how do we now if a cat is lost or just lurking around?

elise72

Hi

for the last 7/10 days my mom and dad have had a white cat practically living in their garden and lurking around their property, a couple of times i have seen him sleeping in a bush at the front of my parents house.

He/she is also constantly ripping open their bin bags and taking food out, although it looks like a really well fed cat, it's a very large pure white adult cat, it has a pale blue collar on.

At first we just thought it may belong to someone who had recently moved into the area, but it seems to have been constantly round my parents property for at least 7/10 days, so for a few days now out of concern we have tried to coax the cat to us with food so we can maybe see if his collar has a tag on,, but he/she is really scared and keeps running off when we try to approach,,i saw the cat this afternoon in my parents shed just sniffing around (we suspect that maybe the cat has been sleeping in the shed as they always leave the door open) so i went out with a box of cat biscuits and shook them in the hope it may approach me, although it was interested it did not trust me enough to approach me,, just stood staring at me,, so i just poured out a pile of biscuits on the patio and went inside so it could at least have something to eat.

So what do we do,, do you think we should carry on feeding it cat food in the hope he/she may gain enough trust in us to approach so we could at least get a look at his collar to see if he/she has a tag on.

UKTigerlily

Hiya, it's a tricky one that. Personally i'd never feed a Cat unless it was obviously malnourished, if it belongs somewhere it may not want to come to you (Mine wouldn't) & really unless it's way too thin i'd leave it alone. If it *is* thin then it's more than likely a stray & then I would try to encourage it to come to me. You could try catnip, they love that. If it has a collar it's highly likely it has an Owner, like you say maybe someone moved into the area. You could ask around the neighbours, someone may know about it.

If it does become underweight (If it's not now) or injured or ill then yes, catch it but if it's not then i'd leave it. Also, if it does come to needing to catch it then even if the collar has no tag i'd take it to a Vet to see if it's microchipped.

LittleTinker

If you say he looks well fed I would leave it especially as it has a collar on....and I would shoo it away from the rubbish.

We have a few cats who sit on the wall at the bottom of our garden.... lovely things.... and I leave them to get on with it.

But as the poster above says...if they were injured and were still hanging around, I would take them to the vet.

This is what cats do...and they often hang around places that they like the smell of and where there may be warm air from vents or flues.....and if there is a shed, they will sleep in it. My cat loves to sleep on my next door but one neighbours bin.....dont know why.....we have bins here LOL

Someone suggested putting a barrel on a collar with a note in on one thread which is a good idea if you are very worried. I dont think they cost much.

That might then, at least, put your mind at rest too.

But please dont try to coax it in with food though until you have tried that.

MaximumImpact

That reminds me of my little tinker of a cat....

She came home when she was very young with a note tucked into her collar saying something along the lines of '' Does anyone own this cat?? She doesnt seem to be fed and is always begging for food''....I sent her out the next day with a note tucked in saying ''Yes, please don't feed her as she has a weight issue and is on a diet''......she came back a few days later with a note saying ''I dont feed her...she nicked our roast chicken off the kitchen counter''......

I kept her in for a while after that!!! Never did find out who's chicken it was!!!

lowis

the fact that the cat has a collar and seems well fed suggests it has a home and an owner, so do not feed it...unless of course it starts to look skinny and ragged and ill!

if you can get close enough to it, try the barrell/note suggestion, just to put your mind at ease.

also, we have to remember that people are dumping pets at the moment, so do keep an eye on this little fellow...he may have been dumped for all you know.

(i also wonder whether he might be deaf, hence his timidness. does he have blue eyes?)

spookylukey

If you can't get near him to add a note to his collar then I would ring your local Cats protection, RSPCA and vets to see if anyone has reported a white cat missing. Too often people see a cat with a collar and assume that it cannot be a stray or lost as it has a collar! It's not until the cat's condition deteriorates that they start contacting rescues/vets and by then the poor cat has had to suffer. The chances are he has a home and isn't lost but it's worth a few minutes of your time checking with the rescues, vets etc just in case he's lost.

Marg

It could be newly lost - my brother's cat was missing for many weeks and was found in a supermarket car park many miles from home because she was hungry & begged from a lady eating her lunch in her car!
I'd certainly ring round all the places suggested by spookyukey & any more local to you just in case.

Tempting even a very hungry cat with food to get used to you could take months & months, we fed a lovely handsome stray two & three times a day for a very long time & he eventually let my OH stroke the back of his head but wouldn't tolerate more & we could never have caught him. We even had a rota to feed him when we were on our holidays!

Is it ALWAYS in your parents garden? ie spending the night there/in the shed as well as during the day? Really not sure about the ethics of this but IF you can't get near enough to put a note on him could he be shut in the shed (with food & water of course) to see if someone comes looking for him?

elise72

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I think i am going to use a combination of everything suggested. Yes he looks like a well nourished cat atm so i will monitor his weight and appearance, he is pure white so will get grubby looking pretty quickly i would have thought if he is sleeping rough,, i did notice that his back looks quite dirty.

I also check the local papers lost and found column on a regular basis anyway, so maybe just putting a 'possible found white cat' ad in might help, i will also do as suggested and make a few phone calls tm to various vets, rspca, local petsearch, cats protection.

Lowis - he has green eyes,but thanks for pointing that out i had totally forgot about that, white cats with blue eyes are often deaf.

Marg - your point about him being newly lost was our thinking tbh, because my parents live in a small cul-de-sac of only 6 houses, all but 1 house in the st has cats, a total of 10 cats between 5 houses and they all look out for one anothers cats etc, and thats why we all notice when a new cat is on the scene, i think he has been hanging around for at least 10 days and more often then not he is sat on my parents drive,fence,sleeping in a bush at the front of the house or ripping their bin bags open.

I will keep an eye on him and also make some enquiries tm.

Thank you.

UKTigerlily

Good idea OP, I think that's the right thing to do. If you put up any notices, don't mention everything such as the colour of the collar, then you will know if you get genuine callers. You can try putting notices up at the Vets & Rescues in the area & in shop windows. It's good s/he has you to look out for him/her in this weather x