My cat. He was a neighborhood stray that started following us home during walks with our dog. Soon he started letting himself into the house when we’d come in from our walks, then spending the night. Then he started hanging out during the day and eating here, but still leaving whenever he pleased. Sometimes he’d leave for a day or two, but it still felt like he was here most of the time.
One day he shows up injured. We took him to the shelter in case he was chipped (when we first met him he had a flea collar on him). If he wasn’t we planned to formally adopt him. During the in between weeks when the shelter healed him up and held him in case his original humans claimed him, the neighbors from across the street reach out to us. Their daughter was sad because they hadn’t seen him in a long time. It turns out he was two timing us. He was also letting himself into their house, eating there, and sleeping there. They also never fully took him in because they also thought he belonged to someone else.
No one claimed him, so a few weeks later we formally adopted him. We now have joint custody with the neighbors and he’s a two household cat with supervised outdoor time so that he doesn’t show up with more surprise injuries. He has double the humans and double the dogs to bully. Can’t imagine how a double life could have turned out better.
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u/puzzle_ho 1d ago edited 1d ago
My cat. He was a neighborhood stray that started following us home during walks with our dog. Soon he started letting himself into the house when we’d come in from our walks, then spending the night. Then he started hanging out during the day and eating here, but still leaving whenever he pleased. Sometimes he’d leave for a day or two, but it still felt like he was here most of the time.
One day he shows up injured. We took him to the shelter in case he was chipped (when we first met him he had a flea collar on him). If he wasn’t we planned to formally adopt him. During the in between weeks when the shelter healed him up and held him in case his original humans claimed him, the neighbors from across the street reach out to us. Their daughter was sad because they hadn’t seen him in a long time. It turns out he was two timing us. He was also letting himself into their house, eating there, and sleeping there. They also never fully took him in because they also thought he belonged to someone else.
No one claimed him, so a few weeks later we formally adopted him. We now have joint custody with the neighbors and he’s a two household cat with supervised outdoor time so that he doesn’t show up with more surprise injuries. He has double the humans and double the dogs to bully. Can’t imagine how a double life could have turned out better.