Stray cat etiquette

[Rezillo]

He looks a lad, love longhaired moggies.

For the first few months of feeding him indoors, if I took too long putting his food down, he'd circle round and round, hissing and growling, then clout me with an outstretched paw as I put his bowl on the floor.

He's stopped doing that, fortunately. What he does now, when he is hungry, is to follow me round the house and, at the first opportunity, grab my leg with both paws and bite the back of my ankle. No extended claws when he grabs me and the 'bite' is the gentlest of chews. Just cracks me up when he does it.

 

[Globalti]

There are seven million cats in Britain and ten million families who think they own a cat.

 

[Saluki]

Agree. RSPCA are OK in their way, but let's remember we are talking about animals. They don't always want things the human way, and that seems to be what the RSPCA insists on.
We live on the edge of a wood and it can be pretty wild here. The cats love it!

Years ago, we got turned down by the RSPCA when we wanted to adopt a cat. We lived right next to a lovely wood, it was huge. There was no main road for miles and I worked from home. Apparently, it was too dangerous for the cat to be rehomed at ours because it could get killed by foxes.

 

[raleighnut]

For the first few months of feeding him indoors, if I took too long putting his food down, he'd circle round and round, hissing and growling, then clout me with an outstretched paw as I put his bowl on the floor.

He's stopped doing that, fortunately. What he does now, when he is hungry, is to follow me round the house and, at the first opportunity, grab my leg with both paws and bite the back of my ankle. No extended claws when he grabs me and the 'bite' is the gentlest of chews. Just cracks me up when he does it.

My kizzy is an ankle grab 'n' nibbler not for food just when she feels like it, she also retrieves scrunched up till receipts and drops them in front of you. The other 2 are quite normal and look at her aghast when she does this.

 

[raleighnut]

Years ago, we got turned down by the RSPCA when we wanted to adopt a cat. We lived right next to a lovely wood, it was huge. There was no main road for miles and I worked from home. Apparently, it was too dangerous for the cat to be rehomed at ours because it could get killed by foxes.

Sounds like them

 

[ayceejay]

When a stray turned up at my place he was really wild and the other cats hated him. at any time night or day there would be that scream that could be a Hitchcock sound track. I called the vet and she said that the right thing to do was to have him 'done', she loved her euphemisms, and then let him go in the woods some place.
Did you know that you can get special cat catching gauntlets? Neither did I but after several forearm tearing attempts to get him into the regular cat cage I had to re-strategise. I used the gauntlets and a sack and got him to the vets, she sedated him through the sack (I said he was wild). I got him back and drove up over the hill and dropped him, still groggy out in the woods some 10 miles out.
I don't know how he did it but it took him two weeks to get back and now I was scared thinking about revenge and all but he looked at me. not like he wanted to kill me but "thank god I found you".
How do cats do it hey? one look and the lacerations on my arm healed instantly.
He was run over in the street a week later.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

When a stray turned up at my place he was really wild and the other cats hated him. at any time night or day there would be that scream that could be a Hitchcock sound track. I called the vet and she said that the right thing to do was to have him 'done', she loved her euphemisms, and then let him go in the woods some place.
Did you know that you can get special cat catching gauntlets? Neither did I but after several forearm tearing attempts to get him into the regular cat cage I had to re-strategise. I used the gauntlets and a sack and got him to the vets, she sedated him through the sack (I said he was wild). I got him back and drove up over the hill and dropped him, still groggy out in the woods some 10 miles out.
I don't know how he did it but it took him two weeks to get back and now I was scared thinking about revenge and all but he looked at me. not like he wanted to kill me but "thank god I found you".
How do cats do it hey? one look and the lacerations on my arm healed instantly.
He was run over in the street a week later.

You barsteward! My finger was just reaching for the like button when I read the last sentence.

GC

 

[ufkacbln]

Can get hairy!!!!

Not cats, but dogs...

My mother used to work in a shelter.

They had a dog brought in, and went through all the normal searches to find the owner, but no luck

So they rehomed the dog

About 6 months later they were approached by the Police.

