Quickbeam
Flashlight Enthusiast
The story: There was a stray cat wandering around in the neighborhood and it seems to have taken to us. You may recall we had problems with a cat using our mulch as a litter box - it turned out it was the neighbor's cat...
This cat is fairly new in the area - It's extremely affectionate. We called animal control to pick it up and a neighbor brought over a pet carrier to hold it - it actually walked into the carrier! It has claws, but doesn't seem to want to use them - it was very gentle with my wife and I with no desire to bite or claw when picked up. Found out one of the neighbors kids has been feeding it. The Animal Control Officer called and said he would pick it up if we wanted but by the description it probably belonged to someone and there was a 99% chance it would be euthanized. We let it go instead of having them pick it up, figuring it belonged to someone, but it didn't want to go, instead hanging around our house and our neighbor's houses. It has no collar and is an un-neutered male black and white. It's not a kitten, but not very old.
My wife obviously was showing an interest in keeping it, but we left it back outside.
Sure enough, this morning it was still hanging around and was always trying to get inside people's houses again, so I let it in to see what it would do. It has no interest in going back outside at all, even when presented with open doors. It would rather follow me around the house than anything.
I left it in the garage, ran out and got some food and a litter box. It was very thirsty and ate like it hadn't eaten in a long time. I then presented it with an open door again and it sat down next to my leg - obviously uninterested in going outside even after being fed. I'm waiting (and watching carefully) to see if it's litterbox trained. I suspect it is - when placed in the box it pawed at the litter, but didn't go.
I'm beginning to suspect that it either belongs to a neighbor who it escaped from, or someone dropped it off because they didn't want it. It's too familiar with people to just be a stray - and also too clean. But how it ate and drank makes me think it hasn't been properly cared for.
We're going to post signs and take care of it for a while - if no one claims it in a week or 2 we'll probably keep it and it'll be going to the vet for flea treatments and a checkup. It's currently asleep on a chair next to me.
So, what I'm looking for here (now that you have the full story) is advice on caring for a cat. I know we'll need to get a "claw post" and some catnip spray to get it to use the post instead of our nice furniture. We have some friends back home with 'indoor only' cats and they declaw the front paws and have them "fixed", which is probably the route we would take if we keep it. I know that outdoor cats tend to want to stay "outdoor cats", but like I said, this one seems to only want to get inside, not go outside even when offered the chance.
What else do we need to know? Any cat owners care to give advice? - Anyone familiar with taking in strays? We're not that familiar with keeping cats...
This cat is fairly new in the area - It's extremely affectionate. We called animal control to pick it up and a neighbor brought over a pet carrier to hold it - it actually walked into the carrier! It has claws, but doesn't seem to want to use them - it was very gentle with my wife and I with no desire to bite or claw when picked up. Found out one of the neighbors kids has been feeding it. The Animal Control Officer called and said he would pick it up if we wanted but by the description it probably belonged to someone and there was a 99% chance it would be euthanized. We let it go instead of having them pick it up, figuring it belonged to someone, but it didn't want to go, instead hanging around our house and our neighbor's houses. It has no collar and is an un-neutered male black and white. It's not a kitten, but not very old.
My wife obviously was showing an interest in keeping it, but we left it back outside.
Sure enough, this morning it was still hanging around and was always trying to get inside people's houses again, so I let it in to see what it would do. It has no interest in going back outside at all, even when presented with open doors. It would rather follow me around the house than anything.
I left it in the garage, ran out and got some food and a litter box. It was very thirsty and ate like it hadn't eaten in a long time. I then presented it with an open door again and it sat down next to my leg - obviously uninterested in going outside even after being fed. I'm waiting (and watching carefully) to see if it's litterbox trained. I suspect it is - when placed in the box it pawed at the litter, but didn't go.
I'm beginning to suspect that it either belongs to a neighbor who it escaped from, or someone dropped it off because they didn't want it. It's too familiar with people to just be a stray - and also too clean. But how it ate and drank makes me think it hasn't been properly cared for.
We're going to post signs and take care of it for a while - if no one claims it in a week or 2 we'll probably keep it and it'll be going to the vet for flea treatments and a checkup. It's currently asleep on a chair next to me.
So, what I'm looking for here (now that you have the full story) is advice on caring for a cat. I know we'll need to get a "claw post" and some catnip spray to get it to use the post instead of our nice furniture. We have some friends back home with 'indoor only' cats and they declaw the front paws and have them "fixed", which is probably the route we would take if we keep it. I know that outdoor cats tend to want to stay "outdoor cats", but like I said, this one seems to only want to get inside, not go outside even when offered the chance.
What else do we need to know? Any cat owners care to give advice? - Anyone familiar with taking in strays? We're not that familiar with keeping cats...
