Should we track down our cat's other caretaker?
January 7, 2024 9:51 PM Subscribe
A stray cat started visiting us about 8 months ago and now she spends most of her time with us. But she clearly had a caretaker before us and still seems to visit them. Should we attempt to make contact?
Salty started showing up at our house regularly last April. She was very friendly and we eventually let her come inside. Now she spends most days and nights inside with us. We have a cat door and she comes and goes as she pleases. We love her a lot.
Her ear is docked and she had recently been shaved for spaying when we first met her. She was obviously very young. A little skinny but healthy. Affectionate and trusting. Let us pick her up and give her belly rubs right away. No collar.
We notice she sometimes smells of potpourri upon returning to us. My wife noticed that that she'd received a flea treatment a few months ago (apparently the application spot is a giveaway?). We haven't tried to take her to the vet to check for a microchip or anything else.
No one has come looking but we haven't gone looking for the other caretaker either. Should we do so? Our assumption is that she's a stray who has received some care from someone nearby who cares for stray cats but isn't really homing them. We figure we should take her to the vet for regular care but we don't want to duplicate someone else's effort. And while we have family members come by to care for her when we travel, she clearly spends more time with this other person when we're away (she still comes inside our house via the pet door most days). We'd be happy to cover the cost of any food or other care during those time periods.
If we do try...how? A breakaway collar or harness with a note attached? She loves to play around in the trees, so we're a little worried about a collar/harness.
Salty started showing up at our house regularly last April. She was very friendly and we eventually let her come inside. Now she spends most days and nights inside with us. We have a cat door and she comes and goes as she pleases. We love her a lot.
Her ear is docked and she had recently been shaved for spaying when we first met her. She was obviously very young. A little skinny but healthy. Affectionate and trusting. Let us pick her up and give her belly rubs right away. No collar.
We notice she sometimes smells of potpourri upon returning to us. My wife noticed that that she'd received a flea treatment a few months ago (apparently the application spot is a giveaway?). We haven't tried to take her to the vet to check for a microchip or anything else.
No one has come looking but we haven't gone looking for the other caretaker either. Should we do so? Our assumption is that she's a stray who has received some care from someone nearby who cares for stray cats but isn't really homing them. We figure we should take her to the vet for regular care but we don't want to duplicate someone else's effort. And while we have family members come by to care for her when we travel, she clearly spends more time with this other person when we're away (she still comes inside our house via the pet door most days). We'd be happy to cover the cost of any food or other care during those time periods.
If we do try...how? A breakaway collar or harness with a note attached? She loves to play around in the trees, so we're a little worried about a collar/harness.
Best answer: Checking for a microchip should be really fast and simple, so I would take her to a vet and get her scanned for the first step. If she is chipped, you can get contact information and follow up that way, and even if she isn’t chipped if you pick the closest vet and you aren’t in a densely populated area there is a chance they may recognize her anyway, if her other people have brought her in. Also I agree with the above comment, poke around any local online groups - my neighborhood has a whole independent news blog with a pets forum that is apparently constantly hopping, and of course there’s Facebook and nextdoor.
But if all that comes up dry, a note is a good idea. If she does not take well to a collar (I like Beastie Bands, they are a stretchy velcro and cut to fit) you could try a harness. They make specialized cat harnesses for when you want to train them to walk on a lead or hold them secure, but if you are basically just using it to attach things to the cat and let them roam, a small or extra small dog harness should do just fine. She will probably fall over a bunch before she gets used to it, so it might be a (hilarious) process, but a harness is more likely to stay on than a collar with a creature who pushes themselves through gaps only as big as their face. Another thing you could try is stretchy vetwrap bandage around a leg with a note. It doesn’t hold up very well when it gets wet so wait for a dry spell.
If none of that works out, print out flyers with her picture that says “Is This Your Cat? She Is Mine Now” and ask to put them up in nearby coffee shops, bars, libraries, school bulletin boards, telephone poles, etc.
posted by Mizu at 1:24 AM on January 8, 2024 [2 favorites]
But if all that comes up dry, a note is a good idea. If she does not take well to a collar (I like Beastie Bands, they are a stretchy velcro and cut to fit) you could try a harness. They make specialized cat harnesses for when you want to train them to walk on a lead or hold them secure, but if you are basically just using it to attach things to the cat and let them roam, a small or extra small dog harness should do just fine. She will probably fall over a bunch before she gets used to it, so it might be a (hilarious) process, but a harness is more likely to stay on than a collar with a creature who pushes themselves through gaps only as big as their face. Another thing you could try is stretchy vetwrap bandage around a leg with a note. It doesn’t hold up very well when it gets wet so wait for a dry spell.
