How do you know if they are strays

Not sure where this belongs. Tonight I was driving home (its Ohio and its freezing out) and I saw a little cat in the street. Not a kitten, tho. She wasnt wearing a collar. I really felt like she shouldn't be out there, its so cold, and if she had been a kitten I would have just taken her. Normally I wait a few days to see if they re-appear, I know there are a lot of pet cats in my area and not everyone puts collars on their cats. My question is, would you just have taken her? I don't want to take someones pet, even if I dont agree with their pet care.

I will usually go back to the area where I saw the cat a couple of times to see if I can see it. You could also ask some of your neighbors to see if they know the owners?

I would never take a cat off the streets outside my own immediate neighbourhood unless I was absolutely certain it was a stray, or it was injured and there was no sign of an owner. If I saw it several times then I would make enquiries around, and even then I would be wary if it was in good health.

I agree. There are at least 3 indoor/outdoor cats in my neighborhood and only one wears a collar. We had one growing up and I'd be pretty upset if someone "stole" my cat (and so would he). For that very reason (and others) my kitty I have now stays inside.

I live in MI so I know cold. Many indoor/outdoor cats still like to go outside in freezing weather -- they usually just don't stay outside as long.

i have had the excat same problem but for the last year , been asking around put paper collars on the cat with my phone number on , 1 rescue said they wont do nothing if he looks in good cond....
well he is full of flees this i know for a fact . he is eating very well by the looks and feel of him, his uneutered and spraying. but at the back of my mind is does he have a owner? well this morning at around 5 am this cat had been sitting in my garden under shelter from the snow all night , like it most nights. so i took him in gave him blankets food water and litter tray in the spare bathroom. today i phoned up a different rescue who didnt hessiate to come and pick him up . there going to neuter him worm him flee him vac him mircochip him and give him a health check . then there bringing him back to me on friday to either keep or rehome him myself , as they have no room at the moment. i just hope i dont see missing cat posters up now .

Well if you do, you will have done him and his owners a great favour and I hope they would recognise that.

Well I'm probably going to start something here but here is my 2 cents -

I have a friend who recently took in a mother dog and her 2 puppies and rehomed them herself. She knew who they belonged to but these poor dogs were outside ALL the time, hungry and cold and begging to be let into her house. This happened many MANY times throughout the years. This dog had 4batches of puppies over a period of 3 years. Who knows what happened to the other puppies. These dogs were all very skinny, matted and cold. She put them in her laundry room and kept them warm and fed until they went to their new homes. She called the shelter and even though the shelter was full and couldn't take them, they knew of these people since they had had complaints before. They recommended finding new homes for them if she could.

To summarize, I'm all for rehoming them. People who can't take care of their pets don't deserve to own them.

so very true , but im a worrier and think someone whos angry will come knocking on my door lol. but also the rescue did say if i had been feeding 2 meals a day for a month then i can legally claim the cat as being mine. i know iv done the best for him as iv seen fit to , but it dosnt stop the questions * should i have left alone*? anyway its done now , tomorrow morning he will be neutered , nothing can be done about that , and plus he will be rid of flees , and most likly rid of worms.

If someone doesnt want their outside cat picked up, they should be wearing collars. Period.

Originally Posted by Sicycat

If someone doesnt want their outside cat picked up, they should be wearing collars. Period.

Click to expand...

Yes, and with a name tag with phone number.

Thanks all of you. I have actually taken cats from people who didnt take care of them before, after watching them have litter after litter. No one cared at all. I will keep an eye out for this one again. The best way to lose a pet is to not put a collar with an ID tag on it. I seriously almost hit this cat, it was right in the street.

I think you absolutely did the right thing. Good for you for being responsible, much the way his owners were not. I keep both of my cats indoors, and they have never escaped, but they have collars anyway, just in case. If this cat was found without a collar, it is likely his owners didn't care enough to put one on him. Thank you for being a caring pet owner.

If I find an intact cat, a cat who looks like it doesn't belong outside, a cat sitting on the side of the road, etc I pick it up. I pick up any animal I find pretty much and evalutate whether or not I should take it. If it is an animal that doesn't seem to belong outside (a Persian cat or something) then I will make an effort to find an owner. Otherwise they get vetted and rehomed. If you have an outdoor cat, it is friendly enough to approach strange people and you still cannot put ID on it, then sorry, you are not being very responsible IMO.

But like I said, if the animal is intact or unhealthy I don't make much effort to find it's "home". I vet it and care for it and then rehome it.

Originally Posted by XxtashaxX

Today i phoned up a different rescue who didnt hessiate to come and pick him up . there going to neuter him worm him flee him vac him mircochip him and give him a health check . then there bringing him back to me on friday to either keep or rehome him myself , as they have no room at the moment. i just hope i dont see missing cat posters up now .

Click to expand...

I'm just wondering which rescue did you call?
Do they realise it is against the law to neuter any cat without the owners written consent?

If the cat dies under anaesthetic whoever signed the authorisation will be held liable.

