A year ago last January, I checked outside at 11.30 at night just before going to bed, and there was this tiny cat by my back door outside in sub-zero temperatures miaowing at me.

I took it in overnight (what else could I do?) and opened a small tin of tuna for it - it was ravenous.

The next day I took it to my vet's (I used to have a dog which I lost a few months beforehand) to check for a microchip, but no joy. The vet told me he was a neutered tom, and although he only weighed in at 2.2kg the vet thought he was about 2 years old.

The fact that he had been neutered and was also wearing a collar (also without id) meant that he belonged to someone.

I put up posters and called all the vets in the area, plus the local cat rescue, but no-one came forward.

After a week or so, I had him chipped and immunised, and arranged to have a cat flap fitted.

16 months later he is still with me, he is very affectionate, comes running to greet me when I come home after going out, and sleeps next to me on the bed at night.

But I still have twinges of guilt that somewhere there is a family that lost their cat. I'd feel better if I knew they had thrown him out after Christmas - otherwise why would he be out wandering? Neighbours had seen him hanging around for several days beforehand.

I'm sure I did all I could, but still feel guilty.

If I were this cat's owner, I would be extremely grateful that you cared so much.

You did all you could, and this cat is with you for a reason. Enjoy him.

Don't feel guilty, you did a lovely thing in taking him in and you did all you could to find his owners. Maybe the owners saw the posters and just didn't want him anymore or maybe he had strayed so far from where he lived he just couldn't find his way back. In any case, you can't search the whole country and he is obviously happy with you. You should feel good about that.
I hope that if my cats ever get lost to the point that they can't find their way home and I can't locate them by any means, that they are found by someone like you who will take care of them.
Its sad for the original owners if they are missing a well loved cat but theres nothing more you can do. Its much worse to think of what might have become of him if he hadn't found you.

I suspect you would feel a lot more guilty if you had left him out in the cold.

You did all you could be expected to do in order to find the owner. The cat was not microchipped and had no collar ID - there was no more you could do, it is up to the owner to ensure their cat can be identified if lost.

You will never know if he was abandoned (not unlikely), but he has a lovely home with you, enjoy him without guilt.

That is great that he greets you when you come home, I love it when my cat is sitting waiting when I open the door.

Don't feel guilty, you did all you could to find who he belonged too. It was meant to be that he found your back door that night!

What's his name btw?

I thought you were going to say you put him back out into the cold and left him crying.

I think you totally did the right thing. I dont think any loving pet owner would like to think of their loved pet freezing, hungry, lost and lonely in such a night and you did the best you could.

She sounds very happy now

can you imagine the guilt you would have felt should you have left the little tyke outside???? You've done a wonderful thing, he knows it and you know it deep down.. who knows what his first 2 years were like all you can do is be thankful he's in your life and that you love him with all your heart and vice versa it seems...you are a good person OP

Thanks for all the nice replies.


I called him Harry. He seemed to be a bit of a tearaway, so named him after a well-known prince.

(They both seem to have settled down a lot since, though )

Great name. They are such good company, I wouldn't be without a cat for all the tea in china.

i thought that also, have no regrets you did all you could and possibly saved the cat's life, he sounds a delightful pet!

In a totally positive way it sounds like you deserve each other
I hope you continue to enjoy each other for many years to come

I've done the same. I acquired a female cat last year who had been found and passed around a few familes while people tried to find out where she came from. Had no success finding out despite advertising and asking around. A year on she's still here and it's like she's always been here. Maybe it sounds mean but I hope I don't find out where she came from now. My son adores her and she adores him. He'd be broken hearted if somebody else came and claimed her. (of course I love her too, but I'd understand where my son wouldn't)

Out of the blue, I lost a young cat I'd raised from a kitten. He was glamorous, sociable, grey and was completely happy at home.

I did all the postering and asking neighbours to check their sheds and no joy.

Six years later I still miss him badly and wonder what happened to him, but I'd far rather he was happy with someone like you, especially as you'd tried so hard to track down his family, than any other of the possibilities.

No need to feel guilty now Jeff.

A friend of mine adopted a cat in similar circumstances, her little girl begged to keep the lost stray so after two weeks of hunting for the owner they gave up and adopted the cat and had her neutered.

