Our eldest cat is 15. He has always liked to roam in the summer but lives indoors in the winter, so at this time of year we can go for 2 or 3 days without seeing him, although we know he comes home for a flying visit at night when we are in bed for his nosh.
He often pops over the road to visit his mum and sister, he sometimes goes next door but one we reckon to see his girlfriend, and other times he goes wondering up the street just for the fun of it. One day when my daughter still lived at home he followed her for about a mile and a half to the Railway station, like I say he is a bit of a lad.
He has been hit twice by a car, but that has not deterred him from sitting in the road defying drivers to run him over. 1st time he smashed his jaw and broke his sternum. 2nd time he was dragged and skinned resulting in about 300+ stitches, but he is still one of the daftest friendliest cats you could hope for.
Anyway, about 5 pm last night he comes wondering in. As usual wanted his dinner, wolfed down a few mouthfuls and off he goes again and from us its the usual "Thank you for visiting your local cat hotel" type comment.
At lunchtime today, we were just starting our lunch when the phone rings. It is a vets surgery about 4 miles away calling to say that our ginger has been handed in. We were surprised, but he was uninjured and in good health, so with that me and the Mrs got the cat basket out jumped in the car and headed off.
It turns out that a woman who lives no more than about 100 yards from us had called the vets to say that she had found this ginger cat rummaging in her shed and rubbish bins. She then went onto say that the cat visited her regularly and had done for a long time and to this end lived inside her house for much of the time, and as she had fed him she would like to know if she could keep him?
But she went on to say that he was as good as being her cat.
When the vet said No, she then asked if they really had to tell us so that she could keep him. This raised a few alarm bells on the part of the vets unsurprisingly.
Anyway, we have our cats chipped, so when he was taken in, they examined him for any illness or injury, they checked his chip hence the phone call to us.
When we arrived, the vet said that the woman was desperate to keep him. We explained that he does go wandering, but he always comes home for his dinner, and he is not a cat that lives indoors except in winter and he certainly does not rummage.
Anyway, on the plus side, Ginge had a free medical once over and was given a clean bill of health which is something, but it opened up a load of questions from our perspective.
If she wanted to keep him, why did she phone the vets? Why did she not just keep quiet? She reckoned that he spends most of his time with her and her family which is total bollocks!
Why did she go to this particular vet 4 + miles away when there are 3 others within easy waking distance and certainly more local?
Why did she say he was rummaging in her shed and then lived indoors when that was clearly a lie?
Why is she so keen to keep our boy rather than go and acquire her own cat?
Strange woman, which makes me think that she must have a mental health issue.
So we have come to the conclusion that next time he is injured or ill, she can half the bill (won't tell her that he is insured
) and maybe we should encourage him to return to this woman with some of the livestock he is prone to bringing home (he is a hunter)
We told the vets that they were welcome to give this female our address and if she turns up, we will have an interesting one way conversation, but if he does go missing properly we will know where to start looking.
Funny part is, we picked him up (and as usual he was happy to see us and wanted his usual fuss) brought him home and no so much as a murmur, he came in, fed his face and buggered straight off out again!
Strange woman, strange couple of hours.....
I write this purely to try and help me figure this out myself, so sorry for boring you
He often pops over the road to visit his mum and sister, he sometimes goes next door but one we reckon to see his girlfriend, and other times he goes wondering up the street just for the fun of it. One day when my daughter still lived at home he followed her for about a mile and a half to the Railway station, like I say he is a bit of a lad.
He has been hit twice by a car, but that has not deterred him from sitting in the road defying drivers to run him over. 1st time he smashed his jaw and broke his sternum. 2nd time he was dragged and skinned resulting in about 300+ stitches, but he is still one of the daftest friendliest cats you could hope for.
Anyway, about 5 pm last night he comes wondering in. As usual wanted his dinner, wolfed down a few mouthfuls and off he goes again and from us its the usual "Thank you for visiting your local cat hotel" type comment.
At lunchtime today, we were just starting our lunch when the phone rings. It is a vets surgery about 4 miles away calling to say that our ginger has been handed in. We were surprised, but he was uninjured and in good health, so with that me and the Mrs got the cat basket out jumped in the car and headed off.
It turns out that a woman who lives no more than about 100 yards from us had called the vets to say that she had found this ginger cat rummaging in her shed and rubbish bins. She then went onto say that the cat visited her regularly and had done for a long time and to this end lived inside her house for much of the time, and as she had fed him she would like to know if she could keep him?
But she went on to say that he was as good as being her cat.When the vet said No, she then asked if they really had to tell us so that she could keep him. This raised a few alarm bells on the part of the vets unsurprisingly.
Anyway, we have our cats chipped, so when he was taken in, they examined him for any illness or injury, they checked his chip hence the phone call to us.
When we arrived, the vet said that the woman was desperate to keep him. We explained that he does go wandering, but he always comes home for his dinner, and he is not a cat that lives indoors except in winter and he certainly does not rummage.
Anyway, on the plus side, Ginge had a free medical once over and was given a clean bill of health which is something, but it opened up a load of questions from our perspective.
If she wanted to keep him, why did she phone the vets? Why did she not just keep quiet? She reckoned that he spends most of his time with her and her family which is total bollocks!
Why did she go to this particular vet 4 + miles away when there are 3 others within easy waking distance and certainly more local?
Why did she say he was rummaging in her shed and then lived indoors when that was clearly a lie?
Why is she so keen to keep our boy rather than go and acquire her own cat?
Strange woman, which makes me think that she must have a mental health issue.
So we have come to the conclusion that next time he is injured or ill, she can half the bill (won't tell her that he is insured
) and maybe we should encourage him to return to this woman with some of the livestock he is prone to bringing home (he is a hunter)We told the vets that they were welcome to give this female our address and if she turns up, we will have an interesting one way conversation, but if he does go missing properly we will know where to start looking.
Funny part is, we picked him up (and as usual he was happy to see us and wanted his usual fuss) brought him home and no so much as a murmur, he came in, fed his face and buggered straight off out again!
Strange woman, strange couple of hours.....
I write this purely to try and help me figure this out myself, so sorry for boring you