If none of that works out, print out flyers with her picture that says “Is This Your Cat? She Is Mine Now” and ask to put them up in nearby coffee shops, bars, libraries, school bulletin boards, telephone poles, etc.
posted by Mizu at 1:24 AM on January 8, 2024 [2 favorites]
Best answer: This paper collar is how we found out our cat, Gerald, had been flirting with another family. The woman who put it on him is now one of my best friends.
And when he started coming home with the smell of canned food on his breath, I discovered that he was regularly visiting a third house. (That lady really wanted a cat and was luring Gerald and another neighborhood cat* to her house, not unlike the witch in Hansel and Gretel. She later got her own cat and screened up her front porch, thank goodness.)
When he didn't come home one night, I posted to the neighborhood Facebook group and discovered that he had a routine of stopping in to see at least five different neighbors over the course of a week. Some cats are very social and trusting, and few cats will turn down an extra meal. If your kitty seems well fed and smells of other homes, I'd assume he already has a family.
*The other neighborhood cat, Phil Lesh, got out when his family was on vacation and ended up spending the week with another family who had just moved into the neighborhood and didn't know his wandering ways. A post to the FB group brought him home. Phil's mother and I ended up exchanging numbers so we could track our boys.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:06 AM on January 8, 2024 [7 favorites]
And when he started coming home with the smell of canned food on his breath, I discovered that he was regularly visiting a third house. (That lady really wanted a cat and was luring Gerald and another neighborhood cat* to her house, not unlike the witch in Hansel and Gretel. She later got her own cat and screened up her front porch, thank goodness.)
When he didn't come home one night, I posted to the neighborhood Facebook group and discovered that he had a routine of stopping in to see at least five different neighbors over the course of a week. Some cats are very social and trusting, and few cats will turn down an extra meal. If your kitty seems well fed and smells of other homes, I'd assume he already has a family.
*The other neighborhood cat, Phil Lesh, got out when his family was on vacation and ended up spending the week with another family who had just moved into the neighborhood and didn't know his wandering ways. A post to the FB group brought him home. Phil's mother and I ended up exchanging numbers so we could track our boys.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:06 AM on January 8, 2024 [7 favorites]
The Cat already has a home. The collar with note idea sounds great (if Salty likes collars). If that fails, however - the female cat range is pretty small. If you live in a neighborhood that allows this - knocking on your 3-doors-down neighbors' door might just solve the mystery.
posted by Dotty at 5:54 AM on January 8, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by Dotty at 5:54 AM on January 8, 2024 [1 favorite]
Usually if you spay a cat you own you don't get the ear tipped, that tends to be reserved for feral/stray colony caretakers. But sometimes a TNR cat ends up being so friendly that it gets adopted out later; my brother has a cat with an ear tip because he was previously TNR'd then turned out to be friendly and got put up for adoption.
Do you walk around your neighborhood at all? I was able to find who was caring for the ferals in my neighborhood because I have dogs and am walking around a lot. I noticed a house with a few outdoor cat shelters, and another one where feral cats would congregate in the early morning hours. I left notes on their doors when one of the cats that likes to sleep on the furniture in our backyard started limping. I'm now "in" with the neighborhood cat ladies and it's great.
The caretakers in my neighborhood do get the cats microchipped when they get them spayed/neutered, so a scan for a microchip might lead you to the right person even if the cat is part of a stray colony.
posted by misskaz at 6:23 AM on January 8, 2024 [1 favorite]
Do you walk around your neighborhood at all? I was able to find who was caring for the ferals in my neighborhood because I have dogs and am walking around a lot. I noticed a house with a few outdoor cat shelters, and another one where feral cats would congregate in the early morning hours. I left notes on their doors when one of the cats that likes to sleep on the furniture in our backyard started limping. I'm now "in" with the neighborhood cat ladies and it's great.
