Hi everyone, hope some of you "catties" can help me. I seem to have been adopted by what looks like a young cat (maybe just older than a kitten),very scared & all skin & bones. Found out I had a cat because had put hedgehog food down & put it away & noticed said cat scarfing it as quickly as possible so put separate food & water away from hedgehog. Only feed cat once a day - wet, dry & water. Is this enough or should it be twice. Sorry it's so long winded. Chris
Question about cats: Hi everyone, hope... - Positive Wellbein...
Positive Wellbeing During Self-Isolation
9,738 posts•
Question about cats
Written by
Ilovebunnies
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.
33 Replies
•
Have you talked to the Veterinarian about the diet for the cat?
Some cats aren't as lucky as our extremely spoilt ginger tabby baby who is 16!
bobbybobbAmbassador
If the cat eats all the wet food, I would leave some dried food, later in the day with plenty of water. Have you asked about to see if it belongs to anyone or do you believe it to be a stray. 😊😊
We have no cats around here, I honestly think it had been dumped / and / or mistreated. It's very skittish but is getting used to me as it will sit on the garage roof (just above my head) & watch me filling the bowls up. Its not skin & bones any more but still small. Would love to have it as an indoor cat but would set my asthma off & probably hospitalize me, so it will have to stay outdoors. I don't know where it goes either before or after getting fed but it appears to have been playing in my back garden with a catnip mouse I bought. If it stays around I will get a weatherproof house for it. Chris
Bless you. If you get a outdoor pet house, please make sure it has a place to enter and a second for an exit.
Oh dear Chris. If it’s not your cat you shouldn’t really be feeding it. I am a member of a local cat rescue fb page and cats are going missing every day and the owners are frantically trying to find them and beg people not to feed a cat if it’s not theirs. Is the cat chipped? Also you could contact rspca and they will look after the cat until it’s in good health and if it’s not chipped you could give the cat a home. Are you on fb where you can see if you have a local group near you. The person does have to prove it’s their cat and you wouldn’t just hand the kitten to anyone. Ali 💚
• in reply toAgoodenough
That's a really good point Ali! Someone may be pining for their pet. The only problem is, if it's scared, and starving, it will just go off and hide, and it won't be possible to catch it. And in that case it definitely needs the help of the RSPCA to catch it with a loop or trap it to find out if it's chipped. Looking at our local branch's website, it looks as if they are contactable during the pandemic, but there's a request for donations which says they are 'stretched to the limit' at the moment.👍
Agoodenough• in reply to
We have a fb group and the person who runs it isn’t from a charity and she has a scanner and flies around all over the town if there is a problem with a cat so maybe there is a similar group. If it’s not chipped or registered missing then it’s great it’s found a home. Our rspca is definitely available in the pandemic so maybe if no one knows the cat is missing then fine keep feeding it but if it’s someone’s cat then if Chris keeps feeding it they will know where to find it. I don’t know, just a thought💚
When a cat appeared at our backdoor - we fed it, as it looked starving. We did find the owner, who collected it. It re-appeared in our garden and stayed for years. Apparently he had fallen out with his brother.
Hi Ilovebunnies,
How kind of you to be so concerned. As not only a cat lover, but a cat owner for many, many years, I'd say that if it's really skinny, two meals a day aren't too much. I've taken in a few strays in my time and they will eat voraciously at first. The only thing to watch out for is not overfilling a tiny belly with too much at a time. If a kitty has been starved it can cause stomach and intestinal pain, and because it's really hungry, it won't know when to stop.
If you want the cat to adopt you, I'd even say put out smaller amounts of food four or five times a day, to encourage it to realise that you are a friend.
• in reply to
Not all cats are as lucky as kazar!
• in reply to
This is absolutely true catgirl1976 and just like a lot of human beings Kasar is completely oblivious to how good he has it! 😄😸
• in reply to
Kasar is the Bengal version of our very spoilt ginger tabby baby!
Well done on looking after it. Have you tried to pick it up? Just thinking you could take it to the vets to see if it's chipped, if not would you be able to adopt it yourself?
