A couple of days ago, my mother had told me of a gray kitten hanging around their backyard - in fact, I had seen it myself when I was over there a week before, and told her so, which concerned her. She’d seen it eating the birdseed that fell out of the feeder, so if it was hungry enough to do that it seemed unlikely that anyone else was feeding it real food. She spent some time outside gardening and just talking to it as it hid under the firepit, watching her, not letting her touch it but not running away either. Fed it some tuna fish. Put a towel under the firepit so it didn’t have to sleep on the patio bricks. Got it to trust her enough to pet it.
Yesterday was cold and blustery rain all day, and Mom couldn’t stand thinking of the kitty outside, so she managed to lure it out with more tuna, and snatched it inside where she could close it up in the laundry with food and water and blankets and away from the two dogs.
(In fact, it couldn’t have been a scarier day to do so; yesterday was a birthday party for my sister, and there were tons of people over, including two extra dogs, and much barking and chaos ensued. Even with the door closed, the poor thing hid behind the washer for much of the day.)
So. My parents have always been dog people, never owned a cat. I’ve catsit for many, including giving shots to a diabetic kitty, so they’re turning to me for some advice, but catsitting is not ownership. Catfood has been acquired, as well as a temporary litterbox. I’ve advised her to call a vet today, because of all the diseases an outdoor kitty can pick up. Talk to neighbors and see if anyone’s lost a kitten, because this one is a BABY. Couldn’t be more than a couple of months old. It’s risky to let an adult cat be an outdoor kitty here, and downright cruel to let out one this small, especially as the weather’s starting to get nasty, so likely either it’s been dumped, or it escaped and hasn’t found its way home. And we haven’t seen any “Lost Kitten” signs up…
They CAN’T keep this cat. The two dogs I mentioned were adopted a month ago themselves, and while they’re well-behaved dogs, they’re lab-sized squirrel chasers, and my parents don’t know their temperaments quite well enough yet to know if they could trust them with a cat the size of a Scooby snack. Plus, my dad just doesn’t particularly like cats.
Aside from trying to acclimate it to people (it came out from behind the washer and sniffed fingers last night, so it’s not entirely distrustful) and making sure it’s healthy, what are their best options for finding it a permanent home? As far as shelters go, as an adorable fluffy kitten, it might have a better chance of adoption than an adult cat, but we’d rather not trust to that chance if we don’t have to.
(And I know the rules. I didn’t have a camera yesterday. I’ll be heading back in a couple of days and try to get a quick snapshot then.)