Stray cat question

[Jenyfer9]

Ok, so I'm not completely sure this cat is a stray, but he's (I'm just assuming it's a male, but I could be wrong) always out wandering the block. We have a couple that call our neighborhood "home". I have no problem with these cats being outside, they don't bother me at all. I don't know if they actually belong to someone and are just out all the time or if they just have made our neighborhood home. What bothers me now is the fact that one of these "strays" has a TERRIBLE limp. He's completely unable to use one of his back legs. This is a new development in the past 5 days or so. Now I don't know what to do. He's not comfortable enough around me or any one of the other neighbors that I speak to to actually come up to us (even with food), so I can't catch him to take him to a vet, and I don't know if it's even my place to take him to a vet (ie, he actually has an owner... but if he DOES have an owner, they obviously are ignoring this problem).

Do I call animal control? Who do I call?

[raz91]

I think you are right to call animal control. It sounds like that cat is really hurt. If the cat does have an owner, they are being grossly negligent. One issue to think about: animal control may also euthanize an injured adult feral cat, so maybe there's a no kill shelter in your area to call? As for trapping, you probably dont want to try to trap and hold a feral cat yourself. But, if the cat can be coaxed into an enclosed area with food (garage, shed), both trapper and cat will have an easier time.

[Kanga]

There are humane traps you can set out. Basically it's a small cage and you put food it the back of it. When the cat steps on a certain part of the cage, the door closes behind it. I would try to trap it that way first and then call a no kill shelter and see if there's anything they can do.

[Jenyfer9]

Thanks for the suggestions. ladies. I'm really not sure if this is a feral cat or not. I can see a feral cat not being able to be adopted, so I'm still not sure whether to burdeon (sp?) a local shelter with a hefty vet bill. I haven't seen the cat around here today, so maybe his "owner" finally took care of him?

eta: After getting messages at 2 local no-kill shelters telling me that they had no room currently for strays, I called our village hall and found out that we don't have an "animal control" department (go figure), so if I see the cat, I'm just supposed to call the police non-emergency number and they'll send an officer out (not quite sure how they'll catch him if we can't, but...).