If You Find A Stray

Please Rescue the Cat

If you see a cat that needs rescuing, please, do not hesitate to rescue it yourself. If it seems friendly, you can buy a carrier at most grocery, Target, or Wal-Mart stores if you're not near a pet store. Put some canned cat food, tuna, or sardines in the carrier and urge the cat into it. Do not try to pick the cat up or force it into a carrier. Never do anything that would put your well-being in danger. For help on dealing with skittish or feral cats, please consult one of the following resources:

Check For the Owner

Have the animal checked for a microchip. This can be done at your veterinarian's office or at your local animal shelter. Put up flyers, put a found ad in the newspaper (it's generally free), post on Facebook or other social media. Post the cat as "found" on PetFinder, Pets911 and other sites for lost/found pets. Call the SPCA and the local Animal Control offices to report it as found and post it online on their lost/found bulletin board through your county animal control.

What Not to Do With the Rescued Cat

Don't put it in with your own cats. This does NOT mean that you should not help the cat, it just means that you should do what we would do to minimize risks by isolating it in a bathroom or in a cage in a room that has ventilation and that you can close the door to. A cage or large carrier with food, water, a towel to sleep on, and a litter box (a plastic shoe box will work okay for a few days in a large carrier). If your cat has access to the cage or carrier, cover it with a sheet so if the new cat has symptoms of an upper respiratory infection, it will help reduce risk of exposure.

Getting Medical Care for the Rescued Cat

If the cat is not altered, please get it altered as soon as possible. There are a number of low-cost options, like http://safehavenforcats.org/spayneuter-clinic/,or http://snap-nc.org/. Your own vet may give you a discount for a rescued animal. Get the cat checked out by a vet as soon as possible, and get a "combo" test (for FIV and FeLV). Neither disease is a death sentence. We consider FIV to be almost a non-issue, but FeLV will require a few precautions. You can find much more information on these diseases on our website (www.calvinspaws.com).

Finding a Home

Once you’re sure that the cat you found is not being sought after as someone's lost pet, go to PetFinder and search on your zip code for a list of rescues and shelters in your area. Go to your local PetsMart and Petco stores on both Saturdays and Sundays to find out which adoption agencies do adoptions through that store. Ask about how you can register the cat in the program so you can find it a home. If you can foster the animal until it is adopted, it is much more likely that a rescue group can help you. Rescue groups have big hearts and take in as many cats as they can help. Each rescue group receives dozens of requests for help each week. Space in a foster home is hard to find when the demand for help is so high and offers to foster are so few.

I Want to ReHome My Own Cat/Dog

You have to realize first, that every rescue, adoption, or shelter in town is always 100 percent full. That's why we have such a huge number of animals executed on a daily basis--there are far more homeless, unaltered cats and dogs than there are families to adopt them. So the first thing we, or any other rescue agency will want to do is to see if there is a problem that might be resolved so that you can keep your pet. Please check out this site Link. For information and tips on behavioral problems for cats and dogs like housetraining issues, barking issues, shedding and grooming issues and a multitude of other issues.

Contact Us

Currently all of our foster homes are full. If you find a stray cat or kitten we will work diligently to place them in our program, but at this time we will ask that you foster the animal until we have space in our program. Fostering is a rewarding experience and wonderful way to help these animals. If you are unable to foster, you should try posting on Facebook or other social media sites and see if any of your friends could foster. If a space becomes available we will place the animal in our program and ask that a surrender/finder form be fill out. Please send all requests for assistance to info@calvinspaws.com.

Every day we get phone calls saying someone has seen a stray or abandoned cat...somewhere...and please go rescue it. Although we want to see every animal in a safe and happy environment, we are a small and dedicated group of volunteers (who would love you to join us). A few of us foster animals, and each of us has a full-time job. We pay for all the medical work for the cats we rescue through donations by kind individuals like yourself, through grants, and even out of our own pocket.