What to do with a stray cat?

rangss

Never feed a stray cat if you are not planning to adopt it. Cats lose their ability to hunt food rather easily. They would wait for you to feed them again and rather die this way than hunt again. I fed a stray cat once long ago at my house. Soon I shifted to a new house. My former neighbours found the cat starved to dead at the doorstep of the house....

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...and I took the road less travelled.

Nick-H

I remember being sedated to the eyeballs (with gas) in the days when they gave a general to pull teeth out. It was a nightmare. OTOH I didn't mind a 3-hour operation, and was high/dopey on the drugs for days afterwards, so, yes, who knows?

But particularly for a feral cat with little previous experience of being carried in a box etc. Wouldn't be surprised if it scarpered as soon as it was let out.

... ... ... And yes, Python fans, I know: I was lucky to have gas, you got a stone on the back the head; etc, etc, etc, etc.

Not that I'm one to discourage a good joke in a serious thread

machadinha

Seraph, as I'm sure you'll have found out by now you got a cuddly kitten on your hands, not a vicious wild monster, so I wouldn't worry about that aspect. (Wild adult cats you can't handle or keep but they won't let you so the point is academic.)

I'm not surprised you say that the doctor you saw dealt more with cattle, it's often like that in the tropics and pets often just aren't on people's top priorities list. Find another vet to examine it and get it immunized.

If you decide to take care of it of course you sort of take it on yourself to find it a good home if you leave. If you want to take it back home with you enquire well ahead with your airline company who can tell you about the costs + regulations. I'm not aware of any quarantaine scheme in the States, if its papers are in order there shouldn't be a problem, a friend of mine moved back there with her cat albeit not from India I admit. I'm sure the flight is no great fun for it but again it'll be sedated and a happy life with you after that would make up for it right, people fly with their pets all the time.

Good luck with it + let us know how the cat comes along. And ps yes get it housebroken and teach it to poop outside or on a cat box and keep baby from eating its doodoo, also from getting into fights with it (pulling its tail etc.)

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Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links

tukat

As a cat lover I feel for you wondering what to do about the kitten. I'm hoping you can find a more sympathetic vet & a new home for it when you leave India. I was very dismayed by the way most Indians think about and treat cats. Seeing the feral cats over there or anywhere just breaks my heart.

Merchant

Love your tag line, tukat!

tukat

Thanks! I've been studying to be an Indian for years now!


Have you heard?: ABCDEFG?

American Born Confused Desi Emigrated From Gujurat!

Merchant

Someone has worked out the whole alphabet for that:

American Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, Housed In Jersey, Keeping Lotsa Motels, Named Omkarnath Patel, Quickly Reached Success Through Underhanded Vicious Ways,Xenophobic Yet Zestful.

seraph

Thanks for all the responses! I have to say that you all raised many excellent points which helped us in making our decision. In the end we decided that it was better to be cautious and “released” the cat before it became too attached to us or us to it. Nonetheless, I have to say that we were already pretty attached and feel pretty crappy about the decision.

In the end, we decided that our primary responsibility (of course) is to our daughter and we were not willing to take a chance that the cat was sick. It didn’t help that, even though we kept them separate, our daughter woke up with a slight fever this morning (which no doubt is unrelated). While we had already made our decision, this clinched it.

Since I work in fishing villages (around Chilika), I took the cat to one and let her go there. I figured that since they dry fish and prawn everywhere, this is the closest thing to cat heaven in this corner of the tropics. There are many other cats there and literally mounds of dry and drying fish everywhere. Since I visit this village regularly, I also hope I might see it again.

PRIYA

Ahhhhhhhh poor kitty, but I guess that's kitty karma!!

Guess you were really brave letting it go seraph - dunno whether I could've done it. I just hope it's happy and has a good life.

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Happiness is for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched and those who have tried. For only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives. (Anon.)