What to Do After Finding a Stray Cat? A Comprehensive Guide to Adopting Stray Cats

I’ve realized that many friends are facing the same predicament I did before: wanting to adopt a stray cat but not knowing where to start due to a lack of pet ownership experience. Therefore, this article will combine my experience in adopting two stray cats, and I will also share some personal insights at the end.

How to Bring a Stray Cat Home

Many friends often overlook the fact that people automatically regard stray cats as gentle and lovely charming animals. However, many stray cats may actually be aggressive. Therefore, it is recommended not to rashly catch a cat if you are not familiar with it. You can spend more time feeding it in the place where it wanders, observe whether it shows closeness to you, and is willing to be petted. Only when you are sure it has a good impression of you can you consider taking it home.

Preparations Before Bringing the Cat Home

• When taking the cat away, don’t think about picking it up directly.
• It is best to prepare a pet carrier or use a similar container.
• Put food into the pet carrier and bring it home after the cat enters the carrier.

Measures After Bringing the Stray Cat Home

Whether or not you have a kitten at home, I recommend isolating the stray cat after bringing it home, and you can choose the bathroom or a balcony with closed windows as a temporary residence. This is to prevent the virus that the stray cat may carry from infecting the kittens at home, and on the other hand, to avoid the fleas on the stray cat from contaminating the sofa and other places that are difficult to clean. After bringing it home, you can start with deworming treatment for the cat. During this period, prepare food, drinking water, and cat litter for the cat to observe its eating and defecation conditions.

Taking the Cat for a Check-up

Although there are many test strips available for home self-testing of cats, it is recommended for beginners to go to a pet hospital for professional checks for more accurate results. If the examination shows that the cat has no major issues, congratulations, you have a healthy kitten; if the cat’s health condition is poor, it is very important to listen to the doctor’s advice and treat it in time.

How to Help the Cat Adapt to a New Environment

When your kitten officially enters a new home, how should you deal with its reactions? Since it may have previously lived in a bathroom or on a balcony, facing an unfamiliar environment, the cat will usually feel timid and may hide under the sofa or bed. In this case, I do not recommend forcibly taking the cat out to play. In fact, letting nature take its course is the best method. Just prepare food, drinking water, and cat litter, and when the cat gradually gets used to the home environment and feels safe, it will naturally come out to play. The time it takes to adapt varies, mainly depending on the cat’s personality.

Things to Avoid

• Do not immediately bathe the cat. Cats are very afraid of water, and some kittens may even die due to stress response.
• If the kitten is too dirty, you can gently wipe it with a towel dipped in warm water.
• If it is a very young kitten, they cannot eat cat food and need to be fed with a syringe and sheep milk powder. This process requires patience.

Responsibility and Determination

Finally, I want to say that adopting a stray cat is an act of responsibility for a small life. I hope everyone does not act impulsively when adopting, and abandon the cat after two weeks because they do not like it. Adopting a weak kitten is a very responsible matter and may face many difficulties, such as not having a suitable environment for raising cats or insufficient economic conditions. Therefore, I hope everyone can think it over before deciding to adopt a cat.

This may sound a bit serious, but in reality, after living with the cat for a period and experiencing those ups and downs, you will suddenly find that the little cute cat has grown up healthily because of your care.