I feel sorry for strays, they need love too. But catching a stray kitty, NO WAY. Not all of them are so sweet, a friend of mine has the same mentality and tried to catch a stray. Well she did catch it, but he attacked her, needless to say she lost her grip. Her reward? A round of antibiotics for the infection.
Maybe you could get a live trap and take it to a shelter? Put a yummy can of food in there and even if he is there overnite at least he is safe from cars or predators.
As far as rabies, if the cat isn't showing any signs of it you won't know. If he bites you, he would need to be put in quarantine or his head would need to be sent off for testing. You would possibly have to get those lovely rabies shots, ouch. So to save you both grief (and your heads), live trap him and take him to a shelter.

I have strays find me! It's the weridest thing.One day I was on the phone and looked out my window and there one was.
It was so nice and sweet.I took out a can of wet cat food to it,and it was loving up to me.
I called the pound to see if anyone reported one missing.Sure enough,someone had reported one fitting the description in my neighborhood! The guy came and got his cat,and everyone was happy.
Then a month or so later,what seemed like the same exact cat was outside in the rain,freezing to death.I again took it some cat food and a towel to dry it off. Called the animal place,but this time no one reported a missing act. I just couldnt leave the poor thing in the rain like that.
So,I locked my cat in the bedroom and brought it in. Then I saw these college girls that lived in my building and they saw the kitty.They were so taken by her,that they wanted to know if they could have her.So I let them,and the kitty has a very nice spoiled life now.
I think my husband gets mad because i always want to bring in every stray that crosses our path.But I feel good knowing I have found all of them homes.

I have taken in two (so far) that showed up by my house. Ernie has been living the pampered life for six years now. Right now he is laying next to me on the computer desk purring. I have never had a cat love me as much as he does. Lucy unfortunately had hypertropic (sp?) cardiomyopathy and died months after I got her.

I am a sucker for strays and they do make the best pets - I think because they are so grateful to have food, shelter and most importantly - someone to love and care for them.

Both of mine were friendly. Ernie was the third generation of feral cats that lived behind me - he and his brother were the only ones you could get near. Lucy just showed up one day and wanted inside. I think she was dumped by college kids when their semester ended and they went home (somewhat common in my area).

It does take some planning when you take in a stray because you have to have the stray kitty isolated and checked by a vet. Both of mine were sick and had to be isolated for quite a while before they were introduced to my other kitties. The vet bills can be quite expensive but the rewards of saving a poor homeless animal far outweigh the hardships initially endured.

A life on the street, eating garbage, is no life.

If it is friendly, take it to the shelter. If it will not be held, trap it and take it to the shelter.

I can only tell you my own stories.....

About 20 years ago my room mate and I found a stray kitty. Using food as bate, we finally managed to catch this kitty after quite a bit of time. My friends aunt took the cat from us.

About 10 years ago, my husband and I lived in an apartment. We decided this year to spend Thanksgiving by ourselves. I remember looking out and seeing a small cat by our trash dumpster on this very cold day. Several times we brought out bits of turkey for the cat to eat. Each time the cat ran away but came back once we had left. There was no way we could have caught this cat - he wouldn't let us near him. To this day, I wonder what happened to this poor, hungry cat and hope that somehow he lived and found an owner. We didn't see any more of him once he filled up on turkey or we probably would have called someone about him.

