Stray Kitty - Addition to our family?

Hi Everyone

So today I arrive home this evening and see my bf (aka grooverite) sitting on our stoop with a bowl of kitty food. My heart grew concerned on what the heck he was doing, when the corner of my eye caught a glimpse of this gorgeous kitty

Well, needless to say, he was not only gorgeous but friendly!! Sweet as pie So we lured him with some food, and now we've brought him in. We're keeping him in our computer room, separated from the rest of the family so he can get adjusted to his new environment. He's eaten (quite a lot! ), allows us to pet him, has rubbed himself all over us, is super playful, so we think he was a former house cat. He is sweet as can be, but we have a few concerns:

-We have a 3 yr old female kitty (Fifi)
-We have a 3 yr old male kitty (Toby)
-We don't know if this kitty has FeLv/Fiv
-He is very friendly, but has growled and hissed here and there, and are not sure if it's bc of the other cats scent or aggression towards us?

We have every intention of taking this kitty to the vet asap to get neutered, tested, vaccinated, cleaned, etc. but we want to take every precaution necessary to avoid our kitties getting FeLv/Fiv (in case he does have it - we're hoping he doesn't!) and want to make sure that we do everything possible to integrate him into our established family.

Are there certain things we should be doing or not doing?? We would really love and appreciate any and all advice you have for us!

In the meanwhile, here are some pictures of this handsome kitty!! (Can someone guess his breed??)

Are you sure someone isn't missing him... or that he is lost??? Maybe try to find his owners first?

Check for a chip.

Originally Posted by AddieBee

Are you sure someone isn't missing him... or that he is lost??? Maybe try to find his owners first?

Check for a chip.

Click to expand...

My gf checked PetFinder last night, and didn't find anything. We're going to make some color prints tonight and post them around the neighborhood to see if anyone lost this sweet cat. He is very skinny and somewhat dirty which leads me to believe hes been missing or escaped for some time now. My ONLY and biggest concern is that he may be infected with FELV or FIV and my house cats getting that. I'm going to also contact Neighborhood Cats and see if they can help with locating its owner or taking him in. For the mean time, we are going to try to take care of him as if he was our own.

for rescuing this beautiful baby and trying to find his family! He does look a little thin. Sadly, even if his family is missing him, it's often really hard to reunite unless he's microchipped. They can scan for it at the vet when he goes. You're doing the right thing by keeping him separated. Just make sure you wash your hands when you leave the room, and your kitties should be just fine until you get him to the vet.

If he's not microchipped, I have a feeling you may have a new member of the family!

Look on Craig's List if you have one in your area and also call local vets to see if anyone's reported a missing pet. Have him scanned to be sure he doesn't have owners.

Originally Posted by LDG

for rescuing this beautiful baby and trying to find his family! He does look a little thin. Sadly, even if his family is missing him, it's often really hard to reunite unless he's microchipped. They can scan for it at the vet when he goes. You're doing the right thing by keeping him separated. Just make sure you wash your hands when you leave the room, and your kitties should be just fine until you get him to the vet.

If he's not microchipped, I have a feeling you may have a new member of the family!

Click to expand...

Thanks LDG!

I have filed a lost and found report with the Brooklyn ACC. I have posted online on craigslist and various websites so we'll see what happens. In the meantime, he is scheduled for the vets tomorrow and will get the works done. If nobody comes forward and claims him, we will find a suitable home for him or keep him. We are still debating whether we shall keep him or not.

I was going to say he looks very well looked after, I think he may be someones.He's beautiful.xx

Okay, so no luck finding the owners, but we're still trying.

Now we've kept Bugsy (what we've named him) in the other room, and he's become very affectionate, an attention graber to say the least. On Saturday, the boyfriend and I were in the computer room, petting him gently, nothing out of the ordinary, or so we thought.

Well, I was sitting on the computer chair, with my hand out so he could rub himself, and he was being gentle, when all of a sudden, he leaned back, stared at my hand, bit hard and then proceeded to scratch me. It all happened in a matter of seconds, and I was a bit in shock, and had no idea why he did this. Needless to say, he bit the top of my hand so hard, he drew blood and left scratch marks. My boyfriend saw all this and said "Did he hurt you?" as I showed him the blood, and he said, well you must have done something to provoke him. I strongly disagree.

Someone help me out here, because I'm trying to understand this cats behavior and am quite furious he drew blood when I did nothing at all, plus he sometimes growls for no reason as I mentioned earlier, and to top it off, the boyfriend thinks nothing of it. As it stands, I want nothing to do with the cat, and refuse to go into the room. So any behavior explainations or helpful hints how to deal with the stray would be helpful.

