A Mysterious Intruder (Ragdoll Kitty!)

Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,

Last week we had a little run-in that you may have seen on my twitter account. At about 5 AM on Tuesday I heard a really loud meowing coming from our hallway. At first, I thought the meowing was Beau who was feeling sick or wanted to play, but to my surprise, it was coming from outside of our doorway!

As soon as I opened the door this little cutie walked in and immediately jumped on the chair near our door.

Now, I normally wouldn’t let a strange kitty into our home, but since she made an appearance so late at night, was crying loudly at the door and because we live in a no pet building (and live on a higher floor so the chances of her being a stray are very low), I felt I had no other choice!

Our first mission was to hide Beau and make sure to check the intruder for any signs of sickness and to check her nails to see if she was being taken care of and under her fur to see if there were any open wounds. It actually looked like her nails were cut recently and we felt it was pretty safe to believe that the little one was being properly taken care of, but we would make sure to keep Beau and her a safe enough distance to make sure there was no chance of fighting.

Beau spent some time in our bedroom while we let the intruder scout our home. (Which she seemed very comfortable doing.) The intruder ran all around the house and made a home in the cat hut we built Beau a few months back. 

After a few minutes of sitting there the intruder heard Beau shuffle and began meowing at him through the door. Beau did the same back, which we were surprised with as there was absolutely no hissing. Since it was extremely late I decided to give our intruder a nice place to sleep, an extra litter box, extra food (in case she hadn’t eaten), 3 water bowls and a few toys for her to play with. Funny enough, when she saw where all the toys were hidden she jumped into the box and started picking out light toys, bringing them out of the box. (What a quick kitty!)

I made my way to the bedroom and prepared it for Beau to live in overnight, making sure he had the same things in our room. As soon as I got into the bed the intruder started meowing and crying.  She just wouldn’t stop! So, I told my partner that I would sleep on the couch outside so she would stop crying. (Again, I’m always worried about noise complaints in our building, especially because this kitty was LOOOOUUUD! I’m surprised you could hear her outside of our unit as it’s pretty sound proof and the main door is pretty thick!

The intruder kept running around the house that night and did a lot of sleeping and cuddling with me. Honestly, she was winning my heart over so quickly, but I knew I had to keep some distance as I had to find her owners as soon as possible. When the intruder was bored of sleeping with me, she made her way to a cardboard box to finish up her sleeping session. What a little cutie! 

When I woke up I asked my partner if we should introduce Beau to her. We both thought it would be a nice idea, as long as there was someone supervising, and man were we right. Beau and the intruder had a great time together. They actually didn’t get super close with each other, but they passed a ball between each other and ran around the house together, never making any physical contact funny enough. If the intruder got a bit too close to Beau he growled a bit, and she walked away knowing he wasn’t kidding. I’m surprised she didn’t growl or hiss back, but she may have siblings of her own.

At about 7 AM I did a first sweep of apartments, knocking at everyone’s door to see if they had lost a sweet kitty. Unfortunately, not everyone answered, but I thought: safe to assume that they were either sleeping or if I could hear them stirring in the house they weren’t overly worried and didn’t need to answer, because they didn’t lose their kitty. As soon as the vet clinic was over I took the intruder over to the vet to see if she was chipped. She happily hopped into a carrier (which is something we still need to get Beau to enjoy.) To our surprise and concern, she wasn’t micro chipped. So the vet told us to make signs and postings all over the web about her. I told the vet I wasn’t comfortable with this, especially since she was found in my complex on a floor that needs to be reached by elevator, and she is a ragdoll who many people pay thousands to own… so if we raise too much attention there would be an increased chance kitty poachers would try and come for her. The vet nodded and said, “Yeah, you’re right, that would be very bad.”

So I took the intruder home and did a second sweep of the apartments, visiting the ones who didn’t answer during the first sweep. Still no luck. So, I planned to leave notes under everyone’s door saying, “Have you lost a cat? Come to our apartment if you did.” In the meantime, I let Beau and the intruder play. Beau, excited to see the intruder, brought her to the KONG Wrangler toy and showed her how to kick at it. Misty joined him immediately after. I wish I got a video of the adorable event, but unfortunately all I got one this picture of them standing by it.

At about 2 PM my partner and I decided to name the little one, just so we could stop referring to her as “the intruder” and came up with the name Misty. Misty spent the rest of the day with me while my partner went to work. She played lots with Beau and I went out to post letters to our neighbours. By 5:30 PM I got a knock at the door. Her owners came in and I asked them for proof that she was theirs. After showing me multiple pictures of her, I grabbed her and handed her over. Before they left I told them how much I had fed her and that if they ever wanted we could have play dates with our cats. We know Beau has been wanting a sibling since we moved out and they got along so well. They didn’t respond to this comment, but I’m that if the time comes Misty will find her way back to us, or we will have to start really contemplating if adopting another kitty is our next step.

We miss you Misty, and we really hope to see you again you adorable muffin! <3