TechDiff Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Hi watmm, since quite a few people on here are cat owners, I thought I could maybe ask for a bit of advice. Although my family have always had dogs, and I'm probably more of a dog person than a cat person. I have always wanted a cat too. Since I first moved out from my parents, I have always wanted to get a cat, but never had a big enough house for it to really be fair to the animal. The place my girlfriend and I live in now is certainly big enough for a pet and we have been mulling over the idea of getting a cat for about a year now. A couple months back we started to get visits from what was presumably one of our neighbours cats. Really friendly boy cat, I call him Mr Cat. He'd turn up and we'd both fuss over him and lots of strokes etc. If he turned up while I was cooking, Id give him a little bit of fresh meat as I heard it was good for him. I even went as far as to buy a small box of cat food, so that if he turned up and was hungry I could give him a bit of food. Looking back, probably not the right thing to do. Anyway, he has been spending more and more time here, the last month he is here more or less all of the time. He sleeps on my bed each night, wakes me up in the morning, and has started bringing me dead squirrels and birds as gifts. In term I have been feeding him and making sure he is well. I am certain that he has bonded with us, and if I could, Id would love to adopt him as my pet. A few days ago, another cat appeared in our house, a much younger, very shy cat. As Soon as Mr Cat saw him, he started hissing and they had a bit of a scrap. I had to break it up with a glass of water. The small cat looked very scared and hid behind our TV for ages. I was a bit worried and decided to call round the nearby houses to see if I could figure out whos cat it was. Eventually I found the owner and returned their cat to them. But while I was asking around, I also found out some more about Mr Cat. Turns out that someone in the area used to own him, they also bought a second cat. Apparently the second cat was a bit of a bully and drove Mr Cat out of the house. The owner managed to find a neighour to "keep an eye on him". The original owner has since moved away, leaving Mr Cat with this foster family. So the question is. would it be at all reasonable for me to find the foster owner and offer to look after the cat? Seams as though he's really settled in our house, and Id love to take care of it. I heard that cats kinda choose their owners, not the other way round.. Im concerned that if I asked such a thing it might be taken as quite insulting and presumptuous. Alternitivly, should I try and distance from the cat, in order to motivate him to retun to his owner? I fully appreciate the implications of owning a pet, financially and emotionally, and would not even consider "adopting" him if I was not certain I could fulfill those responsibilities. Any advice is really appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goDel Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 I'd say the cat has made the decision. Better find the foster owner to inform him. (the cat prolly didn't end up at your place because he had such a good time at his foster). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Iain C Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Put the cat on the grill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpenprol Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Is a cat bass like a turducken? Or is it what a fishing cat catches? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Coalbucket PI Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 The cats must fight again, the losing cat will be given a dishonorable live burial whilst the victor is treated to a honey mustard marinade and is subsequently barbequed and devoured by the neighborhood children Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gary C Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 You really shouldn't have started feeding this random cat. I think it's incredibly rude actually. My girlfriend used to have a cat that came home smelling of curry. Turned out it was going across the street and being fed by a family next door. The woman said that her son had always wanted a cat and that they all enjoyed having that cat around. Fuck that. My girlfriend's family were still paying for food and vet-bills, but oh yeah, your son wants a cat. Go fucking buy one, you cheap bitch. Still, seems as though your cat in question has a more interesting history. You should definitely find the owners and ask whether they're alright with it, but be fully prepared to give the cat back and maybe get a little bit of a hostile response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spratters Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 You should definitely find the owners and ask whether they're alright with it, but be fully prepared to give the cat back and maybe get a little bit of a hostile response. This. Let them know what has happened so far. There's no point in lying to them. If you say basically what you've said on here then they will see you have previously had a want for a cat before their one came to you. They might not really want to carry on looking after the cat hence the cat being hungry and demanding food from you. The same sort of thing happened to my nan a while ago. It was here next door neighbour. Although she didn't feed the cat it did eat food she left out for the birds and always came in her house looking for affection. She spoke to the owners and it didn't bother them at all. Not a long time after they moved away and left the cat with my nan. She's still got him now, minus the tail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechDiff Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 @Gary C, To be honest, I do agree with you. We should have been far more considerate towards the owners, in so far as feeding it and so forth. I know full well that if I hadn't fed it then I wouldn't be in the situation that I am in. However, that is my nature. We are lucky enough to live on the edge of the city, next door to a park, and as a result get a lot of wildlife coming into our garden. Foxes, birds an so on. There is even a rabbit warren that opens up to the side. We always leave bits and pieces out for the animals that visit, as we enjoy them being there. Should have known better to feed someones cat though :( In my defence, I should point out that when this cat first started appearing, it wasn't in such good shape, until I heard that it had an owner I was convinced it was a stray. No collar and no chip. None the less, I cannot shake the feeling that it's current owner is fairly indifferent towards the animal. It had never looked particularly well cared for, too thin and scruffy. It is looking much healthier since we have started looking out for it. I think your advice is sound though. I'm thinking I will try to track down the owner this evening and let them know the situation. I'm hoping that they'll be cool with the situation, but I'll def be prepared for a telling off. Only trouble is, it's not as though we leave it in the house or close the doors even. Doors are always welcome so he can come and go as he wishes, but is quite content hanging out here. a couple times I have closed the doors while he was outside at night, and got woken up at 5am after he'd