Apparently the original owner had spotted the dog being walked in the Park and were accusing the new owners of theft.

It all got very messy before it was decided thathe dog was settled and that there was no case to answer

 

[vickster]

If he appears tomorrow, I'll stick a collar and note on him. Will go to vet at some point. They did say on the phone that if he isn't healthy, they'll keep him in

 

[ayceejay]

You barsteward! My finger was just reaching for the like button when I read the last sentence.

GC

Steady on - I didn't run him over

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Steady on - I didn't run him over

I know but it was such a nice tale until the end.

GC

 

[F70100]

These gingers get about a bit don't they:

 

[Risex4]

Just a word of caution.

Cats can be extremely territorial and (quite obviously when you think about it) don't have a concept of human 'ownership'. They are instinctively 'pack' or 'litter' orientated. As such, if you show a stray cat too much acceptance, it can have an extremely detrimental effect on your resident moggie. Completely outside of your control is the scope of feline assertion; its doesn't matter if your own cat (who I assume you are more emotionally attached to) is bigger, smaller, older or younger, if the stray has the 'personality' to assert dominance, it will, especially if the outsider has found a ready source of food and relative safety. Strays, in my experience, seem rather adept at asserting dominance.

Yonks ago we had two cats, and as a tag team they were pretty formidable in the neighbourhood. But as a family of cat lovers, when a grey cat (who we named Smokey) appeared on the scene, looking pretty pathetic, thin and scrawly, we took pity and started feeding it. Initially it was very timid and passive, we took further pity on it and given its appearance, we simply couldn't let it go hungry. However, within a few months, it had grown fat, comfortable, and the garden became a practical 'no-go' area for our own cats as Smokey waited around idly for the next feeding, and then rather nonchalantly bullied our own cats in their own kitchen for first eats at food time.

This was rather distressing to us, and eventually we solved it with threat displays towards Smokey (strictly non-violent, we love cats, but had to send a 'pack' message), but it took us a while. It was sad. We had almost come to love Smokey, but the dynamics wouldn't allow a happy litter, and after we scared it off we never saw it again. We didn't know its fate, but ultimately, it wasn't our cat, and we already had our own 'litter' to look out for.

I would personally say, if you love/respect your own cat, keep they stray at arms length. If you leave it any compassion food, leave it minimal amounts at the furthest distance from your property. Phone the RSPCA or Blue Cross to see if they can take it away and home it. If you let it get greedy and close, it can really upset your own cat and it can be quite a difficult situation to resolve sensibly.

And you cant sit cats down to explain the situation to them,

 

[RWright]

I have had my cat about 13 years or so. He came from a neighbors house. The neighbor had far too many cats and the cats they had were giving my cat a hard time. At first he would just come to my house to hang out with me, he was coming around so often that I started giving him some food. I talked to the neighbors about him and they told me someone had brought him to them to keep (like they really needed any more cats). They told me I could have him if I wanted so I took him to the vet and had him "fixed" and got him his shots. He has been a great cat, I only had to take him to the vet once for some sort of infected wound.

Sometimes I wish I had gotten another cat to keep him company but he made his rounds of the neighborhood so he always seemed to have plenty of company when I was at work. The neighbors that I got him from now have no cats. This is a good thing I think. Their cats never really seemed to be well taken care of. I would help some of them when I noticed they needed some medicine or something I might have had around the house.

I wouldn't get another cat at this stage however because he seems pretty content and says closer to home now. He still goes out in the woods around my house and the foxes never hurt him or seemed to bother him. Luckily I haven't noticed hardly any foxes for quite a few months. If stray cats come around now I shoo them off if my cat hasn't already done so but now it is mostly well taken care of neighborhood cats that I see wandering around my house now. I don't think my cat would like having another cat around at this stage of his life, plus....it cost about 10 dollars a month now for flea drops for one cat ! I would think it may depend on how old your cat is as to how they would adapt to a newcomer.

 

[kurt909]

We have just recently adopted a cat that wouldn't leave our conservatory door.

Lovely little thing..

Except when it brings dead birds in to 'please us'!

I nearly crapped myself