We have cats, and they are spoiled, and they go outside a lot and have a good life, but they are well looked after, and are mostly in our yard. We also have a visitor that comes in several times a day (cautiously) to eat.
She eats a lot - so much so that I really doubt she is eating somewhere else. She is outside and in the general vicinity of our house all the time. Neighbours thought she might be our cat but she isn’t. No one knows whose cat she is, but she does have a collar that is even changed now and then. There is no tag, no tatoo. I have not seen a spaying scar but she wont really let me handle her to get a good look.
Mrs Fluffy is the one that started feeding her but neighbour kitty did start making her own way in first through a sidelight we leave open for the cats in good weather. She did not have a collar at this time so Mrs Fluffy thought she was stray. I had seen her with the collar earlier though and a few weeks later she had one once again.
Well winter is coming, the cat window is closing, and we really do not want another cat. We have been talking about taking her in to the pound. Although strays survive the Calgary winter it really isn’t a pretty sight. Obviously someone considers this their cat but it is not really taken care of. I am thinking I will put a note on the collar and try to get the owner to contact us. Mrs Fluffy feels this is a waste of time and the owner is not responsible enough to own a cat. We have already asked the neighbours on our block and no one knows the owner.
You and Mrs. Fluffy have very kind hearts. Thank you for looking after this kitty. I think you’ve come up with the only two solutions - either adopt her or take her to a shelter. There just aren’t very many options for neglected/unwanted animals.
I’d hold off for just a bit on the pound thing. Sounds like the kitty DOES have a nearby home, maybe even DOES have an owner that takes care of it, but maybe the kitty just likes your food better or likes to get out of the house/yard/what-not. I mean, don’t wait until you find a frozen corpse on your doorstop, but the owner may well think s/he has an outdoor/indoor cat and doesn’t worry about it wandering, and may well keep the kitty indoors once it gets that cold out.
I like the note idea, btw. Just let the owner know their cat’s been noshing at your place, and that the free food is ending, so the owner might want to make sure the kitty’s eating more at their own place.
I acquired my previous feline overlord like that. She kept coming into our garden, I put out meat and fish scraps for her, she came closer and closer to the house, then came in when my back was turned and well that was that - I know my place!!
Turned out she belonged to a neighbour! They had her spayed after she’d had her first litter (a lot of people are convinced you have to let a cat have a litter before you spay) and they kept two of the kittens who out grew their mammy by a fair but and chased her off.
She allowed me to live with her for about 5 years before she took ill and had to be PTS
Well I try to keep a patch of clean sand in our back yard in the hopes that they use that rather than the neighbours flower beds. Its not perfect but they do use it. The young one in particular loves people and probably visits all the neighbours.
They will probably both die in traffic, that is pretty much the fate of city cats, but they are happy fulfilled kitties. They have an awesome life, infinitely better than every indoor cat I have ever met. Some cats may not be interested in the outside but my cats love it and we are in a good neighbourhood with lots of safe greenery for them.
Neighbour Kitty is outside all the time, during storms she is crying at our door the window is closed. This is why I dont think she really has a home. I will still try to contact her owner, but come winter I am not watching her freeze outside.
