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How to recognize a cat that needs help.
This post is intended to educate the ignorant, or inform the rightous. As a result, I will ask the admins to disable comments on the post, or I’ll do it myself if they don’t. Any comments that make it onto the the post should be deleted.
I had to delete the original, and repost this, due to the high number of people who thought we all needed their opinion. Not to mention several people who were admitting to criminal behaviour in a public forum. Folks, admitting to committing a felony, in a public forum, is a really bad idea.
Many of you think that cats are indoor only pets, but not everyone shares your opinion, and the fact of the matter is that they are *not* only indoor pets, even if you think that they should be. Not only are some outdoor pets, but some are feral, living in the wild.
The point of the post, is that you should be able to recognize an animal in distress, over one that is just doing something you don’t agree with, like walking around outside.
Yes, I am aware of Barrie’s by-laws, however, they don’t match the reality of life in the city, and whether I agree with them, or not, is irrelevant.
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Would people stop assuming that a cat that comes by your house, is a stray, hungry or even lost please?
Cats are domesticated, but still essentially wild animals that happen to be pets for humans, they roam, they are supposed to, and they are opportunists, they will eat whatever you put out for them, and it doesn’t mean they are starving.
If the cat is not in obvious distress, leave it alone, don’t let it in, and don’t feed it.
How do you tell?
A Stray cat is an indoor cat that ran away, or got lost. They will usually be skinny (they are not used to hunting for themselves), with an unkempt/grungy coat (it will be obvious). They may be afraid of people, but hang out near them. That is a cat that needs help. See if you can find the owner.
An Outdoor cat is a cat that is owned by someone, and has a home it goes back to. They will most likely be friendly, and may come up to you for scratches. They will have a clean well kept coat. And often a collar (but not always, it could be lost or not bothered with).
A Feral cat will also have a nice clean coat, as they are used to being out on their own, but they will probably not come near humans, and will be very skittish if they do.
All of them will eat food you leave out, but so might other local critters, which is not a good thing.
Here is a good site with more detail:
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