Stray Cat I Think

[Mark]

I hear all the time that the RSPCA tell people to ignore cats and they will go away. This is so heartless and the opposite of what CP ask people to do.

As a CP volunteer myself, I would suggest phoning head office and telling them the situation with your local branch. Someone really should be getting back to you. I feel guilty if I have to go out on my day and phone back after a few hours. Even if they are busy, you should still get a call within 24hrs at the most. There is every chance they are full and won't be able to take him in but at least he could go on a list. If you explain the situation with your cat, he may be given priority on the list.

Another thing is, slugs carry heartworm. Is there any chance you could worm him? (hopefully CP should be able to provide you with this)

[carolynl]

Marie

Happy Landings near Shepton Mallet are really good.  I know it is a bit of a distance from Wellington, but they are worth a try. 

They lent me a scanner once to see if a stray near me was chipped. You could try that and if he is, get them to look up his ID on the database and then you could maybe get him back to his owners. 

 

[sweepster]

Have you tried other rescues apart from CP?  There may be some others here that cover your area:
http://www.catchat.org/adoption/som.html

I do hope you can find someone locally who can help 

[Marie]

Dont worry people we definitely have been feeding him.  Some of you might remember the stray cat I took in before Kyle who I lost to ear cancer ater 6 months of having him (he had had part of both ears removed before being home with me) he was in a really bad state when he came to me so I definitely wouldn't let a cat starve.  We stopped feeding him hoping if he had a home he would go back to it but when after a couple of days we saw him eating the slugs we started feeding him again (at the bottom of the garden) and yes there is always fresh water out in our garden as we have 2 cats of our own anyway.  He is very friendly, we are in Wellington in Somerset and we have tried asking the neighbours but no-one has seen him before.  There are a lot of old people on the estate so we have wondered if maybe someone has died or moved and he has just been left behind.  We are continuing to try cats protection but stiill no response.  We are off on holiday for a week in a few weeks so he will not get feed then and we cant ask the neighbours as they are getting annoyed with him hanging around.

[Jasmine]

last night he was so hungry he was digging up slugs in our garden to eat them

This has been really playing on my mind: what's happened to this poor chap over the last week Marie?

[Hippykitty]

If you can get near him, putting a paper collar on might still be worth trying as he is probably leaving your garden when you don't know about it, such as when you're asleep. Does he have any feline friends, or is he a lone cat? Ferals usually band together, which suggests that he's newly lost or strayed. Are you in an area near a university? Students have gone home and may have left him behind.

Is it possible to get close enough to touch him? If so, he's either someone's pet, or a stray, not feral.

I think it's best to keep badgering local feline rescues for help; chances are that this little chap needs looking after if he hasn't even sussed how to feed himself (hunting, turning over bins etc).

Good luck. 

[Kirst]

We had a very similar situation once - we managed to catch him and get him to the vets. he was neutered but not microchipped. Fred-cat has been with us for 8 or so years now.

[bunglycat]

Poor ,poor boy , he must be absolutely starving - i couldn''t not feed him!
I would do as the others said -feed him somewhere away from your cats and set up a shelter for him -he will be desperate for a drink in this hot weather too .

Please don''t ignore him.

[Gillian Harvey]

LOL! Sweepster - great minds! think we must have been posting at the same time! 

[sweepster]

That is heartbreaking.  If he is friendly could you pop him in a cat carrier and take him to the vet to see if he is microchipped?
If he isn't leaving the garden even though you're not feeding him, then I don't think you can make the situation worse by providing food - it is horrible for you, but it is a temporary situation, and watching a cat try and survive by eating slugs is just - surely - unbearable?

There is tons of advice here for dealing with 'found' cats, though since he isn't going anywhere else I wouldn't personally bother with the paper collar bit:
http://www.catchat.org/lost.html#found

If you look to see which rescues cover your area, I'd be haranguing all of them, getting him on waiting lists for a rescue place and getting hold of a neutering voucher asap if he requires one!  It is likely that he won't be top priority because of all the kittens and pregnant strays around, so it's a case of persistance and patience.  As well as food and fresh water, could you provide him with a bit of shelter in the garden?
http://www.catchat.org/adoption/index.html

It might be worth trying Zylkene for your upset spraying cat, in addition to the Feliway.

[Gillian Harvey]

Can you pop him down to the vets to see if he's microchipped? Just in case there is an owner somewhere missing him, unlikely by the sound of it, but you never know.

Maybe for the time being you could set up a feeding station for him somewhere in the garden (as far away from the house as poss) and leave food down there for him so he won't want to come in the house and cause more probs with yours? and keep trying with CP or any other rescues in your area to get him on a waiting list.  What area are you in by the way?

[Gail Bengal Slave]

poor lad 

[Marie]

Can anyone give me some advice, we moved house in February and about a month ago a ginger cat turned up in our garden.  He is now basically living in our garden 24 hours a day, he is surviving by sneaking in our house and eating our 2 cat's food.  He does not appear to have an owner and meows at our door all day and night.  This is causing my neutured male cat to spray all around the house.  I have tried feliway but he is still continuing to spray.  I have contacted cats protection and left numerous messages and emails but no one has replied to me.  I have now started to shoo this cat away as it is stressing my 2 cats but last night he was so hungry he was digging up slugs in our garden to eat them which as a cat person makes me feel bad but if I continue to let him in our garden my cat will continue spraying.  I have asked our neighbours but no-one knows who he belongs to, in fact they thought he was ours.