Hi Pettalk, its been a long time! I don't know if anybody remembers me, but I thought I would post here, looking for some words of wisdom.

One week ago, the sweetest cat ever showed up on our front porch. The family room's windows were open, and I could hear her mewing. I went out, and she immediately took to me, purring, and desperately wanting inside. We left for Church and were gone for 5 hours, and came home and she was still sitting there. The whole day she just sat there. She eventually came around to the side of the house, and laid in the carport and slept. Again, any time we opened the door she would try desperately to get inside.

I put out some water for her, and she was starving thirsty. I didn't want to put food out b/c I didn't want to distract her from going home. I managed to take her (haha, this was an ordeal!) two miles to get her checked for a microchip, but there was none.

The next morning, I got her some food and she was sooo starved. And that night, I finally let her inside. We have put signs up in our neighborhood, left information at the local Petsmart, talked to 12-15 neighbors personally, inquired at four local vets. From what I understand, there is no local animal shelter, just a huge animal control about 20 miles from here that handles this area. I am a little nervous to call them b/c on their website it says that they prefer to have all strays surrendered, and then if nobody claims them, you can get them back but you have to pay the fees. I don't really feel like that is an effective way to reconnect this kitty with her owners.

I was just wondering if anybody had other ideas on how to reconnect her with her family? She was obviously well loved, very tame and gentle, litter box trained etc. She has a collar on, but no tags. And at what point can we go ahead and name her and adopt her into our family? My girls desperately want to name her, but I have put it off because I don't want to get too attached quite yet.