I am all for taking in a stay but the second you find out that the cat belongs to someone you should bring it back. Someone else is putting in the effort to find him so he is missed.

Ever heard of a “FOUND” poster?

Hello, typo demons.

Perhaps this new owner is doing a good job of taking care of him now, but that doesn’t excuse him from not at least trying to return him to the person who lost him. Nothing is mentioned of whether he put up found posters or ads. The original owner may very well have posted that flyer well after losing him, or he could have done it early on and the new guy just missed it for whatever reason. He mentions that he looked around the neighborhood for notices for the kitten, but he doesn’t say whether he looked outside of that area. The kitten could indeed have wandered a farther distance than that, and if he were really looking, he should have looked farther than he said he did. Maybe he did, but maybe he didn’t.

I know that, in the new owner’s shoes, I’d at least make flyers saying the kitten was found and post to places like Craigslist saying the same thing. If someone contacted me to say he was theirs, well, tough then, but I’d still feel obligated to give him back unless I knew or found that there was a VERY good reason not to (and I WOULD honestly be looking for one up until I handed him over). And if no one responds saying that he is theirs, well, at least I tried, and I can keep him unless/until it becomes necessary to find him a new home. If I had paid for him to receive medical treatment and the like for things like parasites and neutering, I would ask for compensation for it, but that would be the extent of my demands. (Any treatment related to possible abuse or neglect I could use as grounds for not returning him, but stuff like de-worming and neutering is rather normal and doesn’t provide the same legitimacy for an excuse. It’d take a fairly severe infestation that could have been taken care sooner than it was to make it seem like the cat wasn’t being well-cared for.)

I’m actually having to do that right now for a cat that wandered into the apartment I’m staying at this week. She’s been recently spayed, so for a while I did think that she was previously owned. Since I still can’t rule that out completely even with other factors I’ve taken into account (ear-tipping, so could have been TNR’d, but still really friendly for a cat that could have had that done to her), I am still going to be putting up signs for her just in case. She’s sweet, and I’ve gotten a bit attached, too, but she seems to be in good condition for a stray, so someone who was taking good care of her may be really missing her.

I can’t help but remember the last couple of times a cat of mine has gone missing. One of them I broke down over during the week that he was gone. The other one never came back, and I really wish I knew what happened to him, and I still sometimes imagine and hope that he’s made his way home. And I loved that cat. Fifteen years growing up with a pet like that can make you really miss the guy, and while the one that I’m looking after now may not have been with whomever might have had her for as long, I’m sure that that potential former owner could be very distressed over her being gone by now. The guy missing this kitty here may very well have had to deal with the same thing, so telling him that his lost pet is okay but that he can’t have him back is a bit dickish at the same time as it’s helpful. If you’re going to keep the cat anyway, you might as well just not inform the last owner about it. Having the fact that your pet is okay being dangled over your head and not being able to get him back is probably just as bad. If I knew my cat were still alive and being looked after, I’d be trying as hard as I could to find the person who has him to get him back. So it’s really not much closure just being told that someone else has him now.

Tl;dr: The last owner may or may not have been a good owner. The new owner may or may not have looked extensively for the last owner. What the new owner did is still kind of dickish, even if he is taking good care of the cat now. You shouldn’t withhold a pet that you’ve taken in from someone who has lost him unless you have a valid reason for doing so; the former owner has to have done something to warrant it.

none of you are ever going to meet either said parties or the kitten so get over it. the kitten is fine and healthy and being taking care of.

so shut up all of you.