What should I do if I've found a stray cat?​

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Cats, due to their nature tend to roam and can appear lost or stray, however they may have a home nearby so it important you are sure they are homeless before you take the cat on yourself or take it to a recuse centre to be rehomed. You can do this by trying the following steps. 

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• Try putting a paper collar on the cat and write a brief message with your telephone number. That way if the cat has an owner or if the cat is visiting someone else they can call you. You can download paper collars online and print them out yourselves or contact a local rescue or vet practice who tend to have these handy! 

• Ask the neighbours to see if they recognise the cat, they may be missing their much loved pet or may have some more information that will help. Always check a little further out too, as mentioned cats have a tendency to roam so the cat may not live a few doors away! 

• If you can safely get the cat in to a carrier take it to your local vets or recuse to be scanned for a micro-chip. This is a free of charge service. Cats have been known to jump into cars or have wondered a bit too far from home and can’t make their way back, so this can sometimes be the only way of tracking down the owner. 

• Put up found posters in the local area. Give a good description and photo if possible but remember to hold some information back such as distinguishing marks or features, this will help if you are contacted to see if that person is genuinely the owner. 

• Get the word out online by sharing appeals to local community groups and lost and found pages. Most rescues like ourselves will also share these appeals to help reunite the cat to its owner. 

• Whilst you are sharing your appeals online, you should also check these pages to see if anyone is missing their pet. With the social media pages, we now have missing cat appeals have been shared far and wide and has been a great way of reuniting found pets to their owners. 

• Contact local vets and rescues. Most owners who have lost their pets are advised to contact vets and res-cues in case their pet has been handed in, so many do keep lists of lost and found pets in the area. 

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If you have tried all of the above and haven’t had any luck locating an owner and you are unable to keep the cat your-self then it’s time to contact your local rescue and look at getting the cat rehomed from there. Most rescue like our-selves will be happy to help as long as they have space. You will find most rescue centres will have waiting lists for cats to come in for re-homing, we always advise to contact as many local rescues as possible and get on as many waiting lists as you can. The more waiting lists you are on the better chance you will stand at finding a space sooner.