Found a kitty...

Hi everyone... it's been awhile since I posted - before it was about my parents cat, but now I have a new... problem?

The other night when I came home from the bar there was a little black and white cat hanging around the front door of my apartment building. I've never seen him here before but there are a lot of stray cats around - some are actual strays and others are ones that people own but just leave them outside all of the time. Anyways, I was drunk so my boyfriend and I brought him inside, cuddled with him a bit and gave him a little bit of salmon and rice dog food (it was all I have). When he was done eating I put him back outside and he ran off. He came back again tonight, I could hear him meowing outside my window so I went out and brought him in, gave him some food and cuddles again - he was in for about an hour - then put him back out and he left.

When he comes in my dogs are in their crates, so he never interacts with them. My dogs are not all that cat friendly, so it would be difficult to have a cat here that they aren't used to. My mom's cat will also be staying with me for the next week or two while they're on vacation.

So what do I do about this cat? I can continue to bring him in and feed him as long as my parents cat and the dogs are in other rooms when he's in here... but I'm just trying to decide if I should stop feeding him or continue?

I do not have money to vet him but I can get actual cat food if I should keep feeding him. I have no idea if he's neutered or not, I also do not know for sure if he is someone's cat. His ears are clean, his teeth look good, he's very friendly but he is a little dirty. He seems to be getting dirtier every time I see him, so I don't know if he was just recently dumped or if he's just getting dirty when he's out all day.

Any advice?

Sorry, I forgot to add... I have a couple of pictures of him that I took with my cellphone. They're not all that great, it's been dark whenever he comes around.

The standard procedure in all such cases is to work parallelly: Help the animal as you can and want. AND seek after the owner.

Dont just give food to a perhaps stray. - It is a not uncommon way to make a homeless out of a outgoing cat who does have an owner and a home...

A way to know if he is owned, is to set on him a collar (preferably such as opens itself if he gets stuck). On the collar a little capsule, where you do ask the owner to contact you.
Such capsules are sold, usually it is the owners name and telephone number in them.
If he does already has such a collar and such a name capsule on him, you must alter it in some way, so the owner immediately recognizes something is different.

If he IS owned, the owner will surely see it - and answer.
If he comes back next day with the capsule unopened, then you know. Or say, two days in a row for being sure.


Another way is to set up "Found" signs in your neighborhood. Pref with a good photo on... This is not firesure. The owner is perhaps not even aware there are problems, the cat is missing. He is after all coming back every day! So they dont look after the Found signs.


Last, about your dogs.
Good you held them separate as for now. Especielly as the cat isnt vet checked.
But if you want to adopt the cat, it will go OK. Dogs are very group oriented. When they understand YOU accept the cat, and the cat does belongs to the family, the group - they will also accept him and protect it.
They will perhaps not be best pals with the cat (this differs), but they will accept it.
This also about dogs who do actually chase foreign cats.


Tx for helping this guy, and good luck!

Thanks for answering!

He does not have a collar... I have a few spares around here, but they're dog collars so no breaksafe things. I'll see if I can find a cheap cat collar that I can get one of those capsules for.

I did notice tonight that he has a little wound on his leg, looks like he may have gotten into a fight at some point fairly recent but it also looks incredibly clean - not sure if he did that or if he has owners that would have cleaned it up. There are a lot of cats around here that are strays - most are pretty feral but this guy is very friendly. No clue how old, but not old at all.

One of my other concerns is people seeing me bring him in and let him back out an hour or so later. I don't want them to get angry because there's a cat hanging around at the door, but so far he only comes at night - usually between 9-11. I live on the ground floor by the door so I can hear him when he meows, I go out and get him, bring him in, feed him, let him back out and he leaves pretty much right away. Sometimes he'll sit there for a few minutes and clean himself.

I'll try the collar thing asap - I think I can get to Petsmart tomorrow so I can pick up that stuff.

