I’m a dog person; in fact, I think all my family has always had dogs, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love all animals. In the last year or so, I have seen wholesome stories of stray cats adopting public places as their forever home. This idea for a post came about when I was looking for uplifting stories to blog about, and the story of George, the cat popup, came to mind. He was a stray cat who chose a university as his forever home. This is something that became a win-win for students and George alike since students.
From my research, I learnt that just last year, over 2,200 cat feeders registered with the government to be licensed, and over 36,000 cats were fed with this scheme. Considering that Malta is a small island, I was surprised by the numbers. My aim for this post is to have a clue about what to do in case I encounter a stray who needs my help. I found an article with some vet-approved, so, in a way, I’m writing a simple guideline that I can keep in mind.
Set up outside shelters:
Using materials suitable for the outside climate, like wood boxes and straw, could provide warmth and protection during bad weather. (Ideally, with some stand so that the shelter is off the ground and more secure.)
Provide food and water:
Like most beings, cats need more food in winter when temperatures are harsh; therefore, they need to consume more food for energy and warmth protection. In places where the temperatures freeze, small water heaters can be handy.
Look under your car before you drive:
Cats love to find places to hide since that’s how they feel safe. Here, we see cats under cars more in Summer due to the boiling days. Outside of injuries, when an animal tries to cross the street in traffic, cats and dogs get hurt the most because drivers do not know that an animal is under the car; therefore, it gets run over.
Volunteer at a shelter:
Life is super expensive nowadays, and many people don’t have the money to give away. Giving your time is a priceless act. On top of that, spending time with animals can benefit your physical health by lowering your heart rate and mental health since animals don’t judge who you are as a person like society does.
Alex
Mybookworld24 
A little over a year ago, we started putting food out in our back yard, for a neighborhood cat (not a stray, he lives across the street from us), whom we had seen frequently in our back yard. Not too long after that a stray feral started coming in there and eating, too. As winter approached, we bought a little house to put next to our back yard, and put a heating pad in it. The stray (we named her “Fluffy”) started staying in the house. She disappeared for a week or so, but came back. With two kittens! Those kittens still come around with two of their own kittens. They won’t let us touch them, yet, but they look healthy and spend a lot of time in our back yard. (The first two kittens became “Sam” and “Junie,” and their kittens are “Tippy” and “Mittens.” They had a third, we named “Greytail,” but he died.)
We also have a couple of solid black cats that show up, in addition to a few random others. And we see raccoons quite a bit, opossums, and even an occasional fox! We have a camera in the back yard so we get to watch them all a lot.
The interesting thing is that we do not live in the country or a remote area. We are a suburban neighborhood of Fort Worth, TX. Oh, and we now give the neighborhood cat (the one that started all of this, named “Nommie”) treats on our front porch. LOL!
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Just awesome
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Wonderful post. Just great.
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