Took in a stray kitten >3y ago, owners seems to look for him

HI all,

In short; during a walk on a Saturday in the autumn of 2013 we found a stray kitten of like 6 weeks old in a forest cabin, 1km away from any houses. We took him home to feed him (he was starving), called the shelters and police to announce the cat we found in case anyone reported the kitten missing. On Monday we went to the vet to check if he was chipped (negative) and again called the shelters and police to inform we kept the kitten without chip. We never received any call anyone was looking for the kitten.

Fast forward winter 2016, in a Facebook group of a neighbour village today I saw a photo of an adult cat that looks like my cat. Someone reports this cat as "walking around, whose cat is this?"

Someone answered: Does this cat has a bended broken tail?

Now, my cat has a bended broken tail, had it has since we found him as a kitten. This adult cat looks a lot like my cat.

I have a feeling this person is the original owner of my cat.

I want to contact him to let him know his cat is in good hands and didn't die, but I do not want to "give him his cat back".

What is the right thing to do? Can he legally take his cat back? 

Thanks all,

Tom

I suppose your cat is allowed to roam around town? My guess is that he visits a lot of people and they would like to know who he belongs to. I doubt it's his original owner (if he ever had one). Just people who see him a lot, and he's recognizable because of his distinct tail.

Thanks for your reply, but based on your reply think I didn't explain it well enough

This cat that was posted today did not have a broken tail. It's not my cat, but a cat that looks alike.

Someone asks if the cat has a broken tail. (as in "I lost a cat that has a broken tail")

Therefore I believe that the original owner of my cat thought that this cat on Facebook may have been his long lost cat.

I would like to contact him to let him know his cat is with me, but I don't want to risk him taking the cat back (the kitten was 6 weeks old, he's 3.5y with me now)

Is there any way to contact him anonymously? I would let them know you had found a starving kitten three years ago and took him into your family. That he is loved and made your life complete. You were just letting them know for some kind of closure. It would be very nice of you to give them closure, it hurts so very much to not know what happened. It is so very rare to have this kind of happy ending, I can't imagine them asking for a cat back that obviously had a good home and was loved. Unless they have papers and some kind of DNA they couldn't prove it was their cat anyway. You will be blessed for worrying about this, please keep us posted on how it turns out!

Thanks so much for this tip. I'll create another FB account and give them closure in case it really is their lost cat. It could after all just be a coincidence

I have lost two cats in my life. One I found back dead through a Facebook group - it was a hard moment but I'm happy to know what happened. The other cat is still missing and I would be happy to have closure; so I want to also give closure to this family if it used to be their cat.

bombom said:

 
Thanks so much for this tip. I'll create another FB account and give them closure in case it really is their lost cat. It could after all just be a coincidence

I have lost two cats in my life. One I found back dead through a Facebook group - it was a hard moment but I'm happy to know what happened. The other cat is still missing and I would be happy to have closure; so I want to also give closure to this family if it used to be their cat.

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But I don't want to give him back, we love him very much and so do his adopted brothers and sister

What's best for your cat? A good loving home with siblings or the (maybe) former owners who gave him starving in a cabin 1/2 mile from anybody?

Don't stir things up and:

Love him, enjoy him and put the matter to rest in your mind.

As we used to say when I was a kid, in this case "finders keepers!"

So I anonymously wrote a message through a new Facebook account. Explaining that maybe our cat could be his, as we found this kitten looking exactly like that cat, with a broken tail, some years ago. How I just wanted to let him know in case he was still looking for this lost kitten after all those years that we're taking good care of him and that he can let it rest now, etc.

The only reply I got was "who's talking about a kitten, i never spoke about a kitten".

..There I go with my good behaviour - should have just listened to my husband and let it go as it surely was a coincidence and that I was a weirdo to think it could be this man's cat

Anyway, thanks for the tips, at least I have a clean conscience

Yep, that's exactly what I should have done I guess- But as I lost cats myself, I just wanted to give peace to someone who could've been looking for this cat.

I think you did the right thing. Not just in taking in the starving kitten but also in anonymously letting someone know that if they had lost a kitten it ended up in a good home.

4 of my current cats were dumped. (I think)

Three of them mysteriously appeared as kittens outside my house and one of them, who looks like a pure bred Persian, was found in the woods miles away from any houses. I've come to terms with the fact that people sometimes dump unwanted pets. Of course there is always the chance that something else happened and for some reason they didn't notice the "Found Cat" posters I put in the shelters and vet's waiting rooms and on the online lost pet sites.

So I take these cats in when ever I find them and try not to think badly of whoever was caring for them before me.

About three and a half years ago one of my cats disappeared. I loved this cat. I did everything I could to find him, searched for him for over a year and spent every penny and moment I could spare trying to find him. It would be wonderful to think that someone had taken him in. If he has a good home with them now I would just be happy knowing that.

You did the right thing @bombom  Give your cat a hug from me and tell him he's loved.

Norachan said:

 
I think you did the right thing. Not just in taking in the starving kitten but also in anonymously letting someone know that if they had lost a kitten it ended up in a good home.

4 of my current cats were dumped. (I think)

Three of them mysteriously appeared as kittens outside my house and one of them, who looks like a pure bred Persian, was found in the woods miles away from any houses. I've come to terms with the fact that people sometimes dump unwanted pets. Of course there is always the chance that something else happened and for some reason they didn't notice the "Found Cat" posters I put in the shelters and vet's waiting rooms and on the online lost pet sites.

So I take these cats in when ever I find them and try not to think badly of whoever was caring for them before me.

About three and a half years ago one of my cats disappeared. I loved this cat. I did everything I could to find him, searched for him for over a year and spent every penny and moment I could spare trying to find him. It would be wonderful to think that someone had taken him in. If he has a good home with them now I would just be happy knowing that.

You did the right thing @bombom  Give your cat a hug from me and tell him he's loved.

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This is a very kind message, thank you for this. It was exactly for this reason I wanted to inform this person. I'm sorry you lost your cat, and good to hear you take in strays who need it

When we found our "broken tail" cat Tom 3.5y ago in the forest we already had 4 cats and didn't want a 5th (well, I wanted, but my husband didn't lol), but we just didn't want to give the cat to the shelter so we took him in and are happy with him since the moment we found him. I accept also not knowing what happened to the kitten ending up in such an isolated place, I've always assumed someone dumped him. But, if this man was looking for him, I wanted to give him peace of mind....

April of this year, one of my cats of 4y old disappeared. It was another cat we took in as a stray kitten that my friend found in the mountains, she observed him and his brother for days, they were underfed and there was no mother so she took them home. She kept one and asked us to please take the 2nd. We of course did. I loved the cat so much, he had a good heart and loved his food Then one day he didn't come home and through a local "lost pet" facebook group we could find him back - dead. Too far away to have just walked away according to the vet, so we think he may have slept on a tractor and drove with this tractor to the other place where he was found dead probably bitten by a wild animal. My heart breaks thinking about the cat being lost somewhere and not being able to find his home back. But even though it causes me a lot of pain knowing what happened, I think it's always better than not knowing what happened to a cat.

So I tried to do the right thing by informing this guy whose cat it may have been. It was a great idea to do this anonymously, and the mister who replied must just be one of those "animal lovers", who could not give a damn I guess.