Need advice with this cat that showed up

Here is the story (I apologize for its length):
I was getting out of my house yesterday when a cat came running towards me and started rubbing on my leg and meowing and was following me around. I did not know better and so offered him a can of cat food, which be ate in a way which made me think he was very hungry. I called our petsitter who works for our vet and she adviced me not to feed the cat further - hoping the cat has a home and will return. I have not fed the cat since (over 24 hours) and the cat has been hanging around in my garage and yard. The neighbor across the street said that the cat's been over to his garage and been under his car in the rains this morning till he chased it away when he came over again to my yard. This neighbor thinks that he may have seen this cat before in the area but for the past couple of days he's been around my house. I haven't seen this cat before and neither has the petsitter.
My next door neighbor's dogs were in their yard this morning and tried to chase this cat but the neighbor stopped his dogs (we have no fence). At that point I took the cat over to the vet's clinic (since I did not feel my yard/ garage was safe) to check for a microchip, which we did not find. I got him tested for FIV/ Felv and he tested negative. He had flea and I bought Revolution for him. The doctor thinks he is about a year old and is generally well cared for, though a little on the skinny side. He is neutered. So he must be an indoor/ outdoor cat, a lost or abandoned cat. He has been out for a bit since his paw pads are rough. Everyone at the clinic agrees that he is very friendly and very adoptable. I did check listings on craigslist to see if there was anything matching the description of this cat and posted an ad asking if anyone knows anything about this cat. The easiest option will be to wait and see (and not feed the cat) if he goes home, provided he has one. Or the cat will move looking for greener pastures - which will not solve the problem. I would have been more inclined to wait if I was staying at home the next couple of days to keep an eye out. However, I was supposed to go to my university today for this week but decided to stay back to see if I could find a way to identify this cat. I will have to go tomorrow and with a neighbor with 2 dogs and another who seems to hate cats, I am worried. I did call the Animal Warden of our city who has a reputation for placing animals in homes and not shelters but have not heard back from him yet. My short term concerns are his safety since he does not seem to want to move out of my garage or yard. With my rental situation I cannot let this cat come in and I have been adviced not to feed him. Would really appreciate any advice.

Thanks so much. Yes, I did post of Craigslist without a pic but I have taken a pic of the boy, in case he moves on and then someone responds to my ad - that way I will have something to compare him with.
The issue with posting flyers is that I do not have time to do any of that since I leave very early in the morning and no one will be at home if there is a response. I will not be giving my address to just anyone to come home and pick up the kitty, if I am not home. Though to some extent it is moot, since the cat is outside/ in my garage but I just will not be comfy.
I did not think of calling the shelters in the area - will do so. My vet's office does not know of any missing cats in the area.
Thanks for the pointers!

While I was giving Calvin and hobbes dinner I was in tears as I was not giving anything to this boy. My concern is if he belongs to someone and knows home, I may be out of line
The animal warden has not called back but I heard back from the rescue where we got Calvin from and the director, who is on vacation told me to tell the warden that if he sheltered him then the rescue would adopt him out. Now only if the warden called. The cat went this evening - we are out of the house now. If he returns later today or tomorrow before I leave, I will consider him lost. Does that sound reasonable?

So I have not seen him since 6 pm (we were out from 6:30-9 pm). I just went out and took a walk around the yard and left the garage door open. We had shut it 3/4 way at 9 pm but I decided to just leave it open. Can I safely assume he has a home and has gone home? I so want that to be the case since it will mean that he has not gone through a heartbreak.
This is the evidence I see (mostly from Lauren and Laurie's input and the vet/ and my neighbor/ petsitter's)

He has a home:
1) neutered
2) well taken care of at some point - according to vet. No visible injuries
3) have not seen him for 4-5 hours
4) 1 neighbor says thinks he has seen him in the past
5) super friendly

DOes not have a home:
1) a little skinny and wolfed down a can of food in 3 secs. My cats hardly eat 1/2 3 oz can in 1 go.
2) was under car in rain
3) was barked at by my next door neighbor's dogs and was hiding under a bush in my yard and did not go home
4) after I got him back from the vet he hung out for a bit, was gone for a while and then returned and slept on a shelf in my garage. I would have thought that the vet visit and the blood draw would chase him away.

Do not know what to make of this:
1) tries to come indoors perhaps - while I was talking to my neighbor about him, the cat tried to get inside his house. He also tried to come inside my house with me this morning when following me.

