ellaila
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2006
- Messages
- 1,643
Hiya cat folks! I need help/advice!
OK, so here''s the situation: we recently moved to a new house, and even since before the day we actually moved in, a cat has been making daily -- sometimes a few times a day -- visits to our balcony. She''s wearing a flea collar, but it seems pretty old and beat-up looking, and I actually do think she''s got fleas (rolls around on her back constantly), so we''re not petting her but we have started feeding her -- and she''s always ravenous and thirsty. Because of the collar, I assume that she did have a home at one point, but she appears to be homeless now as we''ve seen her at all times of the day and she''s always hungry.
She''s very friendly and sweet (which breaks my heart b/c we won''t pet her! But we have an indoor cat already and I''m pregnant with twins, so it''s just not worth the risk to take in a strange cat), but because of the just mentioned factors, we can''t take her in. We don''t mind feeding her -- we actually look forward to her visits! We''ve named her Ruby and call her our cat''s "girlfriend"
-- but I am a nervous wreck about what could happen to her if we have a bad winter (we live in Mass).
I''ve contacted the previous owners of the house to see if they know/used to feed this cat, but they said they''d never seen a cat like that around. We''ve asked a few neighbors, but none know her either -- though one did say that there is a house in the neighborhood that has lots of pets and takes horrible care of them all. Our first step is to make "Found Cat" posters and to post on Craigs List, but I have the feeling that won''t bring too many takers. We contemplated building her some type of shelter ourselves in our yard, but realistically with two babies on the way, we don''t have the time or finances to do that (and besides, what good would something like that be if we got two feet of snow?). I contacted two stray cat rescue leagues to see what they say, but I feel so torn. I know that she is not truly feral and would benefit from a loving home, so I know that the right thing to do is try to get her placed somewhere. But on the other hand, I feel very guilty about having someone come and take her away from us/what she is used to. And don''t even get me started on how anxious I am that they would put her down ... Plus I guess I just feel somewhat responsible for and attached to her already!
So, PSers, what do you think? Do you think that even though there is the slight chance that she could belong to someone (I suppose) that having a rescue league "rescue" her is a good thing? (I''ve heard that those people with all the pets are not very nice to deal with, so I don''t want to approach them directly to see if she is theirs.) Or do you think we should just let her be and assume/hope that she will have someplace to stay in the bad weather? This eats at me constantly, so I''m really not sure I could do the latter and just wait it out ...
Thanks for any advice!!
OK, so here''s the situation: we recently moved to a new house, and even since before the day we actually moved in, a cat has been making daily -- sometimes a few times a day -- visits to our balcony. She''s wearing a flea collar, but it seems pretty old and beat-up looking, and I actually do think she''s got fleas (rolls around on her back constantly), so we''re not petting her but we have started feeding her -- and she''s always ravenous and thirsty. Because of the collar, I assume that she did have a home at one point, but she appears to be homeless now as we''ve seen her at all times of the day and she''s always hungry.
She''s very friendly and sweet (which breaks my heart b/c we won''t pet her! But we have an indoor cat already and I''m pregnant with twins, so it''s just not worth the risk to take in a strange cat), but because of the just mentioned factors, we can''t take her in. We don''t mind feeding her -- we actually look forward to her visits! We''ve named her Ruby and call her our cat''s "girlfriend"
I''ve contacted the previous owners of the house to see if they know/used to feed this cat, but they said they''d never seen a cat like that around. We''ve asked a few neighbors, but none know her either -- though one did say that there is a house in the neighborhood that has lots of pets and takes horrible care of them all. Our first step is to make "Found Cat" posters and to post on Craigs List, but I have the feeling that won''t bring too many takers. We contemplated building her some type of shelter ourselves in our yard, but realistically with two babies on the way, we don''t have the time or finances to do that (and besides, what good would something like that be if we got two feet of snow?). I contacted two stray cat rescue leagues to see what they say, but I feel so torn. I know that she is not truly feral and would benefit from a loving home, so I know that the right thing to do is try to get her placed somewhere. But on the other hand, I feel very guilty about having someone come and take her away from us/what she is used to. And don''t even get me started on how anxious I am that they would put her down ... Plus I guess I just feel somewhat responsible for and attached to her already!
So, PSers, what do you think? Do you think that even though there is the slight chance that she could belong to someone (I suppose) that having a rescue league "rescue" her is a good thing? (I''ve heard that those people with all the pets are not very nice to deal with, so I don''t want to approach them directly to see if she is theirs.) Or do you think we should just let her be and assume/hope that she will have someplace to stay in the bad weather? This eats at me constantly, so I''m really not sure I could do the latter and just wait it out ...
Thanks for any advice!!