Are you sure dedtired? Look at this little face! She's exceptionally sweet!!!

Seconding nextdoor.com. Every day I see posts about lost and found animals and many are reunited.

Not sure if this was mentioned because I don't have time to read all the way through right now, but someone may dropped the kitty off on purpose...

Looks at those eyes! So engaged, what a sweetie.

For now, just rest assured to know that many rescues keep cats quarantined in a room for a significant period of time (like weeks) as they adjust to a new home. Unlike dogs, cats can do just fine being confined to safe space for a certain period of time. Of course not a permanent solution to kitty! Make sure your husband does the litter since you're PG!!

Thanks robo. That makes me feel better. I don't want to be cruel to the cat. I'm visiting her upstairs in the guest room now. She is attacking a little squirrel toy that I took out of one of the dog's toy sets. She is rubbing against me and purring like crazy! My husband will handle all litter-related stuff. He grew up w/ cats (and is honestly more of a cat person than a dog person, the dogs were mine pre-marriage although he knows that we will always have dogs forever as that was a condition of our getting married, LOL).

What a little cutie!

That sure looks like an IdaClaire cat if I ever saw one. Ida - number six??

Thank you for helping to save the life of a homeless kitty.

Having volunteered at a feline rescue/shelter, a couple observations

Please avoid "free to good home" on Craigslist - very bad things can happen to those kitties.

Making a generous donation may help the shelter with the veterinary costs associated with a new intake, and help move you to the front of the list.

Young, friendly kitties are usually last to be euthanized at open-door shelters.

Good luck.

Please avoid "free to good home" on Craigslist - very bad things can happen to those kitties.

My husband has a sign up in his office to see if any of his patients will take. My MIL sent out a notification to her woman's club too. If we end up having to list it online somewhere, I will require a vet reference and at least a small confirmed donation to an animal rescue organization.

I ordered it a few cat toys and my husband's mom is bringing us more food and litter (they have a very old cat and can't take another one either)

I was thinking that, too, 3katz. Could you ship her to Texas?

You have to be careful about private placements (people troll for test animals and other unsavory things they do with pets), but you could offer her to a new home if no one claims her...maybe for a fee, or a refundable deposit....when you're sure she's in a safe and loving home, give the $ back?

ETA, I see you have that covered. Simultaneous posting.

oh that is a pretty kitty

it's a good thing you are far away .

Can you send out a mass email to everyone in your contacts re the situation? I did that once when I found a stray kitty. One of my friends knew someone who was interested. After meeting him I deemed him unsuitable and the kitty was ours for 17-18 years in spite of my severe cat allergy, lol., but might be worth a try?

I realize it isn't an option but, though it may appear that the dogs would never in a million years accept the cat, they would actually do fine given time and a slow introduction period.

There are some very strong pet advocates on FB community pages. Can you tell me how to answer when someone suggests that it might already have a home and isn't yours to give away? Sincerely asking as I want to help. I just want to know what to say.

Please check the lost and found on petkey.org

We are 99.9% he was dumped. Both last year and the year prior, people dumped cats into our neighborhood :( Several became neighborhood strays.

This little kitty had no collar and no microchip. Our neighborhood is approximately 20 houses set on 210 acres and we went door to door and no one has ever seen him. He was also posted on our neighborhood Facebook page and we talked to neighborhood security and he does not belong to anyone within the neighborhood.

I realize cats can wander long distances, but he didn't seem like he was moving very far. He was hunkered down in a pile of leaves. We were on a 45 minute walk. We saw him on our way going out and said we'd do something if he was still in the same spot and crying on our way coming back. He was in the exact same spot and hadn't moved an inch. So I can't imagine he could have gotten into all the way to this spot in the middle of our neighborhood if someone did not put him there.

If he was near to his home, I think he would have gone home. As soon as we brought him to our house, he scratched on the door, so he obviously knew what to do. He desperately wanted help. He came right up to us meowing and crying even though we had two dogs that were NOT very welcoming :(

I am a volunteer/board member of a local shelter, and I can only give my opinion here based on what I see at our shelter. But I would take the cat to a decent shelter in a heartbeat before I gave it to some random, unknown person on the internet.

I don't know the law in PA, but in NY, there is a 7-day period that the shelter needs to hold the found pet before they can adopt it out. This way its owners have time to call around to shelters and retrieve their cat. By your holding on to this cat, you don't know if the owners are desperately calling shelters-- but you do know that when they call the shelters, they will be told by the shelters that they do not have this cat. Imagine here if you were the owner and frantically trying to find your pet. You think it was dumped, but you don't know this for a fact.

