When To Rescue?

I have done lots of shlter rescues, but i got the fosters from them. There is a ginger cat coming round my house for the last few months. With all my experience I cant even tell if it is male or female. Today it was waiting for me when i came home, and it looked visibly bigger around the midde. It ate 2 cans of food. I put a paper collar around its neck with my phone #. Its getting really cold outside, so I made a make shift bed from a plastic tote and towels. It has half of an ear missing and has fleas. I want to rescue it if it is a stray, especially if it is a pregnant female. (not sure tho as my Charlie who was male really bulked up in the wintertime) How long should I wait to either bring it inside or to the shelter? I don't want to steal anyone's cat!

I am no expert, but it does not sound like it has a home, and if it does, then not a home where it is properly cared for. If you have the resources and the desire to rescue this kitty, I say go for it. Especially if the cat is waiting for you when you get home.

I second that, KRZ. Sounds as if the kitty could use some extra TLC.

We had a stray show up on our porch a month ago. I suspected she was pregnant, but we were afraid that maybe she had already had the babies, so we called a vet to find out how to tell for sure. If the kitty has very pronounced nipples, that's a pretty big clue that she's either pregnant or has recently had babies. The vet told us that if they leaked at all, then she has had her babies, and if they do not produce milk when pressed, that she hadn't yet had them. We tried to be dainty with her, as we didn't want to scare her off, so I would just pet her along her back and sides, then a quick pet under her belly after that. No milk. To be extra safe, we whisked her to the vet and had her professionally checked, and she was still pregnant. After delivering her to my sister-in-law's sunroom, she had five babies a few weeks later. We were so happy, since it's cold and wet now. After they're all spayed and neutered they will go to homes or to my sister-in-law's barn.

Good luck with your new visitor. I am glad that you're looking after it.

Well the owner called me, I had put on the paper collar. So I will let this one go since they live really close. I did find out it is a plump little boy! I think he just likes me. I seem to attract cats, like all of you! But i agree, any owner who doesn't put an ID tag on their cat isn't a very good owner, if they let them outside. They could easily lose their pet. Thanks for the advice. This is the third neighborhood cat I have tried to rescue, LOL.

Good the problem solved itself.

Dont forget to tell the owner about some good flea medicines... Perhaps also tip about some cheap and god vet.
Im sure you know such things.
Nobody likes lessons if they didnt ask for them, but some useful tips from a friendly person is almost always OK.



Your paper collar was a nice idea. (where did you found these paper collars?).
Should works fine in cases like yours, ie stray but not in immediate distress.

Another standard to do in similiar cases; ie you see a cat in need, and you can and want to help it, but dont know if it has an owner or not:

Do help it, and simultaneusly seek after the owner. Ie putting Found messages on message boards in the neighbourhood, and so on...

If you dont want to write your name and adresse in clear, use a cell-phone with a prepaid card, an email konto with yahoo or hotmail or such. No exact street number, only roughly the street area.

Originally Posted by ginava

Well the owner called me, I had put on the paper collar. So I will let this one go since they live really close. I did find out it is a plump little boy! I think he just likes me. I seem to attract cats, like all of you! But i agree, any owner who doesn't put an ID tag on their cat isn't a very good owner, if they let them outside. They could easily lose their pet. Thanks for the advice. This is the third neighborhood cat I have tried to rescue, LOL.

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Paper ID collar - great idea!!

ID TAGS on Outside Cats:
I don't put tags on my outside cats - mostly because of their safety -

• collars can get them hung up someplace if they can't get them off
• tags (especially noisy ones) can alert a predator to their location if they're sneaking away or hiding from danger, especially from humans who may want to hurt them, or even more likely - a loose dog

The cats I care for, that stay outside, are formally ferals or stray. I'm just now getting the ferals to trust me enough not to run when I go near them. So, even IF I wanted to put a collar on them I couldn't. I pray a lot! I consider these cats my responsibility - and, anyone looking at them could tell they were very cared for, and would most likely leave them alone.

Another thing to consider - you said part of his ear was missing - it could have been clipped when he was neutered - which is usually customary when a feral is spayed or neutered. The ear clipping lets others know they were already altered and they won't need surgery.

Please reconsider that all caregivers, that don't ID their cats, are bad caregivers.
g

Originally Posted by GloriaJH

Please reconsider that all caregivers, that don't ID their cats, are bad caregivers.

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I second this having seen the damage a collar can do when a cat gets caught on their breakaway collar.

All of mine are microchipped and people here are really good about bringing strays in to check for a microchip - but I guess that also depends on the area where you live. That being said, mine have never been outdoors without a harness or in a carrier so they wont be wandering onto someone elses property

I had something similar happen to me last week.

Three of my outdoor cats have died last two years and three of the neighbours cats are now also gone- so our territory is now "defended" by a couch potatoe with arthritis and a gentle good weather out door kitty of 15 1/2.

Anyway, because of this we have more neighbourhood cats wander into the garden, amongst them a beautiful red MC and a black and white beauty, all of them look very well taken care of. I see them only occasionally, though. So I see the black and white one and about a month later I see it again... with a bulge. Uh oh.

So I get out some cat treats so she comes closer and I can take a decent Foto of her- she gulps down 8 cat stick out of a packet of 10, but I've got my picture

When I get down to comparing pictures I suddenly notice that the cat that was there a month ago is very very similar looking- but the pattern isn't quite the same . So yes, tubby and beauty are probably sister and brother.

The next day tubby is following me as I'm on my way to go swimming- someone clearly remembers those cat sticks

We meet a nice lady who turns out to be tubbies owner- tubby is in fact called Lucy and has some problems keeping her diet, and yes- she's of course neutered...... and no- she won't be getting any cat sticks out of me any more, no matter how hard she tries to look pregnant!

regards,

Christine

I just take a strip of paper and some tape, most cats dont mind it. The only thing about collars, back in the day we had outdoor/indoor cats. 2 of them got lost and we got them back because we had put the ID tags on them, I guess with microchips people dont use the collars as much. I didnt mean to offend anyone who doesn't use collars. We always had special "safety collars" that either had special stretchy sections or opened up easily. Now I keep my cats indoors, they were all rescued by me personally as kittens and were never outdoors. So they are easy!I did have one cat who always "lost" his collar, neighbors used to bring it over all the time. I can see everyone's points tho. I know you are all the best cat people in the world! I just always make sure cats coming around aren't lost or in need of rescue.

Originally Posted by ginava

I didnt mean to offend anyone who doesn't use collars. We always had special "safety collars" that either had special stretchy sections or opened up easily.

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Yes, those safety collars are not so safe They are a little better than regular buckle collars but do not always open up when they are supposed to and like regular collars can cause some real damage to a cat caught in them