How to help a sick stray kitty

Take it from me: I’ve tried and failed to help a sick cat, and then I did research and learned the right way, spelled out here. Earlier posts (last one Sat., Oct. 9) sketched the story of Sally and us, which began in late September. A gruesome experience in every way.

The link below leads to the story that appeared last Tuesday in the Princeton Packet, intended as a public service. But just in case the link ever dies/goes bad, I’m reprinting the last couple paragraphs here so readers can’t help but know what they should do if they’re in a similar situation.

***** On balance, considering all the info amassed and weighing the pros and cons, this recommendation: if you want to help a needy kitty, call the [non-emergency] police number. They’ll involve the ACO [animal control officer], who takes it from there.

Your job then is to keep in close touch with animal control, stressing your desire for the cat to live, to be checked by a vet and impounded for the seven days required. If she bit anyone and/or if rabies is suspected, that seven-day period can extend to the 10-day observation period.

Your vigilance should prevent animal control from acting unilaterally. “Trust but verify.” *****

(http://centraljersey.com/articles/2010/11/03/the_princeton_packet/lifestyle/doc4cd191b688ae6853243571.txt)
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What would YOU do?

As you back out of a parking space behind the ice cream shop, you see a very thin, sick-looking cat sitting a few cars away, illuminated by a street light. She’s not anyone’s pet, at least now, and therefore needs help from someone else.

You get out the bag of cat treats you carry in your car and walk slowly toward the cat, who backs up onto the curb area, watching you. As you make the s-s-s-s-s-s-s sound that gets cats’ attention, and hold out a few yummies, she comes toward you in a stop and go kind of way, seeming interested and yet wary.

Two or three times, she comes very close to you, then seeming to regret her advance, nips your wrist and jumps back. (At the time, you think she swiped you with her claw; later it turns out she was declawed in front. So it must have been her teeth that drew blood in a few places.)

She follows you along the curb to a tree, where she eats numbers of the snacks, seeming not to have eaten for days and days. You start back to your car, where your husband, who’s driving, waits. (He had also urged you not to approach the cat, not to feed her and certainly not to try picking her up.)

The cat – looking to be a yellowish and gray tabby -- follows you to the car and seems ready to get in. So you pick her up and she settles down in your arms. Your husband drives away and the two of you try to figure out where-to now.

* Faced with the situation described above, what would YOU do, and how and why? In a post to come, I’ll pick up this story about what we – my husband and I and the cat -- did.
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