Need some immediately advice. We are staying for a week at a vacation rental house on the lake. On Monday, I was heading out on an errand and spotted a cat, wearing no collar on the other side of the road, I called it and it came over to me - let me pet it, seemed very friendly, obviously not feral. It did not have a collar, I was immediately concerned it might be lost or stray, but my family convinced me not to worry about it, it probably just lived nearby. Yesterday, we were all out swimming in the lake and then breaking things down, deflating rafts, etc and the cat turned up. I called it again and it came over to me, let me pet it, wound itself around my legs. It then proceeded to hang around us, playing with grass, laying on the beach, coming up to various family members to get petted or scratched. I believe it is a she, and is spayed as I recognize the characteristic pouch to the belly. We never fed her, just petted her a few times and now she will not go away. At 4am, she is scratching at the basement window of our rental house (I am sleeping in the basement bedroom) and meowing. After an hour or so of this off and on, I went outside to look for it, it immediately ran over to me, was so happy to see me. It also seemed jumpy at the natural noises of the morning - ducks quacking in the distance, etc. I'm not so sure this is a cat that is used to being outside.
The cat is not obviously underfed, has a very soft coat - more characteristic of an indoor cat than an outdoor. Not mangy or matted at all. So I'm super torn - is this a stray who needs to be taken to a shelter or someone's very friendly cat without a collar? Do we or do we not do something about it?
This is complicated by the fact that today (Sunday), we are leaving and have to be out of the house by 11am. We don't live nearby, although we didn't plan to leave the immediate area to drive home until later today.
This is further complicated by the fact that I know shelters are probably full and that there would be a good chance the cat would just get put down if I took her to one. We already have two cats and really cannot take another one home.
So WWYD?
The cat is not obviously underfed, has a very soft coat - more characteristic of an indoor cat than an outdoor. Not mangy or matted at all. So I'm super torn - is this a stray who needs to be taken to a shelter or someone's very friendly cat without a collar? Do we or do we not do something about it?
This is complicated by the fact that today (Sunday), we are leaving and have to be out of the house by 11am. We don't live nearby, although we didn't plan to leave the immediate area to drive home until later today.
This is further complicated by the fact that I know shelters are probably full and that there would be a good chance the cat would just get put down if I took her to one. We already have two cats and really cannot take another one home.
So WWYD?
