Greetings, need advice for stray

Mechster

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A Calico showed up in my backyard, she gave me all the signs, rolling on her back. I believe she is a stray, because she is so friendly. Her ear is not tipped, no collar. I already had a backyard shelter for feral cats, although she goes inside at my prompting, she goes somewhere else at night, probably another backyard to sleep. I do feed her hard and soft cat food, spend lots of time with her when I can. I think she considers me her owner. She takes my verbal and hand cues. What is interesting, she eats hard food when I give to to her piece by piece, and wants some of my own food when I eat in front of her. She eats grass regularly. But she doesn’t drink any water, at least that I can see.

First time I’ve experienced bonding with an animal, it’s a great feeling. A big caveat, I cannot bring her indoors. I was thinking her chances of finding a real indoor home would be to stop interacting with her so someone else can take her. Need advice, want to do what is best for her. Maybe take her to a shelter for adoption?
 

catsknowme

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:wave3: Welcome to TCS and thank you for providing sanctuary for the calico! Considering the time of year, she might be a lost cat that went into heat and was driven out of familiar territory - Heaven knows where to send them when that happens :purr: I would definitely keep interacting with her and keep her as friendly as possible. You are her guardian but more on the "auntie/uncle" or grandparent level so she will still be able to form attachments with her future mom/dad. You could research your local cat rescue groups and shelters to consider her best options. For some shelters, it is necessary to give a surrender fee and if the shelter is a kill-shelter, surrendering her probably will require that another cat be put down in order to make room for her. Alternately, you could try placing her through social media - there are volunteer groups who do transport, in case you find an adopter out of area; I drove almost 300 miles one-way to get my disabled daughter's calico cat because my daughter wanted a calico similar to her former calico who passed at age 18. (sidenote* Our current calico was formerly owned by a lady who was in hospice after chemo for breast cancer had damaged her heart. Our cat can let us know when my daughter is about to have a seizure & can tell the rest of us of our own impending migraines and UTIs - she has turned out to be an awesome cat ) Please keep us updated!
 
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Mechster

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Thanks for the answer! Best I can tell, she roams within nearby backyards. I do recall seeing her 1 year earlier sleeping under my neighbors car. She approached me, but scuttled away when I tried to approach. I am certain this was the same cat. So my guess would be this cat was raised by someone close by, and she lost her home for unknown reasons.

just took this shot of her relaxing in her favorite spot after eating:

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Mechster

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I have to admit I am new at this, my coworker told me cat is Calico and Female. Is it possible this is a male? I am not comfortable enough to grab the cat and check underneath!
 
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Mechster

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Some pics of my feral cat house, actually a converted dog house. The welcome mat is a good scratching pad. The house is positioned on the south side where sunlight can heat it up. There are two 6” diameter entrance/exits. I am planning to spray the inside with catnip, or whatever cats might like. Maybe a new toy from petsmart, like the real cricket she was playing with yesterday, ALL day. She didn’t want to kill or eat it. But enough rough play, and the poor cricket does not last. Notice the last pic, she likes the underside better, it’s a tight squeeze, with cement blocks holding up the house. I feel she is playing hide‘n seek when she squeezes herself in there, her eyes get really big, she wonders if I can see her, then she falls sleep.

I am wondering if anyone has built a decent size scale outdoor home, like maybe using a garden shed equipped only for cats? But another side of me thinks a tiny and warm enclosure is a better idea, like the insulated Kitty Tube as seen on Amazon.


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Mechster

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I bought a small cat bed, a fishing “Da Bird” toy and some catnip today. She loves pursing the bird. I feel this might prevent her hunting down other animals provided she gets enough cat food. And the catnip gets her rolling like crazy. All this has given her more confidence, she just lounges around more after a play session rather then following me around. She went into her cat home to check out her new bed, but didn’t stay this evening. Even though she stayed around longer on my property, she takes off to some other location unknown to me. If I could figure out where she does at night, this might give me some answers as to her origins. I’ve been watching a lot of those storied cat videos on YouTube, there seems to be a bigger plot than meets the eye.
 

moxiewild

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I bought a small cat bed, a fishing “Da Bird” toy and some catnip today. She loves pursing the bird. I feel this might prevent her hunting down other animals provided she gets enough cat food. And the catnip gets her rolling like crazy. All this has given her more confidence, she just lounges around more after a play session rather then following me around. She went into her cat home to check out her new bed, but didn’t stay this evening. Even though she stayed around longer on my property, she takes off to some other location unknown to me. If I could figure out where she does at night, this might give me some answers as to her origins. I’ve been watching a lot of those storied cat videos on YouTube, there seems to be a bigger plot than meets the eye.
I know you said you can’t bring her inside, but it sure does sound like you have yourself a cat ;) I will postpone the congratulations for now though ;D

Have you taken her to the vet to check for a microchip? This service is free and does not require an appointment.

The second thing I would do is post her on Nextdoor and local lost/found Facebook groups. You really want to do your due diligence to ensure she is not someone’s pet first.

Many people do not place collars on their outdoor cats. In my early days of cat rescue work, there were many times I did, or just about, cat-napped someone’s pet assuming it was a stray!

