Uber friendly cat-where did it come from?

[JBalways2000]

2 days ago a very very cute black cat appeared in our garden. now we live on a highly outdoor cat populated street and we sort of know most of the cats around, and atleast know the regulars to our garden etc but we have never seen this cat before-and he/she keeps trying to get into the house!

they keep sitting on our living room window sill and crying to get in-my OH has gone out a few times to pet her/him and they keep coming back for more. they have actually taken a chunk out of the wood on our single glazed kitchen window pawing to be let in and in the space of only a couple of days has got used to coming to the back door when they think its going to get opened and tries to get in every time

now the cat looks really well looked after, nice glossy coat, nice and chunky so i really dont think its a stray but i just cant figure out where they have came from! it started snowing quite heavily here about 40 minutes ago and while watching it out of the window the poor thing appeared covered in snow and took shelter in our entry way until it had stopped-as soon as it stopped snowing it was out looking for fuss and food!

the poor thing is breaking my heart because it desperately wants in the house, but obviously even if i didnt have 4 indoor cats this wouldnt be a good idea! i just wondered if we should be trying to ignore the cat rather then encourage this behaviour? if it didnt look so well looked after i would be very tempted to let it in..... but its just so heartbreaking having this cat begging for attention.

I know that alot of you here have outdoor cats, but i have always been of the opinion that if you let your cat outdoors you should atleast have a cat flap so the poor thing can let itself back in when its hungry/needs shelter/wants fuss, instead of them having to beg for it off strangers. it always upsets me when i see a cat sitting on its own front door step waiting to be let in. our guys dont know how lucky they have it being able to be fussed any time they want it spoilt rotten they are-someone needs to tell them!

but yes il stop babbling now and get back to the original point-should we be ignoring said kitty? oh and how on earth can i tell if its a boy or girl? silly question i know, i have looked for a sign of testicals but they are not obvious which could mean hes been neutered im just not sure what a girls back end looks like

oh the poor thing, he hasnt left our garden for a good 50 minutes now! just keeps wondering around waiting outside the door, looking in the kitchen and living room windows. and has actually just scratched at the back door

oh and hes made friends with our Hernie through the glass can you tell hes tugging on the heart strings?

[angieh]

Oh JB - what a sob story - poor cat. I do sympathise, as if I had a lovely little kitty pawing at my window, I would be as undecided as you. The rescues are overflowing ........ this cat's owners may have gone away and someone is going in to feed the cat (hence it's still looking in good condition) but it has a home .......

Hope someone else can come up with better ideas. Did you say you have somewhere you could put an outdoor shelter/box/warm blanket for the cat just in case? It's going to get colder tonight/tomorrow.

[Kazz]

Try putting a collar on like a paper on and writing on it "is this your cat please contact...then a mobile or something"

[angieh]

Thinking about it, given the weather - I'd have to let the cat in and find out about where it should live later. That's actually how my Smudge found me all those years ago. No way was I going to turf her out in the cold.

[dandysmom]

I'm inclined to agree with Angie ... that's how I got my Misty.

[Elaine]

You may want to ring local shelters and vets to see if the cat has been reported missing....
A paper collar like Kazz said is a very good idea.

[JBalways2000]

I think i probably made the poor thing sound more pitiful then he/she is i would do the things suggested(ring vets/rescues) if he hung around the house more often but its only been for 3 days and he comes during the day for a while and then disappears again-if he was lost or abandoned etc would we expect to be seeing him hanging around more then that? we have a nice big tree in our garden too that i suspect he would get good shelter from so for that reason alone i suppose if he had no where else to go then we would see him under that alot.

It did also occur to me after writing that thread that he actually turned up just a few days after we had to put some furniture out in the garden. we got a new bedroom set and the old wardrobes and bookcase are in the back garden until the council collect them on saturday so im wondering if that could have attracted him to ours? he has definately been curious of it all and had been using the bookcase to get onto the window ledges until my OH moved it earlier.

Im just trying to figure out why he has suddenly appeared-i guess if it continues for much longer or even past saturday when we get rid of the furniture then i could try ringing the local vets-not sure about getting a collar on him though because he doesnt have one so obviously not used to wearing one. i know if i tried to put a collar on my guys they would freak out, and they know us. wouldnt want to scare the poor thing to death with him not knowing us and us doing that to him but i guess its a good back up plan!

Thankyou for the suggestions everyone, i shall keep you all updated! im actually not going to be home much tomorrow so might not even get to see him, sort of hope i do

[sammy]

Hiya JB, not been here for ages (spending too much time on messageboards! ), but happened upon your thread and had to respond.

A little story for you. My youngest, Purdie, went missing a few weeks ago, we were of course, frantic with worry, leafletted the whole estate, put posters up, rang all the vets/rescue places etc........nothing.

After 10 days of no news and me almost ill with worry and grief, the phone rang one evening. A lady on the other side of our estate had been cooking fish, opened the back door and a black and white cat had barged in scrounging for all she was worth. She thought it looked like Purdie from the leaflet I'd delivered a week earlier (in the pouring rain and howling wind, I might add!). We raced round there, and much to our joy, there she was!

Now my point is this - she was barely any thinner than when she went missing and certainly didn't look any the worse for wear. It seems to me that she had got herself lost and had survived by scrounging from people......she is extremely cute and very friendly. I had worried she wouldn't survive because she isn't a hunter............ well she is, just of a different kind!

So, this puss may be doing just the same..........visiting different houses to try and get food and comfort, while someone, somewhere is missing them terribly. Please, please ring round the local vets/rescue places, look out for any missing posters locally......maybe even put some 'found' ones up yourself if you have time. Believe me, every single day that your precious cat is missing is sheer torture.

I will be forever grateful to the lady that found Purdie and took the trouble to recognise her and ring me........she got a huge bouquet of flowers the next day, which is nothing compared to what she gave me.

Hope you can give someone the same happy ending!

[angieh]

That's a heartwarming story sammy - so very glad that Purdie was found and returned.

[dandysmom]

Thanks for sharing that. Sammy!