no reason they shouldn’t get him back, but it sucks for him to be stuck in a vet office for four days.
Another possibility I thought of, though, that I didn’t say to Mom… what if, when his previous owners were in the process of moving, Ollie got out and they couldn’t find him? And finally had to give up looking? Maybe they will be overjoyed that he has been found. Which will suck for my parents, but at least they can take comfort in the fact that his previous owners aren’t assholes after all.
I guess we’ll see what happens…
Oh damn!
Really hoping the previous owners don’t want him. Or that if they do they’ll at least allow visiting privileges.
God, how do you do that and sleep at night?!
This morning I asked my mom what was happening. She said the vet’s office was taking good care of Ollie, and they all love him. They are closed today, but a couple of the techs volunteered to go in and spend some time with Ollie. I guess they weren’t able to get a hold of whoever his former owners are, because Mom said was going to pick him up tomorrow.
A few minutes ago Mom sent me another text - the vet office said she could come in today and pick him up. So Ollie is home!
Yay!! 
StG
Three cheers and a very loud purr for Ollie safe at home!
Yay! So happy for Ollie and your folks.
It’s strange and heartbreaking how people will abandon an animal they’ve invested in. The stray kitten my parents adopted turned out to have already been spayed, although not chipped. I’ve heard of other strays being chipped, but the chip not being registered. How can you love something enough to go to that trouble and then just walk away?
Great news for Ollie, and the kind of story I needed to read to brighten my day 
We have a gorgeous cat who we had from stray. He is a big, black bundle of huggable loveliness (you can tell he’s my favourite mog, can’t you?) and we got him via a friend. She knew we’d recently lost a cat and thought of us when she heard about him. He had been “adopted” by some school kids who had been feeding him in the playgound, so he kept hanging around. One of the teachers scooped him up one day when it was bucketing down and he was sitting outside in a drenched heap. They couldn’t keep him so started looking for a new home for him.
Nobody knew who owned him although he’d clearly had a home. There were rumours that his owners had moved away and left him behind, and also rumours that they’d not moved very far and he just kept coming back to his old home (where the new owners didn’t want him). And so he came to us, we had him vaccinated, neutered and chipped. Now he is a happy old guy, enjoying retirement and more than happy to be around his people all day in the hope of treats and fishy snacks every time anyone opens the fridge.