We have a lovely black rescue cat, black all over with small white hairs on his front and one or two white hairs around his back. We have had him here since Nov 2011 and he was a rescue from CPL, who microchipped him.
He has had several collars over the time we have had him, and most don't last. The last one was a pale green one and he lost it about a week ago. But then this afternoon he turned up at home again and he is wearing it again.
We are confused!
There is another black cat that lives 2 doors down (we didn't know this when we got ours!). However, he is a bit bigger all over - fatter and taller, although from a distance you can't tell - we have occasionally called out him from the window when we saw him in next doors' garden only to go downstairs and find ours asleep on the settee.
We are now wondering what on earth is going on! Have we been sharing our cat with another family while they had ours? He has put on a bit of weight, and we think someone else is feeding him, although he is not as big as the other cat so I don't think we would confuse them close up.
I am worried now - what if we have been worming and flea-treating the wrong cat? Would another cat come in when the house smells of our cat? If it has been the other cat in our house, where has ours been for the last week with his collar on? And that would mean the other cat's family has not had their cat for the last week too - seems pretty unlikely since they would know theirs didn't have a collar though.
The alternative is that someone has found his collar and put it back on him - but that seems pretty unlikely too!
And of course this has all come about late on a Friday and the vet isn't open until Monday morning now, so we can't check his chip until then. Leaving us wondering all weekend....
I have written a note, covered it in sellotape to make it waterproof and stuck it around his collar, in the hope we get a reply if he does go elsewhere.
Any thoughts? Anyone had this happen to them?
Is this our cat or not!?!?!?!?
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The litter tray
Our cat lost his collar (again) about a week ago, and he has just turned up with it on again - have we got another cat by mistake!??!
KirstyJC · 15/02/2013 18:46
I did think we might be timesharing him! It would be funny if it weren't so freaky!
I am also pretty sure that he is the right cat, the other is bigger close up and we caught him spraying on our slide in the garden the other day (nice) and ours doesn't spray. It was the other cat for sure as he was quite close to me and well, just didn't seem like our cat. Same colouring, same eyes, just not right somehow. I'm sure we would know if it wasn't him. But who on earth would put his collar back on? If it had come off when he was at another house, surely they would have either put it right back on or chucked it out?
I am not sure whose cat the other is, our old neighbours said it was someone a few doors down but I don't know exactly which house. Luckily we have a very friendly other neighbour who will know for sure, so I might check with her tomorrow.
I did ask our cat what he had been up to but he declined to comment.
OK - mystery solved!!! He came back again this morning with the collar back on yet again and the note still attached - and a reply! It was a neighbour who had found the collar and put it back on again. Twice!!
They didn't say who they were but we are glad to have solved the mystery. I think it seems likely they are the ones who feed him sometimes too and the reason he disappears for the whole day when it is raining, yet comes back bone dry....he obviously has staff in 2 different houses!
Bet it doesn't take long to lose the collar again though!!
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