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    Cat advice required

    We have been adopted by a stray cat...She turned up over a week ago and has spent most of her time sleeping on some old clothes of mine I left outside. We got her some cat food and a box. She has a dry spot under our backyard canopy. She is deffo female, age undetermined, obviously malnourished.

    On the plus side, she has good appetite, she has let us give her a scratch, she seems at ease with us, she started to be vocal and she goes to do her business away from our house. She is even not shy of giving a slap to other cats taking liberties.

    There is a big minus side, which is where I need some insight. As mentioned, she is very thin. She seems lethargic most of the times, fast breathing even at rest and her head is lolling. We don't think so soon after she started trusting us it would be a good idea to put her in a cage and bring her to a vet. We are thinking of giving her a worming treatment just in case

    Do those symptoms mean anything to you? Googling brings up so many possibilities...

    #2
    Take her to a vet. The fact that she is ok with humans means she has had human contact in the past and has been handled by them from an early age. It may be that she went to far from home, got lost and then couldn't find her way back which is why she is so thin. Contact the Cats Protection League for your area and the RSPCA for advice. Also, a visit to the vet might reveal a chip which will show where she lives.

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      #3
      Absolutely take her to the vet. If you feel uncomfortable doing it yourself then you could contact a local stray cat rescue charity and the will do it for you. Please do this as soon as possible.

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        #4
        Yup, a trip to the Vets is called for ASAP. And prepare yourself for potentially bad news. Not that the symptoms mean anything to me, but generally Cats are very good at hiding when they are unwell (necessary for a predator). If this one isn't doing that, there is a real chance that something is seriously up with it. The sooner you get it to the Vets, the better.

        Also true if it is chipped, and it's owner is fretting where it has run off to. Which, if it's unwell, they could well be doing massively. It also quite possible, if this is the case, that they are diligent and considerate of the cat's welfare.

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          #5
          Dehydrated in this heat, probably. As I've reported in the Mundane Thread, I'm literally just back from dumping a poorly cat at a vets with a rescue attached. He perked up a lot with some water but still isn't well (and is old).

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            #6
            What they said. That's not well cat behaviour.

            Good luck and if she's not chipped, try not to get guilted into taking her on (unless you really want a cat) because animal welfare organisations - for understandable reasons - can do that, the scamps. Tell them they can have a tithe of your income for the next 15 years, it'll work out cheaper.

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              #7
              My lovely Milly turned up as a stray originally, btw.

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                #8
                Jingle and Scraggy were both strays, and Deedee has come to us from a rescue centre. Snowy now visits twice a day mostly for food and at some point soon will be taken to the vets for a full check and neutering.
                Chris is correct that a cat can cost a small fortune. Everyone should be aware of this before they take on a pet. Both Jingle and Scraggy had medical issues that cost us a decent sum, not that we regret it in the slightest.
                Because Deedee has history we have pet insurance taken out, and may do the same with Snowy if he settles with us as he is still a young cat.
                Last edited by Sean of the Shed; 10-08-2020, 05:29.

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                  #9
                  Lots of good advice so far, the best of which is to get the cat to a vet pronto. Do contact your local Cats Protection, as they'll already have an agreement with one or more vet practices, so the kitty should get seen fairly quickly.

                  As for trust issues, the cat will get over it as long as she still gets fed. Mrs b is a cat fosterer, we've seen it before as many times!

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                    #10
                    Yes, don't worry about trust issues, as blameless says. Cats develop trust quickly, and while they don't always like going to the vet, it'll take something more traumatic than a check-up to put them off. After Latrice entered our lives she quite happily let me take her to the vet a bunch of times, and only started showing a reluctance to hop into the cage once she'd been spayed, which was not an experience she was happy about going through. Even if yours is reluctant to go along, though, that doesn't mean it's not necessary.

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                      #11
                      Not much to add, other than reiterate what the others have said - get her to a vet asap.

                      Well done for feeding her and giving her some care.

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                        #12
                        Thanks people. I also contacted the local Cats protection. Alas, we have not seen her since yesterday afternoon when she had a scrap with another cat.

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                          #13
                          A cat is currently attempting to adopt us. We used to just see her in our back garden occasionally. More recently, she's started bounding over to see us whenever we leave the front door and walking alongside us on our way to the park. My children are delighted and enjoy stroking her. Today she came into our house for the first time for an inspection and particularly enjoyed rubbing herself against the piano legs. We offered her some fish sticks (we don't have any more appropriate cat food in the house currently) but she declined.

                          She is a beautiful black and white cat and seems in good, healthy condition, but doesn't have any sort of collar. We don't know if she is stray or just goes to multiple households.