Of course a few days later the owners turned up and asked for their cat back.
They'd been on holidays and some useless relative was went to feed the cat and had lost it along the way.

So they had to give the neutered pet back!!!

So it could be worse!

Anyway I think you did the right thing. The main thing is the cat is loved and looked after.

There is nothing else you could have done. Whoever he belonged to either threw him out or lost him but he was not microchipped so that's their problem. You tried to find his owner and nobody showed up so that's all you could have done.

I would have lambasted you if you had said you left him out in the cold as you could have condemned him to an early grave. But you didn't. You took him in, took care of him and gave him a home. If you had not of took him in that night, he might not have been alive right now so you shouldn't be feeling guilty at all!

I took my she cat in as a stray when she was about six months old.

She'd been spayed but was very thin and bedraggled.

I did wonder where she's come from and if someone was looking for her but she needed looking after.

Still got her three years later.

I found or have been brought 4 stray cats to me over the last 18 months. Checked all the rescue's out and vets i even phonned the next villiage post office up and told the rspca as well. No one came forward at all for any of them. Maisey's Moo story was the cruelest one. She was found at the local park by a neighbour. They took her back in there cat and about an hour later she was back at her door. they fed her but had to let her go as she was going for there ill dog. She went too another neighbour and i then saw her outside with my other cats so i called her and she came. I did feed her but she had the runs so i was reluctent to let her in. It started to get cold and she was crying so i brought her in. I did let her out incase she was just lost but she just followed me back. Called her maisey from day one and she always answers too it. Her cruel owners before me had dumped her with her carrier in the park and left her. They where witnessed doing this. Never feel guilty about what you have done. I think you are such a kind and careing person and so does your cat i think.

I took one of my boys in about 12 years ago after noticing him rooting through bins and sleeping in the back of pick up trucks in the tyre fitters near where i lived at the time.

He was grubby, un-neutered, and had a nasty cold, so I assumed he was a stray.

After the vet had treated his cold I put a Found ad in the local paper, got no response so had him neutered, chipped and vaccinated and he's been with me ever since.

I later found out on the grapevine that he had actually had an owner who lived quite near, a Waynetta Slob type who pops out a kid a year (eight at the last count!) She'd seen my ad in the paper and hadn't even bothered to pick the phone up. I heard her response had been, 'well, if someone else wants him they can have him, he's more bother than he's worth'

I like to think my little man had a lucky escape, but feel sorry for any other pet that woman gets

Hopefully someone will be as kind to my hamster. If it aint been murdered !!

Don't feel guilty, what a thoroughly nice person you are!

I took a cat in a few years back who we think had been abandoned, my husbands boss phoned me one Saturday night and asked me what he should feed a stray cat, I said fish and he went to the chippy and brought him two fish to eat!! He was a cat lover, but his wife didn't like cats, he knew I had cats and phoned me to see what to do, it was raining and didn't want to put him out when his office shut. So my husband ended up coming home, fetching our cat carrier and going back to his office to collect the cat! We advertised and as my husband is a taxi driver, he asked his customers if they knew if anyone had lost a tabby cat, nobody said anything and we ended up keeping him. We called him Cabbie as he was found at a taxi office (original I know!!) or Thug as he was a big bugger and liked to be no 1!! We took him to the vets and he had been neutered, but not microchipped he was not wearing a collar so we couldn't do anything, we also found out he was about 8 years old according to the vet, so we did think that his original owners may have had another pet or something along those lines as he was getting older.

We had him for 5 years and then I got up one Saturday morning and found him dead in his favourite place on the mat in the living room. Still miss him now and have to admit that soon after that, I had my little Fudge as I loved having three cats.

The previous owners clearly didn't look after it if it came to you and stayed with you, it's great what you've done though.

My cat wouldn't dream about trading me in for a new owner, he's spoilt.

I remember a few years ago an elderly lady had three cats, all three cats got fed and watered every day but for some reason one of them jumped ship and went to live with some folk down the road. I think it was for more attention with no competition and by the way all three cats had long and happy lives. Do not feel guilty as the world needs more like you and your warm heart.

That's quite an assumption. Lots of cats often get a case of misplaced loyalty and wander, get fed by someone else and hang around. In no way does it indicate they were badly treated in their previous homes.