You stole someone’s cat op. Dumb cat owners let their cats roam free. Put it back outside.

Couple thoughts which are imho: Cats choose their owners. There is no such thing as a "lost cat." I really do believe that. They upgrade. If they don't like their owner, and find someone they like better, they stay with the new owner. Do you want a cat? Sounds like you will be a great owner, but do you want a cat this way? You being afraid the vet will find the owner? Not good karma. You are kind-of willing to do the right thing and kind-of not, all at the same time. That's going to mess with your head.

Take the cat to the vet to see if the owner can be found *while* suggesting to the vet (or the owner) that you actually would love to have the cat if that's something that works out.

And then go get a cat of your own, if it doesn't.

Anonymous wrote:I’d put the cat back outside where you found it. Feed it every day if you want. Bring it in for a couple hours but don’t keep it. It’s not your cat.

Please don’t do that. The weather would be brutal for this cat. OP, I do think you need to take the cat to a vet.

There is no lost cat notices for this cat. I checked with the county website and their affiliate 24petfinder and no cat like it listed nor with the chip id number. I have emailed the chip maker as well to ask for owner info . According to banfield the chip isn’t a client’s so they don’t have anything on it

Anonymous wrote:I’d put the cat back outside where you found it. Feed it every day if you want. Bring it in for a couple hours but don’t keep it. It’s not your cat.

it would have frozen to death if I didn’t take it in. I had never seen this cat before in my neighborhood

I’d put the cat back outside where you found it. Feed it every day if you want. Bring it in for a couple hours but don’t keep it. It’s not your cat.

Cats dash out when a door is opened by unwary visitors or workers. Collars are thought to be dangerous if snagged or might be breakaway collar that came off. Chip is supposed to do its job.
Take cat to vet for chip scan.

"I’m afraid to go to my vet as they will likely notify the owner. Is returning it to the owner even wise?"

Yes. You need to do your due diligence to return the cat to its owners. You can't just "finders keepers" someone's pet. And even if you can't find the owners, you should take the cat to a vet anyway for a basic wellness check (which is going to reveal the chip, and will make you look like a dirty thief if that's the first mention of "your" cat's origin story)

You may not see signs because cats travel. It could be from several neighborhoods over. Cats also escape. They're small, and quick, and can easily door dart out into the wild, get scared, and keep running.

Take the cat to your local vet and see if they can use the chip's info to make contact with the owner. Call animal control and see if anyone is looking for a cat of that description and give them the chip ID number. If you do all you can to get the cat safely home, and after several weeks you've not made contact, well, congrats on your new cat. But don't steal someone's pet just because you made up a story that they were a bad owner. There could be a heartbroken family looking for their pet.

I found a very sweet cat on my doorstep a couple days ago. It was very cold out. Cat had no id tag. Was incredibly hungry . I put out food and it came on . I closed the door and cat had been here ever since. Very loving and friendly I put out found cat reports on multiple databases . Heard nothing from any owner. I ordered a chip scanner which arrived this morning. Cat had a chip and it’s registered to one particular place but without being the owner I can’t find out info. I email them asking for owner info. I’m a bit hesitant about this given this cat was out on a very cold day, no name tag and they still haven’t put up any alert of a lost cat. I’ve ran the chip number in the lost cat databases and no result so they didn’t report it at least on those. What should I do? I don’t want to judge but the owner doesn’t seem to be looking for this cat and it likely would have died in the cold . I’m afraid to go to my vet as they will likely notify the owner. Is returning it to the owner even wise?