We returned home about 10 days ago to find one of these lovely cats in our front garden. She was very thin with her backbone and hips showing. Since then she has been living between my neighbour's and my front garden. Whilst we've fed her a bit as she was clearly starving, we're reluctant to overdo it in case a local family is missing her. We believe she must be local as a few days ago an almost identical younger cat turned up who appears to be her kitten (she has a collar but no owner details).
My neighbour's cat and our own cat are not too pleased at being unable to use their own front gardens, and we're concerned they may leave home! If you think you know of a caring local family that may be missing their cats, please let me know.
BTW - we have notified the RSPCA and a local vet. We'll do more if we have no luck via this route.
Replies
Hi Susan. You're doing everything right by trying to help these cats.
The other question is - if they have recently had kittens, where are the kittens and how old are they - I wonder if the 2 mother cats have shown evidence of milk production. It is likely that the kittens need to be helped together with their mother cats.
I have a contact who may be able to help/advise you in respect of the cats. She is experienced in cat rescue and has contacts with many cat rescue charities. I have appraised her of the situation and shall message you her contact details.
Thanks Justine - I'm going to look at the Stokey Cats & Dogs website. We found out where the cats live and it turns out that both cats (they are both very young) have recently had litters. The RSPCA advised us not to feed them so that they would return home. This is very difficult because their circumstances are not great and when 2 cats are in your garden for 24 hours without food, it's hard not to give in. We've taken them back home several times but once they are let out, they return to us.
My neighbour has bought the owner a cat basket and given her details on how and where to have them neutered for free by the Blue Cross or RSPCA, but she hasn't taken them to at least two appointments. She has never come looking for them even though she knows where they are so they have now been here for at least a week continuously. On several occasions we have taken them back to their home and put food down in their front garden - it hasn't worked!
I'm planning to speak to the owner again and possibly ask if we can take them on. I'll also contact Cat Protection again. Will look into the Mayhew, Wood Green and Scratching Post as you suggest. We're trying to do the right thing!
Well done for helping out the cat and her kitten. Hopefully someone will recognise them.
As a long shot, maybe try attaching a note to a collar on the cat with your tel no and see if any owner calls you. You could try the same with the kitten - I think you said the kitten is wearing a collar - hopefully the kitten is 6 months or over as otherwise it is too young to wear a collar. A kitten shouldn't be outside unsupervised until microchipped and neutered.
I guess they could be new on the block or long term lost or if a cat doesn't have a cat flap and can't get into its own home, they will wander. I always encourage cat owners to get their cat neutered, microchipped and have a cat flap. It's safer for a cat to be inside at night as it reduces the risk of it being lost or injured. Plus if this cat is on the roadside at night, that's even more dangerous.
It's not a good sign if she's thin. It's also worrying if a kitten is roaming as the kitten will be vulnerable too.
It's likely that they need neutering as the last thing we need is more kittens being born when there are so many already without homes. Sadly a lot of people don't realise that a cat can get pregnant from 5 months old so its best to neuter cats from 4 months old.
It's worth taking close up photos of their faces and putting details on www.animalsearchuk.co.uk as then anyone who has registered a lost pet in the area, will be automatically notified. Any details you can add, such as any distinguishing features or collar description always helps. It's best to do an individual entry for each cat.
Stokey Cats and Dogs group can help as well. They are a North London volunteer group on Facebook and Twitter and their website is www.stokeycatsanddogs.co.uk. They are good at publicising and reuniting lost and found cats and dogs in North London. Plus they have good advice on Tips on Found Cats on their website.
If it ends up that rehoming is needed, its best not to leave a cat with the RSPCA as if no home can be found, a cat is likely to be put down there (and black cats and black and white cats are particularly vulnerable to that happening). That's why it's so important for people to neuter and microchip their pets. So if you have to go the last resort of animal rescue, other places such as Cats Protection, the Mayhew, Wood Green, Scratching Post are better options - although if taken there, a black cat is likely to be stuck there for a very very long time, poor thing. There are already so many black cats endlessly waiting for homes as animal rescue homes are inundated with homeless animals.
Apparently there are various websites where you can report a lost or found pet, such as Animal Search UK.
http://www.animalsearchuk.co.uk/report-a-missing-pet.php
Thanks, yes I looked and there's a black cat missing in N22 but it's a tom.
Have you checked whether it is chipped? Vets will normally do this for free.