A cat has adopted us

[Misanthropical]

First, you all need to know I'm highly allergic to cat dander, which makes the story even weirder.

Anyway, a week ago I notice a cat hanging around outside my house without a collar. I ignore her at first but do watch to make sure she isn't in the way when I'm leaving, since I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I accidentally ran her over.

This cat would come out of hiding in my bushes in front of my house every time I came out of the house and meow at me and wrap herself around my legs. Okay, fine. I give up and pet her and play with her, since I have been taking all of my allergy medications lately, but I still have to wash my hands and face when I'm done petting her. She is just so darn adorable that I can't help myself.

I chase the neighbor brats away when they are trying to scare and/or grab at the cat. I won't take the chance they will hurt her. She has to trust a person before she will let them get near her without her running for it, but I want to make sure she stays safe. She only trusts me and my family, she will run from anyone else.

I can't let her in the house for the obvious reason and because it would jack our rent up if we were to get a pet. She didn't get the memo that she wasn't our cat, she has adopted us and nothing is going to change her mind even if she does have to live outside in our bushes. We named her Oscar.

[Squeaksmyalias]

Cats do that.
My cat, Minnie, who passed away in the spring moved in 16 years ago. We were doing renovations, she made friends with us outside then figured out that she could get into the house by going under the tarps so she could visit us inside (we were crazy enough to still live in the house while work was being done.) Mom kicked her out once, but the construction workers thought she was ours and didn't know to discourage her from coming inside. She was owned by a neighbor, who took her when they moved. She liked us better and came back to our house, her owners called to see if we saw her then said just keep her since they were going to get a new kitten anyway. She was around 6 or 7 years old then, like I said we owned her for 16 years so she lived with us a long time. Best cat we ever had.

Btw Minnie wasn't the only neighbor's cat we found in our house. There is a cellar window that had a broken latch so she used to use it to go in and out of, its same window another neighbor's cat (we called him our rental cat, he was around before Minnie came into the neighborhood) would use to visit during the day when I was very young. Seeing a trend here? She never seemed to mind other cats visiting, I've actually found a neighbors cat sleeping on my bed, another time I had a strange cat waking me up asking to be fed... I have no idea what it is about our house, but it all started with our rental cat, he would come visit when his owners weren't home during the day cause he enjoyed company. Then our Minnie, then other neighborhood cats who would visit.
My Mom blames me for being friendly with cats, any time she sees me saying hello and petting one outside the house I get sprayed with a water bottle...

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Awww. Oscar sounds sweet. Would love to see some pics of her.

[Misanthropical]

I got a bit worried this morning when I left that I didn't see Oscar, but she came out of hiding when I returned home.

Later, Mr. Mis went out to leave and came back a few seconds later to tell me that Oscar was meowing at him, so I could put out some food for her. I found this amusing since he has been very stand offish about the cat and reminding me of my allergies every chance he got.

When he came back, he had cans of cat food with him. This, of course, has lead to him being teased unmercifully since he had been saying he wanted nothing to do the cat.

I swear this cat has some sort of weird cat powers to make people do what she wants.

We have been trying to get pictures of her, but she is camera shy.

[Sapphire Silk]

Stumps was like that. He just walked into Evil Empryss's house one day and made himself at home.

She kicked him out, because the Evil Overlord didn't want a cat.

Stumps kept coming in. Finally, EE brought him to my house and asked me if I would take him, since Goldie was having a fit.

He immediately made himself at home, in spite of the fact Jasmine had a fit.

[taxguykarl]

I can't let her in the house for the obvious reason and because it would jack our rent up if we were to get a pet. She didn't get the memo that she wasn't our cat, she has adopted us and nothing is going to change her mind even if she does have to live outside in our bushes. We named her Oscar.

Congats to Oscar on her new human.

