Trying to do the right thing can get complicated when you don’t have all the information.

So, what would you do if a stray cat showed up at your home without identification, and after a week of looking,  you were still unable to find the owners? Would you just let the cat go free again? Or would you take it to the vet and get it neutered first?

In the following story, one man finds himself in this situation and decides to do the responsible thing. Here’s what he did.

AITA for neutering my neighbors cat?

I am a guy who loves to hang out in my garage. I have a TV set up there, and I hang out there and say hi to my neighbors. A few weeks ago, this young black cat came up to my garage.

He looked pretty normal, with very orange eyes. He was pretty friendly and had a collar. This collar wasn’t a normal collar for cats, though. Cats are supposed to have breakaway collars because, if you have a cat, you know they like to crawl into tight spaces and explore.

This cat had a Cuban link collar that was somewhat tight. Not choking it, but definitely snug.

He tried to find the owner.

This collar had no name tag or anything on it at all. I gave it some food, and it seemed like it was starving. I gave it some dry cat kibble, and it instantly started scarfing it down, knocking the food everywhere while doing so.

We live near a very busy street, and the cat didn’t seem fazed by the cars at all. About ten hours passed, and the cat was still hanging around in my garage, so I decided it was best to keep the cat overnight so it wouldn’t get hit by a car.

I posted a few missing cat ads on Facebook, NextDoor app, and other sites. And the next day, I went to my local shelter to see if it had a microchip. It didn’t have one, unfortunately.

After a week, he took the cat to the vet.

This is the exact same way I got my current cat. But my cat had a microchip, and we tried to contact the owner for over a month, but they never responded, so we just kept it.

I decided it was best to wait a week to see if anyone responds to my missing cat ads.

A week passes by, nothing… so I booked an appointment to get this cat fixed because you’re supposed to get stray cats fixed so they don’t spray everywhere and so they can be less territorial.

Once the cat was healed, he set him free.

Went to the vet, got it fixed, and after the healing time passed, I decided it was good to roam the streets. I was still concerned that it would get hit by a car, but I just didn’t have the extra time or resources to keep another stray cat.

I had faith the cat would be able to survive on its own. I do see a couple of stray cats that roam my neighborhood that are very feral, but they have been around for years. So I was hoping that the cat would be able to do the same.

The same day I let the cat roam free, the owner came knocking on my door. I answered, and it was some young dude, and he basically told me that the cat I neutered was his.

The owner was pretty upset.

I told him everything I went through to find the owner, and he didn’t really seem to care that much.

He told me he wanted to breed that cat and also told me dont go around neutering cats that are not yours.

Then I replied, “Well, for next time, have some sort of identification on him so I can tell that he is actually owned by someone and not some stray that was abandoned.”

AITA?

Wow! Well, he does have a good point.

Let’s check out how the readers over at Reddit feel about this situation.

This reader thinks the guy had no business breeding the cat anyway.

Here’s another reader who thinks there are plenty of stray cats already.

According to this comment, the owner should’ve kept the cat inside.

As this comment points out, getting cats fixed is a noble thing to do.

He did the right thing. Next time, the guy will be more responsible with his pets.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.