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Help - advice needed re stray cat

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  • 20-10-2008 2:24pm
    #1
    rosgirl21
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ✭


    Hi - i would be grateful if someone could help/advise me about a stray cat that has started hanging around. I feed it every day but it now seems to have a really bad cold - its nose is constantly running, eyes seem watery and sounds very wheezy. I can get close to pet the cat but would have no chance of getting it to a vet as it is extremely wary. It was skin and bones when it arrived but seems to have put on a little weight now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


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    #2
    The Sweeper
    Registered Users Posts: 10,658 ✭✭✭✭The Sweeper


    rosgirl, if you can get close enough to pet the cat then you're close enough to grab it by the scruff of the neck and the base of the tail and hoof it into the back of a transport box. However, as you may tell from the description, this won't be a pleasant experience for either you or the cat. Plus, if you lose your bottle or it twists out of your grasp, it might be a couple of weeks before it'll come back within grabbing range.

    Contact your local SPCA and see if they'll advise you and perhaps loan you a trapping cage that you can bait with food, and then take the cat to the vet.

    Have you thought about what happens next? The cat could have a serious disease that requires it be put to sleep, or it could just have a serious upper respiratory tract infection that requires a week of antibiotics, rest, food and TLC. Have you become sufficiently attached to the animal that you could see yourself taking it in as a pet, or are you just reacting to seeing an animal in pain? You need to discuss that with your local SPCA as well - they may then take it completely off your hands.

    Whatever you want to do, make a decision quickly because the longer the cat is at large, the more cats it can infect and the more ill it will become.


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    #3
    Sage'sMama
    Closed Accounts Posts: 110 ✭✭Sage'sMama


    I have to agree if the stray cat has the cat flu then it could be passing it onto domestic cats. There are many strays around the building where i work cos were in the middle of a bog and people just dump them. I have brought one kitten last week to the vet as it had the same symptoms i told them it was a feral cat and they treated it and rehomed her. There is more around with the same symptoms but like you i can't get close enough to capture them and have them treated and to stop the spreading of infection to a recently born litter of four kittens as they would not survive if they get it. I feel so helpless as i love cats and kittens. Petbliss.ie rent cat traps for €15 for one week it might be no harm to check out there website and see about getting one as i have contacted the nearby charity and told them about the predicament i am in and my boss would sack me if i spend anymore time out with the cats feeding and talking to them. So i was hoping they would do the catch,neuter and release on them. Unfortunetly they are so busy the just haven't been able to get out here and do it. Let me know how you get on please :)


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