I saw a stray cat

When I went to drop the blinds after dark yesterday I saw "something" on the pond. I turned on the light and there was a lovely black kitty trying to drink the water between the edge of the deicer and the hole in the ice. There is less than an inch of space there so I don't even know if the kitty could fit it's mouth down far enough to reach the water. I put out some food and water on the deck. The food was gone shortly after and the water was frozen. I put out more food and it was gone the next time I checked. I have one of those carpeted cylinder cat house things that I can put out with possibly a towel inside so the cat will have someplace to go out of the wind and hopefully keep warmer.

My delima is that I feel so bad for this cat living outside. It is a high of 25 today and it drops at night. I don't want to encourage this cat to come around because I don't want my dog to run into it and possibly get scratched if I let her out at night and also this cat may be bringing fleas and disease into the yard BUT how will this cat survive if I don't help it through the winter?

For those of you with outdoor cats or experience with strays can you offer some advice? Can a cat even find food in the winter with snow on the ground? How can it stay warm?

Do you have an animal shelter anywhere near you? You can get a live trap from them and capture the kitty. Then call and let them come pick it up. The trap doesn't hurt it and it's sure better for it than leaving it out in the cold.
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rosebud wrote:Do you have an animal shelter anywhere near you? You can get a live trap from them and capture the kitty. Then call and let them come pick it up. The trap doesn't hurt it and it's sure better for it than leaving it out in the cold.
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I agree.

Yes, I think there is a no kill shelter nearby. I just have to remember the name. I will have to see if they have a trap as I don't have any way to trap the kitty. I hate to see the kitty in a cage for months but I guess that is better than freezing and starving. Tonight I put out more food and I will put out the cat house thingy with blankets inside.

The humane society in Grand Rapids will loan out a live trap. We've used one once. A squirrel came down the chimney and ended up in the basement. We got the trap and baited it with chocolate cake. We had noticed he had helped himself to frosting on the kitchen counter. But somehow he managed to get the bait and didn't spring the trap. Eventually we realized that we could close the door to the kitchen and leave the back door open at the top of the stairs and WALA, he'd have to go out the door to the outside. DUHHHHH!!!

Fishlips, how about an update on the stray kitty! It was 17 degrees here when I got up this morning. I don't know what the wind chill was! It made me think about that poor kitty.
Our black Lab, Cherry, loves the cold! She has been in and out all day. She'll stay out for an hour or so and then bark for us to let her back in. I heard on the news about some people who made their dogs stay outside all night without proper shelter. One of the dogs died and another was not doing very well. The humane society came and got the live dog and some puppies. They are going to take the owner to court. I think they ought to make him stay outside all night without shelter!

I was starting to think maybe it was someone's kitty because I would see it around 8-8:30 PM and then the food was not touched all night for the past few nights. I thought maybe some idiot is putting the cat out for a while at night then bringing it back inside for the night. I saw the kitty a couple of nights ago and put out fresh water. The kitty seems tame and actually came back when I called. I was able to get a few pictures. The kitty looks healthy, is a good weight and has a nice coat of fur. I can't figure out why that kitty is so thirsty if it has a home. Fri night when I got the pictures is ate very little but spent a long time at the water dish. The food was not touched all night but I saw the cat the next morning about 8:30 comming out from beneath a pine tree at the back of my yard. The cat ran out of the yard alongside the house towards the front.

I saw the cat again eating on my deck last night at about 8PM and again at the pond when I let my dog out sometime about 11:30-12:30. The cat stayed there and did not seem skiddish like a wild cat. I have been hoping to see it during the day today so I can try to catch it and bring it to a shelter.

The blue bowl is water. Food is in the clear bowl that is hard to see to the right of the water. The poor cat is SO thirsty.

This was the stray in my neighborhood about five years ago in the winter: She and her brother were wandering the neighborhood and eating birdseed, until her brother got picked up by a relative of mine (She did not, because she didn't get along with the relative's other cats.)
Then she decided that I was hers, and ... well...
Now she tells me when it's bedtime.

Cats are smarter than we think. Growing up, my mother said we had a fat cat that would be gone for a day or two at a time. Only to find we had several other neighbors that thought the cat was their wandering cat. Come to find the out the rascal was eating and camping out with four other neighbors. That fat cat knew what side of the of it's bread was buttered.

Happy ponding,