cat visitor

This is my first post. I was looking for some advice on a new cat visitor. I
recently had to put to sleep my 17 year old
cocker and I still have my lab but he is still looking for his lifetime pal.
Anyway I was thinking that I did not want
anymore pets because of the pain you have later. But then I thought that
sometimes
they find you. A few days later every night we heard this cat in our
backyard which borders some woods. I saw her
and at first thought she was feral. But as the days past she got braver and
I finally called to her and hesitantly she came to
me. Once she sniffed my hand she wanted loving like crazy. She is a long
hair orange tabby with a beautiful face. She is
too friendly to have been out in the wild very long. She only comes in the
evening and probably it was bad but I could not help
but feed her. Did not know if she was abandoned, lost or something like
that. I have looked in the papers and have called
some of the neighbors around. She needs a rabies shot (we have a problem
with that in our area)if she is to be an outside cat,
because I have a bird. And I also need to figure out how I can help her with
fleas and ticks. I have already picked some off of her.
She lets me hold her and she will head butt you trying to give you love. I
also want to take her to the vet to have her checked out.
But how long do I wait to figure out if she has no other home. I thought
about putting an elastic collar with a note on her to see if I get a
response.She sleeps on our deck at night then she's off in the morning. She
doesn't feel pregnant. Or she might be a neutered male. Not sure
with all of the hair. Our lab is a little jealous of her. I can understand
that because I have tried to spend more time with him to
help him get over losing our other dog. My lab is 15 and arthritic.

What would you do? And it is so funny, I swore no more pets. She acts like
she would like to come in which makes me think someone has
moved away and left her behind. Do you think the collar idea is a valid one?

Thanks for any suggestions and help,
Paulette

Awww, she sounds like a sweetie. Hard to say if anyone owns her or not.
You can try the note on collar, see what that gets you, if you don't get any
response, see if you can bring her in. For fleas - you can try Advantage or
Frontline - it's expensive but it works great! You can buy online or from
1-800-Petmeds w/out a prescription.

As for not wanting to go thru the pain later - please don't think like that.
They need love in their life too, and are brought into your life for a
reason. The pleasure of owning (in cat's case being owned by) far outweighs
the pain of the loss. I just lost two a few months apart, it tore me apart,
but I can't live without critters either. Not a "replacement" but a way for
me to make peace and move on. Life is too empty without a pet (Ok, I admit
I go to the extreme - 7 cats 3 dogs). This cat crossed paths with you for a
reason. Somebody thinks the two of you need each other. Cherish every
moment you can with any animal you have.

I hope this helps, and I hope everything works out for you!

JoJo

"Mermaid" wrote in message
...
This is my first post. I was looking for some advice on a new cat visitor.
I
recently had to put to sleep my 17 year old
cocker and I still have my lab but he is still looking for his lifetime
pal.
Anyway I was thinking that I did not want
anymore pets because of the pain you have later. But then I thought that
sometimes
they find you. A few days later every night we heard this cat in our
backyard which borders some woods. I saw her
and at first thought she was feral. But as the days past she got braver
and
I finally called to her and hesitantly she came to
me. Once she sniffed my hand she wanted loving like crazy. She is a long
hair orange tabby with a beautiful face. She is
too friendly to have been out in the wild very long. She only comes in the
evening and probably it was bad but I could not help
but feed her. Did not know if she was abandoned, lost or something like
that. I have looked in the papers and have called
some of the neighbors around. She needs a rabies shot (we have a problem
with that in our area)if she is to be an outside cat,
because I have a bird. And I also need to figure out how I can help her
with
fleas and ticks. I have already picked some off of her.
She lets me hold her and she will head butt you trying to give you love. I
also want to take her to the vet to have her checked out.
But how long do I wait to figure out if she has no other home. I thought
about putting an elastic collar with a note on her to see if I get a
response.She sleeps on our deck at night then she's off in the morning.
She
doesn't feel pregnant. Or she might be a neutered male. Not sure
with all of the hair. Our lab is a little jealous of her. I can understand
that because I have tried to spend more time with him to
help him get over losing our other dog. My lab is 15 and arthritic.

What would you do? And it is so funny, I swore no more pets. She acts like
she would like to come in which makes me think someone has
moved away and left her behind. Do you think the collar idea is a valid
one?

Thanks for any suggestions and help,
Paulette

BTW - if you can't sex her/him by looking you can - forgive me - "cop a
feel". Sometimes it's the only way I can tell (and much easier then picking
up the cat and trying to examine it's backend while it squirms). Females
are smooth, you can't really feel anything. Males - unaltered you can feel
their testicals, then between their legs is the little "pouch" (do not know
what it's called) where the penis is. A fixed male you cannot feel the
testicals, but the pouch is still there.

