Sigh.. stray cat finding

[Ginevive]

OK, this morning I found this adorable black kitty outside of my mom's house. She is really friendly, and ran right up the porch steps to me, and I grabbed her and put her in the hallway. Seems, according to Mom, that some people across the street moved last month and left the cats at the house. Who even knows what they have been surviving on? This little girl is really, really thin.
I had to put her out in the garage because my mom has two dogs who are pretty wild around cats. I gave her some food, water, and a little litter box to see if she even knows how to use one. You shoulda seen her go for that food; she must have been freaking famished.
I plan on taking her home tonight when the boyfriend gets outta work, but my cat at home HATES other cats, so we may have a problem. But I can't bear to let her out again and let her try to live out there; it has been getting COLD at night, with worse weather coming. And the SPCA's around here are full, including their foster homes, so they are euthanizing any new arrivals.
I have a friend who is looking for a cat though, and her ahd her husband may be interested in taking her.
Please wish me luck! I am still in a rage after finding out that these white trash idiots moved and left not one, but three cats to fend for themselves. The other two vanished, but this little kitty needs help.

[Marla]

I definitely wish you luck. The last house I lived in came with a cat that had been left behind by the previous occupants nearly a year before (and of course she was pregnant to boot). People can be such jerks. I hope the little kitty is healthy despite her abandonment and that your friends will decide to take her.

[Ginevive]

She is sleeping right now; I spied through the door. I think she was just starving hungry. You should see how thin the poor thing is! But she is really active and friendly. I don't want to upset her stomach so I am waiting a few hours before feeding her again. I really hope she uses the litterbox.
Seems that these people moved out.. get this.. over a month ago. So the three cats have been living off of god-knows-what for that month. Probably other people's garbage or something.
Our friends are lookin for a cat though; they have a huge mouse problem at their house, and were thinking of adopting one, so this could be the perfect fit.

[Ginevive]

I have a question Marla. You have multiple cats I see. How hard is it to introduce a new cat to an established one? Our cat is pretty nasty to other animals (like when our friends bring their dogs over) and he is pretty "aloof and territorial". If it comes down to it though, I will try introducing the two cats, but I don't know exactly what's the best way. Our cat is a neutered male, and this is a female.

[mlededee]

poor kitty! i just hate how people can be sometimes. i'm glad you found her. hopefully your friends will take her in. a friend of mine has rescued a bunch of strays--she has 8 of them right now. the best thing she has found is to put the new kitty in a room by itself for about a week to let it adjust. the other cats can come up and smell it under the door and they get used to eachothers scents that way. after a week she opens the door and supervises while either the new cat ventures out or some of the established cats venture in. many times there is a bit of hissing and whatnot, and sometimes the new kitty needs a few more days in the separate room with small supervised amounts of time together with the other cats until they are all adjusted and comfortable with eachother. so far that method has been successful in introducing each of the new cats into the family. i hope it works out for your little kitty. keep us updated!

[Ironhead]

You should see how thin the poor thing is!

Our friends are lookin for a cat though; they have a huge mouse problem at their house, and were thinking of adopting one, so this could be the perfect fit.

Not to hurt the cat's chances of getting a new home, but this kitty dosent seem like it's a mouser if she is this skinny. Dosent sound like she is very good at fending for herself when it comes to finding food. I hope you can find her a good home.

How hard is it to introduce a new cat to an established one?

I dont know how everyone else does it, but here at the Phillips Phunny Pharm we just bring the new critter home and let them do the introducing themselves. Seriously.....we just add the new critter (not face to face) and just let them explore and eventually they will bump into each other. At times the established cat may not like the new addition and will show his/her dislike but that is all. Never had no blood curling fights, just a swat and a growl here and there. After time they either learn to get along, or they learn to stay away from each other. Have two females right now that hate each other, but they allways keep their distance from each other.

I really hope she uses the litterbox.

I hope she does also. I allways thought that a litter box was second nature to all cats. Not so...there is allways the exception. I had one very loving enjoyable cat that I wanted to keep inside, but she would never use the litter box. So...now she has to use the huge outside litter box....the yard.

[the_mechanic]

I have 5 cats, and we found one near a McDonalds and he was soo skinny, but we took him home and fed him a LOT, and now he's pretty chubby. It's a good thing my mom can't help seeing a homeless cat.. but there was some problems with the other cats, but there have always been problems with them. When we got one of our cats, not this one but one before it, the big buy started peeing on everything.. Marking his territory I guess, and it smells SO bad, but he doesn't do that anymore and they all more or less get along.

[Marla]

I have a question Marla. You have multiple cats I see. How hard is it to introduce a new cat to an established one? Our cat is pretty nasty to other animals (like when our friends bring their dogs over) and he is pretty "aloof and territorial". If it comes down to it though, I will try introducing the two cats, but I don't know exactly what's the best way. Our cat is a neutered male, and this is a female.

I've pretty much always had cats, and there is definitely a period of adjustment when introducing cats to one another. Most of the time, if they aren't both males over a few months old, they'll be fine together after a week or two, and sometimes the males will be fine too. Jezebel wouldn't be on the same side of the house with PCBH when we first brought her home, but just the other day I had one cat resting on each leg and they were just fine.

I've always done like Carl said, and just let them introduce themselves, but if there's a big size difference or one seems particularly aggressive, I'd separate them when no one would be home to prevent serious injuries.

[Ginevive]

Good news! Our friend and his wife have decided to take the cat. They have wanted a cat for some time now (and oddly enough, they were looking for a black one.) They have a dog (fat black labrador) but she gets along great with cats, and this kitty does not appear to be afraid of my mom's dogs at all. And they treat their dog really well (as evidenced by her healthiness and fatness, hehe) so I know they'll give her a good home. And we visit them often, they're good people.
Thing is, they live in a really wooded area and this kitty comes from the "mean streets" (well, if you could call Buffalo a mean city, lol.) But she'll be kept in their house, so it really does not matter.
I geuss she is really not That skinny, but she is definately not what I consider to be optimal weight. Incidentally, I am about to go out and feed her again.


EDIT: Yay, she went in the litter box! My day has been made.

[Bambi]

Thats great Gin! We found a stray on our street a while ago. I would've kept it if it wasn't for the fact that cats fly at my house. I'm not a big cat fan per-se, but that one was more like a dog than a cat. We found a home for it with some one from the place where we board our horses.