What Will You Do If A Cat Finds You?

With the arrival of spring and warmer weather, animal shelters and rescue groups all over the country brace themselves for another ‘season’.  Below are some tips and suggestions for what you might do if you encounter one of these situations. Please read, save and pass along.

What To Do If a Cat Finds You

It can happen anytime and often does. You are going about your daily activities when a cat appears out of nowhere. Where did it come from?  Does it belong to someone?  If you’re like most people, your first reaction is to call the nearest animal shelter. Before you do this, there are a few things you can do to try to find the owner:

1. Place signs/posters in your neighborhood, in stores, vet offices, etc;
2. Bring the cat to a nearby vet for a free microchip scan;
3. Post notices on internet sites such as Petfinder.com and online bulletin boards.

If none of these steps yield an owner, contact the Animal Control agency for your area -- in our case, Regional Animal Services of King County. This provides a single location for an owner to be reunited with a lost pet. Animal Control agencies such as Regional Animal Services and Seattle Animal Shelter will hold a stray for 72 hours before offering it to others for adoption. Neighborhood strays and abandoned animals known to have been without an owner for 30 days or more can be put up for adoption through other local shelters. Sadly, all shelters and rescue groups have severely limited space, so trying to rehome the cat yourself may also be a good idea. 

Additional tips can be found at: http://meowcatrescue.org/resources/articles/51/found-an-animal-what-to-do/.

If you see a frightened cat who is not touchable, MEOW has humane traps and instructions on how to use them.  Additionally, MEOW provides resources for cats who are stuck in trees.  For this information, you can go to: http://www.meowcatrescue.org/resources/.

What If You Find a Litter of Kittens?

If you find a litter of kittens, they were likely born to a free roaming or feral cat, not to someone’s pet. Time is often of the essence. Contact a local animal shelter immediately. The kittens need a safe place indoors, food source, socialization, and possibly even medical attention. Kittens that aren’t socialized to human touch by about eight weeks of age are less likely to be adoptable—which means that shelters can’t take them—which, in turn, only adds to the cycle of homelessness. Even if your local shelter cannot take the kittens immediately, they may be able to help you with supplies and give you tips on kitten care. Your temporary job then would be to socialize, socialize, socialize! 

Is There a Kitten Shortage?

This question comes up every year at about this time.  People looking for small kittens right now are finding that there aren’t very many at this time of year. Breeding does slow down as the days get shorter, but things turn around when the days begin to lengthen.  By January, unaltered females are becoming pregnant. The gestation period is about two months, which means that the majority of kitten births begin in March and April. Once the kittens reach adoptable age, there is a kitten explosion in every single shelter across the country. Each year shelters are teeming with kittens from spring through late fall. Each year, thousands of animals must be turned away or euthanized due to lack of available space and homes for them.  Each year, we hope fewer kittens will be born. Don’t worry. There is not now and there never will be a kitten shortage.

One last word - An unspayed female, her mate and all of their offspring, producing 2 litters per year with a survival rate of only 2.8 kittens per litter, in just 3 years could become 376 cats!   If you, a friend, family member, neighbor or coworker have an unaltered animal, please, please, please spay and neuter!  A list of low cost spay/neuter clinics can be found at: http://meowcatrescue.org/resources/articles/20/low-cost-spayneuter-clinics/.