Found a cat wandering the halls

[Canadave]

So I was leaving my apartment around noon today, and noticed there was a cat in the hallway. A neighbor of ours was leaving at the same time, and neither of us knew where the cat belonged, so we thought it best to just leave it for the time being.

Then this evening around ten, I heard meowing outside our door, so I opened it to find the same cat, looking rather lost. Since it had been in the halls so long, my girlfriend and I decided to let it in, and gave it some canned salmon and a dish of water. It was obviously pretty hungry, as it downed the fish pretty quickly. I've put a sign on our building's front door, but so far no one has come to claim him\her. It's a bit interesting for us, as we don't have any pets (aside from a tarantula spiderling of my girlfriend's) so it's a bit different for us, especially as both our families own dogs instead. Still, we both like cats, and we thought it would be cruel to leave the poor thing in the hall, so we'll deal with the house guest for now.

Besides, it's quite cute.

Anyway, just wanted to share. Anyone have any experience with found pets?

 

[Miss Chicken]

Is the cat a boy, a girl or an it? Or won't it let you look?

I have had more experience with abandoned cats rather than lost cats.

I advise you to ring up the local vets, cats homes etc to see if anyone is inquiring about a lost cat. Also, if you local radio station has a pet patrol phone them up with details of the cat.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Similar thing with some people I lived with about 15 years ago. Though they lived in a house and had several cats, there was a stray cat nosing around the front door and I told one of them that "someone wanted to see them".

Well, they had that cat for a very long time, so, welcome to cat ownership, he looks very comfortable and fairly young. You will have many interesting years together.

 

[Sephiroth]

I believe sir, that you have just been claimed

 

[O'Dib]

That cat owns you now! ETA: ^ great minds thing alike?

 

[RoJoHen]

I found a kitten (no more than a few weeks old) wandering the halls of my old apartment. It was around 3 in the morning, so I didn't feel like going around knocking on doors. Instead, I brought it back to my place. My actual cat did not like having a visitor, and she spent hours stalking the kitten, clearly wanting to attack but not willing to commit. I locked the kitten in my room with me that night so that my cat couldn't harm it. I was very impressed with the kitten's ability to immediately find the cat food and litter box.

Anywho, the next day my friend ran into somebody who asked if they had seen a kitten, so I was able to return it to its owner without much hassle. Apparently they had accidentally left their door open when they went to sleep the night before, and the kitten snuck out.

 

[sojourner]

Yep, that cat has moved in. Be proud it picked you to serve it!

 

[Canadave]

Is the cat a boy, a girl or an it? Or won't it let you look?

I'm going with "it" for now, since it seems fairly skittish, and I'm trying to just give it a chance to settle down. I think it's a he, but I haven't checked for sure.

Yeah, we figure we'll ask around the building tomorrow for starters (it's fairly likely he came from inside, as our building entrance has two heavy sets of doors, and the outer ones shut fast. Still, it's cold out, so I suppose it's possible he dashed in unnoticed. The little guy does seem to have some ninja-esque qualities. ).

If we have no luck in the building, we'll probably put up found posters around the neighborhood, and see if we can find any reports of lost cats.

 

[Canadave]

Aha, a neighbor just came by to claim him. I can't lie, I'm slightly disappointed... seemed like a nice cat!

At the very least, it made our evening a little more interesting.

 

[6079SmithW]

Our cat was a stray who showed up and stood outside our door meowing for the better part of a day. Every time someone went out he would run away and hide in the bushes but then come back to the door when everyone was inside. My mom finally let him in (grudgingly) and almost threw him back out a week later because he was so bad. Now he is family and my mom treats him like a baby. He is the first pet we've ever had. My parents love cats so much now that they got a second one.

 

[RoJoHen]

Aw. Well, at least it's back home now.

 

[Canadave]

^ Indeed. It's probably for the best, anyway... we're both students, and don't really have the money to care for a cat properly. And I feel like we did a good thing by taking him in for a few hours... the owner had been out all day and I think it'd been while since he'd had anything to eat or drink.

 

[RoJoHen]

and don't really have the money to care for a cat properly.

Honestly, cats are super cheap.

I spend about $6 a month on my cat.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Good for you! You did the right thing. And let me just say, from personal experience... you will never know such love as comes from a "rescued" pet... we have had two rescued cats, and both showed us unimaginable love in return.

 

[Canadave]

and don't really have the money to care for a cat properly.

Honestly, cats are super cheap.

I spend about $6 a month on my cat.

That little, really?

 

[RoJoHen]

and don't really have the money to care for a cat properly.

Honestly, cats are super cheap.

I spend about $6 a month on my cat.

That little, really?

I get a giant bag of hard food (about $10) that lasts 2-3 months, and I buy a big container of litter (about $15) that lasts about one month.

My cat is happy with that arrangement.

I've had her for 3 years and never even taken her to the vet (maybe I should?). She got all her shots and was spayed before I got her when she was 6 months old.

 

[Canadave]

^ Good to know. Though to be honest, it's the potential of having vet bills that worries me. I don't know if I'd feel comfortable owning an animal I couldn't be sure of paying the medical costs for, if some health problem came up.

 

[RoJoHen]

Fair enough. I've been lucky that my cat has been healthy and happy the whole time I've owned her. Hopefully she has many more years of that.

 

[Amaris]

So I was leaving my apartment around noon today, and noticed there was a cat in the hallway. A neighbor of ours was leaving at the same time, and neither of us knew where the cat belonged, so we thought it best to just leave it for the time being.

Then this evening around ten, I heard meowing outside our door, so I opened it to find the same cat, looking rather lost. Since it had been in the halls so long, my girlfriend and I decided to let it in, and gave it some canned salmon and a dish of water. It was obviously pretty hungry, as it downed the fish pretty quickly. I've put a sign on our building's front door, but so far no one has come to claim him\her. It's a bit interesting for us, as we don't have any pets (aside from a tarantula spiderling of my girlfriend's) so it's a bit different for us, especially as both our families own dogs instead. Still, we both like cats, and we thought it would be cruel to leave the poor thing in the hall, so we'll deal with the house guest for now.

Besides, it's quite cute.

Anyway, just wanted to share. Anyone have any experience with found pets?

Quite the handsome cat! I'm glad he/she is back home. Has the experience made you think about maybe getting a cat some time in the future?

 

[Canadave]

^ I've always wanted to get a cat, actually. I think they're great, but my dad is allergic to them, so we could never have one while I was growing up.