How to tell if a cat has a home?

Hi, all!

This is my first time on this site; I just had a question I thought some of you might be able to help me out with. There's a cat that comes to my house, and I can't tell if it is a stray or not. She showed up over a year over, and we noticed she was pretty skinny so we started to feed her. We started off feeding her chicken flavored dry food, but she ate very little. We switched to a seafood flavor, which she loved, and ate about 1-2 pretty small bowls a day. She gained weight, and she is now a healthy weight. However, my mom (I'm in high school) doesn't like cats at all, and has convinced my dad that we should let her owners feed her because she meows at our door when she's hungry. My dad is convinced she has a home, but I really am not sure that she does. So my dad has decided we shouldn't feed her anymore, and let her "go home". I'm really worried about her because I don't think she has a home, and I don't want her losing weight again.

As for her behavior, she is very very friendly. When she first came to our backyard she had no trouble approaching us and she took a liking to us pretty quickly. I've never seen her have a collar, but I've also never seen her at any other houses in my neighborhood. She will come in the morning, and be there when I get home around 5ish. I'm not sure if she goes anywhere during that time (my dad think she has a home she goes to). She'll stay until about 7 (we used to feed her usually once in the morning then once around 6:30), then leave. My dad thinks she goes home, and but the reason I'm not so sure is because some nights I hear her walking around outside my window. And she's always here at around 7 in the morning. We stopped feeding her a few days ago, and so far, she still shows up and meows, and it just breaks my heart when I can't give her anything to eat. I know that I COULD wait it out and she if she loses weight to convince my dad she needs us to feed her, but it's been causing me so much stress that I was wondering if there's a way to know. We've tried to follow her home a couple times, but she usually just disappears or sits in our front yard.

I'm so sorry that this was so long, but I really home someone can give me some advice. Thank you so much.

Hi Crystal8839 Welcome to The Cat Site.

It sounds as if she might have had a home at some point, but if she is coming to you for food regularly she may have either got lost or been dumped. Sadly this happens quite a lot. I take care of feral cats and it's common for them to disappear for most of the day and then show up at feeding time. She probably has lots of hidden napping spots around the neighborhood.

Have you checked for Lost Cats in your local newspaper or town hall home page? Someone might be looking for her. Another thing you could do is make up some posters with her picture on and put them around, asking people to contact you if she is their cat.

I recommend you get one of your parents to make a new e-mail account and use the new e-mail address for people to contact you on, rather than using your own e-mail or phone number. Just in case you get any weird phone calls.

It's really not safe for her to be outside on her own. If she hasn't been spayed yet you could soon have a litter of kittens to worry about too. If your parents won't agree to keeping her you need to get her to a shelter. Look for No-Kill shelters in your area and call around to see if any of them will take her in. 

They will scan her for a micro-chip, just in case she does have an owner looking for her somewhere.

Finally, if you have been feeding her up to this point please keep feeding her. If you stop she will roam further and further to look for food, get hit by a car or end up getting sick from eating trash. By the time she has lost enough weight to convince your dad she doesn't have another home she may already be too sick to recover.

Thank you for trying to help her. Please keep us updated on how everything goes. 

Please, please keep feeding her. If your parents forbid you from feeding her, please see if you can take her to an animal shelter where she at least will be cared for and possibly adopted. This cat is not a feral, she's likely a dumped or lost cat, and domestic cats are not able to survive for very long outside without a human caregiver. Unlike feral cats, they don't know how to hunt. Also, when a cat goes several days without food, it can get fatty liver disease and die. Perhaps you can compromise with your parents-- continue to feed her while looking to see if she has an owner. Take a picture of her and put up signs around your neighborhood with your phone number or email address--telephone poles are great for this. Post her pic on your local Facebook lost and found pet website. Most important, talk to your neighbors! I can't stress how important this is to find out if someone owns the cat. If someone does, ask them if they are feeding the cat and caring for it. If they aren't, then you're back to the option of taking the cat to a shelter. Please continue to care for this cat until you can find her a home or take her to a shelter. She is likely scared and hungry and doesn't understand why you stopped feeding her. You can also encourage your parents to visit this site and we can help answer their questions as well.

I know a lot of times high school kids don't have access to their own money.  I didn't until I got a job at 16.  So, if this is the case, you probably can't continue feeding her without getting your dad on board.  So, here's my idea.

