What do you do when you see a cat outside?

katgoddess

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On my way home tonight, I saw a big white beautiful cat (looked like a Ragdoll) in my alley, a few houses down. He was friendly and approached me for pets, so he's not feral. I wasn't sure what to do. He didn't have a collar on and it was too dark to see whether he had a tattoo or not.

What is your standard procedure for when you see a cat outside? Do you leave it and wait to see if he hangs around? Or do you take him home and try to find his owners? It's unfortunate that many people let their pet cats roam outside without any form of identification. It makes it difficult for anyone to tell.

What am I supposed to do? A part of me is kicking myself for not trying to bring him home and seeing if he has an owner, but at the same time, I don't have an extra room to contain him.

Thanks for reading.
 

carolina

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So funny you asked!
Yesterday I got home and I saw a GORGEOUS Maine Coon that I though to be lost... He had a collar, and I had never seen him before, which for me further indicates he is lost... SO beautiful... Very friendly, got close to me, rubbed on my hand, but was skittish too; wouldn't stick around long enough for me to look at his collar for a phone #.
So I decided to pick up a bag of treats to distract him... Oh boy... he became the cat from HELL! Hissing, spitting, swatting... Holly molly!
In the end I could not do anything... I felt so guilty... And I wondered about the same thing... What should I done?
It was about 1am - if I got a hold of the phone #, should I have called? Even that late?
I will be following this thread closely.
 

ldg

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We travel with all kinds of things in the car... crate, food, knife, shovel, gloves...

Some people have the "get the cat if possible" and figure it out later approach.

Some just start putting out food and see if kitty's still around or comes around.

There's no right answer... maybe someone moved out and left the cat behind. Maybe someone moved into the neighborhood and lets their cat(s) roam.... Maybe someone moved into a nearby neighborhood and lets their un-neutered cats roam... Maybe kitty escaped when a workman came over.... there are a million possibilities. Basically you just have to do what feels right at the time, follow up the best you can, and try not to fret that you made the wrong decision.


If kitty looks fed and well cared for, there is no way to know whether he's out intentionally or not.


As to an injured cat... or a skinny dirty kitty... no need to ask what to do about that.
 

kookycats

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Our last 2 cats were strays that showed up at our house. Now they live the luxurious life with us. We started out by leaving food outside and of course they kept coming back. (this happened a few years apart from each other). Didn't let them in the house until we got them in a carrier and had a vet visit to determine they were healthy. I can't imagine life without the last 2 strays. Of course there's a point where you have to say "enough". Then we contact local pet rescue (no kill of course) people and see that they are taken care of and find their forever home.
 

ldg

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Well, I hope you tried to see if the kitties were missing.

I should have added to the above thread that if it is a well cared for cat, if you decide to bring them in right away, you need to do everything you can to find out if they're already owned.

...that's why it really is best to wait a day (if kitty looks well cared for), because they may find their way home or their people may look for (and find) them. If they're still outside the next day or the next... then it's time to worry they have no place to go.
 

fisheater

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When I was 12 years old, my parents adopted a kitty from the shelter for me. I loved him to death and wanted him to be an indoor only kitty. Long story short we tried to make him indoor only but he wanted outside BAD. So my parents decided he was to be indoor/outdoor cat, he was much happier and so were we. I'm guessing he was previously an outdoor cat before we adopted him.

We of course had him fixed, monthly preventative flea treatment, annual vet visit, and if he ever needed medical attention from a vet he was taken in immediately. The breakaway cat collars didn't work for us as he would constantly lose them outside. So we just had to settle for microchip only.

I would have been absolutely heartbroken if someone picked him up, kept him inside and made him their own pet. If he was brought to a shelter, we would have been worried sick about him, but the hope is that he would have at least been scanned for a microchip. But for someone else to take him, I would have been worried to tears until we got him back.