And then finally, July 3 2003, we found our cat Wilson. We were at a local tavern (named Wilsons) with some people from DH work. Wilson was trying hard to get to trash bags but all these people and cars kept getting in his way. He kept opening his mouth to mew but no noise would come out. I just walked up to him and picked him up - and oddly enough he didn't seem to mind. I went back in the tavern to get DH to see what he thought - and he also picked Wilson up. One of the girls we were with said she might take him in if he was still there a few hours later - she wanted to go to another bar first. I didn't want to take any chances of her not finding him. So, we stuffed Wilson into a beer box and brought him home. We already had two cats at home so knew we needed to be very careful - and our cats are not vaccinated against FeLV. We confined Wilson to our basement until mid-September (2.5 months) just to be safe since some diseases can take that long to develop if contact was made just before we found him. It was a rough time for him and we spent most of our summer evenings with him confined to the basement during that time watching TV. It was all the time he could stand too - he was very bored and sometimes would attack us when we went to visit him. I knew, though, that he would be fine once he was out. Around mid-September we let him mix with our other two. In about a weeks time we were able to let him mix with them full time. Wilson is now a big (16 lb), beautiful, orange and white maine coone type cat and has been such a great friend. I never regreted adopting him. To see the transformation from a dirty, very hungry, extremely thirsty kitten with a strange silent mew to this big, beautiful, friendly cat has been a reward.

I've lived on my farm since 1979, and for the first 20 yrs I only ever had one stray cat show up here. He was a feral tom who apparently included our farm as part of his extensive territory and would pass through a couple of times a year and cause trouble with our cats for a few days before moving on. Then he finally just disappeared completely. That was many years ago.

Then in 2001 another stray tom showed up. Our feline sentry, Billy, attacked him, so I rescued the newcomer (Weasel) - who was not only completely tame but also VERY grateful for the rescue - and incorporated him into our family. I assumed he had to have been dumped on our road. We are the only residence on a 1 1/3 mile long road through the woods that deadends in our yard, so the likelihood of any cat just wandering all the way back down here is remote, at best.

Little did I know that Weasel's arrival would herald years of animal dumps on our "driveway". Every summer since 2001, a new cat has strayed onto the farm. Last summer (2005), whoever has been dumping these animals really outdid themselves by abandoning 3 more toms and a puppy. Thankfully, no new animals showed up this summer, so I'm hoping the cycle of annual dumps has finally been broken.

All tolled since 2001, we have incorporated 8 new cats (4 tame, 2 semi-feral, 2 feral) and 1 new puppy into our family fold. I just don't feel as though I have any acceptable alternative when they show up but to make them part of the family. I can't allow them to live wild on the farm and injure the resident cats, and no shelter in this area will accept cats (they are all overrun). I'm certainly not about to harm any animal who needs my help. So, I just keep borrowing a live trap from our local wildlife services, and my family just keeps getting bigger.

Laurie

Some how I don't see strays but they see me. Twelve years ago, a mother cat dumped all four of her kittens on my porch and I saw her do it. She left and when I went out, they all scattered but one. She stayed around and I fed her but she was feral and about two months old. Finally after a month of trying to trap her, Mom cat showed up one night and kitten ran out. Mom was tame so I fed her and caught baby as she ran out to see Mom. I put baby in my bathroom for a month and finally she could mingle with all the rest which she did . But I was the only person who ever held her. Months later her sister got hit by a car and I brought her in. They both died last year.~~Then four and a half years ago, another pregnant cat showed up. She was skinny and greasy looking and I fed her. She had her babies under a porch and I climbed under when they were two weeks old and got them and put the mom in a carrier. They spent weeks in my upstairs bedroom and two boy kittens were adopted out and I kept mom and her lookalike daughter..both tubby things now....And two years ago another very skinny brown tiger "found" me two miles away and followed me home on a frezing night to my house when I was walking. I put her in a garden house with a heater and then after she was tested, in the house. Technically I am still fostering because she is a disruption in the cats behavior patterns around here but I'm probably stuck with her forever, They are the most grateful of all adopted cats....the homeless strays.

we live in a area that is very commen for people to dump strays, which infuriates me, because we are only 1/2 mile from a busy highway, I won't even let my kids go down to stand at the bus stop by themselves. we are always seeing cats and dogs that have been hit on the highway. we have what we in my community call the trash can cats, I catch as many as I can and if the managers trap any I take them off their hands and take them to my moms farm, we have as may as at least 5 litters of wild ones right now, from the strays breeding, it is so awful, there is a huge black tom cat out here now that at one time had to be someones pet as he has a collar on, I have been trying to catch him for months now, neighbors don't like him fighting their cats or eating their cats food, he will not go into a live trap baited with food, and if you come close to him he usually won't run but will stand there and hiss at you, no way am I grabbing that one!
I have been pretty successful with finding homes for a number of them, but you can't save them all, even though I would like too.
I would of tried to get the one you seen but if you do you will have to figure out a way to keep it away from your cat, best thing would be to try to find a home for it (extra deposit is sucky!)

