Stray cats

RE: Stray cats

Clive Ansell — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:44:16 GMT

[quote user="Chris Geddes"]

[quote user="Rach"]especially if they haven’t put in the effort to get it microchipped[/quote]

That's a tad harsh. Microchips can fail.

[/quote]

I'm with Rach on this. We will scan for a microchip, but if not found there is little more we can do other than the usual social media etc. I wonder how many strays have a failed microchip compared to those that don't have one? As a profession we are not responsible for reuniting stray animals and owners.

Where I am working at the moment, it is practice policy not to admit healthy stray cat, we scan for a chip and send it on its way. Sick ones are admitted and given a basic level of emergency care, or euthanased.

That said; I took one in Wednesday afternoon, elderly neutered male, underweight, dilated pupils with no PLR, profuse watery diarrhoea, +++ drinking and fairly sure I can palpate a small (1cm or so) central abdominal mass. As he doesn't seem in distress I have suggested keeping for 2-3 days to allow an owner to come forward, with a view to PTS tonight as no weekend cover. However, colleagues have intervened and taken over (I'm just a locum after all) and cannot palpate the mass (maybe there isn't one, who knows??). It is now going to kept for a minimum 7 days with a possibility of bloods being run on Monday, which will mean about £40 or so in nurse wages to come in and attend to it over the weekend (+ bloods to Idexx if they are done) - boss ain't gonna be a happy chap when he is back next week!

RE: Stray cats

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:42:37 GMT

[quote user="An On MRCVS"]Do you have a practice policy about stray cats? Any rules against advertising a stray cat as found? (If no microchip).[/quote]We tend to just check for a chip and search our lost and found book and search Facebook for lost pets but don't post on it. Two extremes of this last week: one perfectly healthy cat MOP brought in found in the street and claimed it followed her home. Last time this happened the owner phoned two hours later and was very angry her cat had been kidnapped so we told her to take it back where she found it. Other was a dehydrated cachectic cat with severe FCV and URTI symptoms. We got a £50 PO from the RSPCA and put it on a drip, gave it supportive treatment and syringe fed it for 2 days with no signs of recovery. Local branch RSPCA weren't interested in taking it so we euthanased it on humane grounds. The £50 probably covered out costs if not time and there was the added risk of it infecting patients.

Mostly we keep healthy cats for 24 hrs and get the local CP or RSPCA branch to take them but there is a limit to how many anyone can cope with but they are a lot easier to keep in a cage for a few days than a dog.

[quote user="Sam"]Since this incident I try my very best not to take in healthy or uninjured strays.... as vets we have no legal right to do so as far as I am aware.[/quote]The problem with this is that the public then think you're cruel and uncaring. There is usually a fait accompli when they turn up in the waiting room and say 'I can't take it home I've got a cat/dog/child' and its fair enough really, they can't turn it loose so we end up with a moral responsibility to help. Fortunately the dog warden is usually very accommodating but I dread the ones that turn up 5 minutes before you're due to close, we don't really want a barking dog disturbing the neighbours all night if we keep it in. One of my nurses had to stay until 9pm one day waiting for the dog warden and she of course wanted to be paid for her time.

As a caring profession we want to help but we're the thin end of the wedge unfortunately and it does wear a bit thin at times. Of course this is often how we get our own pets!

RE: Stray cats

Chris Geddes — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:27:28 GMT

[quote user="Rach"]especially if they haven’t put in the effort to get it microchipped[/quote]

That's a tad harsh. Microchips can fail.

RE: Stray cats

Sam — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 15:48:06 GMT

We do our best to find the owner of any strays presented to us. However, after scanning for a microchip and looking through our lost and found book we tend to send them straight to a local rescue centre if they are not injured. Dogs will go straight to the dog warden if they are well.

We had a situation with a dog once which I took in when it was found running around on a busy road at school pick up time. The dog could have been injured, but more importantly it could have easily caused a traffic accident potentially injuring the parents and children outside the school.

I felt it was well within my duty of care to keep the dog safe (and prevent traffic accidents) until the owner was found. HOWEVER the owner turned out to be a police officer who accused me of illegally withholding his dog. (This was before the days of every dog having a microchip, so the owner only found out that we had his dog after several hours of his family searching for it and finally he got around to contacting the dog warden whom we had notified)

I needed the VDS to help with this one as he would have been happy to prosecute and apparently to my surprise the law would have been on his side!

Since this incident I try my very best not to take in healthy or uninjured strays.... as vets we have no legal right to do so as far as I am aware.

RE: Stray cats

Braden Collins — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 00:28:36 GMT

We're lucky in that out local council will take strays. We used to put them on Facebook until we had two people trying to claim the same cat. It turned into such a nightmare we just send them to the council now.

RE: Stray cats

Rach — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 23:41:16 GMT

Not sure if there is a written policy, but generally...

Have lost/found book, note down details as to where found etc, check for chip (2 people, 2 different scanners if none found). Check details back against lost section of lost/found book.

Usually details go on Facebook, but I have a vague recollection that we stopped doing this because someone complained that their pet was listed as stray, and they were offended, but I’m not sure.

We wouldn’t ring other vets unless it had recent evidence of surgery or similar and we thought the practice might be able to identify it. Although we do the above, I don’t see that it’s our responsibility as vets to make an active effort to locate the owners, especially if they haven’t put in the effort to get it microchipped. We have enough responsibility without taking that on our shoulders too!

R.e. The euthanasia, if needs Euthasing asap then would do so, with careful notes, and agreement of two vets (I did this OOH on my own once and recorded the condition of the cat just in case there was any fallout when the owner was identified, there wasn’t, fortunately). Otherwise keep for 7days then to CPL or RSPCA for rehoming, or if indicated euthanised, again with two vets in agreement.

RE: Stray cats

Joyce Whitehead — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 22:19:41 GMT

Yes this would be our policy too, to advertise on social media- mostly an owner turns up this way. Being rural people may be registered at a practice some distance away, and may not know all the practices in an area!

RE: Stray cats

Jenny Harris — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 21:50:11 GMT

We normally put it on our practice Facebook page and the local lost and found pets Facebook page.