Our Kitty Dilemma

There is always something that keeps our lives busy and crazy. This week it is because of this sweet little girl.  Last Friday we found her in our yard.  She was cold, and  not wearing a collar. She was a bit shy, but loved the attention Kara was giving her.  We offered her some food, and she ate it like she was starving. The weather was pretty cold that night.  We brought her in the house. We knew that our  other cats would not be happy with a new kitty coming in their territory, so we brought her to our finished basement. While it is currently being used mostly as storage, and we don't spend a lot of time down there, it was still much warmer than outside. 

On Saturday morning we took her to our vet, so they could scan her to see if she was chipped.  To our disappointment, she was not.  We also looked at a scratch on her nose.  It was a little bit red when we found her, but it was seemed more noticeable in the bright lights of the vets office. Since we still had no idea who she belonged to, we took her back home. We suspected that she lived in the neighborhood right next to ours.  On Saturday, we drove around looking for Lost Cat signs, and checking the classifieds online, and in the paper.  No one was missing a cat that fit her description.  On Sunday, we decided to knock on a few doors to see if anyone knew who she belonged to.  At our very first house, we got an answer.  The mom did not know, but one of the younger girls in the house did. She said it belonged to the boy's family a couple of houses down.  It also happened to be the closest house in that neighborhood to our house. The girl then said..  "They won't let the cat inside, because of their dogs."  Kara had witnessed that house  shutting the blinds and turning the light off on the cat on Friday, which is why we did not think they were the owners.  When the mom heard who the cat belonged to, she did not seem that hopeful. She wished us luck that they would even want the cat back.   We went to the house in question.  We could see that they were home, but they almost did not answer the door.  The father was the one who opened the door.  We showed him the picture of the cat on my cell phone. He looked at it for a really long time.. Probably about 30 seconds.  To both of us, it looked like he recognized the cat, but did not want to admit it. He then asked his wife, who we could not see from the door if it was their cat. Not a good sign that he did not seem to know his own cat. She said, yes it was.  The son, who was standing next to his father, did not show any emotion.    I mentioned that we had no idea it was their cat. It did not have a collar on, and it ate like it was very hungry.  He said that they do feed it, but that she refuses to come in. He mentioned they had her in the house a few days before, but she begged to go out.. I was not surprised by that statement.  They had two dogs who had been barking the entire time we were at the door.  She was probably scared to be in the house with them.  I wasn't sure if I believed that she would not go in, because she walked on her own right  into our house.   What he said next kind of worried us.   He wanted us to just let her out, and she would find her way back home. If my cat was missing for two days, I would have not wanted to wait another second to see her, not just think she would find her way home.  We had a decision to make. We knew it was not safe to just let a young, small, possibly not spayed cat to go live outside, especially since it was only going to be in the 30s for the next week to ten days. Winters can get very harsh where we live.  As of right now she is still in our basement, we will not just put her back outside in the cold like he said.  She was not feeling well on Tuesday. We are not sure if she ate something she should not have, or if she just gorged herself from eating so much. For 24-48 hours she just wanted to sleep, and be left alone.   She is feeling much better today, and is acting normally again.   The family has known that we have had her inside since Sunday afternoon. We  have decided to wait and see if they care enough to even ask about her.  It has now been 5 days, and we have not heard a thing. She is super sweet and loving. She is safe, warm, and cared for very much where she is.   We have not introduced her to our other cats yet.  We know she will need a vet appointment to make sure she is healthy after living outside for who knows how long first. They are getting used to her scent though, so that is good.   We don't know if they will ever ask about her, or if she will become a permanent member of the family.  If she does though, she will be very loved.  

Have you ever found an animal that become your pet?