Do people let out their cats during the day with no collars?

Question

I see an orange cat outside with no collar, roaming around the apartment complex area. Does it still mean it has an owner?

yeah, it has NO collar.

No, I am not planning to approach it or anything. I'm just wondering whether it's stray or owned.

Answer 1

He very possibly does have an owner. There are a few cats who roam around my apt. complex too (without collars) and I know who a couple of them belong to.

Personally, I never let my cats out at all -- but if I did, I would put a collar on him for sure. I would want people to know who he belongs to.

Answer 2

I live in a smaller neighborhood and there are people who let their cats roam the area, which really ticks some of the people around here off. First of all, the cats don't have any ID on them and we think they're someone's pets, but we're not sure whose! We don't know if they have all their shots and if they're fixed either. The biggest pet peave of my neighbor's is that the cat goes after the birds that he likes to watch--he has bird feeders and bird houses and the cat likes to go into his yard to hunt them!! The thing I don't like is that I have a sandbox in my backyard and even though I TRY to be careful about keeping it covered--the kids inadvertently keep on leaving it UNcovered, which means the cat could be using it as it's kitty litter box! The final thing that irritates me is that cats sometimes will knock over the garbage cans to get at what's inside. So. . . if you're one of those people that think it's ok to let your cat roam around the neighborhood--please don't! The last time I found a cat that was roaming the neighborhood, I caught it and put an ad in the newspaper looking for its owner. When nobody answered the ad, I gave the cat away to someone who would make sure it got all it needed AND would keep it indoors.

Answer 3

This cat may be a stray. Approach with caution- if you can, find owner. If the cat feels/looks dirty, and is not neutered, consider being a good samaritan; contact the nearest no-kill shelter, and donate the money to get him medical care, vaccines, and neutering. Or adopt him and give him a forever home. People who "own' cats, and let them out to roam, are bad pet parents anyway. Even a cat used to roaming can get used to the comforts of a warm loving forever home.
Help an animal in need- go straight to heaven when you die, none of that purgatory crap.

Answer 4

It may have an owner, and be microchipped. Sadly some owners don't think to give their cat a collar, or put it on wrong then take it off so kitty can't hurt itself on it, not realising that there should be one finger space and a break-away collar clasp on the collar and kitty will be fine.
What condition is the cat in? THat will give you a very good idea as to if it's owned or not.

Answer 5

Well, you never know. I have two outdoor cats that refuse to wear collars and they come back every night. I would guess that it has an owner because there are hardly any stray cats running around areas like here.

Answer 6

I live in a rural area, but we let our cat out and in as she pleases and she doesn't have a collar. The laws about apartment complexes I don't know.

Yeah, if I were you I would NOT approach this cat.

Answer 7

All these aswers are BULL. You can never really tell. It is possible for it to have an owner but it is just as posibble for it to be feral(wild). From experiance I used to care for this cat that i thought was stray. but when i finally caught it in a trap and took it to a vets they said it could possibly have rabies and it had never had human contact. they had to put it down because it was COMPLETELY wild. Then 1 month later i found another cat but this one just came up to me and started snuggling. There was no collar eaither. so i placed found cat flyers and there was no reply so scince i was alergic to cats we found it a great home. You can never tell. There are over 16 wild cats in my neighborhood. Yes its sad but. they keep having kittens with each other and those become wild and so on. yea dont try to approch it. There is a 50:50 chance its got an owner and the only way you can tell is by getting it to come to you and let you pet it. Dont feed it if you know its wild. its expensive and if you feed it cats from all over will start to come to your house to eat food. Also if you ever moved and couldnt take the cat with you because you couldnt catch it then it would strve to death because you had served it meals for a long time and was not used to having to catch its food. Dont try and pet it though to find out if its wild because if it scratches you you could get a disese such as rabies or cat scratch fever. You wont be able to tell for sure if its wild or not but it very well could be either. Dont walk up to it let it come to you.

Answer 8

He must have an owner yes. No one would let their cats out without their collars or a leash. It's against the law to do so, actually. You have to have your cat leashed and collared when you plan to let it outdoors. An ID tag is also required for security and saftey reasons.

Answer 9

I would imagine so, some people forget to put the collars on, others don't have collars for the cats, either way just leave it be, i wouldn't mess with it.

Answer 10

I am guessing that the cat does have an owner. See what happens over the next few days.