Need help: think we're stealing the neighbours cat

couriervanman

They must know the friendly houses that will feed/stroke/let them in........the cats around our house have finally realise the only thing they will get is my super soaker fired at them if they try to cr4p in my garden

MalMonroe

They do say that cats choose their own homes and I think that's true. If the cat's happy, that's the main thing. She's being very well treated by everyone and seems to love your home at the moment. 

We have an indoor cat, we found her at the side of the road 11 years ago when she was a tiny kitten - flea ridden and starving, with a sore eye. But I have to say that if we didn't have our own cat, we'd find it really difficult to resist any cute cat who wanted to come indoors.

I wouldn't worry if I were you, the cat's owners know where she is and I'd find it impossible to turn any cat out at night. Particularly where we live as there are woods to the back and wild animals could attack or even kill cats. 

I just think that you have to do the best thing for the cat - but then I'm also a big softie . . .  years ago I took in a lovely little cat who was neglected by her owners. We had two cats of our own but she decided she liked us, kept popping round to see us and then moved in. Then she had three kittens. So we had a houseful of cats! But we loved it and we managed to find good homes for the mother cat (spayed once safe to do so) and her kittens. Our boy cats were relieved but we missed them. 

dgerrard

Thank you all so much for your kind words and good advice.
Update: we had a couple of days of intense storms, where she would spend from around 7am to 10pm over at ours.  The neighbour wrote us on the Saturday asking if we'd seen her, we said she was in with us.  They came and knocked at the door about half an hour later, and we had the long chat.  Learned some things: we thought they'd had the cat for years, they only took her in at the start of lockdown.  They took her in for their kids, and it turns out she doesn't like kids.  Plus all the building work etc like we mentioned.  They said it was clear she preferred it over at ours, so they asked their daughters if they'd be OK if she came and lived with us.  They apparently said "yes, she doesn't like us anyway, we want a dog instead!"  So long story short, we now have a cat 🙂.  We bought the family a gift basket, we were wimps and they were really brave about the whole thing.  So all's well that ends well, and she's curled up on the sofa right now.

Silvertabby

Aw, that's a lovely end to this story!

Pollycat

It really is a lovely and all-round satisfying end to the story.

She's a lucky cat to have such caring and responsible servants.

Thanks for letting us know the outcome.

Savvy_Sue

I feel sorry for the dog and hope they take the time to find a good fit. Children need to realise pets and toys are two very different things!

Mrs_Z

Thank you OP for coming back with an update and I'm so happy it worked out for you and the cat - win/win.  
I do hope they do not get a dog straight away.  It's madness brining in an animal (puppy or not) whilst there is building work on-going.  Hopefully the parents have also realised that children get bored very quickly and novelty wears off.  Should they get a pet of any type, then the parents need to be prepared to look after it in the long term - whatever the children promise at the time.

Fiona236

This cat chose you. 
The other people are happy for it not to be seen for days at a time,  they don't love it enough. 

starrybee

Can't believe we're two pages in and there's no pictures!

tealady

I always thought there was an unwritten rule on this forum that if you mention a pet you HAVE to post a picture of them. 😃