Stray Animals

[Artina89]

My friends husband found a little kitten on a building site and took her home. Roughly 6 weeks later the kitten is happy, healthy and had all her shots and has grown, a lot. If you want to take care of the kitten then do so, but just take it to the vet to get it checked for fleas, and make sure to get all it's shots. In Britain I don't remember any laws against adopting strays, but just check with the local animal agencies whether or not anyone has reported the kitten missing, if not, I don't see a problem with you keeping the kitten.

 

[Headsprouter]

I had this kind of encounter with a black cat, too! This cat would always try to squeeze its way into my house everytime the door was open, but we were unsure whether or not to house it since we didn't want it getting too attached.

Well, basically every night for a few days this wee kitten would turn up at our house. It was nice, but then naturally we started to worry for it. And we were releived when the flyer-things started appearing, because then we knew what exactly to do with it. In your situation(which is more or less the one i was in), i still wouldn't know what to do, unless this persists for weeks, Or months, i wouldn't consider adopting it. But thats just me.

We did bring the kitten back to its owner when it turned up at our house again, there was a reward offered, but we didn't get it since it had already been given out. Yes, the cat escaped even after being found.

 

[Thomiroth]

Well, I really can't tell you not to adopt your little friend. My first dog was a stray that came begging at our back door. Poor thing was practically skin and bones, so we fed it and it vanished for a day before coming back to stay.
It was particularly nice to see how my dear paternal parental bonded with it, since they were both old hands, so to speak, and as much as he hated the amount of shedding it did, he couldn't really yell at the poor thing. (Any time it heard any loud noise or raised voice, it went running, found a spot to hide in and sat there shaking, so it had obviously been abused)

Either way, Kipling was a loveable sop who just wanted a place to belong, and we gave him a nice home until he actually died of what you might call a porterhouse blue. His system broke down because of too much good living.
When he died, my dad was utterly heartbroken, so was I, but I had gone off on holiday, so he was closest to the issue. I'm not sure if he's ever really forgiven himself for having to go to work while the poor thing breathed its last. In his words; "All I could do was leave the light on so the poor thing wouldn't die in the dark, son."

So, as long as you are prepared for the age old problem with pets, go get yourself a new kitty. =D

 

[iDoom46]

There was a stray cat that one day just showed up at my front door in the middle of winter, horribly malnourished. It was obviously too friendly to be a stray, so I fed it, and after a few days I realized that it wasn't going home. There was a bad snowstorm coming, so I took it in.

Now I already had two cats, and I knew they wouldn't be able to get along with this new addition, plus we weren't sure if it had even had its shots or anything yet, so I locked it in my room for the night to keep it from the other cats while we waited out the storm. The next day, I brought the cat all across the neighborhood, asking if anybody had lost a cat, but it seemed to belong to nobody. The following day, I let the cat back outside, since I wouldn't be able to watch it while I wasn't home.

From then on, I got into the habit of feeding her every day, so she pretty much became my third cat for a while. But soon my dad came home from a business trip, and I was worried that he wouldn't let us feed a stray any more than we already had. Strangely, though, he took a liking to the cat and even took over the feeding duties, which is very out of character for him.

So it continued on, that every day as I left in the morning, the cat would dart down the street to my front door. And every evening I would find it waiting in the front yard for me to come home.

Eventually, another snow storm came and, fearing for the cat, I brought her inside again. At this point I realized that I couldn't keep this up. So I made plans with a neighbor and I gave the cat to him to bring to his relative who was a crazy cat lady.

I may have only known that cat for 2 months, but I loved it, and I'll never forget it.


Also, recently a new stray has taken up residence under my back deck. Its a real stray that doesn't quite like people. I always see it hanging around the yard, and occasionally I find traces that it has eaten birds that come to our bird feeder, but I don't mind it. I've even gotten it to come to me once, and I've given it the nickname of 'CoolCat'.

 

[Antari]

So, I like to go out at night (amongst other times) to go have a nice cigarette, stare out at the field behind my apartment, and just ponder everything from philosophy to the little questions that pop up every day in my life.

Anyways, the last couple of nights, this adorable little black cat has been showing up. It comes over to me and I pet it while I have my smoke, it purrs a lot, and sometimes it'll try to catch the smoke I exhale. Then I have to slip back inside my apartment without leaving enough room for it to slip in too (cause it follows me and tries to get in [also, sometimes it sits outside my door and the second I open it it's there]).

I haven't had a pet in a long time. The last one I got was a train wreck, this was also a cat, he was a sweet little thing, but he'd just get on my nerves constantly. Ultimately I gave him to another family (and shortly thereafter had an altercation with the maintenance man who had given him to me and said I couldn't give him away, but that's another story). But now (about two years later) this little cat is seriously pulling on my heart strings. It's ridiculously cute, very friendly, playful, and I just happen to really like black cats. I don't know what the rules are on adopting stray animals as one's own, nor am I entirely sure I want to bring a pet into my life again (though I do at the very least want to start leaving food out for the little thing).