                          There are a few difficulties. One is that our lease doesn't allow us to officially have a pet. The second, and actually more relevant, is that my husband is allergic to cats. He interacted with her a bit today and was hoping not to have a reaction, but sadly all his symptoms have kicked in and he's now on antihistamines.

                          What do we do? I'm not sure we have a huge amount of choice if she decides to move in. We'll leave some food and water for her in the back garden and see if she'll stay there.

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                            #14
                            Well, if having a cat around is going to make your old man sick, then I'd venture that you can't really do it.

                            I'd put out a message or two to see whether anyone knows of the cat's owner? (Or indeed ask whether anyone else might take her in?)

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                              #15
                              We have a cat like that. We don;t let her in the house. (I know who her owners are, but they work abroad, so the cat is left to fend for herself). We did get her spayed though, and we put food out for her (we don;t buy cat food, just scraps and leftovers).

                              But what Jah said. If your husband is allergic, you can;t let her come in

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                                #16
                                Yes, it's a shame because the kids would love to have a cat, but there's no point in my husband getting sick (he was the one who let the cat in today, it's been so long since he interacted with a cat that he almost forgot that he's allergic).

                                What are the best things to leave out in the garden? I'm thinking leftover fish and chicken if / when we have it? But how do you make sure you're leaving it for the cat and not encouraging rats instead (we saw rats in our garden a couple of years again but they haven't come back since we cleared all the undergrowth).

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                                  #17
                                  If you are going to leave food then proper cat food is the best way to go, but if you are concerned about rats then the best solution is to feed her only when she appears. Include biscuits as this helps to keep teeth clean.
                                  The problem you have is that by leaving food you are encouraging her to live with you, and bodies such as the RSPCA will look at that as you taking ownership and therefore means that you are also responsible for her health and general upkeep.
                                  If she is going to come into the house then your husband will likely have to adapt to it. Mrs of the shed also has cat allergies but they don't seem to be triggered as much by our cats now except when they are molting, so it could be possible that he will become more tolerant over time, but that may be dependent on how extreme his allergy is.
                                  Firstly I would be checking to see if she is chipped and has been spayed. This can be done by a cat rescue group like Cats Protection or a local independent cat rescue team, or by a vet. If she hasn't been neutered then this is the most important thing you can do for her.
                                  In the end if you find that you cannot keep her then it may be better to get her taken away and adopted out, again a cat rescue team can do this. She may be healthy now but cats who live outside often deteriorate as they get older.
                                  Last edited by Sean of the Shed; 19-02-2021, 12:01.

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                                    #18
                                    I'm on a couple of local cat and dog Facebook pages, and our local general neighbourhood page is 50% about cats and dogs.

                                    One local cat, Dave, turns up at people's houses and expects to be let in and to make himself at home, so keeps turning up as "has anyone lost this cat?". Not saying yours is like that. On the other hand, some cats have turned out to be stray/abandoned and have been found homes that way, mostly with the help of the Celia Hammond Trust. So talking to the neighbours either directly or online would help in either solving the mystery or getting "your" cat a home.

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                                      #19
                                      Thanks for the advice. As a first step, I'll try and get a photo of her next time I see her and see if anyone knows if she has an official owner.

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                                        #20
                                        We have a couple of neighborhood cats that run the 'hood. I always imagine they're like that stray dog in the Looney Tunes cartoon that gets called a different name by everyone it visits, getting fed each time along the way. We know Cleo and her family, but Stripey's family are a shiftless lot that we're pretty sure are selling drugs out of the garage. Stripey's okay by us, but his/her name might not actually be Stripey.

                                        As for the allergies, I used to be deathly allergic to cats until I met L. She had 3, and through gradual exposure to them, I became immune. We've had two cats at a time for the past 22 years and I'm totally fine now.

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                                          #21
                                          Are you sure gradual exposure brings immunity? Doesn't seem very scientific to me.

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                                            #22
                                            I don't know if immunity is the right word, but I definitely built up a tolerance to them over time. Within a couple of years, I went from 'can't be with them for an hour' to 'living with a pair'.

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                                              #23
                                              Leaving out food for the cat is going to make sure it keeps coming round surely?

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                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
                                                What are the best things to leave out in the garden? I'm thinking leftover fish and chicken if / when we have it?
                                                Any leftovers we have are for us. That sounds mean and cruel, I know, but it's how it is.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by TonTon View Post
                                                  Leaving out food for the cat is going to make sure it keeps coming round surely?
                                                  Our previous 'fat cat' was known for walking up the street three houses and eating their dog's food from his bowl out back.

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