I really do not know what to think and now I am kicking myself for not feeding him earlier. Things have been a little stressful with DH, too. He feels the way I do mostly but feels I should give this more time. His concern is also about Calvin and Hobbes, since they are picking up on the stress. I honestly do not know what to do/ think anymore. I just feel horrible right now.

The handsome boy slept in my garage all night and I went to check at 4 am to make sure he was not just coming in really early in the morning when his owners let him out. Nope - he was sleeping in his favorite spot in my garage. I caved in and fed him 2 3oz cans of fancy feast - he wolfed it down. Have never seen a cat that hungry

I went out a while back and he was sitting in front of the garage. He was meowing and rubbing against my legs and was following me. I came to the front of the house and Calvin and Hobbes saw him. They were very curious - no hissing though. They have been smelling my jacket since we met the cat and Calvin has been grumpy in general but so far no hissing. Then I came back home and the cat went to the next door neighbors who were getting into their car and he wanted attention but got none. He then went running around- rubbing himself on some driveways - peeing on someone's yard. This makes me think that he may attract negative attention soon. Also he was so visible today - I do not think that if he's been there for a while (as the neighbor across the street suggests) we would have seen him. I have a snap collar at home and have written a note with my number. In case I see him, I will put it on him. Hopefully if he has a home and goes home, his family will call me. I leave for the university in an hour or so and will be back late Friday. In case the collar and note are there tomorrow morning, DH will take it off. I have asked him to feed the cat once in the morning till we figure out more. I will not leave out food to attract other cats (but we have not seen any others ever in this area - the petsitter has a stray that adopted her who goes out and she says there are 3-4 indoor outdoors in this area and this is not one she has seen before) but since he gobbles down food, DH can feed him and then throw away the can and paper plate we are using. He will also make a cozy bed for him in the garage today. I am planning to leave the garage door 3/4 down during the day since it attracts my landlord's attention and it is a nice day. But in the evening DH will keep the door open.
I left another message for the animal warden this morning and he has not got back to me yet

I am just so upset now. The cat has not come to us since yesterday. He slept most of Thursday night- dh took pic and video for me and gave him food. Yesterday morning the food was eaten and he was out when DH left for work. I picked him from work and came home but have not seen him. We left some dry food in the garage but that has not been touched. My plan was to bring him in yesterday and then the animal warden was giving him shelter till the rescue could adopt him out. They were doing the rest of the vet care and I knew this arrangement was not perfect but seemed reasonable. Btw, after wearing the collar with the note for 48 hours we saw that it was missing. It was a breakaway collar so don't know if he went home and they took it off but no one called me. Do you think that he has a home and with the weather turning they kept him indoors? I would hope so. Anything we can do at this time? DH and I are going for a walk now to see if he can spot us. We have not slept and have been so saddened.

Ok – so a lot’s been going on. We went out for a walk after my last post this morning and we thought that we heard meows but could not find the exact location. We crossed the street and were walking in the other direction and suddenly saw the boy on the other side of the street furiously digging someone’s flowerbed to do his business. We waited for him to be done and approached him. He came to us meowing and walked beside us till we went home and gave him the dry food. In the meantime, I was asked by the rescue if we could foster him and I responded that maybe just for a month. That was mainly because the Animal warden would have otherwise put him in a shelter he has. So now we have him in our breezeway with water and a litter box and some toys. Calvin and Hobbes have been staring at him through the French doors and let’s just say they are not too happy. They are curious and insecure. However, when we are home, they are taking a break from staring at the boy (we are still thinking of a name) and coming with us to the other rooms. They have also smelled us/ our hands after we touch the boy but no hissing yet. It’s a nice day out and with it being sunny the breezeway is comfy but it will get cold and we are planning to settle him in the attic bedroom suite – that way I will have more access to him. We also heard from our clinic where we went to pick up Hobbes’ food that a lady from a street from mine called them and said she found a silver tabby yesterday who ate a lot of cat food and tuna and was in her garage. I guess now we know where he was yesterday. That lady said that this cat was very “domesticated” and I certainly hope so or I will not know what to do.
So the director of the rescue wants me to sign on as a “foster” and then they will get him vaccinated. I already tested the boy for FIV/ Felv and those were negative. All three are on Revolution. Since the director is on leave it may be a few days before I can get him the rabies/ distemper vaccine. I am thinking that since he is neutered and about a year old, he may be current on the vaccines now so waiting for a couple of days may be ok.