One cat in particular I saw for weeks while leash walking a foster cat of mine. I never saw any indication of an owner or “home”, and one day he appeared to be limping.

I walked my foster cat back home, got in the car, drove back to where the other cat hung out, and called him. He came running as always and I opened my backdoor and picked him up to place him in a carrier - right as I was putting him in, a garage door opened near me and a car pulled in.

Kitty struggled to break free and ran into the garage. I was terrified these people might own this cat and maybe saw me trying to steal him, so I left very quickly! When I got home, I posted his picture on Nextdoor, and sure enough, that was his home!

So always try to rule out ownership first, you never know! You can also place a collar on her and attach a tiny note in a plastic baggy asking if anyone knows her/feeds her/is responsible for her with your number attached. This might also solve some of the mystery for you!

If you don’t hear from anyone in a day or two, it’s usually a safe bet they are stray, and that no one else is caring for them. Just make sure the collar is a breakaway collar for safety!

If after all of that, she still appears unowned, I would try rehoming her yourself since she already seems to have such a friendly disposition.

Would if be possible for you to have her spayed and vaccinated? Deflead and dewormed? Get a general check up at the vet? Maybe tested for FIV or FeLV? Any or all of these things will greatly increase her chances of adoption!

Side note - if she does not appear to drink water much, I would try to feed her as much wet food as possible over dry, and just treat dry food as supplementing a wet food diet. If you can afford it, that is (otherwise, just do the best you can!).

Cats are prone to low level chronic dehydration due to their low thirst drives as is, and she might actually have an even lower thirst drive than normal. Cats evolved to derive most of their water from their food, so feeding wet food (and even adding a bit more water to it!) will help to bridge that gap!

Thank you for caring for kitty! You seem quite fond of her!
 
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Mechster

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What a coincidence! She showed up this morning with a collar! Upon closer inspection, there was a bell on it, but nothing else. Wondering if only the owner would do this? I left her some hard food anyway. I plan on leaving a note on her collar so whomever did this can let me know if they are the owner or not. They might be someone like me looking to assist a stray and looking after the squirrels and other prey.
 

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Hi and welcome to TCS! :welcomesign:

To me she's not a calico, but a tortieshell because colors are all mixed up rather than appearing in patches. And I think there's no doubt she's a female, not a male.
To be 101% sure you just have to look under her tail, it seems she's rather confident with you to allow you this :)

As for the collar and bell, well, it seems she has a family and she had probably recently lost her previous collar when she first came to you. A neighbor of mine has a cat who roams in my property and this cat has shown up with different collars so far, and between two different collars she wore none, she would just lose them all and the owner are spending a fortune to buy a new collar and have a new tag engraved every fortnight :lol:

Do you have a microchip reader? You could scan the cat and see if she does have an owner.
 
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Mechster

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Assuming she has family, what are the ethics around feeding or entertaining someone else’s animal?

Why would an owned cat even seek outside attention?
 

gleason

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Here is some info on torties......

Like calico cats, you'll find most tortoiseshell cats are female. That's because the same chromosomes that determine their sex also determine the colors in their coats.
The female sex chromosome (X) also carries the genetic code for orange or black coat colors; the male sex chromosome (Y) does not carry information on coat color.
Because females have two X chromosomes, they have two sets of genetic information that can determine their coat color. The embryo shuts off one X chromosome in each cell, resulting in orange and black color variations in their coats.
Because a male cat has one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, he'll only be orange or black—not both.
In very rare cases—about 1 in 3,000—a male tortoiseshell cat can be born with two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome. Unfortunately, male cats with XXY Syndrome are sterile and often have serious health issues, resulting in significantly shorter lifespans than female torties.
 

Antonio65

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Assuming she has family, what are the ethics around feeding or entertaining someone else’s animal?

Why would an owned cat even seek outside attention?
I think that there's nothing wrong with feeding someone else's cat. As long as the food is safe and healthy, there shouldn't be any problem.
It could be wise to let her family know that this tortie cat is receiving food from you.
If the cat allows you to handle her, you might attach a note to her collar with your phone number. Her family might be worried about her not being hungry when she goes back home. Or the cat might be on a special diet or be intolerant to something.

My cat Tom would roam in the neighborhood and it was clear to me that he had been eating somewhere else, so I attached an extra tag to his collar with the note "Do not feed me"... He was getting fat.

An owned cat might seek another home because they might think that their needs aren't fully met, or because in another home they find better attention, food, other cats.
My neighbors' cat comes to my home because she gets better food, is better welcomed and has two friends (semi ferals in my courtyard).
The bad thing is that some cats decide not to go back to their family if they think they are better off at someone else's house.
 
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Mechster

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Well she didn’t come around today at all. Starting to think one of my neighbors has decided to keep her indoors. I am certain now she is not a stray.

But I can see another cat in my future. Or maybe a dog. Before all this, it was only a passing thought, but now I can see taking care of an animal that waits for you to come home and keeps you company. Never saw any of this coming.....😀
 
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Mechster

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After a prolonged silence, she came back this morning! She immediately started rolling around when she saw me. I played with her a while, but out of respect for the (assumed) owner, didn’t give her any food. She does however eat grass. And she looks like she gained some weight. I wish I knew who her owner was.

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