Just over a month ago, this little kitten showed up on our doorstep. The security camera showed her making a beeline right up our driveway and onto the porch, where she sat screaming her head off until we heard and opened the door.
She was nothing but bones underneath the matted fluff, but she was immediately friendly and surprisingly trusting. I had been wanting a second cat and my husband jokes that my desire manifested this little one, who we named Sofrito, or Sofi for short. ♥️
I just hope you tried to find the previous owners first. Way too many people seem to just take in random animal without doing that, leaving the previous family devastated in the process...
I've always figured if a young cat is dirty, wormy, and doesn't have a chip: fair game even if it isn't technically a stray. Cats are so destructive to native wildlife that they shouldn't be allowed outside, so removing one from the streets is a social good even if it nominally belongs to someone.
And if the cat just managed to get out and get lost? Then you are just stealing a cat that someone might still be looking for. That's not a social good.
Then they should have taken better care of their cat. Note that I said if it's wormy and doesn't have a chip.
I say this a cat lover that never lets our cats outside. There is an argument to be made that almost all housecats should be eliminated through whatever means necessary. The statistics on what they do to ground nesting birds, songbirds, reptiles, etc are pretty depressing. Anything that gets them off the streets and inside is good, in my opinion. They are an invasive species almost everywhere they live.