[MaggieTheCat]

Super sweet of you to be nice to her and give her food. We had a feral kitty adopt us earlier this year and she's the same way, where she loves us and hides from everyone else. We do let her in the house, since we're not allergic to cats and had 3 already, and when people come over, she hides under the bed and cries the entire time.

I highly recommend you catch her, either in a standard carrier (if you can pick her up) or in a feral cat trap. It shouldn't be hard to get her in a trap, just bait it with the same kind of food you've been giving her and put it in the same place where you normally feed her, and she should walk right in. Take her to a vet and see if she is spayed. If she is not, you should get her spayed. Otherwise, chances are very, very high that you will end up with a litter of kittens hiding under that bush. There is the possibility she is already pregnant and that is why she is being so sweet; she is looking for a good place to have her litter. The feral who adopted us earlier this year? Yeah, she was pregnant when we caught her. She was only about 2 weeks along, though, and we had her spayed right away and she recovered beautifully.

[Misanthropical]

Congats to Oscar on her new human.

Congrats to her on her new humans. All of us check on her and make sure she is ok during the day and at night.

The neighbor brats were outside when I was feeding Oscar. They asked if the cat was mine, since they tried to chase her down and find her owner (more like running up to her and screaming at her) I told her she was my cat and she doesn't like people so leave her alone. Hopefully, they will leave her alone now since they and their mom think I'm a bitch. I refuse to let neighbor brats terrorize the animals or smaller kids around here and will call them on it, which is why the family thinks I'm a hateful bitch.

I plan on buying her some cat toys and a flea collar. I figure as long as she has decided that we are her humans we should try to do what we can for her.

MaggieTheCat I couldn't help it, she worked her cat voodoo on me. Taking her to the vet is a good idea, thank you. It didn't cross my mind to do that. I will try to do just that.

[MaggieTheCat]

I plan on buying her some cat toys and a flea collar.

Be careful what kind of collar you put on her. Outdoor cats should only have breakaway type collars (if any at all) so that if they get caught on something, the cat can escape. My vet told us a story once about a cat his daughter had when she was a girl. She put a (standard buckle, non-breakaway) collar on the cat, and they let the cat outside. They were all out in the backyard with the cat, when it tried to jump the fence. It mis-jumped and ended up hanging by the spoke of the fence by its collar. If my vet hadn't been there watching, the cat would have strangled itself. Thankfully, he was immediately able to grab the cat and pull it off the fence.

You could also try topical medications; since she lets you touch and pet her, you should be able to put them on pretty easily. They're a once a month kind of thing so it's pretty low maintenance but stuff like Frontline can be kind of pricey. Talk to your vet and/or local shelter to see if they can do anything for you. Also talk to a vet or a shelter about getting her checked out and spayed for a reasonable price, since she is a stray. You can probably get some kind of discount for doing TNR (Trap Neuter Release.) You can even ask them if any of them have a feral cat trap they can lend you to catch her in.

Good luck, she sounds like a sweetie. I'm glad you told the neighbor kids to bugger off too, we suspect our feral girl was mistreated and chased by humans before she found us since she is very very friendly but also very very skiddish around strangers.

[BookstoreEscapee]

That's kinda how we got our first cat. He showed up in the driveway and refused to go away. Then it snowed and my mom made him a little bed on the porch with a box and some old towels. Then she started feeding him. Then they started leaving the garage door open a few inches so he could get in there to get out of the weather. Then they started letting him visit inside. Then my mom took him to the vet to get him checked out. He gradually went from not being allowed in the house when no one was home to not being allowed out of the house when no one was home. We had him for 7 years. (The vet guessed he was around 5 when he first showed up, but when he was put to sleep he said he was probably older than he originally thought.) His name was George but we called him Kitty. My dad 'hates' cats. They now have two and the girl (who is technically mine) loves him and goes to bed with him every night until my mom kicks her out.

[Misanthropical]

I found out the neighbor found Oscar and brought her home with him. He tried to call the shelters but none of them were taking anymore animals, so he let her loose. That is when she wandered over to my house and decided she was staying here with us.

