SE23 Forum

A gentle ginger tomcat has been roaming the gardens around Garthorne Road and the nature reserve for the last few months.

I've asked a few other cat owners in the neighbourhood who think he may be stray, but I'm hoping that he may have a loving owner somewhere who is missing him - he may well have escaped or not found his way back. He is clearly used to people, loves being stroked and is not aggressive, though a bit scared sometimes.

He is ginger with no white markings except for a white spot on his chest, and is neutered. He's clearly very hungry (finishes his bowl in seconds) I've now started to feed him in the last couple of weeks as he seems to spend most of his day in my garden and has also been sleeping on the lawn and garden furniture. He's also been spotted trying to sneak into other houses in quest of food.

The next step would be to take him to the vet to check if he has been chipped, but I am hoping that someone here might recognise him as their pet on SE23? I already have a rather shy tomcat so it would be better if the ginger cat could be reunited with his owners (or a new owner?).

Fotos attached!
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Aww, this is dashing my hopes that the cat's owner might be found. Will take him to the vet to get checked out then next week - hopefully a chip with have some answers. He's such a sweet, good natured cat!

Hi there. Hopefully you will find the owner but if you do think he needs re-homing I would be really interested. Have always wanted a ginger Tom. So if you don't succeed in finding who does own him - please do email

Hi Tenybelle,
I'm taking him to Ceilia Hammond (I adopted mine from there last year) on Monday so the vet can check if he is chipped, and will also contact the people on SE23 who had a lost ginger cat again, plus some posters, just want to be absolutely sure there isn't an owner somewhere.

If that does not work, then it would be really lovely if you were interested in adopting him! Ceilia Hammond told me yesterday that their kennels are full to the brim and they would not be able to take him in if it came to that. I'm very happy to continue feeding him for a couple of weeks til I have tried everything, if if it gets colder/rainy, it he'd probably love to find a home. I'll keep you posted.

Ps. He's just been here for his morning bowl of food and is now lounging on the grass, purring. :-)

Have taken him (temporary name "Harry" to Celia Hammond today, and he's unfortunately not chipped, but otherwise in good condition. If I can entice him to go in the carrier box one more time, I may get him vaccinated etc. there tomorrow. I'll do a last round of notices in the neighbourhood, but if that comes to nothing, he'll go up for adoption to a loving home, with outdoor access.

Tenybelle - if you are still interested, it's likely that Harry the ginger tom will be looking for a new home soon. He deserves it - very gentle cat.

Good news (I hope) - it looks like either the owners have found their ginger tom cat, or started looking after him again!

He still comes to visit, but is not anywhere near as hungry (I have stopped feeding him now) and is no longer sleeping on my garden furniture. Instead, he now wears a collar that says "I'm chipped" (he definitely didn't have a chip when I took him to the vet, so hopefully has now been chipped and treated) since the weekend and appears to be going somewhere at the end of his roaming day. Yay! Hope he's got a good home and the owners are happy to have him, he's a lovely cat and deserves to be treated well.