Cat peeps, I need help.

[stella3]

So let' me start of by saying I'm very much an animal person, but not so experienced with cats....

About a week ago a small black cat showed up and has been sleeping each night on my outside door mat. It's definitely skittish, and I can't tell if it's young, thin, or just small. Hard to judge the black flash passing by.
I live in a pretty rural area. it could belong to one of the neighboring farms, but I'm not quite sure why it's parked itself here. I haven't fed it, I saw it get a drink from the stream today. I did feel badly for it and just now make it a bed out of a box and and old sweater.

I feel like I should know what to do, but I don't. I can't get close enough to it to catch it, it doesn't seem like a mean cat, just scared! Poor thing. I'm going away for 2 weeks and and going to worry about it the entire time I'm away. I have sort of procrastinated dealing with it in hopes that it will go home...if it even has a home, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

Should I put some food out for it? I have a girl who brings in my mail for me and she could feed it while I'm away. I have always heard that if you feed them then they never go home. I don't want to "steal" someone's cat, but I'm worried about it because it's going to get into the teens at night when I'm gone.

So sorry to ramble. I have very limited time to get it to a vet to looks for chip, etc as I leave tomorrow. Hence, I'm up at 11 pm on a Labrador board worrying about a cat that doesn't even belong to me. Ha!

And advice and/or reassurance would be much appreciated.

[SunDance]

I'd make sure the bedding is such that rain/snow won't affect it and ask the person fetching your mail to feed it. If it has a home, it'll still be going home....you won't be stealing it. My guess is that if it's been sleeping at your door...and not just already visiting for food...that it's sending you a message that it's homeless. (It may have started out as someone's cat and ran away to escape something not right for it there...another cat attacking it, for instance.)

Thank you for taking care of it!

[SamsonsMom]

I have two wonderful kitties (Skylar 14 and Asher 7 months) and lost my precious Simon at 16.5 in May of this year. I now have cats and dogs (Samson is 4 and Asher is 9 weeks). Anyways, I agree with the above post. I have many homeless kitties running around my neighborhood. I know they did not start out homeless. About 4 years ago, I purchased an outside shelter. It's wood, has a roof and shingles. Sleeps two or three depending if kitties are friendly or not. I have three residents this year. It's made like a dog house but the inside is insulated and elevated. I added a bunch of straw to it. I leave food inside daily. Not sure who the kitties once belonged to or who they may belong to now but I want to be sure they have a safe haven and food! When it snows, I love seeing those one way kitty tracks into the shelter with none coming back out. I feel peaceful knowing the kitties had a warm place to sleep for the night.

[stella3]

Thank you so much for the replies! It doesn't look like he/she used my bed I made last night. I am also pretty sure this cat had a home. It just doesn't behave the way I've known other "feral" cats to behave. I am going to check a few of the surrounding places and see if they are missing a cat. Otherwise I'll set up feeding for it while I'm away.

Since my Labradors are black my friend said it thinks it fits in perfectly here, like I wouldn't even notice. Lol

[SunDance]

Thank you so much for the replies! It doesn't look like he/she used my bed I made last night. I am also pretty sure this cat had a home. It just doesn't behave the way I've known other "feral" cats to behave. I am going to check a few of the surrounding places and see if they are missing a cat. Otherwise I'll set up feeding for it while I'm away.

Since my Labradors are black my friend said it thinks it fits in perfectly here, like I wouldn't even notice. Lol

Ooh...I hope Snowshoe sees this thread and posts....for what she'd have to say as well as for her sig pic.

[Snowshoe]

I'm here. I'd do what everyone above already said. And since this one is black, my favourite colour for a cat, I'd probably be trying to make it my own. I'd take it for a microchip check, once I could put hands on it. If, as you say, it lets you see it, then you never know, mean nasty people dump cats that are not their own. It might have a home.

And here is our latest, with Oban, both black.

[stella3]

The latest development is that I heard from a friend that the lady across the street is a vet and has lots of cats. She fixes them and feeds them, but for the most part they are feral. I have a call into her to see if this could be part of her group. I tucked the bed in a little nook between my log pile and house. There's an overhang and it's pretty protected from wind now, too. I have only seen Witch/Warlock (new name gender dependent) during the daylight once in the early morning. But it's always there at night. My friend who is going to get my mail and water my plants will feed it, if it turns out it doesn't really belong across the street.

[stella3]

And the lady across the street didn't call me back. Ugh. I decided to stay home another night and am now going to leave late in the day tomorrow. Hopefully, he will be back soon (usually see him around 8pm)

[SunDance]

And the lady across the street didn't call me back. Ugh. I decided to stay home another night and am now going to leave late in the day tomorrow. Hopefully, he will be back soon (usually see him around 8pm)

Kitty appreciates your interest and efforts...so do we!

[stella3]

Thanks for all your help. You'll love this....

Just looked out to check the door mat and there was some other cat eating the food. It had a collar on so thankfully that one has a home!