# Help!!!! Loose cat!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706 "2006-08-22T05:27:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pixisis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Pixisis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixisis)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706/21 "2006-08-22T13:47:20Z")
damn. just thinking about a poor lost kitty and my typing skills completely deteriorate. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706/22 "2006-08-22T14:38:16Z")
Very pleased for you! And the cat’s owner. May I suggest a little “economy with the truth” about this incident… ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706/23 "2006-08-22T15:31:16Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] Good kitty! I’t’s my understanding that grabbing an adult cat’s cruff can be helpful for making it chill out, but that it may harm the cat to lift it just by the scruff. [/QUOTE] Yeh, a scruff hold will usually trigger the kitten-in-mom’s-jaws reflex and they’ll stop struggling and curl into a loose ball. Although I had one semi-feral, semi-deranged cat who freaked even more and splayed out like a claw-studded starfish when I had to pick her up that way. I’ve also seen my vets and their techs use the scruff hold to immobilize one of my cats for something they don’t want done to them. If you do pick a cat up with a scruff hold you should cup your other hand under their butt (but not the hind feet), just enough to support some of their weight, not enough so they can kick off your hand and twist free. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706/24 "2006-08-22T15:34:11Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] I’ve also seen my vets and their techs use the scruff hold to immobilize one of my cats for something they don’t want done to them. [/QUOTE] :smack: Uh, make that “for something it didn’t want done to it.” Although I daresay my vets would rather not get shredded in midtreatment. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706/25 "2006-08-22T15:47:08Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Very pleased for you! And the cat’s owner. May I suggest a little “economy with the truth” about this incident… [/QUOTE] I could use some advice on this too, actually. Kitty seems none the worse for her adventure. No marks or cuts or anything. The whole ordeal lasted about five hours. But I wonder, might it be a good idea to take her to the vet anyway after this incident? In which case I’d have to tell the owner. I’m willing to fess up, but OTOH I could see how the owner might be better off not knowing. What do we think on this? ---
**Author:** ![parrot\_recipes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@parrot\_recipes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parrot_recipes)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706/26 "2006-08-22T15:49:32Z")
You had us nailbiting there! A vet, no, not if you found no marks or cuts. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706/27 "2006-08-22T15:55:35Z")
[QUOTE=parrot recipes] You had us nailbiting there! A vet, no, not if you found no marks or cuts. [/QUOTE] Agreed. The poor thing has already had enough terror-filled stress lately. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706/28 "2006-08-22T19:21:39Z")
[QUOTE=Mach Tuck] But I wonder, might it be a good idea to take her to the vet anyway after this incident? In which case I’d have to tell the owner. I’m willing to fess up, but OTOH I could see how the owner might be better off not knowing. What do we think on this? [/QUOTE] Well, this is only advice on dishonesty from a longtime cat owner on a messageboard, so take it for what it is, but I highly doubt there’s any need to take the cat to the vet if it appears fine. Most cats in the world are outdoor cats, and come to no harm. I’d imagine what it did was wander around a bit, sniff things, try to chase mice, wanted to get back into the house but got freaked out because it’s an unfamiliar domicile, then overcame the fear to get back where the food was. There may be a _tiny_ outside chance that it got bitten by something nasty, but if it’s looking OK over the next few hours and the next morning, I think you should just let it remain yours and the cat’s little secret. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-loose-cat/369706.md?page=1)