Adopt a Pet | Find Your New Best Friend

Some stray cats have already lived with humans, so they’re already well socialized and ready to be in a loving home. If the stray hasn’t lived with humans before but is still a kitten or a very young adult, it may not take long for the cat to become friendly and tame. Older cats who aren’t used to being around humans can be a lot trickier—you’ll need to be very patient and give them lots of time to learn to trust you. Be prepared for the possibility that your new friend may never be fully socialized. How you trap a sick or injured cat is highly dependent on the state the cat is in.

At this point, the veterinarian should be knowledgeable about TNR and community cats and understand that the cats will need to be returned to their original outdoor home once they recover from treatment. While the next step may seem like you can finally open your door to your new feline friend, you’ll want to avoid bringing it inside, particularly if you have other pets . Instead, take the cat to the veterinarian to have a full checkup, vaccinations, as well as to be spayed or neutered . This step may take several attempts, but it’s absolutely essential for your health and safety, as well as for your new cat’s.

Always wash your hands after touching the cat, and get medical help immediately if you get scratched or bitten. If you plan to adopt a stray, take the cat to the vet right away for an exam and tests to make sure it doesn’t have any serious health problems. If you have multiple pets in your home, the stray cat may feel overwhelmed.

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It’s all about figuring out what is best for the cat and for you. “When a cat starts coming around your house and looking for attention, begging for food or trying to sneak in your front door, there’s a good chance you’ve been adopted,” explains Megan Phillips, BS, ADBC. Many city, state, and local organizations as well as animal rescue groups and individuals support TNR with hands-on assistance. From an online gift to a charitable gift annuity, your contribution will have a significant impact in the lives of thousands of animals.

This is why having a partner with you to trap is so important! While one of you can take the cat to the veterinarian immediately, the other can continue the trapping effort. Based on the severity of illness or injury, a cat might need to be placed in a long-term holding area for recovery. Whether that recovery is done in your home or the veterinary clinic, plan beforehand so you don’t have to scramble at the last minute.

Drop traps are the best way to ensure you trap the right cat in the swiftest manner. This is especially important when you need to trap a sick or injured cat who needs veterinary attention. We have tips for safely trapping sick or injured kitties below. One of the best methods is using a Drop Trap, which gives you more control over when the trap is sprung, so you can safely enclose the sick or injured cat inside.

We typically recommend having the kittens be at least 4 weeks old before trying to trap mom. Water should be available at all times except for during transport to Pets In Stitches. Occupied traps should not be placed in the sun, left in the path of sprinklers, or accessible to wild animals (e.g., coyotes or dogs).

If you do take a cat to a vet, the veterinarian can find out if the cat has a microchip. If no microchip is found, you can decide whether to pay for a check-up and find out what kind of care the cat needs or to take the cat to a shelter that can better assist them. You should take a stray cat to a veterinarian anytime that you are concerned about one and you can safely get them in a carrier for transport.

If you find a cat who is injured and you cannot afford to pay for their care, you can take the cat toDoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospitaland relinquish the cat as a stray. They will stabilize the cat and transfer him to the Shelter from the county where he was found. After all, waiting until she’s sick enough to resist less violently is not a reasonable option — even though a startlingly large percentage of cat owners resort to this very tactic.

Basically, these fuzzy interlopers can show up on your doorstep asking for cat food, shelter and attention. The good news is that, yes, feral cats can become your new live-in feline friend. But there are several very important steps that must be taken first, as domesticating a feral cat is certainly not a task for the faint of heart and will require an enormous amount of time and patience. Remember that trapping is stressful for community cats and should only be done out of necessity, such as for spay and neuter or to treat more serious injuries or illnesses. If you already have pet cats, you should be aware that by bringing in stray cats or even just handling them, you can put them at risk of contracting an infectious disease. Strict quarantine measures need to be taken and it might be wiser to refer the stray to a shelter where they have the space, resources, and equipment to do a proper quarantine.

You can also post pets for rehoming on Craigslist or on Facebook in Pets Needing Rehomed St. Louis Area MO & IL. Please ask for a minimum $50 rehoming fee to help weed out the unsavory people previously mentioned, and please try to check them out first. You can use sites such as Missouri Casenet or other public records sites to view criminal and civil court records.

Martin Fernandez, a trap-neuter-release program trainer and stray cat expert who works with the Cypress Feline Rescue in Brooklyn, New York, says that earning a cat’s trust is partially a waiting game. Before assuming that a cat wants to adopt you, you should check to see if he’s wearing a cat ID tagor bring him to a nearby animal hospital or rescue group to have him scanned for a microchip. If the cat has an owner, it is your responsibility to make a genuine effort to reunite cat and owner. According to the ASPCA, there are tens of millions of feral and stray cats in the United States.

If the cat’s family can’t be located, consider fostering her yourself and looking for a forever home. They are not socialized, which makes them poor candidates for adoption. If you notice that one of its ears is clipped, that indicates the cat was spayed or neutered and returned to its turf. Keep in mind we can only process two stray cats a day unless prior arrangements have been made. Pets In Stitches offers a unique stray cat program to help address the needs of independent stray cats in the Miami Valley area. Our program addresses the issues of such cats’ reproduction, efficiently and humanely.

Alley Cat Allies advocates euthanasia only for a terminal illness or untreatable injury. Unfortunately, some veterinarians who haven’t been trained to work with community cats believe in “euthanizing” (i.e. killing) community cats rather than treating them. Many times, stray cats are used to and enjoy human interaction, making them good candidates for adoption.

And, truth be told, my technicians are actually hoping they don’t show up because this cat is a happy camper in the staff room. Even if he is not the aggressor, an intact male cat is more susceptible to cat fights, which can put him at risk for trauma and contagious diseases such as FIV (“feline AIDS”). This kitty had a bad wound on his foot, most likely the result of a violent cat fight. At minimum, he needed wound care, an X-ray, pain meds and antibiotics.

By taking a stray cat to the vet, the veterinarian will be able to scan for a microchip and check the overall health of the cat. If you find a lost or stray cat, the first thing to do is to take the cat to a vet or any Petsmart with a Banfield inside to have it scanned for a microchip . If the microchip has been registered to an owner, the microchip company can contact the owner to let them know their cat has been found. If the chip has not been registered, ask the company for the “implanter of record”. This is usually a rescue, vet’s office, or animal control facility that may have the owner’s information.

This will help to increase the chances of the cat coming inside. Transfer the cat to a humane trap, with comfort padding if needed. So, you might pay for vet services at first, but if you sign up for insurance right away, you could get financial help within just a couple of weeks. Any surgeries or other such treatments could be put off until the insurance kicks in if the veterinarian whom you are working with doesn’t find such treatments to be critical at the moment. If you choose to help him find a new home, one helpful resource is Rehome. You can create a profile for the cat that will appear on Adopt-a-Pet.com for millions of potential adopters to see.

Emily Estep is a biologist and fact checker focused on environmental sciences. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Master of Science in Plant Biology from Ohio University. Emily has been a proofreader and editor at a variety of online media outlets over the past decade and has reviewed more than 200 articles for The Spruce Pets for factual accuracy.

If your new kitty just won’t come inside, you should provide some kind of shelter. “You can make a feral cat box—there are lots of online tutorials—or you could even open up your garage on really cold nights,” Phillips says. However, if the stray is a feral cat, this process will take a little—or a lot—more time. “You have to gradually increase their comfort by associating your presence with something they really like—usually food,” she says. According to Delgado, if your new feline friend was previously a house cat, the transition indoors should be relatively easy.