Possible Stray Cat.....What to do?

[skippy2]

I already am called the cat lady in my neighborhood and I only have 3 cats. The sad part is I am moving and cannot find homes for 2 of the cats. I can only have 1 and that is with a 300 deposit. There are no rescue homes in my area. Believe me, I have looked.
Anyway, the reason I posted is to tell you to catch the cat, have it tested and keep it if at all possible.

 

[Guy W]

I'd check your newspaper and local shelters to see if anyone has reported the cat missing. By the sounds of it's appearance it has been missing for a while if that is the case but it could be someones beloved pet.

Maybe even post an ad in the newspaper yourself... I'm sure the owner will offer a reward if you go to all that trouble.

If you don't find its owner, take it in if you want another cat. have it tested, get it's shots and have it fixed if you do before letting the other cats near him.

If you don't want another cat take it too a shelter. It might be put to sleep but stray animals are not good thing. They just breed and spread diseases.

 

[Leopardess]

He's in with me right now. Both cats are far away....

look at him:

He is the most affectionate cat. He is begging and begging to be pet.

My mom (who's got a lot of experience with strays) said it may be best to wait a week before trying to cage him so that I gain his trust and he knows not all people are bad. (This would mean he still stays outside during this time, except for maybe a quick meal inside. Plus, it is POURING outside right now). I dont know. I'm trying to look him over. He might have some old scars on his neck that I want to see.

 

[chunksofpoooo]

gorgeous cat

bit of advice, seeing that hes a stray, keep him outside until youve taken him to the vet. We had a stray in our house once and, well....one word.....fleas

you might not be able to detect them now, but theyl breed in that carpet you have, and youl notice them very quickly

if your worried about caging him;

best thing to do is get him used to the cage, put a blanket or cloth in there for him, and leave it outside all the time. Rather than feeding him inside leave the food in the cage, and feed him in there. Contact is good, just watch out for disease and whatnot

if all else fails you can eat him

 

[Guy W]

gorgeous cat

well....one word.....fleas

oh the fleas... we made the mistake of taking in a stray, within less than a week our house was infested and getting rid of them was such a pain in the a##.

I'd go buy some front line and put it on the cat first thing in the morning if your going to let him inside at all. And put it on all your other cats. SOON!!!

 

[Fishsmurf]

Of the orginal idea's I would go with 2 or 3, that way at least Chris will get used to seeing him around and eventually the move from visitor to resident shouldn't cause too many issues.
One thing we are finding out with the stray cat we now have is that you may experience some problems with keeping him as an house cat.
We are four weeks into owning ours and he still spend most of his days by the patio door just staring out, and at night he sits there crying. It means we are not getting a lot of sleep but each night he cries for less time, we are down from all night to about an hour a night now. It just makes you feel so guilty.
The flip side of it is that when you see him comfortably asleep, he has put some weight on and just gernally looks 100% healthier than he did when you took him in it worth it.
Sooooooo after all that, IMVHO, Frontline straight away, then option 2 or 3, and finally nuetered and immunized if you do decide to keep him. Good luck which ever route you decide to go down.

 

[greeneyedlady]

I'm aiming for demented old man myself. I want the neighborhood kids to dare each other to ring my doorbell.

My husband got a kick out of that one, my f-in-l has goats, so he is the "goat-man" in the family, my m-in-l has cats and is notorious for taking in strays and finding homes for them, she took in a mother cat and 6 kittens last year and tried to convince us that we needed another cat, I told her no thank you we have 1 dog and 1 cat that is more than enough (the 4 fish tanks don't count ). Our neighborhood has a clause about only 2 animals in the association bylaws (either 2 cats, 2 dogs, or a cat and a dog), although that doesn't stop the crazy lady down the street with 5 cats although nothing slows her down

 

[Shaz]

I agree with most of what has been said in the fact that you should de-flea him and take him to the vets. Putting food in a cat cage/carrier so that he goes in there of his own free will for food will reduce the stress for him when u finally have to put him in it to go to the vets! But he is gorgeous!
Good luck and keep us posted!
xxx

 

[Dangerdoll]

hehehe, Leo, you get just about everything making it to your deck, don't ya! I agree with the above too. Most importantly with the frontline and the vet visit. You say that you think he may have been owned and maybe just lost... I have to wonder about that especially since he is not neutered. But above all, he is an outdoors cat, some of them are... and some of them do quite well. Most importantly though, he should be fixed so that he doesn't start a kittie neighborhood, if ya know what I mean. I vote for keeping him once he's cleaned up and keep him as your outside guy. Take him in when the weather gets extreme. When I was growing up we had 2 outsiders and 1 inside cat. When we tried to keep them in, the outsiders caused all kinds of malhavoc in the house, just because they wanted out. They all lived to 15+ years too! Good luck with what you decide Leo and btw, I love the avatar!

 

[Leopardess]

Don't have much time to answer right now. We're at Chris' folks and I just sneaked on. We think they might want him! We're slowly working on them.

Just wanted to say, before I come home later and read more carefully, unfortunately fleas aren't an issue Turns out, the people in the apt. before us had fleas and didn't tell us (therefore we couldn't bomb the place before we moved in) and the low grade infestation in the carpets turned into itchy cats. So they've been on Frontline Plus for the past 1.5 months anyway ....oh, let us not forget all the money we have to spend on carpet spray. UGH.

But thanks guys. I'll read through the messages tonight when I get home...maybe with the kitty on my lap!