I guess my point is people do have outdoor kitties that are well cared for and loved very much, and may not necessarily have ID tags or microchips. If the kitty looks like he is well cared for, chances are he probably is. Of course I would prefer kitty be microchipped, altered, and with ID tags, but not everyone does this. I'm also for keeping cats indoors too, but that doesn't work for everyone. That doesn't mean they don't love or care for their cats any less. I would say that leaving some food outside would not hurt one bit. That way you know kitty is getting fed, and you feel good that you helped out kitty. But expect to see kitty come around more often to see you.


Of course if you find an injured cat or one that obviously looks like it has not been cared for that is a completely different story. But if you take in a cat that looks obviously well cared for, you might be worrying someone else who takes good care and loves their kitty very much. If you do this, every effort possible should be made to find the owner. I know I would be heartbroken if my kitty disappeared suddenly and the people who took him in didn't make every effort to return him.

But you have to do what's best in your situation. We lived in a residential suburban area, away from busy streets where its pretty common to have outdoor cats. If you found a lost kitty in a crowded city with busy streets, chances are that kitty is either a stray or got outside unintentionally. You just have to use your best judgment for the situation.
 

strange_wings

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^Pretty much that. It's common for cats to at least be indoor outdoor where I live, if not outdoor completely. People think you're strange if you have indoor only cats (a neighbor down the street with indoor only kitties even said the same thing about that.
).

So if I see a kitty outside, I don't do much. If said kitty is friendly I may pet it and will look it over more closely. I'll keep a look out to figure out if it has a home nearby and if I see it frequently. That's the case with all of the cats in my area. I seem them wandering away from home, but have seen them in their own yards rubbing on their owners enough to know they have a home.
The only stray I've seen here was Siri - she looked like a stray, skinny, rough, skittish. She's mine and a house cat now.
 

tigerontheprowl

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It depends where I am to some degree. I the northwest part of the city where I live, I know basically all the indoor/outdoor cats around here. But if I saw a cat somewhere else, I would look for a collar and/or tattoo and if I couldn't see either, I would take it to a vet to get it checked out, and put up posters around where I found it. If I don't get a response within 2 weeks, I'd either keep it, or take it to a no-kill shelter.
 

mismaris777

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I always try to approach the cat if I'm able to. Most of the cats that I see though in the alley are feral, so they just run. I have only encountered one that must've been a pet because it didn't run away, but it didn't let me too close. I just get extremely frustrated because I know that there really isn't too much that I can do. I preach to everyone that I meet that has cats that they should S/N them and make sure that they never get outside, no matter what there are no exceptions EVER. I live in extremely close proximity (sp?) to my neighbors on all sides of the house, so it's not like I can set traps. Plus it is my 82 year-old close-minded grandfather's house, and if he saw traps out there he would FLIP OUT. Heck there was an injured bird once in the yard and I watched him KICK it out into the alley and then continue to kick it. I ended up screaming out my window, using some "choice words" and getting in trouble for it. Nevertheless I did end up catching the bird, boxing it up and brought it to the humane society where they rehabilitated it and released it.

When it comes to stray animals, I feel like I've got my hands tied and I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wish I could do more than I do, but unfortunately I can't. I just keep telling myself "you can't save them all"
 
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katgoddess

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Thanks for all the replies.

Here's a minor update:

After I made that post, I didn't go that way down the alley until last night again. Again, I saw him/her sitting in the same unfenced yard behind the same house. And again he/she came to me for pets as I crouched down.

Under all that fluffy fur, he looks well-fed. To me, it's more difficult to see the body condition of long-haired cats, but that's what I thought I saw. It was really dark again. Maybe he hangs out there around that time as a routine, who knows.

After he had enough pets, he went back to his spot in the yard. Later today, I'm going to go to that house and speak to the owners, see if it's their cat or if they know anything about it.

If they say it's not their cat and they don't know anything about it, what would be the safest way to proceed?
 
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katgoddess

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Good news -- I can relax now. I found out the cat is a female and she does belong to someone in this neighborhood. Whew, I am so relieved!
 
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