There's a Cat in My Car

Found a cat in my car after work. It's too cold to leave it, so I drove it home.

Sunday, January 11, 2026 2 min read
Completed 😰 anxious 📍 Work Parking Lot 🌤️ Cold
A man in a suit takes a surprised selfie in his car, while a grumpy-looking light-colored cat sits behind him near a child's car seat.

So today was a long day. You know the type. Just wanted to get home, maybe order a pizza, and not think about anything. I walk out to the car, it's freezing cold outside, and I open the driver's side door and there's a cat. Just sitting there. In my car. On the passenger seat like it was waiting for me to start carpooling.

It didn't even run. It just looked at me with this sort of bored expression. Like I was interrupting its nap. I'm pretty sure I've seen this cat around my apartment complex before, just wandering around, but I've never been this close to it. It's a kind of sandy, grayish color and honestly it looks a little grumpy. I stood there for a full minute with the door open, just staring at it, and it just stared back.

My first thought was to shoo it out, but it's really cold tonight. Like, freezing. And the cat seemed pretty settled in. I just couldn't bring myself to kick it out into the parking lot. What if it was sick or lost? It didnt have a collar on, at least not one I could see. So I did the only logical thing I could think of at the time which was probably not logical at all.

I got in, closed the door, and drove home. With the cat. It just sat there the whole ride, perfectly calm, looking out the window. So now I'm home. And there's a cat in my garage because I let it out of the car in there so it wouldn't just bolt into the street. I have no idea what to do next. I don't own a cat. I don't have cat food. I just have a random cat in my garage. What is the protocol for this??

💬 Join the Discussion

Has this ever happened to anyone else? What's the protocol here?

📚 More from this Series

This entry is part of The Neighbor's Cat in My Car - Left the office and found a cat in my car. Turns out it's the neighborhood's problem, and now I guess it's mine too.

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Alex

Written by

Alex

Pet Parent

Just a regular person trying to be a good neighbor. Apparently, that now includes dealing with a cat that thinks my car is its personal lounge.

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