AUGH!! Please remove the "cats taken in here" neon

[Tina B and crew]

I have a beautiful long hair gray and white cat in my care at the moment. Showed up at my back door about an hour ago and would not leave. When I brought her in and put her in the bathroom she jumped on my lap and snuggled against me. It was clear she (I think it is a she) was afraid, cold, and hungry. I put her in Doc's old holding place with food, water, and litter - she ate like she hadn't eaten in a while. It is very apparent she has NOT been outside for long. Other than a few large and well formed mats in her fur she is clean and has soft paw pads. At any rate, the neighbors have been contacted and it isn't theirs. I just put ads on Craigslist and the FB page of one of our local rescue orgs. I will put up signs tomorrow and keep my feelers out. I cannot take this cat in long term. I'm too exhausted with everything that I have went through with Doc, have entirely TOO much on my plate. My mom is still giving me attitude about Doc so I won't even tell her about this cat. I just hope and pray that I find her home ASAP.

[Tambrey]

Hoping someone is missing a gorgeous kitty and gets ahold of you soon...

IKWYM about that critters welcome here sign

[Tina B and crew]

A friend told me that there wasn't anything I could do about my "neon sign" because it was my heart. She's right. I just wish my space and my bank account were as big as my sign.

At any rate, I also put a "found cat" message on the internet board of the county next door animal control facility since we live on the county line practically. I can't surrender the cat to their facility because I am not a resident of that county. Our county has no facilities to handle cats, period. I would have a hard time surrendering anyway because they are not no-kill shelters. My daughter said she would take the cat to her local shelter if it came down too it. But first I'm going to see if I can have it scanned for a microchip. Someone HAS to be missing this cat. *sigh*

[Tina B and crew]

Here we go...

[Tina B and crew]

no microchip...confirmed as a neutered male.

[Cleo]

awww someone is missing their kitty!

[Tina B and crew]

I'm a bit concerned about this boy. He has not used the litter box since I brought him in last night. Almost 24 hours. He is confined to a smaller space and I have not found any sign of urine or feces anywhere. How long should it go before I get too concerned?

[Traci]

He might be "holding" due to stress. Is his abdomen distended? Is he drinking water?

The fact he's neutered and well kempt, he may very well be owned - please contact the vets in your area too, and put a lost&found ad in your local paper, most papers have online versions you can place an ad at.

Are you aware of any neighbors who have an unusual number of cats?

[Tina B and crew]

The only neighbors I am aware of who have cats at all are accounted for. Like I said, we are pretty rural, so there are neighbors whose houses I can't see or who I have never met and I have no idea about them. I am going to put flyers out as soon as the wind dies down.

Good news is he peed in the litter box, twice!! Woot! No poops yet but that doesn't worry me as much as pees. He is a very, very affectionate cat. He loves to snuggle and will nudge my hand continuously to get me to pet him. I know someone has to be missing him. Considering the rural nature I just don't know how long to give it? Tim stopped yesterday at the closest convenient store and looked at their bulletin board to see if anyone had put up flyers. Nada. All of the "closest" vets are 17-20+ miles away but I may take flyers around. My vet said they would put up a flyer for me and considering they are the only feline only vet for a pretty large radius there is a chance that he belongs to a client of theirs. But most people out here don't vet their cats the way most of us would. Sad, but true. You know, the groomer at my vet lives about 3 miles down the road, maybe I can get in touch with her.

At any rate I can tell you that both Chunk and Doc, particularly Doc, are not pleased with his scent on my clothes and in the house. When I first grabbed the cat I put him in the bathroom Doc has been in until I could get the trailer warmed and ready. Doc meowed through night Thursday/Friday morning. Last night I removed my clothes when I came in and did not allow Doc to smell them and he didn't yowl at all.

[Tina B and crew]

Upon closer inspection I am wondering if this guy hasn't been out there longer than I first thought. I looked closer at his paw pads and while they aren't nearly as rough as Doc's were they are certainly dirty and kind of cracked looking. They are definitely NOT like Chunk and Lucy's pads, which are soft and smooth. More like a cat that has been outside on a regular basis. His nails were dirty (although he did let me clip them) as well, although I know that doesn't take long. He's skinnier than he looks. His ribs and his spine are definitely palpable ad are the wings of his ilia. He's not emaciated by any stretch of the imagination, but he's not been overfed either. The way he ate the first night he was here told me he was hungry. Since being fed regularly he is no longer scarfing his food down like that. I already mentioned numerous mats in his fur, although I know they don't take long in cats with long fur...but a few of them were really matted tight and close to the skin.

Anyway, he is definitely a clinger. He follows me like mad! Any opportunity to get on my lap and he's there, tucking his little head into the crook of my elbow and making biscuits on my lap. He hasn't showed much interest in playing until now but boy did he have a time "chasing the string" before I fed him dinner! He's been dubbed "Mr. Precious" by some other online friends of mine because I was joking with someone who lives in New Zealand when she said "I'll take him!" that if she paid my airfare and we arranged it around the time of The Hobbit premier then she had a deal. If only!