Dropped and Found

so I live in the middle of the Country... i moved in with my bf and his family end of August. they have 3 other cats besides my kitty Zoey.. well 2 of them showed up as strays looooooong time ago... well heres the story, last week sometime me and Kyle got home, I got by the end of his moms truck and something ran all the way across the street (You could see its prints because there was alota snow) it ran quite a ways.. it was a kitty. at first I thought it was Zoey cuz It looked dark and it was about Zoeys size.. well few days went by and we seen nothing of that cat.. Yesterday mornin it was on our backporch on top of the Pop cans tryin to keep warm, You could tell it was freezin.I felt soo bad for the poor little thing.. well Kyle called his mom and shes like well put it in the Garage out back but dont let your dad know we have it ( I guess they have brought in alot of strays behind his back at first lol but hes a sucker for animals too)... so Kyle got a cat bed, food and water and put it out there.. It about tore him up tho. it has a realllly loud Meow and its VERy scared. I felt soo bad for the poor thing. sometime durin yesterday his dad found out but was ok with it, and he took out a hot lamp to help keep it warm. so she is doing okay.. well everytime u go in there she will run and hid somewhere in the garage she is very scared.. then when she got close yOu can see something is wrong with her front left paw ( its hurt in someway because how she holds it) I am not sure of the sex, but for some reason I wanna call it a she. lol. its got a big tummy and we are hopin if it is female that is isnt pregnant.. it is like skin and bone its sad. but were tryin to fatten it up.. and also Yesterday whenKyles mom went out there, (were very careful around this cat) she was pettin her then out of the blue the cat bite her, good enough to draw blood.. but we think she done it jus cuz she was so scared. and Last night when I went out there afew other times she wouldnt even come to me. so I just left her alone. and Today she ran again. So i will give her time alone. I fell bad for it I hope it is doing ok. But I jus wanted to let you all know we found a cat and rescued it for now, and w hat should we do?

Make sure she has a nice safe place to stay warm, and keep up with the getting her used to you. Sit quietly and let her approach you, so she will learn to trust you.

A vet trip is in order, to make sure she/he is not carrying any communicable diseases, and what his/her health status is. Until then, make sure you wash your hands between any petting of her, and of the inside animals.

The kitty is lucky to have a heat lamp and kitty bed in this cold weather!

Karen has some very good points, but I also wanted to add...

If the cat has bitten someone keep it quaranteened (sp?) for 10 days to make sure it doesn't have rabies, and make sure the person bitten goes to the doctor, cat bites can get a nasty infection very quickly.

That big belly could be worms, or babies. Take Karen's suggestion and schedule a trip to the vet at the end of the quaranteen.

In the meantime, take a non frozen stool sample to the vet to test for worms.

Good luck.

I would suggest putting a trap in the garage, with the door tied open, and a blanket draped over it. This will give the cat a place to feel safe when you go in there. When you are ready to take it to the vet (soon, I hope) you can untie the door latch and catch the cat with less trauma to either the cat or yourself.

There are rescues that will loan you a trap; you just have to find one that has one available. To buy one is about $65.

Once you have seen the vet, give the cat a box just big enough to lay down in and lay the box on it's side. This way the cat can feel safe, but you can still see it. Then sit on the other side of the room with smelly food and talk to it. Stay as long as you can, and leave the food where you were sitting when you leave. It will take several days for the cat to come to you while you are sitting there. When it does, let it feed without touching for a couple of days. If it lets you pet it, do so only for a minute at a time to start.

Poor cat is scared! I'm glad you could give it shelter and food. Thank you so much!

Be sure to put a litter box out too.

another tip -

If the cat was not socialiesd to humans between the ages of 6 and 12 weeks, then it is not used to being petted. And petting can get it overstimulated, which is why you can pet it and suddenly get bit. Don't pet for more than 3 strokes, then stop. So it is a pleasurable experience. And over time the cat can get used to the feeling.

Good Luck with this lucky kitty!

thanks for all the info. and YEs we havea litter box out there too.. We are plannin on keepin it for now.

the cat is still doing well. though she did bite another one of us the other day, she has been eatin good. Shes been crapping alot too. and she is staying warm. We havent took her to a vet or anytying., I dont have the money right now too. THough she still hisses and will run if we come inthe door. Its takin her alota time to get use to us. We been givin her plenty of food.. Would it Be okay to give her some milk??

The cat probably has worms & should be wormed. You can get wormer from the veterinary. I had a cat dumped off last year that was skin & bones & very freightened of everything. She is still not trusting of us or other cats but is fat & sassy. Another thing if the cat has bitten someone that wound should be washed throughly. I was bitten by a cat once & ended up with blood poisoning & ended up in the ER receiving a penicllian shot & pills. It took a long time for the puncture wound to heal too. Cats have a lot of bad bacteria in their mouths that can harm humans. I do have a milk formulal given to me by our veterinary with lots of protein in it that may help the cat. Here goes 1/2 Cup Evaporated Milk, 1 egg Yolk, & 1 tsp. of Light Karo Syrup, you can add liquid vitamins to this formula also. I got some liquid cat vitamins at Wal Mart & added that also. I mix this formula up to feed motherless kittens. Also Bless You for taking this cat in. Be patient & work slowly around it.