Help?

[seanlooney86]

Hi guys! I'm new to these forums so I just wanted to introduce myself and explain my predicament. The elderly couple at the end of my street have a 2 year old cat who my girlfriend just fell in love with. She's the most gorgeous little thing and subsequently stole both of our hearts. Because we love her so much we started letting her in about 5 months ago, she is an outside cat and we felt awful that she spent the cold Dublin nights outside. We made a little bed for her next to the heater but we made sure not to feed her. As time went on we started giving her crumbs and then I made the cardinal sin of feeding her wet food. It's now safe to say that she is no longer the elderly couples cat, she has become our full time pet. She waits around in the evenings to be let in and I feel that she relies on me completely now. I have noticed the elderly couple leave crumbs out but I don't even know if she eats them anymore? I have become almost too nervous to go and discuss the situation with them because I feel like I have stolen their pet, which was never my intention at the start. My girlfriend has gone back to Norway for the summer and I'm going to see her in 2 weeks. I'll be gone for 14 days and I've been wondering if she will be ok and if she will just go back to her owners whilst I'm gone? My other predicament is that I am moving to London in November and a huge part of me is saying that I'd like to take her with. I've just completely fallen in love with this cat! Does anyone have any experience with moving cats from Ireland to the UK and is it a traumatic experience? I want to do what's best for the cat and not me so I don't want to take her from her street where she is content and happy unless I know that she won't feel lost and neglected without my care. Any suggestions would help! I am a massive animal lover but always had dogs so this is a new experience for me! Cats definitely are harder work no matter what anyone says!

 

[StefanZ]

Whatever you do, you MUST gather your courage, and go and talk with these older people. Ask them to buy the cat from them, or something.

Otherwise you are stealing, exactly as you yourself said.

Even if you ARE returning her to them, you should talk over with them, excusing yourself and so.

Next, you must decide what to do when you are not there, / moving.

They are perhaps willing to be your cat-sitters?

Next, you are moving to the UK.  You can probably take a cat from Ireland to England, others had surely done so.  Question is, if she can continue to be an outside cat in London. I suspect not.  So you must plan on training her to be a pure indoor cats. Which by itself isnt bad idea.  

But if you arent not sure - let her return to these her owners.

Good luck!