Taking Another Cat Owners Cat Without Permission

[vince]

When I was young, we had a small cat appear at the door and cried to be fed, so we did. After a few days of this we took him in and gave him a name. He was an indoor-outdoor cat as was more common those days. It took three months before the neighbor two doors down saw him and said, "What are you doing with our cat?"

We apologized, explained and gave him back to her. Only saw him a few times afterward.

This sort of thing does happen.

 

[weebeasties]

Strangely, I was just having a discussion about this with some friends.
I may be a catnapper. Many years ago I took in a cat who was being chased through my yard by a pack of dogs. He was very thin, covered in fleas, had earmites, and un-neutered at approximately one year of age. Considering his condition and the fact that he was running around loose outside in a very dangerous area, I put very little effort into finding his owners (if he had any). I did keep my eyes peeled for flyers and checked with the only local vet when I brought him in to be examined to see if anyone had reported a missing cat. That was it, though. I felt that if he did have an owner, they were not looking after him properly. So I kept him. That may make me a bad person to some here, but for over 10 years now I have been loving and spoiling this sweet boy. I don't think he has any complaints. And considering all the dangers where he was found, I don't think he would have survived very long if I had not taken him in.

 

[Willowy]

Since I live in the country, if a cat shows up I don't advertise that I found a cat. I don't want dumpers to have the satisfaction of knowledge that he survived. I want them to wonder about that for the rest of their lives. I do keep an eye out for notices and posts on Facebook. But, nope, I'm not giving them that satisfaction. The only way a cat is going to show up here is if they were dumped.

 

[kittyluv387]

Strangely, I was just having a discussion about this with some friends.
I may be a catnapper. Many years ago I took in a cat who was being chased through my yard by a pack of dogs. He was very thin, covered in fleas, had earmites, and un-neutered at approximately one year of age. Considering his condition and the fact that he was running around loose outside in a very dangerous area, I put very little effort into finding his owners (if he had any). I did keep my eyes peeled for flyers and checked with the only local vet when I brought him in to be examined to see if anyone had reported a missing cat. That was it, though. I felt that if he did have an owner, they were not looking after him properly. So I kept him. That may make me a bad person to some here, but for over 10 years now I have been loving and spoiling this sweet boy. I don't think he has any complaints. And considering all the dangers where he was found, I don't think he would have survived very long if I had not taken him in.

If a cat is in such poor condition it’s fair game! You did a great thing in my book.

 

[misty8723]

Many years ago, before we had our own cats, we had an indoor/outdoor cat a few houses up. We had met her of course, but really became involved with her one New Year's Eve when it was very cold out and she was outside. We brought her in and called her owners from the number on her tag, only to find out they were out of the country! I'm not sure how we found out the neighbor across the street was supposed to be taking care of her, but we went up and talked to them. Turns out, they had her first, but she adopted the people across the street, so they allowed them to adopt her. As to why she was out on that night, they couldn't find her and said that they had somewhere to go and weren't going to stay home just to find her!!!

From that time on, she visited with us often, stayed overnight when she felt like it, we had food, water, litter box. And this was with her owner's knowledge and consent. They said they were happy she had a safe place to go. We did not try to keep her, even when they were going back home to Germany and planning on taking her, we didn't try to negotiate to keep her, even though we both cried when she left.

It was because of her that we went visiting cat shelters and found our beloved Swanie and Cynthia, and I can't imagine two better cats ever.

I do think it's fine for neighbors to give shelter to outdoor cats, but unless there is abuse going on, you have to let them go back home.

 

[Fish Em]

I am not sure what happened to my first cat Dexter. He was a stray/feral that we had for 7 or 8 years. My sister got a puppy for her 16th birthday that she never trained or took care of and puppy chased Dexter and harrassed him to no end... Until We couldn't find him. I looked everywhere and put flyers. I only hope he ended up somewhere comfy and given all the love he deserved. I was myself too busy to take care of him how deserved and looking back, probably should have found him a better home before he disappeared. I fully approve if he was "cat napped" given the horrible circumstances. Now? I am taking my new boy to get microchipped and collar'd after reading this!