JoJo

"Mermaid" wrote in message
...
This is my first post. I was looking for some advice on a new cat visitor.
I
recently had to put to sleep my 17 year old
cocker and I still have my lab but he is still looking for his lifetime
pal.
Anyway I was thinking that I did not want
anymore pets because of the pain you have later. But then I thought that
sometimes
they find you. A few days later every night we heard this cat in our
backyard which borders some woods. I saw her
and at first thought she was feral. But as the days past she got braver
and
I finally called to her and hesitantly she came to
me. Once she sniffed my hand she wanted loving like crazy. She is a long
hair orange tabby with a beautiful face. She is
too friendly to have been out in the wild very long. She only comes in the
evening and probably it was bad but I could not help
but feed her. Did not know if she was abandoned, lost or something like
that. I have looked in the papers and have called
some of the neighbors around. She needs a rabies shot (we have a problem
with that in our area)if she is to be an outside cat,
because I have a bird. And I also need to figure out how I can help her
with
fleas and ticks. I have already picked some off of her.
She lets me hold her and she will head butt you trying to give you love. I
also want to take her to the vet to have her checked out.
But how long do I wait to figure out if she has no other home. I thought
about putting an elastic collar with a note on her to see if I get a
response.She sleeps on our deck at night then she's off in the morning.
She
doesn't feel pregnant. Or she might be a neutered male. Not sure
with all of the hair. Our lab is a little jealous of her. I can understand
that because I have tried to spend more time with him to
help him get over losing our other dog. My lab is 15 and arthritic.

What would you do? And it is so funny, I swore no more pets. She acts like
she would like to come in which makes me think someone has
moved away and left her behind. Do you think the collar idea is a valid
one?

Thanks for any suggestions and help,
Paulette

JoJo quoth:
BTW - if you can't sex her/him by looking you can - forgive me - "cop a
feel". Sometimes it's the only way I can tell (and much easier then picking
up the cat and trying to examine it's backend while it squirms). Females
are smooth, you can't really feel anything. Males - unaltered you can feel
their testicals, then between their legs is the little "pouch" (do not know
what it's called) where the penis is. A fixed male you cannot feel the
testicals, but the pouch is still there.

And they don't seem to mind being touched in what we would consider to be
a very personal area, if it were our bodies. Before my Sebbie was
neutered at about 3 months, I touched his scrotum a couple of times just
to see what it felt like, because it looked like velvet. It felt like
velvet, too! Didn't faze him a bit. I also like to pat my cats on their
bums because they're so soft. No dirty looks. Animals haven't been
taught shame about their genitals.

If you ever watch judging at a dog show, one of the things judges do on
male dogs is check them to see if both testicles are descended. They cop
a quick feel and move right on. You don't know what they're doing unless
you look for it. I learned this from reading detective novels involving
dog shows, so I looked for it the next time Westminster was on TV.

Priscilla

Thanks for the suggestion. I felt of her and I am almost sure it is a
female. I have not seen her spray on anything either which makes me think it
is a female. Do neutered males spray?

Still have no clue where she came from or where she goes during the day.
Went ahead and got some Frontline to put on her if she is going to hang
around my house. She could bring ticks and fleas to my dog too.
Yesterday she followed me to my Labs pen to feed him and got within 6" of
his face and food. Needless to say, my lab was not happy and snapped at her.
Not a smart kitty. Or thinks everyone is in love with her.

She acts like she's starving when I get home so maybe she doesn't have a
home or if someone moved away and she is still going back hoping they will
return. Poor thing. Next thing is getting that collar with a message on it.

Let you know, thanks,
Paulette

I still have my wild rescue cat. Her name is Ginger and I tried the collar
thing, in hopes that someone would tell me
she belongs somewhere else but the breakaway collar might have stayed on 30
min. She came back out of the
woods without it. Don't know if she pulled it off herself or someone took it
off.
Wish they could talk.
Guess that is where pet psychics come in. LOL
Oh, well,
Paulette


"Mermaid" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the suggestion. I felt of her and I am almost sure it is a
female. I have not seen her spray on anything either which makes me think
it
is a female. Do neutered males spray?

Still have no clue where she came from or where she goes during the day.
Went ahead and got some Frontline to put on her if she is going to hang
around my house. She could bring ticks and fleas to my dog too.
Yesterday she followed me to my Labs pen to feed him and got within 6" of
his face and food. Needless to say, my lab was not happy and snapped at
her.
Not a smart kitty. Or thinks everyone is in love with her.

She acts like she's starving when I get home so maybe she doesn't have a
home or if someone moved away and she is still going back hoping they will
return. Poor thing. Next thing is getting that collar with a message on
it.

Let you know, thanks,
Paulette

I still have my wild rescue cat. Her name is Ginger and I tried the collar
thing, in hopes that someone would tell me
she belongs somewhere else but the breakaway collar might have stayed on 30
min. She came back out of the
woods without it. Don't know if she pulled it off herself or someone took it
off.
Wish they could talk.
Guess that is where pet psychics come in. LOL
Oh, well,
Paulette


"Mermaid" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the suggestion. I felt of her and I am almost sure it is a
female. I have not seen her spray on anything either which makes me think
it
is a female. Do neutered males spray?

Still have no clue where she came from or where she goes during the day.
Went ahead and got some Frontline to put on her if she is going to hang
around my house. She could bring ticks and fleas to my dog too.
Yesterday she followed me to my Labs pen to feed him and got within 6" of
his face and food. Needless to say, my lab was not happy and snapped at
her.
Not a smart kitty. Or thinks everyone is in love with her.

She acts like she's starving when I get home so maybe she doesn't have a
home or if someone moved away and she is still going back hoping they will
return. Poor thing. Next thing is getting that collar with a message on
it.

Let you know, thanks,
Paulette