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Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I've been on these boards but I had some personal issues to tend to. It's too long of a story to get into but everything is fine now.
Anyway, I'm looking for advice on how to handle something. About 3 weeks ago hubby and I noticed a small cat (maybe 7 or 8 months old, judging by his size, or maybe he's just a small adult kitty) wandering through our neighborhood at the same time every evening. He never came into our backyard because its fenced off but we would always see him in the yard to the north of us.
He is so friendly and tame! One day my husband decided to walk over there and talk to him and he just proceeded to follow my husband right back to our house. I didn't want to automatically take him in, in case he belonged to someone and he just liked to wander around in the evenings. So last night we took a picture of him and decided to take that picture around the neighborhood, looking for either his owners or someone who might know anything about him. No luck on finding an owner but someone else said that this cat hangs out in his backyard and takes naps on his patio furniture.
Trying to make a long story short, we fear that this cat may have been left behind by some people he recently moved out of the area. There are actually about 3 houses a couple of blocks from ours where people have moved within the last couple of months. Hubby and I would love to take him in but we don't know how it would go with our 2 cats, George and Herbie. Our cats are neutered and this new little guy isn't.
I know that strange cats CAN be introduced to each other but how does one go about doing it? So far what's been going on is hubby will leave our yard and lure this kitty to just outside our backyard gate, where he can see our cats and our cats can see him. Hubby has been petting him and trying to feed him but he hasn't even seemed hungry any of the times we've encountered him so far. Another neighbor of ours said that they've seen him catch birds so we're pretty sure he's got the feeding department covered.
I would appreciate any advice that can be given on how to handle this. So far we're just meeting him outside our fence in the evenings and we have left food and water out there for him if he ever needs it. My biggest concern is what will happen in the fall of the year, when things get colder and the birds start going away and other little critters begin to hibernate for the winter.
Should we make it our business to try and get this little guy comfortable enough with us to live with us (and the already resident cats) or do we leave well enough alone and just continue to visit him outside? I'm just torn because I don't want our cats to get into a big fight with this new one and yet I can't bear to think of this little guy fending for himself as winter sets in. Also, if we WOULD decide to take this kitty in as our own is he too old to be neutered? I'm really not crazy about letting him in the house to spray everything.
Here's a picture of him. Isn't he cute?
I think he looks a little like Tony the Tiger with that shaped face, so if he does come to live with us I think we'll call him Tony. The thought also crossed my mind that he looks like a miniature version of George so the name "Mini Me" (Austin Powers movie) popped up. :lol:
Anyway, I'm looking for advice on how to handle something. About 3 weeks ago hubby and I noticed a small cat (maybe 7 or 8 months old, judging by his size, or maybe he's just a small adult kitty) wandering through our neighborhood at the same time every evening. He never came into our backyard because its fenced off but we would always see him in the yard to the north of us.
He is so friendly and tame! One day my husband decided to walk over there and talk to him and he just proceeded to follow my husband right back to our house. I didn't want to automatically take him in, in case he belonged to someone and he just liked to wander around in the evenings. So last night we took a picture of him and decided to take that picture around the neighborhood, looking for either his owners or someone who might know anything about him. No luck on finding an owner but someone else said that this cat hangs out in his backyard and takes naps on his patio furniture.
Trying to make a long story short, we fear that this cat may have been left behind by some people he recently moved out of the area. There are actually about 3 houses a couple of blocks from ours where people have moved within the last couple of months. Hubby and I would love to take him in but we don't know how it would go with our 2 cats, George and Herbie. Our cats are neutered and this new little guy isn't.
I know that strange cats CAN be introduced to each other but how does one go about doing it? So far what's been going on is hubby will leave our yard and lure this kitty to just outside our backyard gate, where he can see our cats and our cats can see him. Hubby has been petting him and trying to feed him but he hasn't even seemed hungry any of the times we've encountered him so far. Another neighbor of ours said that they've seen him catch birds so we're pretty sure he's got the feeding department covered.
I would appreciate any advice that can be given on how to handle this. So far we're just meeting him outside our fence in the evenings and we have left food and water out there for him if he ever needs it. My biggest concern is what will happen in the fall of the year, when things get colder and the birds start going away and other little critters begin to hibernate for the winter.
Should we make it our business to try and get this little guy comfortable enough with us to live with us (and the already resident cats) or do we leave well enough alone and just continue to visit him outside? I'm just torn because I don't want our cats to get into a big fight with this new one and yet I can't bear to think of this little guy fending for himself as winter sets in. Also, if we WOULD decide to take this kitty in as our own is he too old to be neutered? I'm really not crazy about letting him in the house to spray everything.
Here's a picture of him. Isn't he cute?