We have had an "adopted" cat for 5 years. It's my the back door every morning and spends a lot of time in our garden. It has such a lovely personality. I've often found it on my bed, if I've left the door open. I believe it is someones pet, but we think of "her" as ours. I often give her leftover meat and buy a bag of cat treats every so often.😊
If this cat is so scared and thin it is certainly not being missed by anyone, unless it has been trapped in somewhere like a shed or a garage. I would definitely feed it and water it but not let it in the house (not that you can.) Ask your local shops to put an advert in their windows. Speak to a vet and ask their advice. If no response from anyone after that. Make it a nice comfortable sleeping place under a porch or somewhere our of the weather and ask friends/family for someone to take care of it. Failing that a local cat rescue society or cats protection league. I personally, wouldn't contact RSPCA.
Hi. So nice of you to care for the cat. Feed twice a day. Preferably wet cat food. Feed at least 85 grams each time ( usually 1 pouch) and if the cat is underweight then more if you can ( up to 6 pouches a day.)
The cat probably needs worming. This can be done later when the cat has put in weight. You can use a tablet crushed into food for this. It would be wise to seek the advice of the Cats Protection Organisation if you live in UK. If not then there must be a similar organisation where you live. The cat may be owned and microchipped but lost, or it may be feral .
If you feed it regularly then it will start to trust you and become more tame. If you feed dry food then always leave water out. Dry food is higher in carbs but is less healthy than wet food, especially if the cat is diabetic ( many cats Can have a tendency towards this later in life). Or it can cause kidney problems ( depending on the type of dry food used).
Good luck 😻
We have a rescue cat who is feed twice a day, he has go cat in the morning to pick at through the day. In the evening he has a pouch of Felix. He loves cat sticks when we got him we put him in a room that was used very little and left him to choose how much he wanted to socialize, it's took a year for him to come to sit with us. It was the cat sticks that won him over. He had been in the shelter for two years and was found sadly with his owner who had passed away, but he's really affectionate now two years on .
Hello Chris
Are you thinking of adopting the cat ? If not please contact the Cats Protection or the RSPCA to get it re homed
Sorry I don't mean to sound bossy 🙄It's just I'm a huge cat lover and this puss needs to be in a loving home with a happy life ahead of it
It also will need a health check
It's lucky to have found you and you care I feed my cat twice a day but then she tells me I have to 😂
My first port of call would be to take the cat to the vets and get it scanned to see if it's chipped (if it has an owner). Can often wander & lose their bearings. If the cat isn't microchipped, the vet will be able to give you advice on vaccinations, getting it neutered (depending on its age) & feeding it. So many street cats & those left behind have adopted me as their 'cat Mum'. Good luck with this 'fur-baby'.
It certainly does look like you've been adopted by the young cat,and thank you for your concern for the little mite,if you could take it to the vet to check for a chip that would be brilliant,if chipped it could be returned to the owners, assuming that they want him/her,or the vet could let you know the nearest animal sanctuary,for the cat's sake it needs an owner who could let in the house, especially in the winter months,hope this helps 🤗
I would feed the cat multiple times per day until it reaches normal weight. As it becomes more tame and trusting I would have it seen by a veterinarian. Dry food is just as good nutritionally as canned and will not spoil as quickly outdoors. I have my cat Rocky who came to us 12 years ago in similar fashion. I practiced veterinary medicine for close to 50 years and your questions were often asked. Enjoy your new friend.
Leave clean/fresh water available 24/7
I could have written this myself! I too have been adopted by a young cat after feeding a hedgehog I had seen in garden! He/she would wolf down sachet after sachet of wet foood but I now give 1 to 2 sachets per day and keep dry around as well. Its been proven that cats have 2,5 homes and they choose us. 
