Stray cats and kittens

What do I do?

1. It is safest for cats to be kept indoors with access to a secure enclosure/garden secured by oscillot or similar systems. Cats who roam freely face a number of serious threats - such as attacks by other cats, being run over and becoming lost – and live much shorter lives than those who are kept indoors (or have access to a secure enclosure)
2. If you see a cat wandering, check with neighbours to see if they know who it belongs to. If cat has a collar and tag, call the contact number on tag to check if cat is lost. If cat doesn’t have a tag, and appears to be lost/stray, contain the cat somewhere safe (again, bathroom/bedroom/laundry).
3. If the cat has kittens, or appears to have recently given birth (i.e. has prominent teats), leave the cat where it is. Take pictures of the cat, get details of the precise location, and contact a rescue ASAP.
4. If cat has serious injuries, please take to the vet ASAP. All vets will provide basic stabilizing care and pain relief in cases of critical injuries.   
5. If the cat appears to have minor injuries, contact a rescue asap to see if they can take the cat on and obtain vet assistance for it. 
6. If the cat is not injured, take clear pictures of it – its face, whole body, any particular markings. Post pictures and detailed description of cat (including suburb/street where found) on social media ‘lost and found’ pages. Most strays are a much-loved pet who has escaped or become lost and confused. Pets have been found years after going missing – both a short distance from their home, or hundreds of kilometres away! 
7. Take cat to your local vet clinic for them to be scanned for a microchip. If they have a microchip, the vet will contact the owner. Update your social media post to say where you have taken the cat.
8. If vets are closed, and the cat is not injured, please keep the cat somewhere safe and secure overnight. Provide clean water and a small amount of cat food (please be aware that if the cat is starving, food needs to be given in small amounts, so the cat does not eat too much – which can be life threatening). You can create a makeshift litterbox out of a shallow cardboard box filled with sand. 
9. Once you take to a vet, if the cat doesn’t have a microchip, the vet will either call the ranger or a local rescue. All shires have different laws regarding stray cats and most require for them to be held for a specific amount of time before surrendering to a rescue. Vets, rangers and rescues generally all work together to reunite lost cats, so please don’t be worried about giving the cat to the authorities – it results in much better outcomes than the cat being left to fend for itself on the streets, especially if it is injured!