So the other day I saw a cat without a collar next to my apartment building. I approached it and its body language was INTENSELY adversive, with a hunched back and raised fur. I promptly left it alone. But, being unable to help myself, I later went back out there with food (turkey lunch meat and bread crumbles) and water to try to feed it. It was always watching me but it wouldn't let me get within 10 ft of it. It did eat some of the food, but only once I went around the corner and it could no longer see me (I stuck my phone around the corner to see if it was eating). I left out the food and water overnight in case it wanted more and went inside for the night.
The next day I went to check on it and I found it asleep in a little patch of dirt in the trees behind my building. Around it were a few empty cans of cat food, and two metal pet bowls with food and water in them. The food was kind of crusted over though, with flies flying around it. At this point I'm confused, and I begin to wonder if this cat belongs to someone in my building. We have a no pet policy and we are having the floors redone this week, so I became worried that maybe its owners were hiding it outside (which would be weird since we had a set schedule for the flooring, and it didn't have a collar). I wasn't sure what to do, so I left a friendly note under the bowl asking if it was being taken care of or if it was their cat. When I went to check on it again later, I found my note unanswered on the ground where the food bowls were, but the bowls and cat were out of sight. I check around the corner on the side of the building, where I initially saw the cat, and realized that they had MOVED the food bowls to a different location. The cat was in the exact same place I had seen it resting when I first saw it. At this point I'm so confused because why would they ignore my concerned and non-threatening note without any response? Were they embarrassed that they left their cat outside? Or did they think I was gonna rat them out to our building? And why did they think moving the bowls around the corner was going to hide it from me? It's all very bizarre.
Today I checked on the cat again, and it's still hanging out in the same general area. The food bowl has about the same amount of food in it as it did yesterday and many many more flies around it, and the water was kind of dirty with quite a few bugs dead in it. I left the cat some fresh food of my own and fresh water again. At this point I'm unsure what to do, because of the behavior of my neighbors.
The cat doesn't have a notched ear and has become noticeably more disheveled over the past two days. It still won't let me get close to it but it has meowed very quietly at me twice and will sit or lay down and stare at me if I hang out for a bit (but always at a distance). I definitely don't think it's feral, but I can't tell if this is someone's cat from my building that they're either 1) hiding outside (which is horrible) or 2) trying to abandon but they feel bad about it so they're still feeding it. Or it might just be a stray they're caring for, but if that's the case why ignore my note and move the bowls? I think I'm going to call a shelter or the Humane Society tomorrow to see if they can come trap it, but if anyone has any more advice on what to do here I'd appreciate it! To be honest I would LOVE to take this kitty in for myself and take on the task of caring for it and gaining its trust, but I am allergic to cats and I am about to move out of this building and in with someone who cannot stand them, so that's unfortunately not an option.
The next day I went to check on it and I found it asleep in a little patch of dirt in the trees behind my building. Around it were a few empty cans of cat food, and two metal pet bowls with food and water in them. The food was kind of crusted over though, with flies flying around it. At this point I'm confused, and I begin to wonder if this cat belongs to someone in my building. We have a no pet policy and we are having the floors redone this week, so I became worried that maybe its owners were hiding it outside (which would be weird since we had a set schedule for the flooring, and it didn't have a collar). I wasn't sure what to do, so I left a friendly note under the bowl asking if it was being taken care of or if it was their cat. When I went to check on it again later, I found my note unanswered on the ground where the food bowls were, but the bowls and cat were out of sight. I check around the corner on the side of the building, where I initially saw the cat, and realized that they had MOVED the food bowls to a different location. The cat was in the exact same place I had seen it resting when I first saw it. At this point I'm so confused because why would they ignore my concerned and non-threatening note without any response? Were they embarrassed that they left their cat outside? Or did they think I was gonna rat them out to our building? And why did they think moving the bowls around the corner was going to hide it from me? It's all very bizarre.
Today I checked on the cat again, and it's still hanging out in the same general area. The food bowl has about the same amount of food in it as it did yesterday and many many more flies around it, and the water was kind of dirty with quite a few bugs dead in it. I left the cat some fresh food of my own and fresh water again. At this point I'm unsure what to do, because of the behavior of my neighbors.
The cat doesn't have a notched ear and has become noticeably more disheveled over the past two days. It still won't let me get close to it but it has meowed very quietly at me twice and will sit or lay down and stare at me if I hang out for a bit (but always at a distance). I definitely don't think it's feral, but I can't tell if this is someone's cat from my building that they're either 1) hiding outside (which is horrible) or 2) trying to abandon but they feel bad about it so they're still feeding it. Or it might just be a stray they're caring for, but if that's the case why ignore my note and move the bowls? I think I'm going to call a shelter or the Humane Society tomorrow to see if they can come trap it, but if anyone has any more advice on what to do here I'd appreciate it! To be honest I would LOVE to take this kitty in for myself and take on the task of caring for it and gaining its trust, but I am allergic to cats and I am about to move out of this building and in with someone who cannot stand them, so that's unfortunately not an option.
