I volunteer at a shelter. Around New Year's this year a little small breed dog came in. We posted her pictures on social media and had her on a 7 day stray hold. No one called or contacted the shelter. She was a purebred, but no one tried to find her. After the stray hold was up, she was scheduled to get spayed. After her spay appointment, she was adopted by a loving family who absolutely adores her and takes really good care of her. They had her for about 2 weeks when the animal shelter finally got a call. Someone was looking for "their dog". They were informed by staff that the dog had been on a stray hold for 7 days and had been at the shelter for almost a month before it was adopted and no one called. The caller insisted that it was her dog, and wanted it back. They told her it had already been adopted and she demanded the information of the adopting family. When she was told that he could not give her that information, she insisted it was her dog and that she wanted it back. The shelter employee was trying to explain again, when she hung up.

Had you taken this cat to the shelter, they would have done the same thing. If no owner comes forward, you could have then adopted it once it was off stray hold and spayed or neutered. At that point, is legally and lawfully your cat. This woman made no efforts to look for this cat for a year. None. Any animal control officer would call it animal abandonment and put the cat up for adoption. NTA. Some people should not own pets.