 

[LittleShadow]

I'll admit, I took 'ownership' of my neighbor's cats. We were in the country, and they moved in with three unfixed queens and an unfixed tom, and just let them go outside. They'd cut open and drop a sack of cat food outside once a week or so, and after we repeatedly talked to them about making water available they installed a small pond rather than bother putting out water bowls that they'd have to clean. They refused to fix any of the cats, or provide any shelter no matter what we said, refused our repeated offers to drive them and the cats to low-cost fix clinics or even allow us to fix the cats ourselves when we offered. They also refused to fix the kittens, or the grand kittens, or....you get the idea.

Eventually, we had dozens and dozens of cats EVERYWHERE. None were fixed, none were vaccinated, there was no owner-provided shelter, their provided water was less than ideal as the owners didn't really take care of the supposed drinking pond very well, the provided food was completely insufficient and a source of fighting, and signs of inbreeding were starting to pop up. Owners couldn't care less, and showed no signs of improving.

So I registered as a feral colony caretaker, and I started TNR'ing the whole lot of them. I started providing water and food, out of sight of the technical owner. When owner commented on how one had an 'injured' (tip clipped) ear, I played dumb and said it must have been fighting. When the TNR program started working and we started seeing fewer cats as the population stabilized and we weren't getting a dozen new kittens every month, I said I thought I'd heard coyotes around.

I freely admit I misled and flat out lied to the so-called owner of those cats. Literal scores of kittens, possibly hundreds, died from the usual realities of wild living under the neighbor's 'care'. They weren't actively harming the cats, but they weren't caring for them in more than the most token sense, either. I'd tried everything I could to convince them to take proper responsibility and care of those cats. I'd been explicitly told NOT to fix or vaccinate the cats, or take any and make a pet of them. So technically....well, some might say I was in the wrong to claim those cats as 'my colony' and TNR them. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. My Molly is technically 'stolen' from them, but you try to take her from me and I'll fight you.

I suppose I'm of the "the cat's health is the most important detail" party in regards to cat-theft. If the owner is negligent in providing food, water, or shelter and the cat seeks those from you, especially for an extended time....well, the old saw about possession being nine tenths comes to mind. If it's safe and practical to give the owner advice and suggestions, I'd try that first in most cases before assuming ownership.

In an individual cat situation, I'd probably ease into the theft, say by providing the owner advice, then providing the cat outdoor resources, then if the owner seemed to be continuing negligence maybe installing a cat flap to my garage and shelter/food there to monitor how much of the care I'm giving, then maybe a flea collar or unmarked collar, and if after a couple months I was providing what seemed to be all the care and the owner didn't take the collar off/replace it with their own/add their own tags....well, I'd put my tags on the collar. If a month or two more passed with no challenge of my tags, I'd see about getting them into the vet and chipping them as mine. If at any point during this slow adoption the cat needed vet care and the official owner refused to provide it when alerted to the need, I'd take the cat for care myself and consider myself the official owner at that point.

If at any point the original owner came and went "Hey, I noticed a collar on my cat/your tags on my cat/my cat isn't coming home at night and seems to be going into your garage" I would apologize, talk to them, and try to work out a situation that made sure the cat was cared for and happy. I'm not against the idea of outdoor cats, I just want to make sure the cat is cared for. If it ended up with the cat being a sort of neighborhood cat that's officially owned by neighbor, but sometimes hangs out with me, no problem.

If the official owner hasn't noticed in months that their cat isn't asking for food/shelter and is wearing a new collar with another person's name and contact info on it....well, to me that's an abandoned cat, even if they just pushed it out the door instead of driving it to the country and dropping out of the car.

That said, I'd NEVER just go "oh, this cat is always wandering around here, it must be a stray!" and bring it inside, or let any cat that seems healthy (and therefore probably owned) into my house. That sort of theft is not okay to me, and I can just imagine how heartbroken the owner would be if their cat just stopped coming home one day. My approval of cat-theft is limited to cats that appear to need help, and I prefer to do all I can reasonably do to help the owner give that care rather than adopting the cat away from them. ....uh, I seem to have gone into novel mode again, sorry about that... My opinions are also sort of colored by my experiences, so...take with salt?

