In the past few days, DP and I have noticed a black and white cat
hanging about our apartment complex.  On Friday, both of us saw a
group of kids playing with him.  When I saw him, two kids were
carrying him around the parking lot while other kids yelled at them to
put him down.  DP saw kids wrapping him in a towel "to keep him warm"
and they told him the cat was stray.

On Saturday morning, DP found the cat hanging out between the doors in
the lobby of our apartment.

Later on that day, we checked the lobby but the cat was gone.  But he
didn't go far.  He was hangin' in the parking lot.  He came over to us
readily for pets and snuggles.  He looks pretty clean and healthy, but
there was no collar.

And today my DP found the cat crouched under a porch a few streets
over near his bus stop.

***

So what should we do?  It's hard for me to tell if this cat lives in
one of the myriad townhouses around this area, and is simply a bit of
a wanderer, or if he is really lost.  Lots of people in this area let
their cats out, but those cats very rarely go far from home.  I've
certainly never seen one hanging out around the building for days on
end.

I don't want to take him if he is someone's pet; but I don't want him
going hungry outside either, particularly with winter coming on.

Advice?

One other note.  There are no missing cat posters around the
neighbourhood, but today when we took the bitties in for shots we saw
a poster of a missing cat that looked somewhat like our "stray."
However, when we phoned, DP got treated to a sigh and a tired
explanation about how "it's my sister's cat and she's an animal
collector and she got it back like a month ago and we're not giving
you any money..."  I suppose it's not the same cat....  but there are
no other posters for such a cat around.

--Fil