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Old June 28th, 2011, 10:41 PM
Okami Okami is offline
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Feral cat?

Hello!
I was wondering if you guys could give me a few pointers on what to do.
During my errand run I found a small black cat on the side of my street meowing at me :P of course I couldn't resist, so I went over to pet him. He was VERY skittish, he would rub up against me but would be very scared if I approached him with a hand, even slowly. If I sat down he would be very intimate (rubbing up against my shoulders) but still really sketchy if I tried to pet it.

He didn't have a collar, but then again ALOT of owners do not collar their cat here.

He had signs of being a stray but I decided to confirm it with some food. A week later I finally found the little guy again wandering the same spot. And he ate a whole bag of taste temptations cat treats, along with a large can of wet food (and wanted more!). I'm pretty sure it's a stray, maybe feral? Since it's very wary of people.

Now here's the issue.
Do I call the animal shelter? I believe they euthanize if no one claims after 3 months (still working on confirming that)
Do I try to catch it?

Ideally I would love to foster this cat, but it has the signs of being feral, and being feral it will have a very strong urge to run out the door or cause anxiety when being trapped inside. I don't live in an area with easy access to the outdoors, I'm 3 floors up in an apartment.

I'm willing to go there and feed him everyday (heck I drive by to see if I can catch him everyday :P)
But I know even though summer is just arriving, winter will arrive quickly behind it.

What should I do?

Some things I noticed as well, the cat is Extremely vocal to the point where it seems like he might be in pain or distress? (but this might be caused by hunger)
He's also missing one of his lower teeth one of the large ones.
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Old June 28th, 2011, 11:07 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Where abouts do you live? Perhaps there is a rescue organization that can help you. A truly feral cat wouldn't likely even come up to you, they would run off and hide at any sign of human presence. What's more likely is that this cat is either lost or abandoned and has learned to become wary on the streets. I trapped several cats that one would swear were feral, but once in the safety of the indoors with a regular food supply, they became total love bugs and were easily adopted out.

Thanks for looking out for this guy. Can you tell if he's neutered or not?
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Old June 28th, 2011, 11:24 PM
Okami Okami is offline
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I'm currently living in Butte, MT.
How do I check if he's neutered ?
The cat's uh... pretty dark furred back there, so it's hard to see anything (to be honest I'm not sure if it's a he or a she)

Perhaps I should collar it, and slap a note in the tag asking if anyone owns the poor guy, I'd hate to take away someones pet =/. (snap collar maybe?)

Last edited by Okami; June 29th, 2011 at 12:53 AM.
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Old July 4th, 2011, 05:49 PM
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Koteburo Koteburo is offline
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Well it's easier to know in males I think. If the kitty is a guy check behind and if his ballsies are kinda deflated he's neutered, if the testicles look bigger and fuller he's not.

For example:

Unaltered male

I also found a video that could help a bit
http://www.ehow.com/video_4767687_te...-neutered.html

I've seen many stories of succesfully rescued semi-feral or feral cats on these forums.
Thank you SO SO much for taking care of this kitty and best of lucks
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