Adopt a Pet | Find Your New Best Friend

Get in touch with humane society or rescue group and tell them about what your dad dies and the dire situation of the cats. 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. It is important to have a cat carrierwhen transporting your new cat to the veterinarian.

Again, if you’d like to help control the free-roaming cat population in your area, be sure to spay/neuter your pets, keep your cats indoors, and encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same. These also help to foster the human-animal bond you share with your cat. Bringing in a stray cat may not be in his/her best interest if the cat appears healthy and thriving in the community. If the cat looks healthy and is not in any immediate danger it is very important to observe the cat over time rather than reacting in the moment. If you are worried about the cat and can safely approach it, consider putting a paper collar on the cat with your name and contact information for the owner to reach out to you to let you know the cat is cared for.

“You have to gradually increase their comfort by associating your presence with something they really like—usually food,” she says. “At the vet, the cat should receive basic vaccinations and be spayed or neutered if she or he isn’t already,” Phillips says. 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.

Ask around, talk to neighbors, post fliers, check lost and found facebook pages, see if anyone else knows the cat. If the animal has identification, you can contact the owner directly. Identification comes in many forms, so please check the animal thoroughly for a tag. You can bring an animal to most veterinary hospitals to scan the animal for a microchip. You can also register the cat in our found pets database .

If you have the all-clear from your vet and you’re ready to welcome your new kitty home, you’ll want to start with a special quiet, somewhat secluded space that’s set aside just for the cat. Consider furnishing your cat’s new living area with some cat trees and towers and scratching posts, as well as places to hide and sleep. And, of course, don’t forget the basics like a cat food and water bowl and a litter box. Fortunately, even cats who have spent their entire lives outdoors can generally grasp the concept pretty quickly.

Part 1 of 3:Introducing the Cat to Your Home

If you decide you’re ready to open your home to a new feline friend, it’s also important to make sure that you’ll have the financial resources to properly care for him/her. Currently, there is no law in Massachusetts stating that cats must be kept indoors , and feral and free-roaming cats do not necessarily fall under the jurisdiction of municipal animal control. In the Boston metro area, these include the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society and Charles River Alleycats . If the cat is still wary, your best bet is to rent or purchase a humane trap. Many animal shelters and rescue groups will rent the traps to you. When the cat steps in far enough, a trigger plate will cause the door to close.

Cats have 5 major personality types, pet owners believe – New York Post

Cats have 5 major personality types, pet owners believe.

As you put the food out at the same time every day, the cat will notice and begin to come around when she’s expecting a snack. Dry cat food certainly works to get their attention, but wet food might be even more enticing. Try out baby food, catnip, sardines, anchovies, or cooked chicken. 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.

Here’s How You Should Feed a Stray Cat:

Most stressed-out cats seem to find a dark cubbyhole more comfortable than a wide-open space. You can achieve this by either buying a carrier designed for darkness or cover the box with a towel. In the interest of avoiding this worst-case scenario, here are my top tips for cornering, capturing and confining cats for safe transport to the vet. 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.

Hopefully, the cat will trust you by the time that you need to go to the vet. You may decide to keep the cat as a pet when all is said and done! If nothing else, you can provide useful health and personality information to interested adopters if you can’t keep the cat yourself.

In this scenario, it is best to open the door and let the cat outside. You may think that this happens only with cats who live outdoors or whose feral origins don’t lend to easy capture, but you’d be wrong. Plenty of otherwise mild-mannered housecats will pull out all the stops to stay out of the dreaded box.

If you are set on adopting this stray cat into your home, and you know they do not belong to someone, then you can begin the transition process. But, before you transition the outdoor stray cat into a domesticated pet, it is essential that you earn the cat’s trust, bring them for a vet for a checkup and have all the necessary cat suppliesready. If you do choose to cover the cost of a check-up, be prepared to be faced with a larger bill for further necessary services. Chances are that the stray cat has some type of disease, illness, or injury.

They tend to get into fights with other cats that might be infected with a contagious disease. Talk to the cat while you pat it to help it bond with you. Over time, the cat will get used to your voice and scent and will be less afraid of being touched.

Some stray cats will be friendly right off the bat, but with others, it may take time and patience to establish trust. “If a cat is not comfortable with humans, they will mostly scratch or bite if you attempt to handle them. Go slow and always allow the cat a way to leave the situation so that they don’t feel cornered,” says Gouge. In these cases, it seems as if stray cats decide to “adopt” an unsuspecting person as their new caretaker. Basically, these fuzzy interlopers can show up on your doorstep asking for cat food, shelter and attention.

Help us help cats in our community, and encourage others to do the same. You may want to call a rescue group and borrow a trap to try to get the kitten inside before the storm hits. A cat working to trust you may eventually come and rub your legs or sit near you but just out of reach.

Risks to outdoor cats include traffic, predation from larger animals, and altercations with other cats and wildlife which can cause serious injury, disease, or parasitic infection. In fact, the average lifespan of cats permitted to roam freely outside is estimated to be only 2 to 5 years, whereas indoor-only cats can live to be18 years or more. This can cause serious environmental problems, especially if there are endangered species present. Furthermore, any unsterilized cats permitted to roam outdoors will almost certainly produce litters of kittens, contributing to the cat overpopulation problem.

If the abscess has opened and the wound is not showing improvement over the next few days he should be trapped and taken to a veterinarian for treatment and FIV testing, or relinquished to DoveLewis. Cats captured in nets need to be transferred to a humane trap immediately, without exception. This is also a time to consider the condition of the cat and if she will need padding in her trap to be more comfortable.

Connect with your veterinarian and ask if they would be willing to house the cat during recovery, or for advice on how to create the best possible recovery space in your home. See our information on in-trap care and setting up a holding/recovery area. Get practical pet health tips, articles, and insights from our veterinary community delivered weekly to your inbox. However, if the stray is a feral cat, this process will take a little—or a lot—more time.

She has edited more than 700 assignments, including research studies published in various academic journals, continuing medical education materials, and articles on pet health. If you are certain you can get help from animal control very soon, try to lure the animal into your car with food, close the door and wait for help. In most cases it isn’t a good idea to attempt to drive somewhere with a strange dog unrestrained in your car; they may become frantic or aggressive. Cats may do the same, as well as lodge themselves under the car seat, and it can be dangerous trying to extract them. FCCO is a spay/neuter clinic for cats and does not offer full-range veterinary services.