Abandoned?
The “cat distribution system” is a social media -based theory which describes the manner in which lost or orphaned cats and kittens find their way into people’s lives after a chance meeting somewhere. There are countless numbers of Tik Tok posts which involve someone coming upon some lonely, desperate feline(s) whilst out and about, then being obliged to take ownership of said animal(s) when it becomes apparent that they’re in a spot of bother.
A few days ago, I took my youngest out on a simple job, shooting an empty, recently refurbished single storey house a couple of miles away from our home. It had previously been owned by a local farmer, and he’d housed several hundred hens in a bunch of hen-houses on the few acres of land to the west of the residence. I used to use the well stocked, honesty box-based egg shop at the roadside every week until the whole operation was forced to close due to the UK Avian Flu outbreak a couple of years ago.
When we got there, it seemed a nice easy job - the weather was perfect, and the interior was a blank canvas. We had to move bits of carpet underlay, and a bit of junk outside, but it was fine.
After a few minutes I became aware of a tabby cat (pictured above) approaching the rear patio doors from the garden. It was miaowing like crazy to get in. It moved to a side window and jumped onto the window ledge looking in at us, then approached the front door, crying all the time. We duly stopped and went out to investigate. It was apparent that this old moggy wanted in badly. It was in decent condition, looked well-fed, but had no collar or anything like that. It was initially a tad unfriendly, but eventually came over to be stroked, and to rub itself on our legs. There was a dried-up bowl outside, so I filled it with water. It wasn’t interested. We closed the door and continued our work as the cat remained at the front door crying to be inside.
Once we’d finished, I rang the estate agent and it became apparent that the chicken farmer seemed to have had a cat which matched the description, and must have abandoned it when they left. This left us in a moral dilemma.
If this had been a kitten, I’d have had no hesitation in taking it home, but this was an adult cat with an attitude, and I was confident that any attempt to pick it up or get it into our car would have resulted in major injury to both of us. I’m now in a quandary as to what to do. The cat is now feral, and presumably has been for months. It’s not suffering at all, but would be better placed in a home environment before any winter conditions come back. Do I try to rescue the thing? Do I inform some pet charity such as the RSPCA?
I consulted the Cats Protection League website, and from the helpful information within, it became apparent from the pictures I took that this was a community stray or feral cat which had been neutered and put back (due to its “nipped ear”). Vets reserve this practice of cutting off the tip of an ear for identifying strays or ferals. Imagine if I’d tried to stuff it into a crate.
Anyway, my conscious is clear. Whoever eventually buys the house and land will undoubtedly be the new owner of a relatively friendly tabby cat.
