u/Hali39

I’ve acquired a 5 y/o cat (neighbor dumped her outside in freezing temps), and I never planned to own a cat in my life, so I’m a little out of my depth. We (self and roommate) have two dogs, so we’re familiar with animal care in general and I’ve started some research on cat care. I’m a big planner so I’m outside my comfort zone here, and have started reading every article I can find on cat ownership lol. While I’m doing that, I’d love some advice on setups and gear that will help give my new kitty a comfortable home. I own my home so I’m open to bigger modifications for her benefit as well.

I have a cat tower, a sifting litter box, and a cabinet for the litter box on the way, and plan to put some wall shelves up in the near future. She hasn’t shown a lot of interest in toys yet, but it’s only been a few days. Planning to start out with cheaper options and then once she’s settled and shows me what she likes best, getting her better quality things (towers, toys, etc)

Hi all,
I’m sure a lot of this comes down to locality as well, but my city doesn’t have much by way of cat protections. As far as I can tell, since this cat would be considered “at large” and therefore a community cat.

My neighbor has a cat, and has had it for nearly 5 years. The past week or so, she’s started putting the cat outside overnight. None of the three people in my house have ever seen this cat outdoors before this past weekend. On Saturday night, we brought her inside, and got her scanned for a microchip, thinking she escaped. The information was out of date, but based on the (misspelled) name of the owner, we were able to determine she belonged to our direct neighbor. We returned her Sunday morning, but the neighbor didn’t seem worried about her.

Every single night since Saturday, she has been outside overnight. Last night, it was pouring rain, and she was hiding under their car when we got up this morning. I took her inside and put her in our bathroom for the time being.

The cat sometimes has food outside (though I’m sure it was washed away overnight), and definitely doesn’t have shelter beyond the neighbors car. I’ve reached out to the rescue she was originally adopted from (it was listed on the microchip) to see what they want me to do. They have a strict “our cats should not be outdoors under any circumstances” policy, so they likely have some means of reclaiming or rehoming the cat.

So my question is, did I do anything illegal in taking the cat inside this morning? I know where she “belongs” but I don’t trust them to not put her right back outside. She was soaked and it’s still raining.

I know the question of if cats should be outside is very polarizing, and that’s not what I’m asking. I took the cat inside because she was cold and wet, and didn’t have adequate shelter, and her owner has repeatedly not provided this to her.