Second, shelters have a method of screening potential adopters. Their methods are not perfect, but they are better than most of us can do on our own. Young, friendly cats like this one are adopted quickly. There must be some halfway decent shelter in your area.

Jojoco, I don't think that there is a good answer to the people on your local community pages because they are right.

Beatles, here is an SPCA shelter near me that is a no-kill shelter and takes cats.

No-kill pet shelter near West Chester, PA

Thank you so much JoJo! I will contact them.

I get what you are saying Sas and we're doing everything we can to find it's owner -- it just doesn't feel right to my conscious to take it to a shelter that is not No Kill. Especially when there are MANY MANY unwanted cats and kittens in this area :(

I did try to contact the shelters very near to me, but the one I am most comfortable w/, the Animal Rescue League, which has the highest live release rate, is not open until 1:00 PM tomorrow.

jojo, in answer to your question, I think all you can explain is something along the lines of, "The finder is doing everything she can to find the rightful owner, including posting on social media, calling animal control and putting up flyers. However, she is not in a position to hang on to the cat much longer due to conflict with her own pets. If anyone here would like to offer to foster this cat, please let me know as soon as possible."

Beagles -it does sound highly probable that the cat was dumped, but we once had a cat who crawled up onto a landscape crew's flatbed truck parked in front of our house, and was taken out of our neighborhood that way, until he escaped.

I wish we weren’t on opposite sides of the country because I would love this sweetie. I’d like to echo a big thank you for saving this kitty.

I’m also across the country from you, and both my “kids”, as well as much of my extended family are all allergic to cats, but I’m following this thread and praying that you find a good home/ place for this sweet, amazing kitty. You have a kind heart, and I know that with all our good thoughts and prayers, there will be a positive outcome to your dilemma. As well as good karma. My prayer is that it will be very soon!

Yay! So happy for this good news! Let us know what she names the cat!

Oh, I'm sure you are so relieved!!! Well done!!!

Oh, so glad to hear she has a home (and the dogs have some peace, you too!) Your story is similar to ours many years ago; we were pet-less at the time and after a long futile search for her family, we were able to keep the cat, child-friendly, neutered, front-declawed, and the most loving and sweet girl, for many years.

You and Mr. beagles are going to be THE best parents. Your kid(s) are so lucky.

I'm so glad kitty found a home. Does kitty have a name yet? Does baby have a name yet?

I will find out the cat's name after she goes to her new home and I will update.

Baby: I am calling him Finley until my husband comes up with something better. I love that name, it's my top choice now but my husband said he doesn't think so. However, I am hoping I can wear him down by repeatedly calling him that, and I now have other family members calling him that too.

mdln, LOL, pets in our house would absolutely expect that sort of treatment! Some might say M&B are a bit (a lot) spoiled. I wouldn't have it any other way!!

Wonderful outcome for kitty and her new family! Yay! So glad you rescued her.

Happy to hear it’s all working out for kitty.

Now back to you and that baby bump we haven’t seen yet : )

So happy for you and the kitty! Dh and I were trying to figure out what adding that cat would do to our dogs. Our great pyr would treat it like furniture but we worried our Aussie/border/pit mix might be completely unnerved by it. Now we can celebrate its new home.

Finley is a great name. It was at the top of our list too for awhile. (we only nixed it because we knew a family with that surname and the husband was a jerk. We should have overlooked that.)

I'm so happy to hear you found a home for the sweet kitty. And thank you again for rescuing him!

Good news! That little kitty was lucky you came along. Why can’t people just take unwanted animals to a shelter instead of dumping them?

That is a great outcome. You really did this cat a good turn.

dedtired, the shelters around here charge a $50 fee to take an animal in, even for strays. I completely 100% get why they do that and we'd have had no problem paying it, but I do think that is one reason why people dump animals. For the kind of person who would do that, it's not worth their $50 to make sure their pet has at least some degree of safety.

I'm happy to report the kitty has been delivered to her new home. My husband dropped her off w/ the massage therapist this morning. He accidentally forgot the cat carrier his mom leant us, which we needed to get back to her today, so he had to drive back. He did and the sweet kitty was zooming around the house checking everything out. She is waiting until her kids get home to name the kitty so I will have to report back on the name later.

justerrilynnI will post a baby bump pic and the ultrasound picture later. Baby Finley kept covering his face with his hands every time the tech tried to look at his head. He didn't like that thing at all!