Thank you for the advice about the collar. I will look instead for some sort of medication to put on her to fight off fleas and ticks.

I figured she was abused at some point which is why she takes off when someone makes a sudden move near her and/or screams at her.

When we try to come inside after petting her and playing with her for awhile, she will put herself between us and the door, so we can't open the door. She doesn't try to come in the house, just stop us from going in so we will pet her some more.

[Kogarashi]

My family started their cat clan that way back when I was young. One beautiful stray showed up (to have a litter, we found out) and we started feeding her. She had kittens, who had kittens, who had kittens. My parents couldn't really afford to catch and neuter/spay the cats, but we had a small farm (sans farm animals) so they all hung around and moused for us, which was a perk. It seems that what eventually did most of the cats in was inbreeding, since some seemed to show genetic defects. My parents gave away a few, as well.

My favorite was a black and white domestic shorthair we named Houdini because he always managed to sneak into the house despite the fact that Mom wouldn't let the cats in (she's rather allergic, so all pets had to be cage pets like guinea pigs or outdoor pets). It got to the point where I'd wake up in the morning for school to find him asleep on my feet. I've determined that once we finally live in a place that allows cats, I'm getting a black and white and naming it Houdini.

[Misanthropical]

That's kinda how we got our first cat. He showed up in the driveway and refused to go away. Then it snowed and my mom made him a little bed on the porch with a box and some old towels. Then she started feeding him. Then they started leaving the garage door open a few inches so he could get in there to get out of the weather. Then they started letting him visit inside. Then my mom took him to the vet to get him checked out. He gradually went from not being allowed in the house when no one was home to not being allowed out of the house when no one was home. We had him for 7 years. (The vet guessed he was around 5 when he first showed up, but when he was put to sleep he said he was probably older than he originally thought.) His name was George but we called him Kitty. My dad 'hates' cats. They now have two and the girl (who is technically mine) loves him and goes to bed with him every night until my mom kicks her out.

I think maybe cats are plotting to take over the world one human at a time or they have some weird cat voodoo they put on people to make people take care of them.

I have worried about what to do when the weather gets cold. I can't let her in because of my allergies, so we are thinking of making her a little bed between the outside wall the bushes she hides in.

[Squeaksmyalias]

Thank you for the advice about the collar. I will look instead for some sort of medication to put on her to fight off fleas and ticks.

Good plan, since it was already pointed out that she could get caught, I will add flea collars don't work very well, the most they do is get chemicals on people.
Just make sure to follow the directions on the medication, and don't touch that area after for a few days, also make sure to get the kind for cats. Since the dosage and the amount used for dogs can make cats very sick.

Oh and if you make her a shelter remember that blankets or towels can freeze so unless you plan on changing them I wouldn't use them. Maybe a shelter (box, or we once used an old small dog house) where the opening is facing the house so the wind can't really get in and if you use hay or something just fluff it every once and a while to make sure it's not freezing. Even if she doesn't want to use it you can place her food in there so it doesn't get wet. You may want to feed her more in the winter too and as it gets colder, we gave our outside kitty friends cut up meat table scraps (unseasoned) when we saw them around, then would bring it in so other animals didn't get it. Put a little more weight on them then dry food and got rid of table scraps.

[Seshat]

we suspect our feral girl was mistreated and chased by humans before she found us since she is very very friendly but also very very skiddish around strangers.

Our dog is terrified of sticks. When I have to use my walking stick, she is still wary of me - after over five years of being loved and loving me.

I have worried about what to do when the weather gets cold. I can't let her in because of my allergies, so we are thinking of making her a little bed between the outside wall the bushes she hides in.

I googled "outdoor cat shelter", and got quite a few hits. Many of the ones I got are only suitable for Australian-level winter, but that's because Google emphasises Australian websites for me. If you google, you should get hits for your conditions.