 

[kittyluv387]

I'll admit, I took 'ownership' of my neighbor's cats. We were in the country, and they moved in with three unfixed queens and an unfixed tom, and just let them go outside. They'd cut open and drop a sack of cat food outside once a week or so, and after we repeatedly talked to them about making water available they installed a small pond rather than bother putting out water bowls that they'd have to clean. They refused to fix any of the cats, or provide any shelter no matter what we said, refused our repeated offers to drive them and the cats to low-cost fix clinics or even allow us to fix the cats ourselves when we offered. They also refused to fix the kittens, or the grand kittens, or....you get the idea.

Eventually, we had dozens and dozens of cats EVERYWHERE. None were fixed, none were vaccinated, there was no owner-provided shelter, their provided water was less than ideal as the owners didn't really take care of the supposed drinking pond very well, the provided food was completely insufficient and a source of fighting, and signs of inbreeding were starting to pop up. Owners couldn't care less, and showed no signs of improving.

So I registered as a feral colony caretaker, and I started TNR'ing the whole lot of them. I started providing water and food, out of sight of the technical owner. When owner commented on how one had an 'injured' (tip clipped) ear, I played dumb and said it must have been fighting. When the TNR program started working and we started seeing fewer cats as the population stabilized and we weren't getting a dozen new kittens every month, I said I thought I'd heard coyotes around.

I freely admit I misled and flat out lied to the so-called owner of those cats. Literal scores of kittens, possibly hundreds, died from the usual realities of wild living under the neighbor's 'care'. They weren't actively harming the cats, but they weren't caring for them in more than the most token sense, either. I'd tried everything I could to convince them to take proper responsibility and care of those cats. I'd been explicitly told NOT to fix or vaccinate the cats, or take any and make a pet of them. So technically....well, some might say I was in the wrong to claim those cats as 'my colony' and TNR them. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. My Molly is technically 'stolen' from them, but you try to take her from me and I'll fight you.

I suppose I'm of the "the cat's health is the most important detail" party in regards to cat-theft. If the owner is negligent in providing food, water, or shelter and the cat seeks those from you, especially for an extended time....well, the old saw about possession being nine tenths comes to mind. If it's safe and practical to give the owner advice and suggestions, I'd try that first in most cases before assuming ownership.

In an individual cat situation, I'd probably ease into the theft, say by providing the owner advice, then providing the cat outdoor resources, then if the owner seemed to be continuing negligence maybe installing a cat flap to my garage and shelter/food there to monitor how much of the care I'm giving, then maybe a flea collar or unmarked collar, and if after a couple months I was providing what seemed to be all the care and the owner didn't take the collar off/replace it with their own/add their own tags....well, I'd put my tags on the collar. If a month or two more passed with no challenge of my tags, I'd see about getting them into the vet and chipping them as mine. If at any point during this slow adoption the cat needed vet care and the official owner refused to provide it when alerted to the need, I'd take the cat for care myself and consider myself the official owner at that point.

If at any point the original owner came and went "Hey, I noticed a collar on my cat/your tags on my cat/my cat isn't coming home at night and seems to be going into your garage" I would apologize, talk to them, and try to work out a situation that made sure the cat was cared for and happy. I'm not against the idea of outdoor cats, I just want to make sure the cat is cared for. If it ended up with the cat being a sort of neighborhood cat that's officially owned by neighbor, but sometimes hangs out with me, no problem.

If the official owner hasn't noticed in months that their cat isn't asking for food/shelter and is wearing a new collar with another person's name and contact info on it....well, to me that's an abandoned cat, even if they just pushed it out the door instead of driving it to the country and dropping out of the car.

That said, I'd NEVER just go "oh, this cat is always wandering around here, it must be a stray!" and bring it inside, or let any cat that seems healthy (and therefore probably owned) into my house. That sort of theft is not okay to me, and I can just imagine how heartbroken the owner would be if their cat just stopped coming home one day. My approval of cat-theft is limited to cats that appear to need help, and I prefer to do all I can reasonably do to help the owner give that care rather than adopting the cat away from them. ....uh, I seem to have gone into novel mode again, sorry about that... My opinions are also sort of colored by my experiences, so...take with salt?

These types of situations are definitely not just black and white. So I get what you’re trying to say. And Molly is very lucky to have you!

