Newbie Just Found a Stray Cat.

Hi, i have a little sister very fond of pets ( especially dogs ), and we recently found a cat in our yard looking lost. so we took it in the home, it scratched my sister on the hand . nothing serious though, and its been good ever since. i fed it canned cat food, about 1/2 cup or so. and right now its sleeping in one of our guest rooms on the sofa. well we never had any pets except fish, which we know a lot about. unfortunately we know nothing about cats, but we want to keep it if we can. now here comes the questions.

1) what should i do next, take it to a local vet, and get checkups??

2) what is the proper handling process when taking it to the vet, hold it , put it in the car , lock doors, and go, it wont go crazy, right?

3) is it safe to pet and touch?

4) should i be scared of any diseases from it??

5) it keeps rubbing its sides against doors, it did it 3 times already, is it alright??

6)what are the most important cat keeping tips i should know before adopting it?? what type of equipment to buy, how to train to use cat liter? what type foods it can eat, and what it can drink.

sorry for all these silly questions, but just want to make sure this cat will be happy? add anything you like that i missed, thanks sincerely

Hi, and well done for taking him/her in, there are a lot of people on here that can answer you questions better than I can but I will give it a go

Originally Posted by sukhkawal

1) what should i do next, take it to a local vet, and get checkups??

Yes get the cat to the vet asp for checkups, and then book it in to be spayed/nutered this will stop the cat from roaming, and fighting.

2) what is the proper handling process when taking it to the vet, hold it , put it in the car , lock doors, and go, it wont go crazy, right?

I would get it into a cat basket, not many cats can just be held and as you dont know how it will react its best to get it into a basket.

3) is it safe to pet and touch?

Just do it slowley and see how it goes, different cats react differently and it will lat you know when its had enough.

4) should i be scared of any diseases from it??

I am not sure what country you are in so that I cant answer.

5) it keeps rubbing its sides against doors, it did it 3 times already, is it alright??

That is normal, it is marking its teratory.

6)what are the most important cat keeping tips i should know before adopting it?? what type of equipment to buy, how to train to use cat liter? what type foods it can eat, and what it can drink.

If you are keeping it in one room then just put a litter box in there and hopefully it will use it, dried food or tined or a bowl of each (thats what my cats get) and water is the best thing for them

sorry for all these silly questions, but just want to make sure this cat will be happy? add anything you like that i missed, thanks sincerely

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Good luck and enjoy your new kitty

Nice you do adopt this stray. But as the cat is apparently tame, he may be owned by someone, and just went astray. And the owner perhaps in pains missing it and trying to find him.

So dont forget to hang upp messages: Found, at all suitable places around the neighboorhood.
If he is a grown up intact male, a tom, he may have wandered quite lot.

A kitten, who dont have own territory, may also wander away quite a long...

So, put up the Found-notes in a quite big neighborood area....

- IF he has an owner, try to instead find a real homeless cat....

A homeless cat will prob get extra grateful for getting a good home - so adopting a homeless is often more revarding than buying a cat.

A scratching post is also good for cats.

Food: avoid the cheapest cat food in the usual shops. It usually contain too much of vegetables (grain (grain=cereals, like wheat, corn, barley) is unnecessary for cats). The bigger animal content - proteins and fats - the better. Cats are carnivores, you know: meat-eaters.
Wet food of decent fabrikation better than dry food - if the cats does eats wet food... Mine boys doesnt.
It is also easier to make a decent wet food than a decent dry food - esp as dry food contains almost always some cereals. Carbyhydrates arent good for cats, if it is more then some small percentage.

A vet consutlation always good: IF he is a stray, he has prob lotsa of fleas, ear mites and prob also worms.
- For you the fleas are most unpleasant - the others usually dont go on humans.

If he has none of these - he is almost surely a home cat just on a walk.

Transporting to the vet: Loose foreign cat in a car is not safe!!! Have him at least on a leash.
Cat transporter is nice, but if you dont have, almost any basket can do. For example such plastic baskets for wash-clothes. Preferably such with holes in it - you do surely have such... These are excellent emergency transports.
Let him lay in there on something soft. And dont forget to close the lock. Tape it down or something...


Written in a hurry while in work...


Good luck and much pleasure!

