Cat Central has apparently decided I needed a cat

[taxguykarl]

Kittish has a point: Max now has a mooching site.

[mathnerd]

Let's see if I can get a picture to post from my phone...

There we go. Poor kitty trapped in a bird cage.

[Gizmo]

"you put in me in a food box... without food...??" lol.

I'm glad the little one is home and I agree - I expect you might be making that call again in the future!

[MoonCat]

So glad you found his human! I would have been frantic if it had been me.

[mathnerd]

Max was visibly excited to see his human again, and his human seemed extremely happy and relieved to have gotten him back.

Of course, Cat Central isn't giving up. It was really hot today, so when it cooled down enough to open the windows, I opened the front door as well. About an hour later one of my kids says "Uh, Mom? There's a cat in the guest bedroom." When I went down to look, I discovered my neighbor's indoor/outdoor cat snoozing happily on the bed. Now this particular cat thinks she owns the entire block, and is regularly found snoozing in several homes along out street. Silly kitty can go in and out of her own house at will. They have a cat door that stays open during the day and gets locked after they bring her in at night, but she still likes to visit others. She's never come inside over here though, preferring to explore our backyard. This is a first.

[taxguykarl]

...preferring to explorehunt in our backyard. This is a first.

Corrected for you. Cats can easily impress you with the size of their territories.

[EricKei]

Maybe she smelled the scent of your wayward kitty and came looking for him?

[Sapphire Silk]

I just moved myself. Up to now I've never made Taz wear a collar, but about a week before the move I got her one, and a tag with her name and my new address and my cell phone number on it.

I'm terribly afraid she'll somehow slip out of the house. The fear seems unfounded; she wouldn't even come out of the bathroom for the first 24 hours in the new place. I'm keeping the collar on for awhile just in case (she's strictly an indoor kitty), but I've got to schedule a trip to the vet to update her microchip.

[Seanette]

Allie came from the shelter micro-chipped. There's a website that allows the owner to easily update such details as address. Does Taz's chip have that kind of registry?

[wolfie]

2 miles? That's not a safe distance for a cat to travel on its own - most "extra set of servants" cats have their "relief staff" just down the block.

If Max shows up again, DON'T feed him. Put him in the "boring room" (litter box and water bowl, nothing else of interest to a cat) until you can contact his regular servant, then into the birdcage for a ride home. For his own safety, he needs to learn that he WON'T find what he wants at your place, so it's a waste of time making the trip.

[mathnerd]

Wolfie, that's pretty much the plan. I really do think that he just wandered too far and couldn't find his way home, so went in search of a new staff. Between the visible-only-to-cats neon sign above my head that says "Sucker!", and the fact that the particular window he climbed into is the one window that's 1) accessible and 2) doesn't have a screen on it, he picked my house. His human did just recently move to the area, so the "truly lost cat" scenario is probably the most likely one. This is coyote country, so it's not safe at all for cats to be out at night. This is part of why I'm such a huge sucker. This cat, however, is pretty street smart. He spent at least two nights on my roof when I wasn't letting him in the house. It was only the third night when I figured out he wouldn't be showing up in the morning that I decided pester bf to let me keep him in that bathroom in order to be able to get him to the vet.

The vet tech gave the owner a bit of a lecture about making sure he stays inside for a long time. He was probably trying to find his way to his old home, about 60 miles north of here. He needs a lot more time in his new home to really be able to find his way back if he's allowed to roam during the day.

[Teefies2]

Let's see if I can get a picture to post from my phone...

There we go. Poor kitty trapped in a bird cage.

The HORRORRRRR!!!!!!!!!

[Sapphire Silk]

Allie came from the shelter micro-chipped. There's a website that allows the owner to easily update such details as address. Does Taz's chip have that kind of registry?

Taz came from the shelter microchipped too. But I can't remember what company provided the microchipping. I lost the paper work years ago (got Taz when she was about 4 months old, she's now 4 years old).

It's OK. I need to get her claws trimmed anyway (my vision is very poor, I have a hard time doing it).

[MoonCat]

visible-only-to-cats neon sign above my head that says "Sucker!",

That runs in my family

[Seanette]

My family, too.