The caretakers in my neighborhood do get the cats microchipped when they get them spayed/neutered, so a scan for a microchip might lead you to the right person even if the cat is part of a stray colony.
posted by misskaz at 6:23 AM on January 8, 2024 [1 favorite]
I would assume this friendly cat has a home. Some cats are really friendly - nothing about this cat screams "stray" to me. It's normal for people to give up on collars for their indoor/outdoor cats - some cats just won't wear them. It's possible that she's so trusting because her life has been easy and the humans in her life have been good to her. So, first step is to absorb the fact you may have cat-napped somebody's pet.
So yes, a collar with a message could work if the cat cooperates, I'd also try (as already suggested) to use whatever Internet community groups you have access to (Facebook, neighborhood listserv, etc.) and put up a sign, but I disagree you should claim ownership - I'd just write something like "Does anyone own this cat? She seems to want to spend a lot of time with us. Let us know" with your phone number.
posted by coffeecat at 6:57 AM on January 8, 2024
So yes, a collar with a message could work if the cat cooperates, I'd also try (as already suggested) to use whatever Internet community groups you have access to (Facebook, neighborhood listserv, etc.) and put up a sign, but I disagree you should claim ownership - I'd just write something like "Does anyone own this cat? She seems to want to spend a lot of time with us. Let us know" with your phone number.
posted by coffeecat at 6:57 AM on January 8, 2024
Best answer: Our cat used to be indoor/outdoor and was quite sociable. She would make the rounds of a few houses allowing the residents to fete her throughout the day and then she'd come home for a light dinner, spend the night inside, grab a quick bite in the morning and then yowl to be let out for her daily brunch'n'munch marathon. Finally one of the neighbors put an "is this your cat?" flier with a picture of the cat in all the mailboxes on the street, whereupon the poor cat became indoor only.
I'd've been content to let her continue to make her brunch and lunch visits, but the neighbor signaled clearly that he was intent on kidnapping the cat, so I had to beat him to the punch and lock her in forevermore. This was better for the cat's physical health (cars, mean tomcats, baylisiscariasis) and it was definitely better for the birds and lizards she might've been trying to murder. It was not great for her general happiness or for the happiness of all her friends who had been enjoying no strings community cat ownership, but she's fine now, having slowed down a lot in older age, and it's not like there's a shortage of strays for the neighbors to entertain.
I was grateful the neighbor took the time to make his flier. If he'd just gone ahead and poached the cat, I would probably have assumed she'd died some horrible way and would still be kicking myself for letting her roam.
(The docked ear is not confirmation she's nobody's pet--ours has a docked ear from her checkered past in the neighboring small town from which we plucked her after her previous sort-of owner abandoned her.)
posted by Don Pepino at 10:19 AM on January 8, 2024 [4 favorites]
I'd've been content to let her continue to make her brunch and lunch visits, but the neighbor signaled clearly that he was intent on kidnapping the cat, so I had to beat him to the punch and lock her in forevermore. This was better for the cat's physical health (cars, mean tomcats, baylisiscariasis) and it was definitely better for the birds and lizards she might've been trying to murder. It was not great for her general happiness or for the happiness of all her friends who had been enjoying no strings community cat ownership, but she's fine now, having slowed down a lot in older age, and it's not like there's a shortage of strays for the neighbors to entertain.
I was grateful the neighbor took the time to make his flier. If he'd just gone ahead and poached the cat, I would probably have assumed she'd died some horrible way and would still be kicking myself for letting her roam.
(The docked ear is not confirmation she's nobody's pet--ours has a docked ear from her checkered past in the neighboring small town from which we plucked her after her previous sort-of owner abandoned her.)
posted by Don Pepino at 10:19 AM on January 8, 2024 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: We took Salty to the vet and she does have a microchip. The vet talked to the previous caretaker and found out they had taken her in as a pregnant (!) stray. They kept one of her kittens and had Salty spayed. But Salty never stuck around. When they heard she had moved in with us, they were happy to hear and said she's ours now. We got the microchip info switched over to our info. Yay!
posted by mullacc at 3:43 PM on March 11, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by mullacc at 3:43 PM on March 11, 2024 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Otherwise the breakaway collar with a little note is a nice idea.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 12:02 AM on January 8, 2024 [1 favorite]