Why is he coming in?

We have two cats in our house, Thor (male) and Zelda (female), both over a year old and siblings.
Very recently we've had this chubby black and white cat coming into our house.

It started off with the cat coming into the garden and sitting with our cats, and then he started sitting in the utility room with Thor sitting on the windowsill above him. Now, he comes into the house and eats the cat food or falls asleep in the living room or plays with the cat's catnip toys.

Our cats never hiss at him, they roll around in front of eachother sometimes, but they never fight.

The other day it was really stormy and the cat sat outside and meowed at us, it kept trying to come in and we kept chasing it out. It then sat underneath our patio furniture in gale-force winds and freezing rain and didn't move for hours. I felt so bad for the cat.

The weird this is, we don't give it any attention, we don't let it eat food and we chase it out whenever we see it come in the garden but it just keeps coming back. It meows as it walks back down the path to leave the garden and I don't understand what's happening.

This morning, it was really frosty and the air was freezing but the cat just sat outside the house on the ice being cold.

Any help?

[picture of the cat on the frost this morning]

Looks like an entire - or recently neutered - tom to me, and well-fed and healthy. His coat is glorious, so he isn't likely to be a stray, or if he is, he is being fed by someone - and well-fed. I think he is hanging around because he has taken a shine to one or both of your cats. entire toms tend to have a large territory and roam far and wide in search of a female in heat.

Are your cats neutered? If there are no entire females around, he may be heading for the next best thing: friendly neuters who accept him hanging around.My cats once made friends with an entire tom, and actually let him into the house by holding a magnet-operated cat flap open with their tails. I wasn't happy, as he fled when he saw me, and sprayed in the process.

He looks gorgeous, though. But if Zelda hasn't been spayed yet, keep her away from him, or you will have kittens.

As jiskefet said, he looks very healthy.  If there's any way to attach a note to him asking whether he belongs to someone, that would probably be a good way to go.

If he doesn't, he may have decided he'd like to live with you

Can you check to see if he's been neutered?  If not would you consider finding a low-cost vet to get it done?

I'd take him in poor cat to sit out in the freezing cold he must be lost or abandon...He seems to get alone with your cats have you considered giving him a home?

He really is a beautiful boy! For him to sit so still and allow you to photograph him he must have a home. Have you tried calling around to vet offices or your neighbors to find his family? He is too nice of a cat to let wander and get hurt.

@Ashenoaks

looks like the poor frozen mite has chosen you to be it's parents. You should try to find his owners.he may be lost or dumped.
Welcome to TCS.

Thank you all for the quick responses!

Zelda is neutered, we had both of our cats spayed/neutered when they were old enough, since they're outdoor cats.

I actually met this cat months before he started coming into the house. He lives down the road from our house and I would see him on the way home from college. He would wait underneath a caravan and run out in front of me, meowing and purring, when I came down the road. I stopped and said hi to him a lot because he was really friendly.
My family think it's my fault that he comes in the house, even though I say hi to pretty much every cat I see on the way home.

I would like to attach a note to him, but he doesn't have a collar and my parent's don't want us paying any attention to him.
I feel awful for him, the poor cat!

I do wonder whether he's been neutered, too.  He has the big round face of a tom, but that may also be his 'look'.

If you know where he lives and he's looked after (he does look well fed!) then it's probably best to ignore him.  Good luck with that.. I'd keep wanting to go and scrunch those cute cheeks..

He might be looking for a new or second home and has chosen yours. I used to joke that our house had an invisible sign that said, "Stray cats welcome here!" Our neighbor two doors down has ended up with two cats that way. I never found out where the first was from, but she hated our dog and couldn't stay. The second's owners didn't want her back when I tracked them down, but she wasn't at all appreciated by our cat, so the neighbor took her.

Maybe he just likes you and/or your cats and is visiting. Years ago we used to find a black cat curled up in one of the beds or on the sofa on an almost daily basis. If a door or window was open he'd waltz right in. Months after that started I saw him in somebody's yard about three blocks from us and told the people he was constantly at our house. It turned out that their dog (a Boxer) had died about the time he started coming around, and he must have followed our Boxer when we had him out for a walk and was trying to "adopt" him. He stopped coming soon after our Boxer died a couple of years later.

People down the street from us put their cat out at night because "she wanted it". She used to climb the ivy on the front of our house, come in through the balcony door and spend the night in bed with us. :lol3: She obviously didn't "want to be" out at night.:lol3:

@Jcat

he actually slept in your bed with you? You are amazing.
But I've a big grin on my face.

What a sweet face! I agree with others that this doesn't look like a stray because he's so well groomed & at a healthy weight. So it could be a cat that belongs to a neighbor that they let out during the day...or it could be one that was recently abandoned. There's no way that your parents would be ok with allowing the cat in if he wants? What's one more!

My 1st cat, Chase, actually chose her 1st owners like that too. She randomly would sit on their apartment steps everyday until they started feeding her. This went on for a while, then one day, she just walked in their door! They were shocked, but let her stay. She never tried to leave. So who knows if she was a street born stray or abandoned. When they moved, they gave her to us. 

Stewball said:

@Jcat

he actually slept in your bed with you? You are amazing.
But I've a big grin on my face.

Click to expand...

She did, but she knew me before she started doing it, because I'd stop and pet her on my way to and from the train station. Animals simply love my husband, so it wasn't too surprising that she made herself at home.

Well you both are truly cat loversion and she certainly loves you. Does she sleep in the middle?

Dogs love you no matter how they are treated.  Cats, on the other hand will go where they get the best deal.  I had a feral for 5 years that I had fixed, shots and feed every day.  She came every night for her dinner.  I would just leave it & watch her from the window.  My cat would let me know when she arrived.  I am surprised your cats allow this strange cat in their yard. One night I didn't not close the screen door and the two of them had a terrible fight.  I didn't see it but my cat came in moving slowly.  Two days later he was add the vet with an infected ear and they showed me five bits that were hidden by his fur.   A few days later my boy and I were outside enjoying the last light and she came for her food.  He chased her off; she ran because I was there to back him up.  Never saw her again and thought she might have been killed by something.

This spring I got a call from my vet and they said they had my cat.  I said no, he is right here.  When I got her fixed she was also chipped.  I reluctantly said I would pick her up.  The vet said "some people brought her in for shots & have a  tooth pulled".  I could not believe it.  She had gone directly to their house and started living under the deck.  The couple sat & talked to her everyday and eventually got her tame enough to be petted.  Last winter was very cold here so they have bought her a heated house.  I called them & gave her history.

So this little female cat had really found a better deal!  I have not seen her since and I now know why.