climbed up the outside of the house and was sat on the terrace outside my window, last time with a dead squirrel in his jaws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Coalbucket PI Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 The woman said that her son had always wanted a cat and that they all enjoyed having that cat around. Fuck that. I see your point but this section seems a little off. I'm not sure about the 'cat chose me' defense , they aren't terribly complicated animals and you can coax most of them into 'choosing' you if you tick a few boxes. You may just be trying to befriend a wandering cat but I think essentially you are entering into a bidding war with whoever else is feeding and stroking it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Iain C Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 You really shouldn't have started feeding this random cat. I think it's incredibly rude actually. My girlfriend used to have a cat that came home smelling of curry. Turned out it was going across the street and being fed by a family next door. The woman said that her son had always wanted a cat and that they all enjoyed having that cat around.Fuck that. My girlfriend's family were still paying for food and vet-bills, but oh yeah, your son wants a cat. Go fucking buy one, you cheap bitch. Nice attitude, prick. don't listen to him Gary. this man is an australian and if his cat came back smelling of curry he'd probably beat it for hanging around with indian people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gary C Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 @TechDiff As the cat was un-tagged and malnourished I'll give you some leeway. I read your original post and noted that you never mentioned a tag, so I assumed as much. And the whole leaving the doors open bit seems fine too, although that will change during colder months. If they aren't treating the cat particularly well and realise as such, they may react badly and take it as an attack on them personally. Which it would be, but just don't be surprised when you're told to fuck off. If that happens, then ugh, I guess it's up to you whether you keep feeding it but try to keep it at a distance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gary C Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 The woman said that her son had always wanted a cat and that they all enjoyed having that cat around. Fuck that. I see your point but this section seems a little off. Perhaps it was just my imagination but I imagined that the mother had let her kid start treating this cat as their own pet. I'm generally fine with being nice to local pets, but you shouldn't let them get too comfortable around you. Especially if they have collars. My house is surrounded by plenty of cats and we have one of our own. I stroke the cat next door when I walk past it on the fence, but I wouldn't start feeding any other cats if they came into our home. In fact, in our first few weeks in this house I came down in the morning to find a big black cat eating our kittens food. I chased it out and for the next few days splashed water around when it would come up to the back door. I haven't seen it in a long time now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechDiff Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 ah no, should have mentioned that at first, soz. after it had been hanging around for a week, was slightly worried that A, it was homeless or B, that it was lost. There is a vets practice 2 mins from my house, and so I borrowed a basket from them and took him in to see if he had a chip inside. unfortunately nothing.. off topic, but given the nature of cats, tending to wander off and apparently getting lost a lot of the time (see so many lost cat posters around town, time of year I guess) I cannot understand why people don't get their cat tagged. anyways, yeah feeding a cat curry seems a pretty dumb ass thing to do, I can imagine you getting pissed at that. Like you say, if you're the one paying the bills if it gets poorly, and spiced food would undoubtedly do that. anyways, I certainly wouldn't say "you treat your cat like shit, asshole, let me have it" But the case may be that whoever is supposed to taking care of it is just not fussed about it. so, I'll just be polite and friendly and see what happens. @Coalbucket, kinda unrelated, but I thought it kinda interesting. if you had a pet dog and it ran across a road and caused an accident, you would be liable. If you had a pet cat and the same happened, you would not be. legally, cats are classified as "free spirits" Just thought it was interesting. But yeah, of course it's a case of the cat hanging around whoever treats it best, but I don't think I'm exactly fussing over it. certainly not to the extent than an owner Should.. thanks for the advice everyone, Hope to be able to resolve this tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baph Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Cats have a pretty narrow range of food that they can and should be eating. They're some of the strictest carnivores on the planet, and many plants are toxic to them. If you end up keeping the cat, get some vet-recommended cat food, and get him checked out fully and chipped. That's probably pretty obvious, but some people take the "free spirit" thing a little to literally with their cats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GORDO Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 keep the cat, if the 'proper' owner doesn't care for him and you do, it's 'yours'. if you tell the foster owners or whatever and bring them Mr. cat, he'll return to you anyway. also feeding a cat is the usual way of 'stealing' it. so you already stole it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root5 Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 based Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essines Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Find the "owner" and talk to them about. It is the most mature and reasonable thing to do. So do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Karen Tregaskin Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Did you keep Mr Cat?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essines Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Please fix the name of this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baph Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Please fix the name of this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr_Nova Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4OhIU-PmB8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essines Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 I love primus so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr_Nova Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 New album this September! New Release Subforum Primus Topic Yeah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essines Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 omg holy shit fuck fuck fuck! Too bad tim alexander ain't in this shit, he is fucking awesome. BUT HOLY SHITTTT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
producer snafu Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 @ Facebook err, i mean Techdiff Just do what ever the Fuck you wanna do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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