Congratulations! I believe you’ve been selected as a surrogate parent and on your way to having a family member that will give you as much love as you give her. If you intend on keeping her your 1st course of action show be a trip to the Veterinarian. They’ll check her out and give her her needed vaccinations. The Veterinarian can also advise on best cat food to use. (But not necessarily the cheapest.) Make sure your new “kid “ always has fresh, clean water. (Contrary to popularize belief, do not give her milk!) And, then besides the obvious (If she is to be an indoor feline.) she’ll need toys; catnip is always appreciated, too!
And lastly but NO least, have a great time with her!
I bet the cat would love to eat a ton of food twice a day for awhile till it fattened up a bit.
If you’re in U.K. contact Cats Protection League for help and advice. It will need neutering eventually especially if it’s female. Keep feeding it though. It needs your kind of help and kindness
I feed my cat twice a day. Are you going to adopt him into your home?
I think you're doing the right thing to feed the cat since it's starving. They do like to nibble on dry food all day. You could find out later after Covid-19 calms down if it is someone's lost pet. You could take a picture with your phone, or just described it, and put a poster around the neighborhood. I had a cat hanging around my house in Arizona. He was pretty bedraggled looking but very friendly oh, I put him in a large cage and fed him for a week. Then he escaped and I felt sad because he was a really pretty Maine Coon big cat! Lo and behold a week later he came back and he was rolling around in my driveway on his back like a l love bug. Then he just stayed with me. One day a man came by in a truck from down the street and he said that I stole his cat! He also said he needed special medicine and that it was his daughter's cat. So I brought the cat out and showed him and he said oh no it wasn't that big! I was pretty sure this was the cat he was looking for. Later the cat had a serious UTI infection. It cost me $800 to save him. Then he had to have special food, which Purina sells now UTI formula. I started thinking about that and then I said this must have been his cat because he needed special food. He said it wasn't and I still have the cat ten years later. He is an amazing cat and his name is Kool Kat. He cost me a lot of money but he's worth it, he's my best friend. He is also a very good hunter and now I live in town so he's not able to hunt like he used to. But he is a happy old man. I wish I could post a picture but can't figure out how to do that. Good luck with your new friend kitty.
Hi, I have put information on Facebook about the cat but no colour as I don't want anyone taking it without being the owner. Had one reply but it was the wrong colour cat, his was ginger & this one is a now beautiful tabby. Have talked to our local animal shelter & they reckon it's a feral just past kitten stage ad very small. I put wet food out morning & night ( wasn't interested at noon) but keep dry food & water topped up. Animal shelter will come when Covid 19 is over as I am shielding, they will try & catch it to see if it has a chip & get it fixed etc & give back to me. Yippee- I will be so happy about that. Chris.
I fed my kitties only dry twice a day and a lot of 😺 treats. One or two were smart enough to recognize kitty treat jar on my stove. While I was sleeping, managed to tip over ceramic container and get lid off. They had a feast. But didn't break ceramic container. I'm sure they were talking to eachother to decide who would have to say "I didn't do that" also.🐱
Mine can't get to cat treats or catnip as I leave them stuff up in the summerhouse. Also found that he will eat either jelly or gravy cat pouches but will not each fish varieties, even dry food, which is good because hedgehog can't have anything fishy. Also found out he won't eat expensive cat food only shops own brand - Tesco or Asda, haven't shoppedin others yet
The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.
Not what you're looking for?
You may also like...
Cats and dogs
I told my wife I had a job in a bowling alley. She said 'Tenpin?' I said, 'No, permanent.
.
.
A...
Cats and capitals - for Vittorio
I have a cat,
He's an uppercase cat,
He gets my attention
Whatever I'm at,
If I'm typing a letter,...
When Did Something Unexpectedly GOOD Happen?
We have sayings for when unexpectedly bad things happen to us: "When it rains, it pours" and "Bad...
Oh aren't animals funny
I was putting water in the can from the water butt and our daft cat decided he would get his head...
Alright Let’s start the week with some Good News: Sonya got visitor 😽😻
We got company 🤗. Lucy is my neighbor’s cat, she sometimes came by and hung out with Sonya. She’s...
No room for me again
Hair Washing, the old fashioned way... NOT too Disastrous! 
At last I have a cat again
What's anyone done today