His Neighbor’s Cat Kept Coming Over, So He Started Feeding It And Letting It Inside, But Now He Wants To Adopt It
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Cats can make great pets, but you need to keep a close eye on them, or they will try to get out and roam the neighborhood.
That is what was happening with the cat in this story, and he kept coming over to the author’s house to play in his garden.
Since the neighbor rarely came to get the cat, he would feed it and even let it inside when the weather was bad. While the neighbor would complain sometimes, mostly he just let it go. So, he is thinking about trying to adopt the cat, but he isn’t sure if the neighbor would allow it.
Personally, I think it is unlikely that the neighbor would give up his rights to the cat, even if he isn’t a good owner. Read through the full story below and see what you think.
AITA for feeding my neighbors cat?
Our neighbors across the street have this cat, Lucky.
Seems like a nice neighborhood cat.
He‘s the most lovely cat, a big boy with a charming personality, extremely friendly and affectionate, almost more like a dog. He’s the best.
I got to know him a year ago when he was howling out on the streets with a wound on his neck, looking like an alley cat. I hadn’t seen him before in the neighborhood, we had moved here a few months prior, and assumed he had ran away somewhere (where I live, there‘s not many strays, and he was way too friendly to be one.)
Taking the cat inside was the kind thing to do.
It was the day before national holiday with lots of fireworks, so I took him inside. My own cat at the time wasn’t thrilled, but I felt sorry for the “runaway”. I took him to the vet to see if he was chipped, and he was.
It was an address not too far away from where I found him, but a bit too far for the cat to just walk there casually. Nobody picked up the phone.
Good, the owners found the cat.
I took him back home to wait for the owners to call back, which they never did. A couple days later, however, there was a “Missing” poster right across the street with a picture of him.
Of course, I gave him back immediately. The lady that picked him up seemed a bit hectic and frazzled, but nice enough!
It can be hard to keep a cat in the house.
We learned that Lucky had a disability and couldn’t climb or jump well at all. We could sort of tell, he walks a bit funny, but we had just assumed he was way older than he is (he’s 8 now.)
The owners had been on vacation for a whole month and a neighbor was feeding their two cats. Nothing wrong with that, BUT; Lucky can’t climb up his ladder to get inside their apartment.
He can get out, but not in on his own, they have to let him in down at the front door. So, he pretty much was out on the streets for a month, but at this point, I didn‘t judge too much (yet).
The cat has escaped once again.
After that, I sometimes saw Lucky outside on the sidewalk, but that‘s it. Me and my boyfriend even kept a bit of a distance because we had contracted fleas in the apartment from his brief stay, lol!
A year later, this summer, we saw him way more, as he found our backyard (multiple gardens belonging to apartment complexes – his owners don‘t have a backyard/garden).
We were outside a ton this summer with our own cat, because he was very old (18) and getting very ill. We knew it was his last year. He didn‘t go out on his own, but we had accompanied him to the garden daily for a few years and he loved it.
He is a fat cat.
So, Lucky joined us a lot of times, and yes, he did sometimes eat our cats leftovers. Also, the food I put out for the hedgehogs.
What can I say, he‘s a big boy with a big appetite, and will eat just about anything he can get… There’s many people with cats, so I’m almost sure he’s getting stuff from elsewhere too. He‘s also a big hunter, he brought big rats to the garden as “gifts” many times and ate them. (Yikes!)
The owners are looking for the cat.
Apparently, he stopped going home, as they put out the Missing poster again, but only for a day, so I assumed the issue was resolved.
Once, the son of Luckys owner came looking for him in the garden with a very rude attitude, we tried to explain everything with the leftovers and it being summer, where cats like to be outside a lot etc. and tried to keep it very friendly.
This would be heartbreaking.
Then two months ago, our own cat died. I was, and still am, heartbroken. Lucky still being around in the garden helped me tremendously. I seriously cut back with the feeding for a while, because well, I didn’t have a cat of my own anymore and couldn‘t justify it anymore, it was different him eating leftovers and me deliberately feeding him.
Lucky lost a bit of weight, but still stayed in the garden and just didn‘t want to go home! They tried coming to get him a few times, sometimes successful, sometimes not, but only about once a week max. They couldn’t be bothered the rest of the time.
Maybe they need to keep a closer eye on their cat.
He was just always there. When she did turn up, the mother seemed increasingly annoyed with the cat not wanting to come home with her, and having to go look for it at all.
I became annoyed with their attitude, acting like the cat was causing them so much trouble, when they couldn‘t even provide him a way to access their apartment easily.
Cats are very independent and like to go in and out as they please. What is he supposed to do? Wait on the sidewalk for hours, until one of them maybe comes home or maybe hears him?
They clearly aren’t very good owners.
What happens in the night if they don‘t manage to let him inside before they go to bed? To add insult to injury, the whole family is very lethargic and erratic. They only want to pick him up exactly when they want to, then it’s an emergency.
The daughters stomped down the fence to our garden instead of waiting 30 seconds for him to walk over to them after calling for him once, smh. That was the last we saw of the daughters, though, and that was more than 1 month ago.
If nobody else is going to take care of Lucky, they can do it.
They were too lazy to walk 1 minute over to get their cat many times, when we texted them that he was here now & seemed hungry, either not replying at all, or something like “it’s too hot right now”, but then still being annoyed that “he never comes home”.
Now, we haven‘t heard from them in 3 weeks at all, Lucky is still in the garden every day, but summer has sadly come to an end.
It gets quite cold in the night already and it‘s raining a lot. Even though I know it’s wrong in a way, we have started feeding him a bit more regularly again, and also letting him inside sometimes if it‘s raining or cold, or in the night.
Is he supposed to just let the cat cry all night?
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Only if he wants to, as soon as gives any sign of wanting to leave, we let him out immediately. I can’t lie, I would love to adopt him immediately, I‘ve just never had such a connection with a cat.
What do I do?! I feel terrible for doing this in a way, but also don’t want to leave him outside in the cold. It breaks my heart when I hear him crying in the garden.
It is unlikely that the neighbors will give up ownership.
I feel like it would be best for everyone and take some stress off all parties if we just made it official.
Is there any way I can approach this topic without ruining any chance of adopting him in the future? Or is it better not to say anything? AITA? Thank you.
There would be nothing wrong with offering to take the cat, but he can’t expect that they will agree. People say they love their pets, even when they don’t take very good care of them.
Read on to see what people in the comments have to say about this story.
Adoption aside, he should keep bringing the cat inside.
Some cats aren’t meant to stay inside.
The cat has chosen this person.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a homeowner who doesn’t think their painters should use their water spigot on the job.
Here is someone who says to just adopt the cat.
This commenter says to just keep taking care of the cat.
The cat doesn’t belong to him, but the neighbor doesn’t seem to care about it. Maybe he should just keep doing what he is doing and see if the neighbor stops coming by.
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