When you see a cat on the street, the first thing you have to assess is whether it is tame or feral. One trick I learned is that ferals will not eat in front of people. You can take the stinkiest, most cat-enticingest can of cat food to a feral but if you stand nearby, they will not approach it. Cats that are used to people will usually eat in front of you without fear.

If the cat is feral, you will not be able to pick it up--the only safe way to catch a feral is with a trap.

Now for a lost cat or a stray/dumped cat, you likely will be able to approach them without a problem. You may be very well be able to lure them with food and then pick them up to place in a carrier. However, even this approach is not without risks. A cat may fight to get out of the carrier and you may end up scratched or even bitten. So sometimes a trap may be necessary for these cats too.

But before you even consider trapping or catching this cat, you have to know what lengths you're willing to go to. The cat will need to be kept separate (separate food and water dishes and litter box) from any other cats you have until your vet can do a work-up, including check for a microchip in case this cat is lost.

If the cat has health problems, can you afford to seek vet care? Are there low-cost clinics where you can get rudimentary care or get the cat spayed/neutered? If you don't want to adopt it permanently, is there a shelter that will take this cat in?

If the cat is feral, what do you plan on doing with it? Sometimes the most humane thing can be to trap, neuter and release the cat or have it euthanized if it is sickly.

I say this as someone who does have a feral cat in her household. We were lucky in that she always had a sweet disposition and is making progress, despite the fact we took her in when she was a fully mature adult. (Feral kittens are much easier to work with and tame.)

She can be affectionate. She'll eat in front of us and stretch out on the rug near our feet. She loves to play and will take treats we give her. However, we cannot pet her or pick her up without terrifying her. Today we had to get her to the vet for an ingrown claw and it took a half hour to round her up into a carrier. She unintentionally clawed my husband's foot to mincemeat when she was trying to run away.

So I know that not many would want to take on this kind of challenge with a pet. It's something you definitely need to think through before you try to bring this cat home.

I hope this helps!

What do I do?? Well, for one, strays/abandoned cats see me & follow me home, even when I'm walking three large dogs. Naturally, I take them in, temporarly, of course, while I locate the owner. I isolate them from my pets in the meantime, vowing I won't keep the cat - no way - no how. Yeah, right. I think there's a big S on my forehead, & it doesn't stand for Summer, because before I know what happened I've named the beast & taken it to the vet for a checkup, shots spay/neuter. Secretly, I think I'm the reason my vet is considering retiring, way too young.
Likewise with dogs. Usually they are roaming around lost. DH hops in his pick-up with a few treats, spare collar & leash to the rescue. We then tie the dog up in the front yard, where it is visible, as often the frantic owner is driving around looking. In the meantime, we call the Human Society, describe the dog, but don't bring it in. Fortunately, the owners show up for their lost pets. All except for one we have now, Maggie, that was in horrid shape, & had breast cancer, No one ever claimed her, which really didn't surprise me. Today, about three yrs.later, Maggie is a happy, healthy, spayed, cancer-free, cared for pooch.
Well, I won't go into the foxes, raccoons, birds & bunnies, or any creature, for that matter, that we assist if needed.

Summer

Laurie,

My mother lives on a farm also and she has to use the live traps to catch stray cats that have been dumped nearby. She usually takes at least 2 or 3 to the animal shelter each year. I don't know why people think that domesticated animals can just be dumped somewhere to fend for themselves. There are lots of coyotes in the nearby area and I wonder how many become prey for them?

We rescued our newest kitty from a neighbor's dog. No one in the neighborhood claimed it so after lots of vet bills I guess she is ours.