I'm sooooo happy to hear that the kitty found a home! You did absolutely right by her, so good on ya! I'm incredibly partial to brown tabby cats myself (as evidenced by the four that "own" me!), and this little one obviously has all the sweet and playful tabby traits!

That’s great news. Cat’s love massages.

Hilarious apropos image, mdln.

Such great news your kitty has found a good home! You were good interim parents.

Love the name you have chosen so far!

Is there a better fit than a cat who loves being petted, living with a massage therapist! That is one lucky cat!

Beagles, you are a hero! I am so happy how everything turned out- that kitty sure is adorable and endearing. Love the name Finley too.

I don't understand shelters charging a large fee to take unwanted pets. That's exactly what drives pet-dumping and the large population of feral cats. It makes much more sense for shelters to be tax and donation supported, with reasonable adoption fees.

Olychick, shelters charge fees to take unwanted pets because even if they do get donations, etc., the cost to shelter animals is astronomical. Donations can't possibly cover it all. Food, vaccinations, staff, vet fees, surgeries, medications, supplies, heating and air conditioning-- it all has to be paid for in some way. It makes me scratch my head when people come into our shelter and say that they want to adopt a cat, but they don't think they should be paying a fee. How do they think we can survive this way? And if you can't afford to pay an adoption fee, what happens when the animal gets sick and has to go to the vet? We get tons of people turning in their animals because they got them for "free," but took them to the vet for the first time, freaked out because the services cost money and didn't want to pay for medical treatment.

I don't think the $50 to take in an unwanted pet is a large fee. It's pretty reasonable. Our shelter charges $75. If the person can't pay the $75, we ask for a donation that they feel they can pay. If it is a person who has found a cat, we don't charge them. Therefore, we get plenty of liars that claim they "found" a cat and want to turn it in, when in reality they are turning in their own pets. We get people leaving their cats in carriers at our front door when we are closed and catch them on video running away. They've left dogs tied up in the bushes in our back yard. At least they are bringing them to us rather than letting them off on the side of a highway (which is also a frequent thing). But honestly, asking people to pay a fee for taking a pet in, giving it shots and medical care, spaying/neutering it (usually these people don't feel like paying for that either) is more than fair.

sas, I understand all that and agree a fee is fair, but people just won't pay it. I'm just saying that I think it should be a service of gov't (our shelter is county run, plus a couple of private kitty rescue shelters) to provide for animals that are unwanted. It benefits all of us to prevent dumping of animals and I am willing to pay for that (as I think most people would be).

The wildlife rescue in my town asks for donations when you bring in injured squirrels and such.

I don't think that government could provide for all the animals that would be turned in if all was free. We are not county run, but most of our revenue comes from contracts with towns in the county for whom we do animal control. But the number of animals (especially cats) that need shelter far exceeds our capacity.

These are really tough problems and there are no easy answers. In the few years I have been actively involved with our area's largest shelter, my eyes have been opened, and it is frustrating and heartbreaking (and also very gratifying). But more complex than I had ever imagined.

We get people leaving their cats in carriers at our front door when we are closed and catch them on video running away. They've left dogs tied up in the bushes in our back yard.

This is disgusting that people do this. This should be felony animal cruelty with a minimum year penalty in jail, as should any case of dumping animals. I have absolutely no tolerance for anyone who treats an animal unkindly. Just pay the $50 or $75 for your irresponsibility -- your pet is paying a much higher price being dumped by the person who was supposed to love and care for them.

But, of course, people don't. And responsible people have to pick up the slack. As always.

Think for a moment before lashing out. There might be a very sad scenario behind the drop off of an animal at a shelter’s door. A situation beyond our imagination, perhaps. I’ve been a long time shelter volunteer and agree with sas95;

“ At least they are bringing them to us rather than letting them off on the side of a highway (which is also a frequent thing.”

There might be a very sad scenario behind the drop off of an animal at a shelter’s door. A situation beyond our imagination, perhaps.

The people who are bringing their animals in a sad situation and who actually care about their pets are NOT the people who are abandoning cats in carriers on the doorstep of the shelter or tying dogs to trees. People who are forced to give up their pets because of bad circumstances usually love their animals and will bring them inside and do the right thing (even if they can't pay the fee, they'll usually donate what they can, as sas said is an option).

It's the people who are abandoning them and completely trying to shirk any responsibility for their actions that I am talking about. And there is no excuse, ever, under any circumstances, for dumping your animal on the roadside. I really cannot imagine ANY life circumstances which would justify this behavior.