Get her a collar - make sure it's one of those breakaway collars - and a tiny bag - like a little cloth bag that are just decorative or once had some kind of jewelry in it or whatever.  Write a little note saying something like, "This cat spends a lot of time at my house.  If she's yours, please put a note in the bag so I can stop feeding her and she'll spend more time with you."  However you want to word it.  And if the note stays in the bag for a few days, I think that would be pretty clear evidence that she doesn't have a home and your dad would have to cave.

Thank you for all your input. My dad has suggested that we put a collar on her with a note, and I knew he was right. I was just being selfish because if there's no reply I know my dad will make us take her to the shelter. The shelter near us is kill-free, thank goodness, I guess I'm just realizing if she doesn't have an owner the shelter has to take her in and I can't see her again. I will also try to convince him that we should feed her until we find out.
I hope she does have an owner. I'll hopefully get the collar on her in the next couple days. I will keep you updated!

It will be sad if you can't see her again, but at least you won't have to worry about her being outside in the cold and facing all the dangers out there. Outdoor cats don't live very long and this girl sounds like she'd make a terrific indoor cat for someone.

It won't be long until you're old enough to move out and get a cat of your own. Maybe you could adopt a shelter cat so you will have made the lives of two cats better.

And you will keep feeding her until you find out if she has a home or not, right?

Definitely. We have a bit of leftover food that I will feed her, and if we run out, I have a good friend with cats that will give me some of her cat food.

That's made me happy.



Please keep us updated on her story.

Update: Here she is! We put the note on her yesterday afternoon. Someone opened it, but did not reply. We are thinking of changing it to "Please check if someone is feeding me" instead of owner, if someone doesn't check the box within the next couple days. We have tried feeding her, she doesn't seem to be hungry, just sniffs it and walks away. Hopefully we will get a reply soon.

Oops, forgot to mention what the note says. It says "this cat likes to visit our house. please check the box if you are the owner of this cat and she is being fed"

She looks pretty healthy in that picture. The note sounds like a very good idea.

She's a pretty little thing!  Thank you so much for caring about her and trying to make sure she at least has food.   I don't have any great suggestions besides those others have posted;  I do hope you can find a no-kill shelter, rescue or sanctuary to take her in, even though it's still "kitten season" and a very difficult time to get this done because of that.  If you are on facebook, you should be able to input something like "cat sanctuaries, rescues, and no-kill shelters in *your area*" and you should get a drop-down menu with listings you can click on and read about/contact.  I hope this is still the case; facebook made me change my account from a personal account to a Page (business account, even though I'm not a business) because of my cat advocacy activity on the site, from which I'm not able to run these searches any more.  

She looks thin, and whether or not someone gives her any care at all, they are not giving her the proper care by letting her roam outside and allowing her to stay so thin.  She needs a loving home where she'll be WELL cared for and kept safe.  Please keep us informed. I wish you were able to adopt her as you sound like a caring person.  

what a beautiful little girl. 

My two cents worth - change the word 'check' to 'tick' - they may think you mean check as in 'look what's here' rather than 'make a mark here.'

Definitely sounds like a cat that either lost its home or is being neglected.

However, since the cat wasn't hungry, it is possible its now being fed by you AND someone else who also isn't sure if it already has a home. If so, they may be willing to adopt it and it won't have to go to a shelter after all.

Not meaning to sound harsh but if you drop her off to spca or other local humane place let them know YOU would love to have her they would inform owners if there are any

owners or if the owners even care enough to pay the fine to get her out.  There would be a fee for you BUT she would be fixed with shots if not already.

The OP, who is a teenager, would love to have the cat but her father won't allow her to take the cat in.

Thanks, everyone!
Great news!!
Today I put a new note on her, and on a whim, I decided to include my phone number just in case. Turns out this was a great move; I got a text and a voicemail from this really lovely lady saying she has an owner, (described the house in case i needed to talk to them), and she also feeds her herself! I am so relieved, thanks to everyone for their help!
Also, the reason it took so long for a response is because the owners feed many feral cats as outside cats, so they don't have time to check on them daily. Fortunately this lady saw her come to her front porch and removed the tag. She's a great person, she's actually been trapping and neutering the ferals with her husband because the population has grown so much in the neighborhood. Anyways... thanks again for your help, so glad she is being fed and has owners!

That's really good news. I'm glad she has so many people looking out for her.