What should I do when I see a stray cat?

Question

I always see some stray cats where I live, i feel so bad for them because I heard on the news long time ago that a lot of cats suffer a lot during the winter like they get so cold that their ears break off.. I've never even thought about that before >.<' .. and whenever i see a cat I just wanna take care of it but I cant cuz my parents hate cats.. what should i do?!?!! they also say it might have rabies, what are the chances of that?? our neighbourhood seems quite clean..=S I wanted to try bringing them food once but my mom told me not to or they'll just follow me home n come for food all the time ='( .. waaaaa, n i dunno if i shud call the shelter too, what if they treat the cats bad? n dun they put them to sleep if no one adopts? THATS TERRIBLE!!!! ;___; ..

Answer 1

Hmm... Well what do you think is worse? Them dying in the freezing cold winter, and having their ears fall off (o_o... didn&#039;t know that) OR them ending up in a shelter where they might get put to sleep by injection.

I personally would take it to the humane society. They don&#039;t treat animals &quot;bad&quot; there. o_O?? If they do they&#039;re probably either sadists or psychopaths of some kind and you should alert your local authorities.

I remember where I used to live there were a lot of stray cats too. They were all over the place during the spring, summer and fall. But during the winter when the weather got really bad and drivers sometimes wouldn&#039;t be able to see or would slip off the iced over roads there were at least on average 10 dead cats a day that you would see lying sprawled to the side of the road or dejected on some sidewalk. There was a guy that lived a few houses down from me who used to go outside and bag them and take them into his garage where he would use old dentist&#039;s tools to dissect them. I used to like to watch, but sorry that&#039;s off topic.

Answer 2

I&#039;d call the shelter, and if they say they are going to put them down then say not to worry, and take some food out to them yourself.

Stay safe but kudos for caring.

Answer 3

well im freakin scared of stray catz....not stray dogz but stray catz they kreep me out....im more of a dog person anywayz.....um....i runaway from them when i see them i jst almost freak out!!!!!!...but um......i think yooh should jst go and either let them be or take it to a vet or shelter.......good luck with yo prob!!!!!!!

Answer 4

There are people who feed cats at their home, and away from their home. You can do this away from your home to avoid your parents doing something bad to the cats.

Cats need water and food, and they&#039;ll go long distances to get it when they know a particular place is relaible.

We feed here, I go through an 18 lb bag of dry cat food in a month and a half.  Do you have a friend nearby who likes cats?  You can set up a feeding bowl at their place if it&#039;s ok.  If you have an alley, and there&#039;s a small nook that you can put a water bowl in then do that.  Don&#039;t use canned food, flies get to that too fast and it goes bad in the heat.  Using dry food works better.

Also, go online and search &#039;feline rescue&#039; and put your city&#039;s name in, see what comes up. You can email the rescues asking if they do TNR (trap, neuter, spay, release) and see if they can get the strays in your area fixed (many shelters do this free of charge with TNR groups).  Email them and see what they say.

Unfortunately shelters barely have room for domesticated cats, any feral cat brought in that isn&#039;t calm around people will be euthenized instead of put up for adoption--the wild ones would take so long to be trusting of people and nobody has the time to help get them to that stage.  Keeping them fed in the area they&#039;re living in, and having them fixed so they don&#039;t reproduce, is what a lot of cities are backing now as the most efficient way to stop the increase of feral cats.

Rabies isn&#039;t an issue. A cat with rabies can&#039;t drink or eat, the throat freezes up (one of the things rabies does is freeze the swallowing muscles). It&#039;s very rare for a cat to come down with rabies, but the ones who do LOOK sick and ACT sick and die within 10 days of contracting it.  The only way for them to get rabies is to be bitten by something else that has rabies.  But it&#039;s not very common in cats.  Skunks, bats, foxes are the three animals that have the highest incidence of the disease.

Answer 5

kick it

aww come on whats with all the thumbs down?

i wouldn&#039;t like it thats why i would bite them =)

Answer 6

I think you should take it in and post pictures around everywhere and if nobody calls back in 2-3 weeks then you should call the shelter to give it to them, unless of course you want to keep the cat, and you should tell your parents that they are living beings that don&#039;t deserve the harsh outside life of a street cat.

Answer 7

leave food for them far away..they will be too busy eating to pay attention to you, and may not even want to be near you

Answer 8

First of all... I don&#039;t think the cat&#039;s have rabies. I&#039;ve never heard of a cat having rabies... If I were you I would make up a bed... It could be a cardboard box with blankets underneath something (So they have shelter) And make it enough blankets in case its cold... (I know cats have fur but after what you said...)

And leave food and water inside the box, or outside of it but still in the shelter. So what if they follow you home. Make their home by yours so you can check on them! I for one LOVE cats! So thats what I would do. =]