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Ethical Dilemma Involving My Cat

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The Wrath

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Back in October, a marmalade cat started hanging out on my front porch. He looked like he was starving, so I gave him some leftover turkey and went out and bought some actual cat food. He lived on my porch for about a month, during which time I grew extremely attached to him. In mid-November, I took him to the vet to get him neutered, shot, and declawed. I then brought him inside and named him Socrates.

Now, here's the dilemma. I recently discovered that a guy I know at work might have been the owner of the cat. He has a picture posted on the internet saying that his cat's name was Hobbes and that he went missing on November 22, 2005. The cat looks very much like Socrates. Given that the cat looked starving and that I've spent over $200 on him, my instinct is to just not bring it up to him. I'm skeptical as to whether or not they're even the same cat...the fur patterns look different, althought it's hard to tell for sure.

Also, this guy lives several miles away. Given that his cat went missing on November 22, and this cat started hanging out here in October, I have a hard time thinking that they could be the same. Yeah, he could have roamed back and forth in between, but that's a long distance for a cat to roam as frequently as he would have had to. I also got Socrates from the vet on the 16th, several days before his cat went missing.

So, the cat looks similar, the date his cat went missing is similar to the date when I took mine inside, and they're both named after famous philosophers. Should I mention it to him, or should I just consider the cat mine?

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If this is true I don't understand why you have a problem.

Because, if he was an outside cat before I got him, that could have just been the date he noticed that his cat was missing. We used to have an outside cat, and she would occasionally wander away for up to a week at a time before we even noticed.

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You could be curcumspect and ask this collegue if he has any clearer pictures (maybe with a view to helping post flyers further afield if you want to help) so that you can get a more accurate idea of the cat's markings and then you can have a better idea of the possibility that Socrates may or may not have previously owned your co-worker before owning you :D

But going by the facts you presented above it would seem unlikely to be the same critter :o

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Why not simply tell this guy what you told us, and sleep easy.

I agree. And the probability of Socrates being Hobbes is very low according to what you said. So talk to that guy about your problem and work it out with him if it's actually Hobbes. If it's not (which is very likely) you won't lose any more sleep. Good luck. :o

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If the cat was living on your porch for a prolonged period of time, I personally wouldn't lose a whole lot of sleep over it even if I did suspect. Most likely if the cat was living on your porch the owner, if it even had one, was not taking good care of it or providing it with a home. I would consider the cat to be abandoned and by virtue of the fact that you provided it food and veterinary care, you acquired rightful ownership of it.

Property rights exist in a context - and the validity of your claim to specific property requires an active process on your part to exert control and/or assert your rights over that property. If one does not then, at some point in time, the property is assumed to be abandoned. Exactly when that point arrives can vary depending on the type of property involved and whether or not ownership can be recorded through things such as deeds, VIN numbers, etc.

It is one thing just to take a cat that happens to stumble across your property. It might belong to someone and have escaped from the house or something. Obviously, there should be an effort made to determine if it does belong to someone.

People who allow their house cats to roam, however, are volitionally taking a serious risk every time they do so of losing the animal forever. In most cities, such animals are at risk of being picked up by animal control officials and euthanised after a few days. There is also the danger of it being hit by cars. There is also the possibility that the cat may just decide that it prefers to live someplace else. Cats rarely get "lost" the way that dogs can when they are out roaming about.

At some point in time if an animal is living on your porch, it is reasonable to conclude that it is abandoned - especially if you do not see any evidence of the animal being fed by or paid attention to by others in your neighborhood. If, later on, you discover that it did belong to someone else, whether or not you give it back should entirely depend on context. If the animal was well cared for and was abandoned because the owner was hospitalized for a period of time or that it accidentally escaped and the owners had been frantically looking for it, I would seriously consider giving it back. But if you have fallen in love with the animal and the owner did not provide a good home for it and, rather, allowed it to simply wander about without an ID tag in all weather exposed to all sorts of dangers, I would make my decision based primarily on the animal's welfare. My attitude is that, by virtue of his own inaction and irresponsibility, the previous owner abandoned his property and thereby relinquished all moral claim to it the very moment someone else assumed responsibility for its continued existence.

ps - If you have cats and you love them, you should NEVER allow them to roam outside - especially in a suburban or urban situation. 30% of all stray cats are infected with a horrible cat disease called FIV - which is a feline version of what in humans is known as AIDS. It is a horrible disease and I lost two beloved cats who came down with it. There is no cure for the disease and you cannot vaccinate against it. (It does not pose a danger to humans). There are other horrible diseases as well - though some you can vaccinate against. If you already have cats and you are thinking about taking in a stray, always make sure it gets a clean bill of health from a vet before you do so. Otherwise, your kindness may end up being a death sentence to your existing pets. One of my three cats is a former stray who lived on my porch for several months before I took her in - but only after a vet assured me that it was safe to do so. I currently have another cat who has lived in my yard and the yard next door for the past two years or so - and, if I did not have three cats already, I would most definitely take her in if she proved healthy as I have grown very fond of her.

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