What To Do If You Find An Abandoned House Cat?

If you come across an abandoned or lost house cat on the street, what to do? Well, the first and most important thing is not to be indifferent and try to find a solution. Our intervention, in some cases, can make the difference between the life and death of the animal.

Steps to follow if you find an abandoned or lost house cat

First of all, you need to check if, in fact, it is a house cat. This does not mean that we should not worry about stray cats, that is, those felines that have learned to survive on the street or those who, directly, were born there and go alone or in groups.

However, an abandoned or lost house cat usually does not have sufficient resources to defend itself in an environment that is hostile to it. For instance:  

• Areas crossed by many vehicles.
• Presence of dogs or aggressive people.
• Difficulty getting food.

In this sense, the animal, if it is not very frightened, will certainly seek your contact or, at least, will not run away. In any case, it is important to win his trust. Once this is done, you need to check if he has an identification collar so that you can contact his owners.

How to check if the cat you have found has a master who is looking for him?

If the feline has no visible identification, ask neighbors or passersby if they know if the cat in question belongs to someone. Also check if there are signs in the area with the photo of the animal or, if you have access to the internet, check if there are ads on the web pages or on social networks of someone looking for the cat.

Even if your search will not give positive results, the ideal is to wait a bit and see if, in the end, the owner or another person in the neighborhood appears who can give you information about the feline. It is also advisable to observe if it is a female with cubs, because perhaps this is precisely the reason for her abandonment; instead, if it’s a very small kitten, make sure the mother isn’t looking for it.

After some time without news and when the cat is certainly more friendly towards you, you can opt to take him to a vet in order to check if he has a microchip. If it is not possible to identify the animal even in this way or if it is possible, but its owners do not respond, it is time to make a decision.

Looking for a temporary home for the feline

Once you get to this point, the best thing is, if you have space in the house, take the cat with you, even if only for a short time. But first, since you are in the right place, ask the vet to visit the cat. If he considers it necessary, let him vaccinate or deparasitize him.

Although there is the option of leaving the animal in an animal shelter, these structures are usually saturated. For this reason, if you cannot or do not want to bring the cat to your home, even if for a short time, try to find a trusted person who can host it.

In the meantime, you must start a campaign to be able to track down his masters who, perhaps, have not abandoned him and are looking for him.

Campaigns to find a master for the cat

What can you do to track down the cat’s owners? For instance:

• Take a picture of the animal and post flyers informing you where and when you found it.
• Distribute and post flyers on the street, in shops and in animal shelters.
• Give information about the cat on social networks or on the radio, on local TV, in a local newspaper or magazine.

Having lost hope of finding its owners, you have to decide what to do with the animal. If you, or the person taking care of it, cannot adopt it, you must start a new campaign, this time to find a new home for the cat. You already know how.

Do you think it will take time and energy? Yes, but indifference is worse.