 

[LittleShadow]

I'm certainly lucky to have her! ...come to think of it, Simon was probably something like "accepting property that 'fell off a truck'"....We didn't scoop him up, but we got him from a friend who had taken to feeding a local cat so it would stop scooping the koi out of their pond and eating them. Then they were going to visit family for the summer, and knew if they stopped putting food out, all their koi would be gone before they got back, so they pawned him off on us.

We discovered quickly that he was not a longhair munchkin when he warmed up enough to let us touch him and we realized all four of his upper legs were fully matted to his body, the poor thing. He had (mostly) excellent manners, meowed and chirped like a cat that grew up around people, was neutered but not chipped or tipped, but had to be shaved to the skin to remove all the mats and treated for fleas and parasites. We strongly suspected he was an abandoned indoor only cat from his behavior. Friends we got him from had been feeding him to protect their fish, but not interacting otherwise much, for the whole winter before they gave him to us, and several houses near said friends had recently sold or changed renters around the time he started eating their koi, so...

I have to say that I'm glad microchips are a thing now though! With the way cats tend to escape collars, it's good that there is a way to make sure your cat can be identified by others who have never seen it or you before, and hopefully be returned to you.

 

[Maria Bayote]

I am feeding every cat that comes to my door. Some are regulars, some are not. When I see that a certain cat without a collar but looks healthy and clean enough, I assume it has an owner and just wandered about. So I just feed them, it does not matter if they keep coming back. But to take them in and keep them as yours is not cool, as the owner could be looking for it soon. Don't wanna have my Barley or Bourbon be taken without my permission, although they are both indoor cats only. But who knows, they could escape without my noticing.

 

[di and bob]

Getting taken in by a neighbor would be the BEST thing that would happen to cat left outdoors, i have too many little graves after picking them up off the street. I feed who ever shows up if they are hungry. the neighbors cat started showing up, then brought not one, but two litters of kittens across that busy, dangerous street. After informing the neighbor of what she was doing, he said "Good she
is getting food from somewhere I want her to hunt over here and don't feed her". I buried three kittens. I could see an endless supply of kittens getting killed to get a little food, so I took her down and had her spayed. I told the owner but he told me that he didn't own any of his cats, they just show up. She is sitting on my lap right now, one of the most loving cats I have ever shared my life with, and happily indoors!
If you leave your cat on their own outdoors, be prepared for tragedy, eventually it WILL happen. I've only had one cat that just couldn't be happy indoors. It took 11 years, but finding him on that street broke our hearts, even knowing he was happiest outdoors. it is NOT WORTH IT! KEEP THEM INDOORS OR UNDER YOUR SUPERVISION!

 

[catapault]

And after 10 years! someone got their cat back. It had been "taken in" by a neighbor.

Neighbour 'adopted' cat missing 10 years

So yes, this does happen when perhaps it should not.

 

[LittleShadow]

I just...that sort of theft I don't get? A microchipped cat not being returned to a loving owner baffles me. Cats with wounds that need treating, severe signs of neglect/abandonment like my Simon's mats, cats 'owned' by people who openly state they won't care for them, or worse 'owned' by the sort of person who gloats about previous/intended murder/torture of animals, I get 'stealing' those. I just don't get scooping up the healthy, friendly neighborhood 'stray' and not even trying to check for owners???

Or is this sort of cat theft more of a logical conclusion to some of the "this is not my cat" meme type situations? A person who does not own a cat being presented with one in their space and just sort of going "Well, I guess if we keep waking up to a cat making itself at home, I...suppose I have a cat now?" and they don't even think to check to see if this strangely friendly cat might already have people?

 

[jcat]

I just don't get scooping up the healthy, friendly neighborhood 'stray' and not even trying to check for owners???

Exactly! It's not up to others to judge a cat is "neglected" because it's allowed outdoors.

We had an adult feral cat move on to our property when his colony was relocated due to construction. After quite a while he started to sleep and eat in our laundry room, but remained far too wild to adapt to indoor living. He used to bring friends home for breakfast, and I'd sometimes find 8 or 9 in the morning, which I fed. I also did my best to track down their owners to let them know about the extra meals, merely so they wouldn't worry about decreased appetites.