I learned my lesson about feral cats long ago when I was attacked by one who decided the shed on our backyard was a good place to have her kittens. I didn't have to have rabies shots because animal control was able to catch her in a trap and quarantine her for the required period. Still, the thought was in the back of my mind for years that I might get rabies anyway from the encounter because it can have such a long dormant stage (not logical I know). Very scary experience!

I guess I would do what I could to keep friendly strays safe but I will not adopt any more. Someone left a carrier with six kittens in it outside our office door this summer and one of the girls I work with took them home and doctored them and found them homes. I would have taken them to the shelter.

It makes me terribly sad to think of how many animals may have been dumped on our road over the years who never managed to make it onto our farm for rescue. Our "driveway" runs straight through federal and state forest which is home to a myriad of predators - coyote, wolf, fox, black bear, bald eagle, even a cougar sighting this summer. Dumpees have to run a dangerous gauntlet to reach the relative safety of our farm, but once they get here, I don't turn them away.

I must say that my most satisfying rescues have been the ferals - two adult intact toms (Bartholomew and Phantom). Integrating ferals into a family structure is not for the faint of heart. They require an abundance of patience, understanding, tenacity, love ... and a good pair of welding gloves. Mew took about 4 months to integrate into the household population, and Phantom took about 4 1/2 months. There were times during each of their integrations when I feared they'd never come around to accept me or family life, but they both eventually did. In fact, those two boys are now among the most demonstratively affectionate of our entire 14 feline pride. Mew headbonks and kisses me regularly, and Phantom drools with delight during petting sessions. No one who saw them immediately after their captures would ever believe they were the same cats now.

Laurie

Pick it up and take it to the nearest chinese restaurant, then return the next day for lunch and eat it.

Sorry everybody, I couldn't resist.

Was that supposed to be funny?

My feral girls got along well with the rest of the house cats, and one, a Tuxedo, could be held and petted. The other who loved only me sat on my lap every night of her life but I could not walk up to her and pet her or pick her up, and they were ferals from the same litter . The friendlier one to others was living in the wild two months longer than the scared one...And the brown tiger who followed me home two miles on a snowy night was at one time neutered. I posted found cat ads, called the HS and nothing. I had a few calls but they didn't match the description or area found. She had been out a long time because she was so skinny and now is SO fat. I personally think she was dumped because she doesn't like other cats.

I am shocked at the number of strays that I have seen at my apartment complex since moving there in October. Must be at least 20 in the parking lot and woods around the place. I haven't ever seen the same one twice yet. Last night just as I was getting in from work, my headlights landed on two green dots in in the bushes. It was a black cat with green eyes. It had a white collar on so I am assuming it used to be someone's pet. I tried to approach it and I got about 3 feet away before it started to retreat. It didn't bolt, just slowly walked away. I went inside and brought some of Jasper's food out on a paper plate for him/her. When I took the food out, the cat was about 4 feet from where I set the plate down. The food was gone this morning, the plate was bare. Poor thing. The night before last there was a beautiful orange and white speckled cat under another car in the parking lot when I was pulling in. Just gorgeous! It ran as soon as it heard my car so I didn't even try to look for it! This is so sad. They are so scared and don't have a clue where their next meal is coming from. Maybe I can keep putting food out for the black one and see if I gain its trust... I wish it was possible to save them all!

For those of us appalled at jcal's response, this is Jcal's member page, just to put things in perspective. Then his response may make sense:

Welcome to jca1's Member Page

IÂm married to a beautiful, wonderful, woman that I feel totally unworthy of and that pretty much sums up who I am.

I live in: United States My zone is: 7

My birthday is on August 26.

My favorite forum 1 is Building a Home.

My favorite forum 2 is Tractors.

First registered on November 26, 2004.

Jcal's response reminded me of a song we would sing to our daughter when she was little:
Genny Genny dumpling, boil her in a pot,
butter her and sugar her and eat her while she's hot.
I learned it from my mom when little myself.