My questions:
1) what do I do about introductions – they have seen each other and the new boy may have hissed once through the glass door but I am not 100%. Calvin and Hobbes got his smell on us. (I have done intro between my 2 so I know the basics but this is a different situations and all are a little over 1 year now). Also it will be too difficult for me to have a completely separate “foster room” and I will need to have the boys coexist in the same space eventually.

2) I am also now trying to make an outdoor cat into an indoor cat and what should I do to make this transition smooth as possible for all of us? I currently am using the litter I use for my boys but if it does not work, we will buy cat attract (it was expensive )
Any other pointers?

laurie - I will not be able to leave him in the breezeway since it is below freezing here at night and I really do not want him in public view but would rather he was integrated in the house. However, I will have to figure out the litterbox issue. DH is going out now to get the cat attract additive. The boy is very social, neutered and very likely with people but he does not seem to know how to play with toys. We did transfer him to the second floor bedroom and I think I will spend some time there later this evening. I basically have this evening and tomorrow morning to see if he uses the box or else he will have to go to the shelter with the animal warden -which is better than he being outside but not the best solution. It may sound cruel but DH and I are in very very crucial places in our career and we both go into the job market next Fall - so this one year we have many deadlines and I have lost tons of work time when Calvin and Hobbes were sick. I just get too caught up in kitty world.

I have feliway running on the mail level and will put one in the bedroom upstairs. Will do scent swapping too. Is there anything I can do to convince the little guy that inside is better than outside? How long will he crave the outdoors? I mean Calvin is curious and want to go outside all the time and that may never go away but I think here the most important thing is making sure this guy uses the box.

So we are calling the boy Casper. I have a feeling he is gassy- the breezeway was smelling of poop and we could not find any but there were bouts of smell. He is in the spare bedroom and Calvin went and hissed at the door. Hobbes is more curious. I went and there is poopy smell coming from the room. DH is out getting Cat Attract. The other people fed him cat food yesterday and I do not know what brand. I fed him California Natural. So different dry food may be messing his GI? Should I just give him Hills i/d (intestinal diet/ low residue) and have him adjusted to it and then maybe slowly add California Natural (my boys have California Natural+ i/d). I will also give him 2-3 cans as I give the boys.

Thanks, Lauren. I use Precious Cat too (the blue bag) and dh got the additive but he has used the litter box for both business. However, his poop is really smelly He is also very hungry all the time and am wondering if he has worms. I have panacur at home and wondering if we should give him. There was also a wet spot on a scratching post (cardboard one) in that room. I tried to smell it but it was not a strong smell. I am also wondering what "spraying" smells like (I am better off not experiencing, I know) but the breezeway was smelly and so is the bedroom now but it's more like gas/ poop (gross of me, I know and TMI but I feel so ill equipped).

So is the honeymoon over?

 

I officially sign up with the rescue tomorrow as a foster but Casper seems really withdrawn and is not coming to us anymore. It seems that he has realized that it is no more fun to be indoors and hates us for it. He is interested in Hobbes and they bat at each other once is a while. We opened the door 3 times briefly today and Calvin sits by the door and hisses if Casper tries to go too close to him. It has been impossible completely separating them. Do not know if meeting my boys brought about this change. He is eating and using the litter box. When Hobbes came in, we tried to play - Casper did not participate much. I know it is a HUGE change for Casper but I really do want the personality that we initially saw to shine through as we would like him to get adopted. Right now he is unrecognizable from the videos we shot of him when he was outside. He seems to have lost his confidence. Would appreciate any advice as to how I can make things better.

The good thing was that the Director of the rescue came over to see him and officially have me as a foster. Casper was nice and affectionate with her and she was impressed. He later got his distemper vaccine and will go for the rabies in the next few days. He definitely is a little withdrawn though last night, after I posted, he came to bed (we are taking turns sleeping in his room since we cannot give him too much time during the day), kneaded the comforter and then settled down beside me. He is also using his mouth a little more - attempts at biting - though he does not sink in his teeth and he seems to understand "no" or the tone of it. If I was able to keep him, I knew what my work entailed and I would have done the necessary and given him time. However, he is on petfinder now and I want him to have his forever home as soon as possible and want to help him settle into an indoor only life.

Thanks Laurie and Lauren for your encouragements.