What Do You Need to Know When You Adopt a Stray Cat?
Key takeaways:
When writer Kellie Gormly saw information about a stray cat posted on a neighborhood app, she felt compelled to take her in.
But unlike a Carfax report for a car, there was no “Catfax” report to know what might be wrong with Pippi the stray cat.
Kellie quickly learned what you need to know when adopting a stray. Here are her tips.
The moment I saw this beautiful calico kitty posted on the app Nextdoor, I felt drawn to her and thought I might be destined to be her human mom.
The longer-haired stray cat with an exquisite orange, black, and white calico color scheme had given birth to at least two litters of kittens outside in suburban Pittsburgh. A few Good Samaritans had teamed up to feed her kittens and get them socialized and adopted. They were also hoping to find someone to adopt the mother cat. Having recently lost my beloved 18-year-old cat, Dharma — the mother from the very first litter of kittens I fostered back in 2007 — I seemed to be the perfect fit.
Kittens can be adorable and easy to home. But so often, people overlook the mommy cats. I’ve always had a soft spot for mother cats for this reason, and Dharma was the first of two moms I’d kept over the years. Victoria, my young black female, came from a family of cats I took in during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine.
I immediately reached out to the Nextdoor poster about the calico, whom the rescuers had been calling Pippi. I thought the name was cute, so I decided to keep it. I committed to taking in Pippi just a few days later, after some time to clean and prepare my house’s fostering room. I was so excited to bring home this sweet and friendly, yet evidently homeless cat — or technically but negligently owned cat, which is just about the same thing — and to give her a loving home.
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The Carfax and the ‘Catfax’
Unlike taking in a stray kitten, whose age you can easily estimate based on size and other physical features, an adult cat is a bit more complicated and has more unknowns. How old is Pippi, and where has she been? She’s not feral, so she probably had an owner at some point. I wondered: What kind of medical care, if any, had she gotten?
“Adopting a stray adult cat isn’t like buying a used car,” I told a dear friend. “You can’t get a Carfax and learn about the history.”
Realizing I’d stumbled upon a golden pun, I added: “I wish we could get a Catfax!”
Alas, in the absence of a Catfax report, assume your new kitty rescued from a stray life outdoors has received no veterinary care and needs everything.
My 6 tips for taking in a stray cat
My experience as an adoptive cat mom has taught me a few things. Here are my tips for anyone taking in a stray.
1. Put your cat in a spare room
If you have a spare bedroom or extra room, it’s good to give your new cat a little space, for at least a few weeks. This gives the cat a sense of safety for settling in. And if you have resident cats, you won’t risk infecting them with fleas or any other contagious condition the new cat might have. About 4 months after taking in Pippi, she’s been a bit slow to integrate. She spends most of her time downstairs with me and the other cats, but she is still attached to her own room, where she eats and uses her litter box privately.
2. Do a flea check
Cats that have been living outside may have picked up fleas or other parasites. I recommend using a flea comb on the key flea hangout areas — at the base of the tail and around the cat’s neck — to see if you pull off any live fleas or “flea dirt” — dark crumbles, which are actually flea poop. (I know. Ick!) Even if you don’t find any of these, immediately give the cat a topical flea treatment. You can buy these over the counter at pet stores.
3. Take your rescued cat to a veterinarian for a thorough exam
Your local animal shelter may offer services at its vet clinic for a significant discount over what you would pay your private, for-profit veterinarian. For all of Pippi’s vet care — exam, spay surgery, shots, deworming and flea treatments — I paid only about $200.
A veterinarian can give a rough estimate of an adult cat’s age based on factors such as the appearance of its eyes and the condition of its teeth and coat, but the estimate is likely to be a range of a few years rather than something more exact, as with a kitten.
The shelter vet estimated that Pippi, thought to be fairly young by rescuers, is at least 2 and may be as old as 5. I will ask my own vet for her guess when I take her there for an introductory exam. Until then, I’m going to shoot for the middle and assume Pippi is around 3.
4. Your cat needs to be spayed or neutered
Assuming your stray is unaltered, you’ll need to have your cat spayed or neutered. In Pippi’s case, as a recent mother, we knew she needed an ovariohysterectomy. On a male, it’s obvious if he hasn’t been neutered, because of his conspicuous testicles. On a female, you can’t tell just by looking at her if she is spayed, but a veterinarian can figure it out.
Is the top of one of your cat’s ears a straight line, rather than a pointed tip? This is a sign that he or she has been “tipped.” When stray cats are trapped by rescuers and taken to a shelter to be altered and then released, the vet will often remove the tippy-top of one of the cat’s ears, to mark the feline as altered.
Spaying and neutering aren’t optional. They are an important part of pet ownership. Not only is pet overpopulation a problem, but the surgical procedures can protect your pet from health issues and reduce unwanted behaviors. Even if adopted strays never go outside and have contact with unaltered cats again, an intact cat does not make a pleasant household companion. Intact males often spray smelly urine to mark territory, and unspayed females have regular heat cycles that are very uncomfortable for both the cat and humans. Plus, spaying and neutering eliminate the risk of cancer types such as mammary and testicular.
5. Your new cat needs vaccines
Your cat will need to be vaccinated — in particular, an annual rabies shot, which in many states is required by law. Cats also need the FVRCP vaccine, which protects against three highly contagious diseases (feline viral rhinotracheitis, feline calicivirus, and feline panleukopenia virus). The FVRCP vaccine needs to be followed up with a booster shot a few weeks later. While there is a slight chance the cat is already vaccinated, assume the kitty has not received shots. A potentially early annual shot won’t hurt the cat.
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6. Your cat needs a deworming treatment
Kittens and cats need at least one deworming treatment, even if you don’t see any worms in — gross-out alert — their poop or vomit. A cat may carry worm eggs that you can’t see. Pyrantel and Drontal are popular brands that your vet might recommend.
When in doubt, ask a professional
The moral of the story is: We have no Catfax, so we should approach medical care for a stray cat the way we would a used car before we had the convenience of accessing its records through a Carfax report. Get a professional inspection, and when in doubt, assume that necessary maintenance hasn’t been done — and get it done.
The best part? We may love our cars, but our cats will love us back.
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