Love,
Miss (not a happy camper) Grooverite

First of all, with this cat being a stray, you HAVE to get yourself to the doctor... Since there are no records of rabies vaccine, they will take him away and put him on quarantine if you say he was the one who bit you, but you can say you were petting a stray and got bitten, that way they don't have a cat to take away... Remember, Rabies is a deadly disease, IMHO better safe than sorry...
A cat bite can be very dangerous, I guess if there is no sign of infection by now, you are pretty lucky, but if there is anything, anything at all, get yourself to the ER immediately - do not wait...

About his behavior, is it possible that this was a play bite and his teeth got caught since your hand was hanging? My hope play bites/scratches all the time, and I can see that she could miscalculate it sometime...
Did he look angry? was he hissing/growling? Ears back?

Carolina's right - you need to have that tended to, as cat bites can cause a lot of problems. Did he get his rabies shot at the vet - he already had his appointment, right? I actually don't know how quickly it works, I'll ask our vet tomorrow (we're taking in one of our cats).

But at a minimum get something with antibiotics in it on that bite.

Is there anything he could have seen that might have triggered aggression? Smelled a cat through the door? Seen a stray out the window? It does not have to be something you did, but it could easily have been something he smelled or saw.

We rescued an older feral cat just this summer who used to bite. Unlike your stray, he wasn't friendly at first, but scared. Hands reaching toward him were very scary to him. He slowly came around and did like to be petted - but he'd bite when he'd had enough, and the signs that he was becoming overstimulated where not there (at first). We trained him not to bite simply by saying OW!, saying "no" firmly, telling him you don't bite people, and then getting up and then ignoring him. His bites got softer, then he'd just open his mouth like he was going to bite, and then he'd open his mouth - pause - and lick our hands.

...but because you did see him lean back, I'd say whenever he's being petted or petting himself on you, if he pulls his head back - remove the hand quickly. Kitties almost always give some kind of sign that they're becoming overstimulated or something has triggered some kind of response, it's just learning to catch it. With our Chumley, it was the way he moved his head - it took us a little while to figure it out.

Hi everyone!

Right after I rescued this kitty in front of my building, I had to fly out of the country so my wonderful gf looked after him. He has sprayed and stunk up my apartment bad! I came back this past Sunday so I am making appointments to get him fixed up. I am going to take him to the ASPCA to get him fixed and vaccinated. Unfortunetly, they don't test for felv/fiv so my question is.......should I get him tested before he gets his shots? I read somewhere on here that the test could come up positive for cats that are vacinated. Is this true or not?

Yes, this is true. (I'm not sure about FeLV, but for FIV, very true).

I'd have him vaccinated for everything but FeLV and FIV. The FIV vaccination works only for specific strains of FIV, and these are present in the Southern US, not up here. The FeLV vaccination is only about 70-something % effective anyway.

Also, it will take a few weeks to over a month for all the hormones to cycle out of his system. To stop him from continuing to spray, you will need to clean any area he's already sprayed with an enzyme cleaner. The one we use is Nok Out: http://www.nokout.com. If he's sprayed a lot of places, I'd get at least a gallon or two, because you have to use a fair amount of any stuff to get the smell up, especially of Tom cat pee.

You should also purchase a black light, and go through your home at night to find all the places he's sprayed. It will show up as orange. Any hard surfaces can be washed (best to do it at least twice): carpet, sofas, anything "absorbent" must be SOAKED with whatever enzyme cleaner you use. Cat pee wicks, and you need whatever enzyme cleaner you use to reach ALL the same places, or it doesn't work. Let it soak for 15 minutes, blot up excess, and then it must air dry.

After being neutered, he will calm down CONSIDERABLY! He'll be more loving, and a much better indoor pet!!!!!

Thanks for the help LDG! You are the best!

I do have a black light... I used to going clubbing a lot so . We have natures miracle so i hope its as good as nok out or else I'll have to pick some of that stuff up. I'm taking him to an ASPCA mobile clinic in Brooklyn early in the morning and they dont do any testing for felv/fiv which is why I asked these questions. He is extremely friendly but cries constantly when we're in the room. Could it be possible that he wants to mate really badly because hes constantly rubbing himself on things and throwing himself on the floor. When I pet his behind, he starts behaving like a female in heat. I just hope that the strange behavior stops once he is fixed any pray that he doesn't continue spraying. Is felv/fiv common in street cats within NYC?