I'm giving Jcal the benefit of doubt and assuming he has a similar sense of humor and actually loves kitties very much.

Now that people think I'm a child cooking sicko....

My first cat was a "stray" cat that insisted she lived at our house, despite us having two large dogs. She came with a broken tooth and a bloody face. We found out who she really belonged to (kids who had been seen kicking a dog, but that's another long story). They didn't get her back.
She died about five years ago of cancer, but lived a long life first.
People seem to like to dump pregnant cats in my neighbor hood. Sometimes the cats are quite friendly and homes are found or at least my favorite no-kill shelter if all else fails. The most recent one wasn't people friendly (only a few neighbors even saw her) had a litter somewhere and she and most of her kittens dissapeared. But one kitten showed up in my yard and I was able to lure her into my havaheart trap. She's a sleek black house cat now in someone else's home.

Black cats are really hard to place? I always thought they were beautiful.

We found our 12-year-old (now) kitty, Simba, in a trash dumpster as a little, tiny kitten. Couldn't leave him, not for a second. Even my husband, not a 'real' cat person could resist! Simba runs the house...has buried his two doggie "siblings" of all his life (the dogs were older than he was, they were 13 and he was 8) and has since trained two new dogs, a lab-mix from the pound and a bloodhound, both well over 100 pounds...and they listen to him! He's the BEST ever! We adore our little "dumpster boy" and he's been the most wonderful family member! I don't know how anyone can leave an animal like that. However, I know so many are just abandoned or just run wild...but I just can't stand it! However, you only do what you can do. We picked up a little dog last week on the side of the highway and brought her home and found her a forever mommy! I would have kept her anyway, but she's got two children and a Golden Retriever to love her, too!

All my cats have been strays. One was a tiny kitten we found under our patked car one evening, another followed us home from Trick or Treating on halloween, another wandered into our side yard, you get it. I have two cats now and i'm on the lookout for number three.

All six of my cats were homeless strays. RocKat being the most dramatic. I was watching a feral black and white cat, almost a kitten herself, running from place to place in the woods near the feed store. When I went to look there were dead kittens everywhere. They were beautiful healthy looking dead kittens. Apparently a new tom took over the feral cats and killed all the other tom's kittens. This little mother cat was trying to hide her kittens. I heard a meowing under berry bushes, I crawled in the bushes and saw a pile of kittens one had it's mouth opening and closing I reached in and realized it was dead and the yellowjackets were going in and out of it's mouth. I was scrached by the berry bushes and freaked! But I could still hear the kitten so I reached under the pile and there he was, alive. The littlest tiger boy. His wonderful mother was careing for him under the other kittens. I brought him into the store and fed him goat milk, cleaned him up. He was only two weeks old. I took him to work with me everyday for a month and his kitty mother would stand on a little hill and see him. He is now two years old and I love him so much.

"Pick it up and take it to the nearest chinese restaurant, then return the next day for lunch and eat it.
Sorry everybody, I couldn't resist."

LOL!!!OMG!, lighten up a bit, people... I love kitties, too, but my first thought was, Hit the accelerator...
just a couple of sick bastards!

In all seriousness, though, I read on another forum about a woman who lost her teenage daughter. There was a stray dog in the middle of the road, I'm not sure if it was injured or what, but she got out of her car to attempt to aid the animal and was tragically struck by another truck and killed. I have stopped on our busy highway to try to catch a dog, years ago, and had a close call, myself. Now that I'm older and wiser, I can say I wouldn't get out of my car unless I knew the situation wouldn't place me or my family in danger.

When I see a stray that is obviously hungry and in search of food, I stop to feed it. I carry pet food in my car at all time. If it's friendly I will pick it up and try to find it a home or end up keeping it. If I can't pick it up to keep and I see it at the location again, I'll have it fixed and checked out and then put it back where I found it and provide it with food and water everyday. This is the TNR way. Trap, neuter, release. Unfortunately there are thousands of cats who live on the streets and fixin them is the best thing you can do for them if you're unable to do anything else for them. If I had a no kill shelter in my city I'd bring them there, but unfortunately where I live they havean 85% kill rate so I bring nothing there.

