I think we stole a cat - What would you do?

[fix-the-spade]

What would you do?

It's an old saying that cats choose their owners.

If you've had it years and nobody ever came looking, it's your cat now. I acquired a cat that way, he'd been run over and a friend of mine is a vet. He put said cat back together but nobody ever came looking for it, so I ended up with him, he was a lovely cat.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Keep it and dont say anything. It doesnt matter the cats happy.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Haveyou probe them into asking if they ever put up a missing cat sign?

OT- Just to be clear, I have NEVER owned a pet (a sad life I know). I think the main thing is if the cat itself still hold any attachment to its previous owner. If the cat does then it could be a problem.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2739090/Siamese-cat-led-separate-lives-two-different-families-10-years.html

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Keep the cat, because you're not going to be able to get rid of it anyway. It has bonded with your family. That's actually how we got our newest cat. He showed up on our back deck one day as a kitten, and we played with him, fed him, and just took care of him. He'd run off, but he'd always come back the next day and such. Eventually, he started spending whole days here. Finally, after he decided to move in, we put a collar on him, but the next day it was gone. We put another collar on, and the next day he came back with a little note.
"My name is Smoke, and I live at so and so."

We went and talked to the owners and they said we could keep him because he was their son's cat and the son had moved away. Awesome, as we call him, still goes over there to visit, but he's our cat because there's no way he will leave now.


I would, however, tell the family about it. Assuming they care about their pets the way most people do, just knowing that their cat is safe and living a very happy life will make them feel better. It can be pretty painful wondering what happened to a loved one, even after so many years. I highly, highly doubt they're going to demand the cat back.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Considering that the cat came to you, and you didn't, say, break into the home and commit grand theft feline, I wouldn't say you "stole" anything. And if this scenario had come into play just a couple of months later, I'd say give the cat back- but four years? That cat's your family. You should tell them, though, just to ease their minds.

Full disclosure: The little grey cat currently sitting next on my bedroom floor invited herself into my apartment shortly after being abandoned by another family, so I may not be entirely impartial in this matter.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

One does not simply own a cat. Cats simply own you. Think about it, who's paying for its food and cleaning up after it when it makes messes of any type? Sure as hell ain't the cat.

 

[Lufia Erim]

The logical solution is to get a sword and cut the cat in half! I suggest keeping the tail end.

A little less dramatic. Have a duel to the death on who gets to keep the cat. I suggest using a family memeber you are the least attached to.

Ok a little more serious now. Go to a crossroads, with 1 family at both ends and drop the cat in the middle. The family the cat walks to gets to keep the cat.

Okay on a serious note. Sell the cat to them. You get cash, they get car. Win/win.

Ok on an actual serious not. Just keep the damn cat.

 

[Vicarious Reality]

Tell them! Why keep its family secret? Are you afraid they will somehow demand the return of the cat?
It is not a damn bike, it goes where it wants to.

 

[Aesir23]

This is definitely an interesting situation. The fact that this guy didn't even bother to put up signs around the area makes it seem he wasn't overly concerned but I could be very wrong.

Did you guys ever take it to the shelter to see if it had a tattoo or a chip?

After four years I don't really see the point in returning the cat but I don't think the possibility that you might have their runaway cat should go unmentioned either.

 

[Nubrain]

Weird I was on the other side of this kind of situation when I was a kid. We had an orange tabby for about a year when it accidentally got out of our house. We lived near a very busy street and when we couldn't find her assumed the worse. A week later a family friend told us that they had seen her near a park a couple of miles away. We went there several times and never found her. fast forward about 4 years and we had a new cat my mother had become good friends with the nurse that was looking after my grandmother and we are invited over to their house for supper one evening. She has a chubby orange tabby who takes to my sister and me right away which they find odd since the cat is normally kind of shy around strangers. Later my mother found out that she had found her cat at the park we'd been looking at at the same time our cat was missing.

At that point she was their cat for sure we were just so happy to know that someone had taken her in and been good to her instead of thinking that she'd been hit by a car or mauled by a dog and died in some ditch somewhere.

 

[Drathnoxis]

People who let their cats run around outside are pretty freaking stupid, in my opinion. The world is such a dangerous place and a cat doesn't have the understanding to keep itself safe in a world where it can bolt into the street and be run over or jump a fence and be mauled by a dog. It actually makes me a little angry that anybody would care so little for their cat as to just let it roam loose.