Thanks Milk Maid, Thanks StefanZ. i live in Pa,USA, BTW. well, here what happened i took picture of the cat, and posted found signs near my neighborhood, here the terrible thing though, my family left the front doors open, and the cat RAN OFF. i havent seen it anymore, but if i do, i will try to take it in again, and take it to the vet also, and keep it as long as the owners whom it came from dont call me to get it back ( i think legally its 2 or 3 weeks). i just hope it doesnt get killed or anything outside.

i also called up peacable kingdom shelter, but they are full, and i reported it as a stray cat, they said they will call me if they find the owner. the humane society probably isnt full but i hate them, theyre animal killer and i would never take to or buy from them.

well here a picture of it :


my neightbor told me its a male and has been neutered, id appreciate if anyone has any other info on it. Thanks guys

Originally Posted by sukhkawal

my neightbor told me its a male and has been neutered, id appreciate if anyone has any other info on it. Thanks guys

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A homeless stray who managed to please himself in into a friendly home would probably NOT run off.

So it is very probable it has a home somewhere nearby, and was just taking a walk, taking some fresh air.

The owners will only notice he was away somewhat longer than usual, but did come back after a couple of days. Puh!

So with a little luck this will be it, and the end of this adventure.


My recommendation for you, now when you did get the taste for saving a homeless, and adopting a cat for your own - is you do proceed with this project.
Consider even of adopting two. It is often almost easier to have two than one - especielly if you want to keep them as indoors only. AND this way you are also doubling the number of cats in need you are saving, and also doubling the increase in your Karma.

Either a spontaneus adoption like this - a homeless stray pleasing himself in (make sure he is homeless!).

Or contact some good rescue group or a good shelter nearby, or something.
Or even write up here in our Cats SOS forum, you do have place for one or two....May be a little shy but no real ferals...

Something like that. The needs of good homes is big.

Good luck!

As a volunteer at a local shelter, I beg you not to dismiss the shelter out of hand just because it puts animals to sleep. We try our hardest to get all our pets adopted, but some are just too wild, too dangerous, too sick, or too injured to go up for adoption. And there is no such thing as a true "no kill" shelter. Most such shelters control their population at the front door, never taking in animals they know have a low chance of adoption, instead sending them off to other shelters to be killed.

I currently have five cats from our local shelter: Three permanent ones, and two fosters. Our shelter has a network of foster homes that will take in pets and try to get them back in shape for adoption. We don't have a set time limit on a pet; as long as we have room, and the animal doesn't get really sick, we keep them available for adoption.

And, at any one time, we have a fantastic collection of available cats. Right now we have two adult cats, neutered and declawed, who would make someone a wonderful pet but have a hard time competing for attention with all the kittens this time of year.

Yep,you got yourself a cat there,my friend.

I was in the same boat as you about oh....a year and 2 months ago. Never,ever had owned a cat or even spent much time in their company so I had no idea what I was doing or should be doing.

TheCatSite.com helped me immensely(or I should say the wonderful Membership at tcs.com)! Read up on the forums,ask questions on here (and of friends,coworkers,family re: cat ownership/cat care)and you`ll be surprised how quickly and how much you learn.

If the cat (kitten?) seems to be generally healthy aside from the usual malnutrition,flea and/or worm infestations and not exhibiting any overt or chronic symptoms....ok,if it looks normal and healthy and acts/reacts to it`s environment,stimuli and your attention...chances are it would be a good candidate to adopt/rescue?

You`ll have to a complete physical checkup/exam including tests to rule out Feline Panleukopenia(feline distemper),Feline Leukemia(FELV),and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus(FIV),fecal sample examination as well as external parasite(flea,tick and ear mite)examinations.Depending on the age of the kitten/cat,how long he/she has been "on the street" and the animal`s environment and access to food and water you can expect a diagnosis of: malnutrition and dehydration-moderate to severe, external and internal parasitical infestations-moderate to severe (often w/secondary opportunistic infections and/or infestations), ...and the sadest part to me... moderate to severe behavioral and/or emotional trauma which can,or may,result in abnormal neurotic feline behavior(s) that may not be temporary.

WOW! Now I`m even scared! Relax and take your new friend to a competant vet and have an age-appropriate exam,vaccines,etc. and kitty will be 100% before you know it! With sound nutrition,your vet`s care and the love and attention you`ll not be able to help but lavish on The Kitty,your new companion will thrive!

Sorry for the l-o-n-g post,btw.

Please say "NO" to animal shelters (aka "pounds")!

HosMan

Did he come back?

I'm also another one who would encourage you to adopt from the pound and save a cat or kitten who is in more danger of being euthanized than those with a rescue group. I have a pound kitty and she's a love bug! Our local animal control has set up an adoption center in a local pet store and they've drastically cut the number of animals that they have to put down. It's going so well they're looking at opening a 2nd location in another part of the city.