Found a stray the other night

Okay so to put things in perspective I live about 15 miles from the closest town, my nearest neighbor is a mile away, and my house is surrounded by tall grass, brush, and trees. Another thing about the land surrounding my home is that you cannot walk more than 10 feet on the grass without picking up a tick, and we have a lot of coyotes and things of that nature in the area constantly.  Last night I found a cat that had wandered into my back yard, and after calling the cat it proceeded to run straight up a set of stairs to my second story patio to greet me and reluctantly I allowed it to follow me into my house. I fed it some tuna because I didn't have any food, and it let me pet it without any kind of resistance or nervous behavior. After inspecting I noticed a few things firstly that it had a line around it's neck like where a collar would be, it was clean, and it had no ticks or fleas. I checked it's ears for any kind of tattoos (I read online that some vets do that after microchipping, vaccinating, and/or neuter/spaying a cat and found none. 

So on to my concern. I feel like this cat either ran away or was abandoned because of how well kept it is, and how comfortable it is around me. I'm not sure how to go about finding the owner, because as I said before I live in a secluded area and it's not like I can post pictures on signs or trees thinking people will see it. I'm taking it to the vet tomorrow and I'm hoping that this poor animal was microchipped and perhaps it just ran away from its original owners, but if there is no microchip I'm not sure what I can do. 

Another concern I have is that it appears to drool around its mouth a bit. I'm fairly certain it doesn't have rabies because it does not have any bite marks on it, and it's not showing any of the other symptoms common in the first stages in rabies. It also seems to have a healthy appetite because it's been chowing down on the meow mix I bought the same night I found it. Would anyone here have any idea about what could be wrong with it? One other thing I've noticed is that it hasn't pooped at all since I invited it into my house ( I purchased a litter box as well) despite how much it's eaten.

Hopefully the vet will know what is wrong with it, but I just figured I would submit a post to this website and see if anyone (who's on at this hour) would have any ideas.

Tx a lot for helping this guy!   This help NOW is as most necessary now, when he is freshly dumped / astray.   No learned street smartness, he would be totally helpless against any enemy, and probably dont know how to hunt either.

So the trick is exactly as you do: take it in and help as you can, and parallelly seek after owners, old or new.     continuing

I myself suspect strongly he got dumped: the owner drowe him near your place, and threw him out.   (as he has not ticks).

But he may be astray yes, perhaps got out of the car while a pee stop, when they drove nearby....   (always have a leash on the cat while driving car).

So, you leave a sign at the vets nearby (phone to all vets nearby).  Shelters nearby.  "Animal Friends society" nearby. If police at your county notices lost animals, also there (police in Sweden is supposed to do it, although they do it halfhearthly - it depends in part on the districts, and their local chief captain there).

Dont describe the cat too closely - let the owners identify themselves by leaving the correct descriptions.

There are crooks who want free cats for "sparring" their fighting dogs, and similiar viciousness.

So a similiar tip if you seek after new owners: dont give away for free. Make sure they do pay some.  If it feels awkward to demand money, let the adopter pay some money -say 20 dollars, to a good cause, in the cats name..   Doctors without boundaries,  Red Cross, some church group - whichever they feel comfortable with.

The foaming from the mouth?  Most probable he tried to eat something, and didnt managed well.  A frog?

But it may also been he got some problems demanding vet assist, and the old owners decided it was cheaper to get themselves a new, fresh, younger cat, and thus, dumped the old one...

If you dont want/can to pay the vet costs you either, you can let the vet pts him.  Its the least bad of the bad solutions.   You can also try and "abandon" the cat either at the vet, or at a shelter nearby.  Ie you dont dump it, but let your rights over to the vet / shelter.   Sometimes they are shortly pts, but sometimes they are cured, and get now owner with time.

As said, seek after the ex owners, if they happened to lose him.

But be prepared to adopt him yourself - or find him new owners.

Also here the vet may help you.  Its quite common they see somebody got to pts his dying old furry friend, they can offer a new one as a nice consolation.

Good luck!   @jshep89  

If he's only been in your house since yesterday, he may not have used the litterbox yet because it's possible (if he hadn't eaten in awhile) that his body is still absorbing the new load of food. Did you actually take him in and show him the litterbox/place him in it?

StefanZ's advice to utilize your vet for help spreading the word in case he is a list cat is right on. If you can snap a photo or two of your guy before he goes to the vet it's a good idea. Then you can make a simple "found cat" flyer (or have a computer-savvy friend do it) and ask your vet to display it. I'd also drop a flyer off at as many other local vet offices & animal shelters as possible. If you can't do a flyer, you can call these places & let them know you've found a kitty, along with your contact info, that's the next best thing. But as a previous shelter worker I can tell you it's tough for workers to keep track of those types of phone calls & your info may get lost in the shuffle - a posted flyer is a lot more foolproof way to get info out!

