Who owns the cat?

Well, we have a cat that visits us. He started visiting us in January 2001. He’s a beautiful Brown Tabby.

He showed up at our deck door, and sat there pretty much all of the time, taking some time off, of course, just looking inside. Two weeks LATER I started to feed him.

He’s usually around, but sometimes isn’t, for a few days to a week at a time.

The thing is, lately, the last few months, he’s really grown on me. “Good Visitor Kitty” is his name, but that hasn’t felt right the last month.

Questions about him abound. Does someone else “own” him? If someone else thinks they own him, what’s the deal, letting him roam around free all the time?

Who spends time with him? Me.

Who feeds him? Me.

Where does he sleep? On my front porch, or on the back deck, or under the car on the driveway.

The last several weeks he now wants to come into the house. Who’d blame him, it’s HOT out there! Besides that, he’s happy there. He loves to sit on my lap, or my husbands lap. He purrs alot. He likes to just lay on the floor and watch what is going on too. He doesn’t particularly like the attention of the children.

The dog doesn’t affect this cat at all. He ignores the dog. The dog does nothing to this cat. One of our other cats is very affected by the dog. He chases her. So, our visitor kitty is a cool customer. I like him.

He showed up today late in the afternoon. He wasn’t around this morning. Humph. He has a collar and a rabies tag on this afternoon, and looks cleaner … someone gave him a bath.

But he’s in our house, on my lap, at this very moment, purring and rubbing his head against me.

He’s shown up clean (obviously bathed) before, after an absense of a day or more. But then he stays by us for days on end, and weeks on end … etc

I’d like to know who thinks they own him. Or maybe it’s just another kind soul who wants to clean him up when he’s around. But I want the job. He likes us, we like him. Problem is, he’s an outside cat. But he’s aclimating to being inside more. I really think he’d do fine inside.

We have 5 other cats though. Is he healthy enough to not cause a problem with our normal status pets? Too late, some of them have interacted, sniffing noses and such. Eating and drinking from the same bowls.

So, does having possesion of his affection and time, and giving him food and water denote a kind of ownership? I’d like to think so.

But someone else, totally unknown to me, has collared him, and perhaps taken him to the vet. The tag isn’t from our vet, so calling a strange vet office to ask questions isn’t as easy to me.

I do think it my Christian duty to help animals that are around. We are to take dominion, and that does include cats. Cat’s shouldn’t be roaming about outside. They aren’t natural to this place, the United States. They are wonderful animals, but not to birds, many of which are natural to this area and on the decline. Cats are predators, no question of that.

So, feeding this cat is important, to keep him well fed. But I would prefer to feed this cat inside, and take care of all his needs. And not wonder about where else he spends PART of his time. He spends the majority of it with us. But I’ve not felt the right to “label” him as mine. Or to attach a note to him asking someone to contact us about him.

Well, we’ll just go on like this for now. It’s frustrating. There is a house up the street with lots of cats wandering about, having kittens often … multiplying and multiplying again and again. I’d like to put notes on all THOSE cats too, but they don’t come to our house.

Our responsibilities should not be limited to just ourselves. We should let our neighbors know the truth about things. Not just cats and dogs, either but TRUTH. Okay, so maybe I will attach a note to this cat.