Can You Help Me, Please?

Almost every day, PAWS is contacted through our Humane Response Line, social media, or a call to our office by someone concerned about finding a home for a cat in need. Some of these cats are strays. In other cases, the owner can no longer care for the cat due to illness or moving. And sometimes, another shelter is out of space and needs our help. In all cases, a strict protocol is followed to ensure the best outcome for the cat.

Each call is unique and some result in more of an adventure for us than others. The first thing we do is try to get as much information as possible from the contact person. Generally, if the cat's owner is surrendering the cat, it is pretty easy to learn the cat's age, general health, immunization status, and personality. If the cat is a stray, however, it is a whole other matter. The reporter usually knows nothing about the cat except that it has been hanging around for a while or maybe is injured and needs immediate help.

Now it is time to get the cat. Our Intake Manager makes arrangements with the contact and, depending on the situation, she or a team of volunteers will go get the cat. You never know what you will find when you get there. Perhaps the cat needs to be trapped. Some cats are easy to trap while others use every trick in the book to avoid it. These elusive cats may require several attempts to catch them. 

Sometimes the contact person has been able to get the cat in a carrier so picking it up is a simple handoff. In other cases, a litter of kittens has been abandoned by their mother and time is of the essence since very young kittens won't survive if they aren't fed and kept warm. Cats coming in from another shelter due to lack of space are usually delivered to our office. Often, these cases involve several kittens and the intake process takes on a whole new dimension.

Once we have the cat, the first thing we have to do is ensure its safety. If the cat is really scared, it may be left for a while to settle down before doing any hands-on evaluation. An injured cat may need immediate medical attention and will be taken directly to the vet. Others are brought to the office for an intake evaluation where it is weighed, its approximate age is determined, the eyes are checked, gums are checked and the general health and hydration of the cat are observed. Every cat is given a name, an ID number and is photographed.

During this introductory period, the intake person tries to get a sense of the cat's personality. Is it friendly? Is it aggressive or just scared when it growls at you? How does it react when there are other cats nearby? While it is hard to assess these personality traits on the fly, it is helpful to have a general sense of the cat's behavior when deciding on the best foster placement.

If the cat is a stray, it will be checked for a microchip and all attempts are made to reunite it with its owner. Our social media team posts the found cat on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Our Intake Manager, Nancy, is an ace sleuth and goes to great lengths to reunite a cat with its family. Sometimes, we find that a cat was re-homed and the microchip information is still registered to the original owner. It may take several contacts, sometimes over a wide geographic area, to find the current owner. If an owner is not located, the cat will remain in the foster home until a suitable adopter is found. 

When we get a large group of cats and kittens, a team of volunteers is brought in and the intake looks like an assembly line. Each one is evaluated and usually given initial vaccinations. They may be divided into several groups that will go to different foster homes. While in foster care, they will be socialized, receive routine vet care, get spayed or neutered when they are old enough and then be made available for adoption.

If a surrendered cat is up-to-date with vaccinations and has received routine vet care, it will generally be ready for adoption immediately. However, stray cats usually require more intervention before they can be adopted. They receive a check-up at VCA Wakefield Animal Hospital, are prophylactically treated for possible parasites, and given age-appropriate vaccinations such as rabies and distemper. All cats are also tested for the feline diseases FIV and FeLV must be spayed or neutered before they can be adopted.