And don't forget social media! Post the pics & story of your new guy on your Facebook (or use a friends if you don't have an account)...tweet about him...etc. Any possibility you can keep your new buddy if you don't locate an owner? It seems as if he chose you!

Good luck & keep us posted!

Alright so a bit of an update. I took it to the vet and it came back some parasites, but nothing else. I got some medicine for the little guy and have been feeding it a little bit. As for finding the owners still trying. There is only one vet in my area and I did as you said and posted a description of him at the vet. I'll try social media soon as well, and as for using the police it isn't likely that will work. We have a lot of stray animals in my area, and unfortunately this isn't the first stray to come to my door it's just the first to actually approach me when called. No luck on a microchip either, and it wasn't neutered (I've scheduled to have that taken care of on saturday.) 

Also, the vet checked his mouth and did lab work on it's blood and nothing came back for the drooling. He suggested the cat might have eaten a stink bug as they've had a lot of animals at their shelter with the same problem. I'll keep trying with the owner, but I doubt I'll them. Although it doesn't quite make any sense for someone to abandon this animal at it's age. It's too young and too healthy, but maybe I'm wrong. I've seen plenty of stray dogs in my area that also fit that description. 

You've done more for this kitty than its owners, who I strongly suspect dumped the poor thing. I am very impressed with your efforts. Keep up the good work!

Is he fixed? I found an abandonned kitty last month. Perfect health. Very friendly. I suspect that he was part of an unplanned litter and was dumped because he was hitting adolecense and the owners didn't want to pay for him to get neutered.

Whatever the story behind your kitty, thank you for taking him in and trying to find his home.

Tuxedoontheloos said:

Is he fixed?

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@Tuxedoontheloos, jshep89 said she has booked him to be neutered this Saturday.

Thank you for rescuing this boy, jshep89 and for doing so much to make sure he's ok.  Please do keep us posted!

Please keep us posted - we're hooked now!!!!!!!!

Cat seems to be doing fine. I just dropped him off at the vet this morning to get neutered, and he will be there until friday ( Unfortunately I found this guy a week before I had to leave for business.) He'll also be getting some shots. 

He'll be safe there, and will hopefully get lots of pats and love as well. 

Here are some photo's of him. Until I find the owner I've decided the name the cat Mrowser

He's great! Love that you have shown him such love and passion by taking him into your home, and getting him to the vet to get all that work done! He's better off with you, then the previous owners! Would you keep him if the original owners don't show up!? I think you should!

No chip and un-neutered.. not sure that finding an owner is likely.

Mrowser is a gorgeous boy.. he reminds me of my very first cat, Fred.

I think he may have claimed you...

So I've decided to keep the cat, and I know this sounds stupid but I'm wondering if I should get a second cat so it has someone to play with when I'm at work.

I'm so happy you've decided to keep him. After all the love, attention, and money you've put into him, he is surely yours. I strongly suspect he is a dump. When a caring cat owner loses a cat, they usually post pictures of the lost pet on social media and contact local vets and shelters. When my outdoor feral went missing for a week a year ago, I went absolutely NUTS trying to find him, even though he doesn't live inside my house and doesn't even allow me to pet him. I drove all around my neighborhood within a 3 mile radius showing pictures of him to people and giving out my phone number. People were VERY helpful. He returned on his own shortly afterwards. On another occasion when I thought one of my indoor cats had gotten out, I had 5 neighbors on my block out helping me look for him on Easter Day for over an hour. It turned out that Harry hadn't gotten out at all--he had dug a hole under my box spring in my bed and was hiding inside of it! My point is that caring pet owners do everything in their power to locate a missing cat, and uncaring owners do not because they don't care if they get the cat back, or don't want it back. This cat is yours now--love and enjoy him!

You're not crazy for wanting a second cat to keep him company. If stray cats often appear on your property, you could just wait for the next one to arrive and take it in. Or you could adopt a shelter cat. There are many cats out there in need of rescuing!

jshep89 said:

 
So I've decided to keep the cat, and I know this sounds stupid but I'm wondering if I should get a second cat so it has someone to play with when I'm at work.

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It was meant to be. And now, there is one more lucky kitty somewhere out there waiting to find you. Thank you for caring and Happy Holidays!

It seems they find you.  Or one comes along that really needs you.  That's what mine were.

The drooling could be a sign of a bad tooth. I would have the vet it.