My dogs are hunting dogs, they're small, but they do like to pester cats. The whole point of mentioning that they're hunting dogs was basically to say that they're up to date on pretty much every vaccine possible because of the animals we hunt (rabbits, raccoons, foxes, etc). When we go to my parents house they'll both run up to my mom's cat and headbutt her or poke her with their noses until she hisses, then they run off and come back a bit later. Lois puts up with it, she's been around Sadie since Sadie was a small puppy, sometimes she'll actually play with them, but I'm concerned that this kitty may not be so willing to put up with that

If I do end up taking this cat in it will be around a time when they have the cheaper vet clinics - they should be coming up within the next few months.

Thank god I have such an awesome boyfriend, he loves this little guy too. He's a cat that's like a dog, he follows us around inside and plays fetch a bit. He'll come when you call him (not by name, but by little clicky noises) and jumps up when you tell him to. So far he hasn't tried to spray inside and doesn't claw at anything. We'll see what happens. Today he was rubbing up against me and I started sneezing bad - so even if I want to keep him it may not work out because of that. He wouldn't be allowed in my bedroom, my dogs aren't either because I'm allergic to them too. Anyways, we'll see.

If I do bring him in for good I'll set up the dog's exercise pen and put them in it so he can wander around and the dogs can see him but not get to him. Of course this would all be after he's vet checked.

Originally Posted by nerdrock

My dogs are hunting dogs, they're small, but they do like to pester cats.... . When we go to my parents house they'll both run up to my mom's cat and headbutt her or poke her with their noses until she hisses, then they run off and come back a bit later. Lois puts up with it, she's been around Sadie since Sadie was a small puppy, sometimes she'll actually play with them, but I'm concerned that this kitty may not be so willing to put up with that

Click to expand...

I had seen warnings for combination cats and hunting dogs. As in unlucky cases, the cat can trigger a hunting reaction....

Here I see they are used to home cats. This scene you do describe is not really pestering. They are playing! Pity the cat doesnt enjoy this actual play! Many other cats would gladely join and participate, chasing each other back and forth, and doing some wrestling matches in between....

I think with your planning it will go not only OK, but even splendid.


I see you are more then in half convinced, if you dont find the proper owner, you and your boyfriend will adopt the kitty yourself.
Right you are!

You do have some problems with allergy. You are aware of some tricks and mention them, there are other thicks, as quite many allergics are also cat owners.
Neutering the cat should help some, as fertile cats tend to trigger an otherwise calm allergy.
Bathing/letting him swim every ten day is also a good help...
A good air cleaner is useful.
A non dusty litter is essential. Use a litter made of paper, or corn (maize), or wood, not the standard litter clay.

etc....

Good luck!

Well he didn't come back last night, I was looking out the window for him every 10 minutes or so but there has been a lot going on around here yesterday so he may have been staying away because of that.

It's raining today but I'm hoping that it will clear up before it gets dark so he's more likely to come when I get home from work. I'll look around for him when I get home too if he's not sitting around.

As for my dogs, they should be fine once they get used to the kitties. With Sadie, my older dachshund, she used to play with Lois, my parents cat, but after I got Fynn they both like to gang up on her and Lois isn't impressed, lol. She will play with them for a little bit but then she just hops over the gate to get away from them.

I actually really like the gate I got - I got it at WalMart, it's just a small step over gate that has a door in it that I can open when they're allowed to go in the hall/my room. Lois can jump over it but the dogs haven't figured out how to so far and they know they're not supposed to go back there anyways. Fynn will sit at the gate and stare, but eventually he leaves it alone, lol.

Im thinking on.

If you think he probably does have an owner, and is used to go out alone, so doing as we described is best.

But if you really think he IS astray or dumped, ie he is out unvoluntary, the best is to take him in as soon you can, IF you can. Because for a stray cat every day on its own is of course dangerous. More dangerous as for a cat used to go out on his own at will.

You seek in this case after the owner by messages Found.... and so on.
IF he has an owner, the owner will seek actively as soon he is missing - thus - will see these Found notices.
The only danger is, if he is fertile male, he may have a big district, and thus - the owner isnt perhaps no neighbour but lives perhaps several kilometers (two three miles) away...