Can I keep a cat that keeps coming to my house?

For about 3 months now there is a cat that keeps coming over to my house very often. I called the owners the first time I found her as she was meowing and looked really skinny. The owners told me the neighborhood they live in (about 1/4 mile away), and joked that the cat was lying about being hungry because she had just eaten at their house. I asked if they wanted to come pick her up and they said no because there were dogs in the house and the cat wouldn't want in anyway. I decided the cat had a decent home and was probably just wandering the neighborhood so I left her outside and didn't think more of it. She came back the next night, then the next, and it became a nightly routine for her to stop by. She was extremely friendly and wanted to be pet and paid attention to. She still looked awfully skinny so I bought some cat food and started to feed her 1/2 a can per night just so I felt better about it. She started coming by more and more, and now she basically spends anywhere from 12-15 hours per day at our house. I'm not sure if she even goes home anymore, and if she does it might just be during the middle of the day when I'm at work. She is there at night, in the morning, and sometimes on the weekends she stays around my house all day too. I've grown pretty attached to the cat and I really want to keep her but I feel like I'm stealing someone's cat?? I just feel that she has a better home with me since the other family seemingly doesn't pay too much attention to her and has other animals. Any advice of what I should do? I'm afraid that if I take her to a vet claiming that she is a stray that she might have a chip and they will just call the owners... Help!

Funky Lilith2008-09-27T14:31:42Z

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Maybe you should adopt her as other people suggested, unless you don't want to. If you're concerned about the welfare of the animal then you could always contact the RSPCA, they will investigate whether the cat is being malnourished and generally not taken care of and take it away from its owners.

Edit: I just realised you may want to keep it. I say do it, it's a great reward to be chosen by a cat. They are fantastic creatures, I have two that I loved dearly and I am grateful that they love me back.

Anonymous2008-09-27T14:27:03Z

If the owners don't want her and if they are not feeding her and if she has no home you should take it to the vet and make sure that she has no diseases and nothing like fleas, ticks, ear mites and\or ear infections. If the owners said that they don't want her in the house because of the dog's that means that they don't want the cat, so, you can probably keep the cat.

Hope this helps

Hope you can keep the cat, it sounds like a really nice cat, you should be a great owner for her.

Best of luck

Sk8er-Girl

♥Pretty♥ ♥Kitty♥2008-09-27T14:24:13Z

I definitely think the cat is better off with you. Ask the people if you can have her. Since they obviously don't care enough to keep her inside where it's safe, they probably won't mind. If they won't let you have her, have animal control pick her up next time she comes and follow them to the pound. Tell them you'd like to adopt her. She'll have to stay there for 3-5 days so the owner has a chance to come for her. I doubt they will. Go back and adopt her. Have her microchipped and vetted immediately. This way, you have actual ownership papers on her if they try to get her back.

Anonymous2008-09-27T14:21:20Z

Just talk to the owners about adopting the cat. Dont tell them that you think there irresponsible because that would probably make them mad. Just be like the cat has become very fond of you and you really like it and it spends the whole day at your house and ask if you can keep it. Dont take it to the vet until you have worked it out with the owners. Good luck! When you find out the answer, tell me what they said!

hudsongray2008-09-27T18:04:40Z

She's yours.

Go ahead and have her checked for a chip, all you have to do is tell them you'd like to know if she's microchipped and they'll scan her. They won't take her away from you, at worse you can tell them she's been showing up by you and you'd like to take her back to the owners, and then leave with her.

Not all vets have scanners. You can use one of those to have her annual physical done.

Since she's an outdoor cat, they apparently are NOT taking care of her if she's underweight. Since she's spending the majority of the day with you, go ahead and take her in, they apparently like their dogs more than they do their cat.

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