Anyways, I can't remember having ever seen a topic here about stray animals, so I figured I'd give it a go. Anyone have any good stray animal stories? Ever make a connection with an animal that didn't come from a pet store or a breeder? Etc...

If its as cuddly a cat as you say, let it cuddle up with ya and check the inside of its ear's for numbered tatoo's. Best way to figure out if its a stray or not. Almost all Vet's/Shelters tatoo animals that come in there, or as one user mentioned. Some places are using microchips now as well. If there's nothing there its very likely he is a stray. However depending on the health of the animal, it may just be a very adventurous cat wandering the nieghbourhood. If its coat is in good condition and hes well fed, its probably not a stray.

Just takes a few checks, but will eliminate alot of questions. Once they are answered then you can make a more certain decision about adopting it.

 

[armadillo122]

I pick up turtles all the time but theyre not strays, I like to put stickers on them.
There is a family of cats at my college though who live in the woods and somebody who works here feeds them.

cats live in the woods where you come from? I find that hard to beleive.

 

[Verp]

I don't think I've ever seen a stray animal of any kind.

 

[Kaytastrophe]

So, I like to go out at night (amongst other times) to go have a nice cigarette, stare out at the field behind my apartment, and just ponder everything from philosophy to the little questions that pop up every day in my life.

Anyways, the last couple of nights, this adorable little black cat has been showing up. It comes over to me and I pet it while I have my smoke, it purrs a lot, and sometimes it'll try to catch the smoke I exhale. Then I have to slip back inside my apartment without leaving enough room for it to slip in too (cause it follows me and tries to get in [also, sometimes it sits outside my door and the second I open it it's there]).

I haven't had a pet in a long time. The last one I got was a train wreck, this was also a cat, he was a sweet little thing, but he'd just get on my nerves constantly. Ultimately I gave him to another family (and shortly thereafter had an altercation with the maintenance man who had given him to me and said I couldn't give him away, but that's another story). But now (about two years later) this little cat is seriously pulling on my heart strings. It's ridiculously cute, very friendly, playful, and I just happen to really like black cats. I don't know what the rules are on adopting stray animals as one's own, nor am I entirely sure I want to bring a pet into my life again (though I do at the very least want to start leaving food out for the little thing).

Anyways, I can't remember having ever seen a topic here about stray animals, so I figured I'd give it a go. Anyone have any good stray animal stories? Ever make a connection with an animal that didn't come from a pet store or a breeder? Etc...

dude it is totally worth it! if the cat is friendly and seeking affection while outside then its going to be a great cat. The same thing happened to me. I recently bought a house and there was this cat that came around. I would be outside on my deck reading or something and this cat would just come and sit with me or on me. We took her in and she has been the best cat in the world; I dont regret adopting her for a second.

If your going to adopt her you can just bring her into the house and give her a good flea bath. When I adopted my cat I contacted several vets and they said that if the cat had any illnesses that would harm humans they would be noticeable. they recommended that you eventually get the cat examined but it does not need to be immediate (they said it was better to just watch the cat for a bit and learn its patterns that way you can give them more information when they get checked out). Therefore your not going to have to spend much money only to find out this cat isn't what you expected. Only other thing I could suggest is that if you do take the cat in just keep an eye out for lost cat signs for the first couple weeks. If you don't see any lost cat signs then its yours.

Hope that helps let me know what you decide to do.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I say start looking after it, maybe get it to know you better, or something.

As for my own pets...

Well, when I was about 4 or 5, my aunt's cat had kittens, so we adopted a pair, a black cat we called Arthur, and a black and gray striped tabby named Merlin (...I was the one who named them, so...)

Fast forward about 14 years, and Arthur sadly passed away due to several tumors in his mouth and stomach, but not before soldiering for on several months (he was always a bit of a tough cat).

We decided it was time for a dog, so, after much searching, we adopted from a shelter this beautiful Pitbull/Poodle mix we named Rooby (by the way, the spelling is intentional).

I don't know the laws of adopting strays around here, but either way, go for it!

 

[ReservoirAngel]

When I was in about Year 10, I used to have a weird kind of friendship going on with this little ginger cat that wandered around the area.

A lot of mornings when I went to go to school I'd run into it just perched on a wall waiting for me, whereupon it would either follow me all the way to school curling round my ankles as I walked, or I would carry it there while it just snuggled up in my arms. It kept trying to follow me into school so I had to stop it, but I liked that it gave me some kind of company on my walks there. Sometimes even on the way back I'd run into the little guy, resulting in my having to try and stop it from getting into my house (my mum hates cats with a passion. if it was up to me I'd have let the cute little guy in).

It got to the point where in the mornings as I walked to school I'd get my lunch out of my backpack and just let it eat little bits of it.

 

[armadillo122]

I pick up turtles all the time but theyre not strays, I like to put stickers on them.
There is a family of cats at my college though who live in the woods and somebody who works here feeds them.

cats live in the woods where you come from? I find that hard to beleive.

no, theyre strays.....duh?

Don't "duh" me, Mr.