How to rescue a stray kitty

[MushyMushy]

There's a real sweetheart of a kitty in my dad's neighborhood. Very small boned, medium hair orange cat. I pet it every time I go over there, and after I talked to one of the neighbors I'm determined to rescue it. BUT, only after I talk to a couple of other neighbors to confirm what the first neighbor said. If it ends up being somebody's pet, I'm going to call animal control.

Neighbor says somebody moved out of a house and just abandoned it there and it doesn't know what to do. Nobody's feeding it and it's so skinny. The hair is starting to get matted and the poor thing is just starved for attention. I'm having my son take some food over for it today.

I would *love* to bring it home, but I have one cat hating dog and a cat that's elderly and probably wouldn't adjust well to new kitty. The other dog is indifferent to the cat we have, but I guarantee she's going to go nuts if I brought one in. Do you think it's even possible to do this without a load of trouble? My problem is (well, it's not a problem per se) that when I commit to an animal, I see it through, so I have to be absolutely sure that this will work out and not upset ALL the animals involved, including this kitty.

Advice?

ETA: I am SO not a cat person. I'm a little frightened of them due to a childhood mauling. So for this cat to touch my heart so much says something!

 

[Luv2Roam]

In May I was able to get a stray cat into my house. It took some doing.
I saw her (assumed it was a she as it was small) around 9 - 10 pm every evening.
I fed her, and slowly placed the food closer to the house each night. I did only put a little out at a time, as ants are all over FL, and I did not want her eating those with the food.
I did not even buy cat food. I just put down whatever I had in the house: shaved ham, cut up hot dogs, etc.
Even that took awhile. And when she getting use to me I would just stand out near her and talk gently.
Then I got a little closer.
About 2 weeks after she first showed up, she was coming near me. And one night after I had spent quite some time with her she actually rubbed up against my legs, and I was able to pick her up.
She wasn't happy about it. And REALLY freaked out once I took her indoors.
And I have two large dogs to boot (that care nothing about cats one way or another).
I just let her alone, and be freaked out. She hid herself behind a drape that covers the sliding glass door.
She cried much of the night. (Luckily it was a weekend night.)
I placed a catbox and food/water next to where she was and just left her alone.
Around noon the next day I just sat in a chair 3 - 4 feet from her, and ignored her at first. Then I started talking gently to her.
Once she realized no one was going to hurt her she was fine.
And she never wanted out again.
At that time I was not ready to commit to owning a cat. (Since then I have adopted two. )
I became a foster mom through a local rescue, and paid for her vet (spaying, shots, etc at a discount through the rescue). Although I did get the adoption fee from the woman who adopted her.
The rescue group posted her on petfinders.com for me, and she was adopted just days later!
FAST!
And I'll tell ya -- she was the PERFECT cat. But she went to a perfect family who was the perfect match for her.
She was a great cat. Miss her to this day.

So -- just be patient.
However, all this will depend on how feral the cat is. The stray I had was obviously someone's pet at one time.
The vet guessed her to be 9 months old, and she already had one litter.

 

[Imzadi]

The very fact that the kitty lets you pet it means it is a stray and not a feral cat.

Do you have a garage? It is not advisable to bring in a cat who has not been thoroughly been checked & tested by the vet first. It could give something, like feline leukemia, to your elderly cat and you lose them both.

If you have a garage or an enclosed area, or can just make up some place for Kitty stay in behind your house, it will be preferable to where it is now. If you feed it, it will stay by you.

Once the vet has thoroughly checked Kitty out and has given you the okay, you can then slowly get it adjusted to your other furry pets. It probably has lived inside a house before, as it lets you pet it. You might need to separate it inside your home form the other animals for a while, slowly integrating them.

And Mushy, it's been a long time since you've been a child & were mauled by a cat. You can let go of that OLD, negative belief. This is a small, helpless kitty who will probably love you to death for helping it, whether you keep it, or pass it onto another loving home.

Remember, cats choose their humans, not the other way around. I seriously doubt this cat will maul you.

 

[chyam]

You will defineately have your work cut out for you! Althought it does sound like this was somebody's pet so she should be at least friendly....it will take a few days for your present pets to accept her, so with that if you do bring her home I would defineately keep her separated and just introduce her slowly to the other pets. You other cat will probably hiss and spit and it may take several days for that to work out. You will defineately want to be home to watch the interactions. But first and foremost if you do commit to giving her a home, I would have a vet check her out before you it expose your present animals, especially for the kitty FIV.
Good luck....this is how I have ended up with 8 in my house....and I have to say that I wouldn't give any of them up!

 

[Best Aunt]

If she was abandoned, try shaking a box of food (like Cheerios). Cats who have been fed dry food sometimes come running when they hear that sound.

 

[MushyMushy]

Oh I don't have any problems getting this kitty to come to me. As soon as s/he sees our car, it comes running!

Imzadi, you did make me chuckle about the mauling thing. I know it sounds overly dramatic, but when you're 5 and get your legs cut to ribbons by a big mean orange tomcat, it feels like a tiger just chewed you up. I'm not scared as in shying away from them or anything, but I do tend to watch them nervously in case they do something crazy and unpredictable. Just last year I was visiting a friend and her mentally insane cat attacked my head and started gnawing on it. I'm still the butt of jokes over that one.

 

[dyna]

Sounds like it would be very easy to adopt this cat into your home or someone elses home. I understand your other furries might not be to happy to share their space tho.

1 thing a fried of mine did an she had 9 black labs an a cat for every dog by the time she died was sprayed all animals an house with a cheap perfume that she liked the smell of when introducing other new animals to the family.....everyone an everything smelling alike was a big help. Spaying or nueturing animals helps too cuts way down on 1 wanting to be king or queen over the others of same sex.

We have adopted 2 feral cats at my house. The 1st came from DD's aunts house was out door kitty that was born there someone had dropped off the mother who soon had babies the mother was feral sis in law fed her gave her a box with blanket to sleep in but other than that the cat wanted no other attention from humans ran an hid when anyone was outside near her...her babies the same. DD was told if she could catch a kitten already about 9 months old she could have it NO ONE thought that DD would catch 1. Low an behold this 1 went to DD allowed her to pick it up, rode home a 1 hour ride in an open cardboard box never tried to get out of box. Came in my house took right to the litter box did not climb curtains or scratch up furniture she was born to be an indoor kitty!

The 2nd kitty was born under my pool barn his mommy was feral an all the kittens ran an hid when we'd go out there. The momma soon moved them the kittens was just big enough to come out an play at the time so 2 or 3 weeks old. We did not see the kittens again after the mother moved them. 2 months later I got up 1 morning late an my DD's said the kittens are back all 5 of them been down on the patio all morning. i went to front door upstairs to go out on deck to see the kittens (there was a black one I wanted) I heard something as I got ready to open storm door LOOKED DOWN there was the little black 1 I wanted. i opened door an in he ran. A few mins later I went out to see the other kittens they was gone......It was like they came to drop him off an once he was safely inside they moved on. Once again this kitten did not climb no curtains scratch no furniture etc. I asked all the neighbors if they had kept the kittens in their home no one had a couple said they had seen them coming an going from woods across road sometimes.