Cat Chat Feline Forum

What to do now. I have 3 cats and 2 of those were strays. Now i have anothe one coming each evening to be fed. He is gorgeous and looks very healthy. Trouble is I can't afford to take another cat. rspca won't help and the catteries are full. Also i am moving to a flat soon and the landlord has agreed to let me take my 3 but not replace them. Anyway, I am not in good health (hence the flat )and couldn't cope.
He arrives every evening and cries at me till i feed him. Not even sure he is a stray
What is the best thing to do, ignore him or keep feeding him till i leave?.

There's a good chance he's not a stray - if he's healthy he could well be a new neighbourhood cat who has cottoned on to a new food source - cats are quick learners when it comes to food. We call our house the 'Cat Cafe' as because of our three girls and the real stray/feral we were feeding for a long time a whole handful of neighbourhood cats turn up to try their luck. They eat all our girl's leftovers as if they were gourmet scraps

Our neighbour has a cat two doors down who is out all night and often doesn't get fed very early and a sometimes give in and feed him as he's desperate - she comes and feeds ours when we're away.

Try a paper collar around his neck if he's friendly, with your phone number and asking them to call you, then if he has a caring family they can let you know he's not at stray. I did this with a regular visitor of the cafe who had a nasty cough and found he only lived across the road from me, and she'd recently got him from rescue

Thanks Jacks. The collar is a good idea.I will try and get one on him when i get the courage up. Don't know why i didn't think of it earlier. By moving and worrying the brain is seizing up.
He is quite friendly but curious quite aggressivey, if you know what I mean.He demands food NOW He is a full tom, but I am too nervous to try and get him as i did have a very bad experience with a stray who mauled me quite badly and I needed hospital treatment.
In my 70s and not very agile at the moment.

Mmm, might not be too good an idea to try handling him at the moment... What about taking a picture of him and calling on a few neighbours and asking them if they know who he belongs too...

Sounds to me like he's not a stray either, just one of those greedy opportunists who cruise the neighbourhood seeing how many meals they can steal or cadge! Equivalent of a feline pub crawl. Don't give in, and he'll soon learn to go home for his dinner.

If you do need help with him could you maybe pop into your local vet to see if they can point you somewhere other than the RSPCA? They are notorious for putting down healthy animals.