I really have no idea about the prevalence of FIV/FeLV in NY. Usually these things exist in pockets and spread as cats move around. FeLV is transmitted pretty easily between cats, because it's just saliva-to-saliva. FIV pretty much needs a deep-tissue bite wound (a problem with un-neutered males). On average, in the U.S., between 1% and 3% of cats are infected (depending upon the study). But that's really no indication in any specific area.

Has he been to a regular vet yet? Did he have fleas or ticks or anything? If he was outside for any length of time, you pretty much have to assume that he has at least round worm and needs to be treated for that... so you might want to get him to a vet if you haven't been yet. He ought to be treated with Revolution (a topical treatment - treats most internal parasites and the external ones) - retreated in one month (even if he's indoor only - takes into account the life cycle of the round worm, so get the rest of them) - and treated with Drontal (to kill tapeworm). This should be just one treatment. And the FIV/FeLV snap test should cost somewhere around $25 - $30 bucks (though in Brooklyn I don't know. It's $24 out here - NW NJ). Since he's your only kitty, if you keep him inside, basically it just lets you know what kind of treatment he'll need down the road. With FeLV, he will likely live a shorter life. With FIV, if he ever gets sick, it just means you need to stay on top of his health and aggressively treat him any time he gets sick, and it may take longer to resolve something like a cold or whatever. FIV+ kitties also usually have problems with their teeth, so an annual dental (until your vet tells you he needs to come in every six months) is pretty much a must.

But... having been a stray, hopefully he wasn't out long enough for either to be an issue.

Nature's Miracle, in our experience, kind of sucks - and that's for neutered male pee, not tom cat pee, which is SO much stronger it's not funny. That's how we ended up finding the Nok Out. We tried all kinds of things. And trust me - if you leave ANY scent of pee behind, it will continue to encourage him to keep marking. You've really got to get rid of the smell from his perspective (and his nose is a LOT more sensitive than yours!).

If you can afford it, I'd use the Nature's Miracle now, and order the Nok Out (it's only available online). Or you can try the Nature's Miracle and see how it goes. You may need to use it again in all the spots. If he's really marked up the place - it might just be safer to put the investment into the Nok Out.

Is the snap test a over the counter test I can do myself or a vet only? My gf is going to call her vet and see how much it will cost us to get everything done on him except neuter and vaccination shots. I have ordered frontline for him and my house cats in case fleas become a problem. We only noticed one flea the 3 day we had him. We really don't have much money to spend for vet costs so we are looking for low cost help wherever we can find it. We have 2 cats and they have been separated from our little stray visitor. I'm going to clean the room he is in thoroughly when I drop him off to the mobile clinic this coming Sunday morning so he wont have the urge to spray after he is fixed. In case he does spray again after he is fixed, is there a way to help him not spray or is it a lost cause? Just want to know what to expect from this. Thanks for your help LDG!

Well, getting rid of the smell is really all you can do. It's more money to spend, but Feliway (Comfort zone) spray or plug-in may help. It's a synthetic hormone that mimics the friendly markers in cats' cheeks. It should be sprayed around at cat head height - but NOT near the litter boxes. It makes it the "wrong" scent for marking. It has really helped a lot of people with the problem.

But once the hormones cycle out of his system and the smell is gone, with luck he'll stop spraying.

No, the snap tests are only available through the vet.

And getting rid of the smell is really all you can do. It's more money to spend, but Feliway (Comfort zone) spray or plug-in may help. It's a synthetic hormone that mimics the friendly markers in cats' cheeks. It should be sprayed around at cat head height - but NOT near the litter boxes. It makes it the "wrong" scent for marking. It has really helped a lot of people with the problem.

But once the hormones cycle out of his system and the smell is gone, with luck he'll stop spraying.

Just a quick update.

Took him to the vet this Saturday and had him tested for worms and ear mites and tested positive for both. I also had him tested for Felv/FIV and came back negative. We also had him scanned for microchip and he had none. No one has come forward from the ads we've put up so we have decided to keep him. His name is Bugsy . He just came back from the ASPCA mobile clinic getting neutered and vaccinated today and is not to happy with his cone thingy on his head . He has to have it on for his own good! Doctors orders!

Yey, I have a Bugsy too! Congrats on the new addition!
What is that cord on his neck? It looks tight... can you take it off? It doesn't look safe...

Oh dear! The cone of shame!!! He's a handsome guy, though. So glad he's found a forever home with you.