Well... I had an episode with MR. Stray at the apartment complex. The black and white with a white collar stray I will call Henry for now. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl though! I went out looking for it with flashlight in the same area that I had seen it in before. My flaslight landed on two green dots! I approached with a plastic cup full of cat food in hand. I set the food down on the ground about 2 feet from Henry. He approached and ate right in front of me. I was a foot from him and he finished the entire contents of the cup! So I guess that's a good sign. I stuck my out for him to sniff and he ran off into the woods :o( He gave a few low growing meows as I was watching hime eat. I kept going back out to see if he returned and he hadn't! I couldn't even sleep, I was thinking so much about it. I left a plate of food out and it was gone when I woke up. Just don't know who the recipient was! This is driving me crazy! He's not there every night, and I'm sick of pining for him and having him run away! Guess I will just have to see how things progress.

Looks like I'm having this conversation with myself now! Anyway, last night I got to interact with "Henry" again. I put a generous serving of food on a paper plate and put it out in the bushes where his area usually is. I went back inside for about 5 minutes... just long enough to plate myself a slice of cheesecake. Then went out with the flashlight to find not only Henry but another baby grey tabby chowing down fiercly! The new arrival is feral... it ran as soon as I shone the light on the feast. Henry gave me a HISS as I approached. I sat down right beside him and started petting him on the head and back. Even scratched his ears. He didn't even acknowledge my presence... just continued munching. He must have been STARVING. As soon as he finsished the food (3 minutes flat 2 cups of dry food was GONE) he gave a final hiss and darted off into the woods. I guess I've got a routine going now and I will just supply food until I can gain the trust of the poor thing! I didn't hear a single purr so I am assusming survival is more important than interaction at this point. Since there is a white collar (no ID tags!) and the cat ate in front of me I'm assuming he's owned a human before... just wonder if he ran away or was dumped!

Good job - I hope you really do win "Henry" over. Wonder if the kitten is his? How many more are there....

Vacuumfreak, what news of Henry?

We met 'our' Henry just ten minutes ago (I thought of this post when I saw him, and that's how Henry got his name) - saw him get into our building as we were crossing the street, and we stopped to say Hi - instant purrs, a very sweet, soft 'meow' and those crazy 8s around our legs! White (but dirty), with a ginger ringed tail n ginger ears. Looked about 5 months old. Must be getting food from all those restaurants out there. (The entire kitchen staff at one restaurant feed some stray cats raw chicken breast all the time! I hope the owner doesn't discover this ;-D )

Well, DH went upstairs, got some food and water and Henry finished it in like a minute, so I brought him some more.

It broke my heart to leave him there alone :'-(

I'm hoping I'll meet him tomorrow again; we'll take him to the clinic for neutering, shots, check up etc and then on to Feline Friends for adoption.

Still feel bad though coz we can't keep him indoors tonight; Nikita and Simba would go ballistic and Max of course would want to play with his new friend immediately!

And all this would mean another sleepless night.

Whether a dog or a cat, it's important to keep a new animal separate from all your other animals until you have viral tests completed. Otherwise you run the risk of exposing everybody to some dread disease.

We live on a corner, and perhaps that's why so many stray cats approach this house. All our cats have been rescues, mostly just showing up here. And many of our neighbors' cats came from our house.

Feral cats are a different matter. We bought a havahart trap years ago and use it to trap ferals and take them to the animal shelter. And many of our neighbors and friends have borrowed it. Right now our neighbor down the block discovered a colony of feral cats living under a vacant house next door to him, and is using our trap to get them to the shelter. This is very difficult. I always cry there, as does my husband. And now this guy is having a hard time. But the alternative is what existed at his house 15 years ago, which was about 30 feral cats, diseased, flea ridden, breeding, starving, spraying everywhere.