Last night our kids found a small black cat in our garden. She has a collar but it's scratched up and there are no details on it. The kids gave her some water and dry food as she looked very hungry and she wolfed down both. Our own cat rarely drinks water (or not in front of us) so she was presumably quite dehydrated in the hot weather.
The kids immediately fell in love with her, of course. We thought she might be gone this morning but she was still in the garden. DH and DD took her to the vet this morning to see if she had a microchip and for a check over. It turns out she is ok but less than a year old.
Apparently, if noone claims her in 7 days, she's ours, and should be chipped and (though I don't know if the vet said this) i guess neutered. Apparently the vet couldn't tell if that had already happened.
The children are doing posters for the local area today, and we will put details on local Facebook groups, but we're not sure what else to do to find her home?
We also have the issue of getting our cat (10 years old) to accept a new cat staying, even if only for a short while. We could leave the new one in the garden for now while the weather's ok - we already put out a blanket and a box for her to sleep in last night (short notice option), but is that terrible? I just feel we need to be careful our own cat isn't put out by being invaded in any way especially if it is only going to be for a few days. He goes out whenever we have human visitors and was rarely seen when DS was a baby, so is easily disturbed.
Also is there anything particular about female cats we should be aware of while we have her (other than the risk of pregnancy)?We've only ever had a male cat.
She is adorable and the kids are besotted but understand she may have a loving family somewhere missing her terribly.