What do I do with this stray cat? 😔 (feeling defeated)
I’ve had this stray at my job that I’ve known for 3 years and we’re super bonded. He’s lived outside for atleast 8 years but he’s so affectionate he must have been someone’s cat at some point. He’ll meow just to be pet, even will a full food bowl. He got so skinny that I made the decision to (after potentially too much gabapentin) trap him and put him in a crate to take him to the vet. Im keeping him in my bathroom and while I’m with him in the bathroom he’s incredibly affectionate, but while I’m away he meows so loudly. I know he isn’t very happy being away from his last home. I was able to get him used to my husband and let him pet him with a couple hours of me coaxing and encouraging.
Where he lived there’s so much wildlife that it was hard to feed him without ants/wasps/ravens/raccoons coming in to eat his food. He’s not very aggressive I’ve never seen him chase any other animal he just runs away. I have him on a dewormer and I’m trying to fatten him back up but I absolutely CANNOT keep him. I have 3 cats in a small apartment so no one would be happy about it. I’ve contacted every group that I know of in SD and no facility wants to take a ‘senior stray’. I wouldn’t really want to through him in a shelter or a room full of other cats anyway because that would be so stressful for him too. I want to find him a home but it seems like there’s so many cats who need a home. I’d also need someone who is patient enough to take the time to gain his trust as he’s very scared of new people. I thought about bringing him back to where he lived and giving him a little shelter etc but I really don’t know if I’d be able to trap him again if I did find him a home.
Anyways, I know that I had to trap him initially and take him to the vet, but where do I go from here? Should I keep trying to find him a home? I might get transferred to a different work location and my heart would break not knowing if he was okay or not.
I also cannot take him to the vet without gabapentin plus they sedating him which makes me think maybe he would be ‘too much’ for someone to have as a pet, but he’s soooo loving!