A cat keeps coming into my yard — what should I do?
4 min read
Every year thousands of owned cats are rehomed by kind strangers who assumed they were abandoned. A two-minute check and a sighting post avoid an awful outcome for a family a few streets away.
Owned or stray? Read the coat
Owned cats are clean, at a healthy weight, and relaxed around people. Genuinely stray cats are thin, matted or dirty, and usually keep their distance.
A cat that walks up, tail high, and rolls over is almost certainly telling you it has a home and a routine.
What not to do
Don't feed it. Regular feeding shifts a cat's territory and it may stop going home, which is how visiting cats become lost cats.
Don't take it indoors permanently, and don't drive it to a shelter across town — that removes it from the area its owner is searching.
The useful thing to do instead
Post a sighting with a photo and your suburb. On Pet Social, the sighting drops a pin on the local map and reaches owners searching nearby — including any owner whose cat has gone quiet for a few days.
If you want to check whether it's genuinely lost, a paper collar note asking the owner to get in touch works well, or ask a vet for a free microchip scan.
Frequently asked questions
Is it stealing to keep a friendly cat?
Legally the cat belongs to its registered owner. Post a sighting or found report before making any decision about rehoming.
How do I stop a cat coming into my garden?
Stop all feeding, remove shelter, and use motion-activated sprinklers. Never use deterrents that can injure an animal.
Post a free alert on Pet Social
Free to post, free to search, and every first conversation stays private inside the app.
Reunions, sightings and tips daily on Instagram — @petsocial2026