![]() ![]() Your stray kitty should get a clean bill of health and be quarantined in their room for about two weeks before they’re allowed to meet other pets in your home or share space with them. If you’re planning to keep the cat, even temporarily, and they didn’t need immediate medical help, the next step is setting up an appointment with a veterinarian to have them checked out and scanned for a microchip. ![]() There are a few important things to consider here: You bait the trap with something stinky that cats like (like sardines), wait for them to step inside, and the door shuts behind them. These are long, rectangular cages with spring-loaded doors. If you have a timid stray, you may be able to spend a few days or weeks sitting outside while they’re around, offering food and talking quietly, in hopes of gaining their trust so you can easily take them in.įor more difficult cases, you can buy or borrow a humane spring trap - sometimes local animal rescues have such traps available for rental. Some strays practically walk up and ask you to save them. Getting your hands on a stray kitty can be as easy as opening your front door or as difficult as luring them into a humane trap over days, weeks, or even months. Looking for the cat on area bulletin boards and on missing pet social media sites, as well as calling area vet hospitals and animal rescues to see if they are aware of a missing cat matching the description can also be helpful steps. Often if a cat is lost, their owner(s) may put up missing pet fliers, post on missing pet social media sites, and/or have lost pet e-mail notifications sent out to local vet clinics and animal shelters by their microchip company, if applicable. Checking for a microchip is a good first step, but if they don’t have a chip, it doesn’t mean they don’t have an owner. If they have a microchip, the animal shelter or vet clinic can look up the microchip company to contact to identify the cat’s owner. Unfortunately, this means catching them first, which we’ll get to. tags, is to take them to a veterinary clinic or animal shelter to be scanned for an I.D. ![]() The best way to determine if a cat has an owner, assuming they’re not wearing I.D. A wet and/or dirty cat can be an initial indicator that they may be stray. If allowed outside, they’re more likely to roam beyond their yard, making it difficult to know whether you’re dealing with a stray cat in need of rescue or your neighbor’s cat out for a stroll.Ĭats are very clean animals by nature, but a stray cat may have a tougher time keeping themselves clean if they’re living outdoors. Cats, however, have a different relationship with the outdoors and the perimeter of their home. Feral cats, on the other hand, were born wild or spent much of their life on their own and are not well socialized to people.īut how do you know if a cat is technically stray? This is an easier question to answer for dogs because, generally, if you see a dog running loose, it’s either an escapee from a home or it’s homeless (stray). While there is some fluidity in the definitions, the term “stray” generally refers to a cat who is lost or displaced from their home. Luckily, a little education and commitment can give you the confidence you need to help a stray cat in need. It can be overwhelming if you don’t know what to do in these situations. If you love animals, you’ve probably had at least one of those moments where you see an unknown cat in your yard, a parking lot, or walking down the road, and think, “Does that stray kitty need help?” Then your mind starts to race, wondering how you’d catch the cat, whether it’s healthy, and if you have any place to keep them. ![]()
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