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Cat 911
By: Anna

Have you ever seen a really cute cat in your neighborhood and didn’t know
what to do to help it? I have, and I really wanted to help so I thought
I would learn what to do.

First thing you should ask yourself is whether the cat is stray or feral.
A stray cat is a lost domestic pet, but a feral cat is a descendant of a
domestic cat and has always lived on the street. Most stray domestic cats
will approach you so you can trap it yourself. Most feral cats won’t
approach humans. A feral cat has a life expectancy of only two years, so
to help them, call animal control, but don’t try and do anything yourself.
You’ll probably end up getting hurt. Your first instinct may be to feed
the animal, but don’t do that if you aren’t willing to feed it for it’s
entire life, because once a stray cat finds a dependable food source it
will keep coming back. The next thing you have to do is trap the cat.


There are things you should and shouldn’t do when you are trying to trap
a cat. If you want to help a stray cat a good thing for you to do is to
trap it in a trap (make sure it is especially made for cats) or a
cardboard box works, too, but you have to make sure the cat can’t get out.
You can lure the cat into your trap with food like cat treats or meat (my
cat really likes turkey and Doritos). Once you get the cat in the trap,
you should take it to an organization like the Humane Society (unless you
want to keep the animal--if so put up lost cat flyers to make sure the
owner doesn’t want it back). If the organization is not open or there
isn’t any space put the trap in a quiet empty room so it can relax,
because it is probably really stressed out. While the cat is de-stressing
you can make lost cat flyers to see if it has an owner, or you can wait
until the organization is open.


Cats are naturally playful. The cat you have now trapped may have a disease
so I do not recommend playing with it. Don’t take it out of the trap or
box. If you must take it out get a professional or someone who has more
experience. Make sure you don’t let children near the cat. It might be
dangerous, and most cats don’t like being handled by little children.


If it is a kitten you have found you should treat it much differently, and
especially if it is a newborn because kittens are way more fragile than an
adult cat. If you find a newborn kitten, or litter of kittens, you should
watch for no more than a day to see if the mother will come back. If she
doesn’t, the only possible way the kitten or kittens will survive is if
you feed them with a bottle. If you did find a kitten you should bring it
to a vet to make sure it is okay and go to an organization to get more
information about taking care of it. If you need more information about
anything go to the Humane Society or an organization like it.

Here are some organizations that help stray cats:
The Humane Society of the United States:
www.hsus.org
Search on the internet there are a lot of local shelters.

My Sources:
What To Do When You Spot A Stray Cat March 7, 2007
http://www.meowaid.org/helpingstrays.html
F.A.Q., March 21, 2007
http://www.alleycat.org/faqs.html

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