For years a cat that lived down the street would come every night and sleep with us. Her owner told me she loved to go out at night and was a bit shocked when I told him she liked our bed and our dog. It never crossed our minds to steal her; we simply enjoyed her company.

I did take in a neighborhood cat whose owners went away for six weeks and left her to her own devices (and had the nerve to demand her return when they came back). I'd distributed flyers and asked around till I found where she lived, then got statements from their immediate neighbors about their absence and afterwards took them to court. We won. Better to put in some effort than to steal.

Tip: Ask children, people who regularly walk down your street, and anybody who gardens if they know where the cat lives. Kids who walk to school and play outside often know the neighborhood pets.

 

[doomsdave]

Sometimes, this taking in stuff works for the best for all concerned.

My Helpful Anonymous Handyman has brought me a number of cats over the years, including one who looked exactly like a giant plumped-up version of Great Great Grandma, pictured below.

He was sweet and 'wovable, and then HAH found another kitty, who turned out to be pregnant. After she gave birth she got all fierce and drove poor Knucklehead out of the house. (She attacked him in mid-poop while he was on the litter box; that would bother me, too.) I saw him out and around a bit, and when I tried take him back in he wouldn't go back; he'd squirm and bite and scratch when I tried to put him in the house. Eventually a neighbor took him in, and I hope kept him in. My 'hood is the Abode of the Coyote. (And the Kitty Graveyard.) I still look once in a while to see if he's sleeping on the neighbor's windowsill or some place.

IMG_4701.JPG

• doomsdave
• Dec 2, 2016

 

[doomsdave]

Here’s HAH, a bit of a stray himself....

 

[ItsMaryann]

wanted to comment on this because i think this happened to me. i just want to start by saying, i wanted my cat to be an inside only cat, but it wasn’t up to me. he’s an indoor/outdoor cat.

-we live in a small ass town, and my cat is a purebred manx. he is the only cat i’ve ever seen around here without a tail. he looks majestic. very large, very furry, bright green eyes, stub tail, extra long whiskers. my point is, you can definitely tell that cat isn’t a stray

-you can tell he’s well fed and well cares for

-he had not one, but two collars on. a flea collar, and another collar that had a tag with his name, my name, my boyfriend’s name, both of our phone numbers and our address on it.

one day he comes home and the collar with the tag is missing, but the flea collar was still there. i couldn’t afford a new collar and tag so i hoped it just fell off or something. but now he’s been gone for a month. he’s never been gone this long. he went missing around christmas time. i feel like somebody took him in and kept him as a christmas gift.

get your own damn cat. the only time i would take in a cat is if it was skinny, or otherwise sickly looking. you can absolutely tell if a cat has a home. strays done have flea collars. strays don’t look well groomed.

and if you take a cat, the very least you can do is post it online and see if anyone claims it.

i agree that there are a lot of risks in having an outdoor cat, and it’s definitely not worth it. but it wasn’t my decision. almost a year ago, i got this cat tattooed on my arm. i love this cat. i just hope he’s safe. and i hope whatever dumbass took him, loves him.

I hate to even mention this but could something have gotten him? We have coyotes in our area. Pretty sure an owl got our small 13 year old cat last year. A hawk attempted to attack a fairly large cat of ours in our backyard with me standing nearby. Our cats used to be indoor/outdoor but now are newest two are indoor only because I’m so afraid of the predators. I hope you find your cat!

 

[islander]

"someone" took my cat, the one on the photo on the right who is now gone. I was in a tourist area and had read an article of some visitors who took in a cat then dumped it when they left. It was a very remote rural area. Made waves, ads out etc... then emailed every holiday let landlord in the area... Three months passed and one evening i heard her distinctive cry... Ran out and she was at the far end of the lane,,,, small black speck.. ran back in and grabbed a cat food tin and a spoon and rattled that at the gate.. little by little she came nearer and I grabbed her, " YOU ARE NEVER GOING OUT AGAIN!" She was emaciated and distressed. Fed her and it came back, so chicken and rice in tiny amounts. She sat on my chest all the night long telling me all about it... we think she had been in a holiday let then got shut in and maybe my emails sorted that.. NB My cats are so distincive here and we are so few on the island that everyone knows THEY ARE MINE!Another neighbour kidnapped my big cat later...lived to tell the tale and apparently cat was begging food!