Sick stray?

This morning, on the way to the bus stop, I saw a black cat lying in the bushes. It went to run away when I started walking over, but stopped after a few steps. I called it and it came over, completely open to pets and acting perfectly sweet. After school, I was walking by the same place and there was kitty, lying in the bushes. I called him and he meow-meow-meow'ed his way over. I was petting him and could get a good look at him, and I'm a bit worried that he might be sick.

The first thing I noticed was that he had liquid dripping off from his chin. I'm not sure if it came from his nose or mouth, but it would drip off and be replaced by another hanging drip. I also noticed that one of his eyes, at the corner, had a kind of orange-type crust. The other thing I noticed was that his ears had little spots of fur missing. They were just small spots, but he had many on each ear.

I petted him a while and already I'm quite fond of him. He's a very sweet little guy and he loves the attention; he was purring and kneading his paws. However, I have a dog and I'm afraid that I'm going to carry some sickness over and get him sick, as well. As an afterthought, I don't want to get myself sick either.

All the signs seem to point to sickness. Should I not pet the cat anymore? I'd hate to do that, but it would be horrible to get my dog sick as well. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Is there any way you could get him to a no-kill shelter? I wouldn't be able to leave him out there all alone like that.

I agree about not bringing him in with your dog unless you knew he was healthy, but it would be great if you could get him somewhere safe.

Yosemite, my first idea when I noticed he was sick was that maybe I could take him to the vet. Then I realized that he's not my cat and if I take him to the vet and we got medicine, there's a chance that he's already getting daily doses of medicine. I'm sure that double doses wouldn't be good for him. Plus, we don't have the money to take him to the vet.

I love in a small-ish town, so we have the pound but I think it does kill. I haven't seen him around before, so I'm holding out hope that he just wandered a bit far from home and that his owners will find him and take care of him, or already are. I wish we could help him, but we really are low on money and there's no shelter we can take him where we'd be sure he would get adopted in time anyway.

He sounds like he has gotten in a fight. There are only certain things that dogs can get from cats- ringworm is one- but for the most part it should be fine if you decide to bring this cat into your home. He also sounds hungry- can you at least feed him and give him water?

You are probably looking at a $40.00 vet bill provided nothing major is going on with him. If there is anyway you can get him to the vet, that would be good. He could be lost, or he could have been dumped, or just thrown outside by an uncaring owner.

If you post a general location, we can get you some links to some rescues in your area. Lots of posters on the site volunteer or even foster cats for rescues. I volunteer with a rescue northwest of Chicago, IL.

I don't know if he got in a fight, because he doesn't have any wounds or anything. His ears have the patches, but they look like just little bits of hair fell out maybe.

I already told my mom about the cat, and she said not to pet him because he might be sick. She definitely wouldn't agree to bringing him in the house. They don't like cats and they especially don't like sick cats. :/

I did think of maybe getting him food, but we don't have any cat food. Would dog food be okay? I'd have to sneak the food out, because I don't think my mother would want me feeding him. I think she'd be afraid that he'd start coming around and our dog would get hold of him. Our dog has chased cats before but never actually reached them. When he reaches strange dogs he just sniffs them, but I don't know how he'd react to a cat.

We really don't have the money to take him to a vet. At the moment, we're helping my grandmother, who is across the country, pay her bills because she's have a hard time. So we barely have enough money to pay some of her bills, our bills, buy food, etc. I would like to help him how I can, though. Food and water. I don't know if he'll still be in the same place tomorrow, but I didn't see him when I took the dog out a little while ago. I'll check again tomorrow and, if he -is- there, take some food and water. What food, though? Dog food isn't the same, so would that be bad for him? I don't know what else I could give him.

Beckiboo, I live in Athens, Tennessee. It's a small-ish town about an hour from Knoxville, I think. It's in McMinn County. I really couldn't describe it any better than that. We haven't lived her for very long; we're originally from California.

He's a very sweet cat and I am sort of afraid to take him to a shelter, in case his owners are looking for him. But I really would like him to be cared for so he can be healthy and happy.

http://www.catswithnoname.net/Tennessee.htm

McMinn Regional Humane Society 423-744-2747

Give them a call tomorrow to see if they are a no-kill shelter. If not, check the list for another that is near you. Hopefully, you can take him to a nearby rescue. They will take care of him, and try to reunite him with his owner.

http://www.netpets.com/cats/catresc/tennessee.htm
This site gives a different phone number for the same shelter-423-744-9548.

I'm assuming he doesn't have a collar. You may want to buy a quick-release collar and one of those little cylindars that you write a note on a piece of paper and then stick it inside (can't remember what they're called). Then, you could put down either that the cat is sick and needs a vet or some contact information for yourself. If the cat has an owner, then they can either take it to a vet (and maybe they'll get the hint that they should ID their cat) or call you to let you know that it is an owned cat.

You might take him to the shelter and ask if you can have dibs on the cat if he doesn't find a home after they hold him for a few days. Then you could either keep him or try to find him a home.

My biggest concern is that since he is friendly, he may have an owner who needs a little educating rather than being an abandoned kitty.

Here's a link to a map. I'm not finding any more rescues in your town!
http://local.yahoo.com/details;_ylt=...HqJODL0&lcscb=

Paws of Athens
http://www.pawsofathens.com/
706-310-0663
If they can't help you, I'm sure they will know who can!

Or Helping Paws.
http://www.athenspetropolis.com/helpingpawsnew.html

I had almost the same thing happen, we were camping in the park by the river in our town, I am laying in a chair by the fire by myself and I hear a cat so I call to it and this really bad looking sick almost starved kitty comes up to me. He lokked so bad I didn't want to touch him at first but I couldn't just let the poor thing starve so I found him something to eat then he crawled up on my lap in the chair by the fire and fell asleep. So we made him a bed with a old box and a old towel and put it under the motor home out of the wind, it was getting cold at night, and he was there yet in the morning, anyway I ended up with him at home and alot of vet trips and he still has problems but he is a great pet, I don't regret one minute what I did for him. Wife wanted to shoot me but she said thats why she loves me because I have a big heart. It would have been harder on me to let him there to die than all the work to try and help him. Tom