Also microchipping without the legal owners consent is ' criminal damage' to property.


P.s
also ALL found animals must be reported to the police and notified in the local papers to give the legal owner right to claim their pet/property.
Pets are classed as property and must be kept for 30 days before keeping or re-homing.
That is IF you are a private individual and not a known rescue org.
IF nobody claims the pet/property then and only then does anybody have the right to
Microchip or neuter/spay.

In situations like this, I just don't care about the technicalities -- the only question that matters is what's best for the animal. I think what's right is much more important than what's legal.

Id make an effort to find out if the cat has an owner before taking it. Bear in mind that collars can come off - a safety collar should come off easily - or the cat may be an indoor cat that has got out. Some cats just hate wearing collars (when I tried them on my cats they got them off on a daily basis). I like the idea of putting a paper collar on the cat and asking around the area. If you can't find an owner that way and the cat is still outdoors then I'd take it to check for a microchip and put up lots of notices to try and trace the owner before rehoming it. I'd be devastated if someone took my cat because they disapproved of it being allowed outdoors. I don't let mine outside but some cats are quite street wise or are rehomed from an indoor/outdoor envirnonment it which case it is sometimes kinder to let the cat continue to have outdoor access than keep it indoors and unhappy. Just because the cat is outside doesn't mean it needs rescuing.

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

In situations like this, I just don't care about the technicalities -- the only question that matters is what's best for the animal. I think what's right is much more important than what's legal.

Click to expand...

Carol,

I'm talking about non emergency surgery.

In the post I was replying to,I was reffering to those situations.
Too many people take cats off the streets not even knowing anything about them
and not knowing anything about the law.Or even making any attempt to find an owner.
There are hundreds of cats go missing every year in the Uk with no trace being found of them.
I know too many 'charities' take cats off the streets just on the say so of someone who has 'seen a cat afew times'.

How many of those are lost cats who have lost their collar?how many are cats that never had a collar because they were never allowed out but managed to escape.
How many of those cats are missing for months trying to survive off what they can find in bins and on the streets.

How many people would like to come home and find their house been burgled and their cats let out.God forbid that is my nightmare and 7 of my cats are ex feral,they would be able to fend for themselves and that would be the last I ever saw of them,but my two domestics?who knows?
Not everybody scans for a chip!
Nobody knows why a cat is in the state that it is found in,There could be many reasons.
But every owner should have the chance to be re-united with their pet.That is why there are legal frameworks in place,to protect the animals and protect the owners from theft.




When making decisions like this both sides of the coin must be inspected.
Unless anybody has been in the position of seeing cases like this from both sides
then I don't believe they are seeing things in perspective.

Oh, I agree -- unless the cat is clearly being outright abused, then of course efforts should be made to reunite him with his owner! But when it IS abuse or serious neglect, I think the kitty's welfare supersedes the law.

I'm just a criminal at heart, I guess. :-)

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Oh, I agree -- unless the cat is clearly being outright abused, then of course efforts should be made to reunite him with his owner! But when it IS abuse or serious neglect, I think the kitty's welfare supersedes the law.

I'm just a criminal at heart, I guess. :-)

Click to expand...

I agree but I also consider a roaming intact cat to be, in a way, neglected. If I find one I have it altered it no matter what. Then I decide based on the overall condition of the cat, I will try to find an owner or rehome it. First I look on the internet and in the papers in the lost cats section, then I start posting ads.

Originally Posted by urbantigers

Id make an effort to find out if the cat has an owner before taking it. Bear in mind that collars can come off - a safety collar should come off easily - or the cat may be an indoor cat that has got out. Some cats just hate wearing collars (when I tried them on my cats they got them off on a daily basis). I like the idea of putting a paper collar on the cat and asking around the area. If you can't find an owner that way and the cat is still outdoors then I'd take it to check for a microchip and put up lots of notices to try and trace the owner before rehoming it. I'd be devastated if someone took my cat because they disapproved of it being allowed outdoors. I don't let mine outside but some cats are quite street wise or are rehomed from an indoor/outdoor envirnonment it which case it is sometimes kinder to let the cat continue to have outdoor access than keep it indoors and unhappy. Just because the cat is outside doesn't mean it needs rescuing.

Click to expand...

I'm with you there. My girls are all indoor-only, but during the summer time Buffy sneaks out on a regular basis (she has things down to a science ), and it would absolutely break my heart if someone just picked her up (she's friendly and wouldn't protest to someone handling her) and rehomed her without making an effort to find us. WE, on the other hand, would be making the effort to put up Lost posters and place ads in the paper, but it just isn't fair if someone saw those ads and signs and decided we were irresponsible owners and don't deserve to get our cat back. She doesn't wear a collar, but that's because I feel they'd be dangerous on her, even the breakaway collars. She's a climber, a reckless one at that, and when she bolts away from me when she's on her harness and leash, I worry myelf sick about whether or not she's going to scale a tree, and then trip and hang herself (even if her airway is fine, who's going to try helping her down?).