1. Provide shelter, water, and catnip for a potential stray cat. This may help to keep a lost cat near you until you can help it, since the cat will certainly find these things long before you would otherwise have noticed the cat. Do not leave food out until you suspect you have a stray, since this may just attract wildlife or feed other people's pets (who may be on controlled diets).
- Try feeding it by placing food outdoors very late at night in an area that would be accessible only to a cat (i.e., in a place with a small enough entrance to exclude larger wildlife) and seeing if it has disappeared by early the next morning. In sub-zero temperatures, oil from a tin of sardines poured over kibble works well.
2. Try to approach the stray (if the cat is, in fact, a stray). You will want to check for a license or tags for rabies. Speak softly to the cat as you approach, and maybe even bring a strong-smelling food, like tuna or dried liver. If the cat is skittish, try bending down to its level. Hold out your hand and call it with a sweet voice.
- You may try different tones or pitches, as some cats respond better to a higher or lower voice, or even ‘meow’ sounds. This will make you seem less scary and the cat may find you more approachable.
- Be very cautious of bites and scratches, even if the cat seems fairly relaxed. If the cat is nervous, do not push your luck. At best, you will scare it away, but you may also be injured by the cat.
3. Decide whether you want to try to catch the cat. If you cannot approach the cat, or if it doesn't have tags or a license, you will need to either try to trap the cat yourself, or call Animal Control or a local animal shelter.
- Know the policies of the agencies or shelters. Many hold briefly, and then attempt adoption, but may euthanize if the cat does not seem adoptable. Some will offer a more humane trap-spay-release program so that unadoptable cats are returned to living outside, but won't contribute to future generations of feral cats. Shelters or your local council may or may not be able to assist directly in trapping the cat.
- At a shelter, the cat will have a better chance at a good life than it would on the streets, will not contribute generations to the feral population, and will not die inhumanely of starvation, injuries, or exposure.
4. Buy and set up a humane animal trap designed for cats. These can be purchased for under $100 from hardware stores, or sometimes borrowed free of charge from animal control. Some feral cat colonies or cat rescues can also be called to bring out their own trap and do all the work for you.
- Do not attempt to trap the cat using an improvised device, such as a blanket or net, as this greatly increases the chance of escape and injuries to both you and the cat.
- Cover the trip plate and wire bottom of the trap with newspaper, so that the cat won't instinctively avoid stepping on the trip plate. Do not set the trip plate on a hair trigger, as the cat could trigger it prematurely and escape. Better to try again later than to fail once, since you may only get one shot.
- Canned herring (not pickled), mackerel or sardines are excellent bait, and the oil will still be stinky even in freezing weather. Do not put much food in the trap, as it will just create a mess after the trap is triggered; the cat will often react with either wild panic or be frozen with fear, and it may vomit.
5. Check the trap frequently but carefully. Do not let yourself be seen if the cat is not used to you. You may scare it away at just the wrong moment. Check the trap as often as possible.
- In exceptionally cold weather, cover the trap with a sheet or towel, then heap lots of snow over the body of the trap to help keep the cat warm and calmer once it has been trapped.
6. Take a longer approach with trapping the cat if the trap doesn't work in a day or two. Time permitting, disable the trap and establish a feeding routine near the trap. Place food outdoors at predictable times and then remove any leftovers until the next feeding, moving each feeding closer and closer to the trap.
- Often, the cat will come to feed after dark or at dusk. Allow the cat to eat next to, and then inside, the disabled trap.
- Covering the trap with a towel sprayed with a pheromone spray, such as Feliway, will make the place seem like a ‘safe’ area to the cat.
- Once the cat is eating consistently inside the trap, re-enable the trap to trigger once the cat goes inside.
7. Decide what to do with the cat once it is trapped. If you do not plan to shelter the cat at home, before trapping arrange with a veterinarian or animal control agency to bring in the cat or have it picked up after trapping. In this case, keep the cat in the trap in a quiet dark area until it is transported. Make the interval between trapping and transport as short as possible, as this is extremely stressful for the cat.
8. Deal with a stray cat you come across away from your home differently. If you found the cat while driving and you cannot restrain it, signal traffic to slow down. If the cat appears hurt, and can't or won't get off the road, direct traffic around it. Be very careful so you are not injured or cause an accident. If there is no traffic, you might be able to wrap an injured, lying-in-the-road cat in a coat or pillowcase to move it off the road. Be extremely careful not to be bitten or scratched.
- Be prepared by keeping a cat carrier and pillowcase in your car, in case you come across a lost or stray cat while you are on an errand. See Use a Cat Comfort Bag. A towel sprayed with a calming pheromone is also useful in this situation to cover the carrier after you have gotten the cat in it.
- Take an injured cat immediately to a veterinarian or the humane society for medical care. Realize that most veterinary clinics do not have funding to help un-owned animals, and it is likely you will have to pay the medical bill. The exception to this may be a 24 emergency facility, as some have funding set aside for stray or lost animals. Call the facility first and check with them before wasting precious time taking the injured animal there. Local, well-funded humane societies will have veterinarians on staff to help the injured animal and they will try to find the owner. This may be your best bet for getting emergency care for a critically injured stray.
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