 

[Estarc]

Keep it. If it had been four weeks, sure, see if they want it back. But four years? Just keep it and don't let it worry you. It would totally fuck the cat up too if you tried to give it back so to speak. It has lived with you guys the majority of its life, it knows and presumably likes you (in a cat way).

tl;dr - Keep it.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

You took care of the cat, the cat sees you as its owner, the cat is yours.

It wouldn't even matter if it did have a collar, if you took care of it and the animal sees you as the owner, you are the owner.

It's not some kind of object that can be exchanged or returned.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

You didn't steal the cat, the cat has enthralled you into it's service. That's the way those little fuckers work.

 

[MHR]

Unmarked cats are public property, like cows or trees. Just keep the cat.

 

[Buckets]

I think after all this time the cat has declared you it's owners, it sounds like you and your family have looked after it and given it the love it deserves. Even if you did decide to give it back, it would probably reappear on your doorstep.

 

[Denamic]

It is a cat. You feed it, you care for it, the animal is happy. I doubt there is a strong attachment to old owners on the cat's side after three years. Same goes for folks who lost a cat three years ago and never bothered to put up a notice. Also a grown up cat has no real market value, so you don't owe them anything.

Market value? Really? My cats are house cats with 0 market value, yet I would never sell them no matter the price. At the same time, I would give them away if I were unable to take care of them any longer. You don't think about your pets in terms of how much money they're worth. That is downright sick.

 

[Twintix]

People who let their cats run around outside are pretty freaking stupid, in my opinion. The world is such a dangerous place and a cat doesn't have the understanding to keep itself safe in a world where it can bolt into the street and be run over or jump a fence and be mauled by a dog. It actually makes me a little angry that anybody would care so little for their cat as to just let it roam loose.

Hey now, that's an unfair assumption.

I live on the countryside and have three outdoor cats; The oldest one is 12. I let them come inside to feed them and pet them and let them sleep in my bed, but they're mostly outdoors, and they can manage just fine on their own. One of my cats can be gone for a few days, sure, but she always comes back in good health. My oldest cat has lived this long because she's smart enough to pick her moments to walk across the road. And my grandparents had a cat that never got to come inside. She lived to be 20+ years old and she only got run over just recently because (they believe) she eventually lost her hearing and crossed the road at a bad time.

Having outdoor cats doesn't mean you don't care about the animals. If I didn't care for them, they wouldn't stay. That's basically how cats work; You feed them, you pet them, they stay. Cats are roaming animals and they don't require care and attention in the same way as a dog does unless they're a certain breed. (Like perser cats and sphynxes; They require frequent baths and grooming to keep healthy) Note that I said "in the same way"; Of course cars also require time, love and attention.

Yes, I've had other cats, and yes, they've been run over. It has been sad and unfortunate. But they lived good lives and were quite loyal and people-loving. For some reason, most of the cats we raise turn out like that. (We actually had a person who adopted a kitten from us call and say that there was trouble at her kids' school because the kitten followed them there and ran around the school building)

I apologize if I came across as defensive and pushy, but please don't assume people don't care about their animals just because they don't keep them indoors.

OT: You could talk to your neighbours if you feel unsure. But overall, I wouldn't worry. The cat has graciously accepted that you're its servantmaster for 4 years.

 

[CrystalShadow]

I lost my cat.
A long time ago.

Honestly, it's so long ago It's probably dead now regardless of what caused it to vanish.

I went looking for him, but I found no trace of him anywhere.

I can only hope some family took him in, because the alternative is that he died somewhere, basically.
The day he vanished there was a pretty severe storm.

Anyway, if you've had the cat that long, it's probably not worth returning it. It's happy where it is, the old family might miss it (I know I did, for quite a long time), but it's not necessarily a reason to return it to them.

As for collars and such...
That's simply not reliable.
The frequency with which I found my cat's collar caught on a tree branch or something, and the cat wandering in without it...

Cats are very good at getting out of collars...
Mostly because the collars are deliberately elasticated so the cat won't choke itself if it gets caught on something, but still...

 

[Smooth Operator]

Cat wondered off and no one bothered looking for it, then it stayed at your neighbours for shelter and now passed on to you... you didn't steal anything you took in a stray cat.

Back home we have a large farm with lots of free wandering cats, some come to the farm and stay, some go on their way and stay with others, I would never go pestering someone for "my" cat if they went off on their own.