In this Cat Blog we look at helping a stray cat that has been visiting your home. See Cat Blog 1 at https://iamcat.blog/hey-cat-lover-this-is-for-you/for the intro to this series. And please do leave a question or comment at the end of this blog. In fact, without your questions this blog will become very one-sided!

Cat Blog 7

Helping a stray cat visiting your home

A strange cat is most likely to visit our homes in search of food − either because he or she likes your food better than the food they gets at home, or because they are homeless.

First we need to try and find out whether the visitor belongs to anyone in our area. If he or she does, ask the owner to consider giving their pet the favoured food. If this doesn’t work and the cat is in good condition, you can probably assume that he or she is someone’s pet and doesn’t need help. Try spraying them with water or making a loud noise when they come near your home (or both).

If this also has no effect, get a special cat trap from a humane organisation or vet. Then trap the cat outside the window by which they usually enter (keeping your own pets inside). Now try to establish two things: 1) Is the cat tame or wild? (A wild cat will be terrified when you approach, and will hiss and/or spit and even lunge at you in the trap.) 2) Is his or her condition good or bad? Then take one of the following steps:

• If the cat is tame and in good condition, they are probably someone’s pet. Hopefully being trapped on your property will keep them from returning. If not, you could try to catch or trap him or her again and take them to your local vet, volunteer organisation or humane society. Make sure they are scanned for a microchip. If they aren’t microchipped, advertise for their owner in your area and in your local newspapers.
• If the cat is tame but in bad condition, he or she is probably a stray. You could release them and carry on feeding them outside while you try to find their owner. Alternatively you could take them to your local vet or welfare organisation to check for a microchip and for safe-keeping. You could then help the vet or shelter to advertise. If the owner can’t be found, you could help find the cat a new home by advertising and/or giving a donation.
• If the cat is wild but in good condition, she or he is probably a community (feral) cat that is coping well. You can probably assume that they will find another food source if they can’t return to yours. Once again, the experience of being trapped might very well discourage them from returning to your home. You could either release the cat immediately or have her or him sterilised before releasing them back into their familiar area.
• If the cat seems to be wild and is also in a bad condition, he or she is probably a community cat that can no longer fend for himself or herself and may also be ill. Consider taking them to your vet or to the SPCA for examination and treatment or even possibly euthanasia. (Make very sure that an expert checks whether the cat is lactating. If she is, have her sterilised and return her to her offspring as as soon as you can. If possible, carry on giving her food and monitoring her.)

In the next two blogs we will look at how to help feral kittens and their moms.

Cat quote of the week

It is impossible for a lover of cats to banish these alert, gentle, and discriminating friends, who give us just enough of their regard and complaisance to make us hunger for more.

Agnes Repplier

Cat Story

CatPals in Pretoria, South Africa

CatPals, or Friends of the Street Cat (https://www.facebook.com/CatPalsStreetCat/), have been making a difference in the lives of cats for 20 years. Founded in 2002 and registered as an NPO in 2006, they’ve been instrumental in the sterilisation, feeding and treatment of thousands of homeless cats in the greater Tshwane area.

Every day of the year, their passionate, committed members move around the streets of the city, feeding cats that would otherwise have gone hungry, often at their own expense. And if they’re not feeding cats, they’re trapping them for sterilisation and/or veterinary treatment.

Caring CatPals fosterers have also rescued hundreds of community kittens from the streets in order to socialise them. When the kittens are ready for life as a member of a regular family, they’re put up for adoption. Most of them have found their loving ‘forever’ homes, thanks to the commitment of CatPals members.

And of course their feral feeders have their share of scary or funny moments. One of them, Carina Zeelie, was feeding ‘her’ community cats early one morning when she was mistaken for a homeless person!

As with so many non-profit organisations, however, CatPals is severely hampered by a lack of funds. With more financial support, they would be able to feed more cats, sterilise more cats and home more cats.

Would you consider helping this remarkable little group of passionate and committed cat carers? If their story has spoken to you, your help would make a real difference!

Banking details: Standard Bank, branch no 011245, savings acc 137399642