You found an animal. What to do

The first step is not catching - it is understanding who this is. An injured or hit animal means a vet right now. A groomed animal with a collar that walks up to people is almost certainly a lost pet: most are found within a mile of home (Best Friends Animal Society). A cat with a tipped ear is a neutered colony resident already under someone’s care - it has been helped, do not remove it. And hunger proves nothing: as International Cat Care puts it, cats are opportunists and will beg even with a full bowl waiting at home.

The never-do list: don’t chase or call over and over, don’t grab an unfamiliar animal, don’t force it into a car, don’t move a badly injured animal without a vet’s guidance, don’t take kittens under eight weeks from a healthy mother, and never run from street dogs.

How to approach

A panicked dog must be neither called nor chased - Kat Albrecht, the police officer who founded the Missing Animal Response Network, calls that the worst thing you can do: a frightened animal flees any pressure, often straight into traffic. The opposite works: sit sideways, avoid eye contact, yawn, lick your lips, slowly “eat” something off the ground while crinkling a bag. Whole Dog Journal describes the technique in detail and is honest about the price: plan on 45–60 minutes of patience. Loop the leash over the head like a lasso - hands stay away from an unfamiliar dog’s mouth (shelter expert Jack Griffin, in PetMD).

Check whether it has a home

A collar and tag are obvious; but even without one there may be a microchip. Almost any clinic or shelter will scan it free, with a universal scanner, in a minute. European chips are 15-digit, and Europetnet searches dozens of national registries by number at once. For a cat without a chip there is the trick used by Cats Protection and Blue Cross: a paper collar note - “Am I yours? Call…” - made of plain paper so it tears free if snagged.

Kittens have their own rules

Warm, clean kittens sleeping in a pile are in their mother’s care - she has just gone to find food. Taking them is almost always harm: under eight weeks they need a mother, not a human (Alley Cat Allies). If you doubt she is coming back, sprinkle flour around the nest and check for tracks a few hours later; the RSPCA advises watching for two to four hours before deciding kittens are orphaned.

Write down the exact place and time. That is the one piece of data nobody can reconstruct later - and it is how owners find their own.

When it is urgent

Difficulty breathing is, in the words of veterinarian Sandra Mitchell (PetMD), “always an emergency.” So are heavy bleeding, seizures, an animal that cannot stand, straining without result, a bloated belly, suspected poisoning or a car strike. Transport in a box or carrier with air holes, cover a cat with a blanket, call the clinic ahead - and give no human medicines: many are toxic to animals. If you are bitten or scratched, see your own doctor the same day even if it looks trivial: where street animals live, rabies treatment is a race against hours.

The first night at home

One small escape-proof room, water and a little food, quiet - and full separation from your own pets until a vet check: a foundling can carry parvovirus or parasites (Best Friends). And remember: almost everywhere in Europe a found animal must be reported, and keeping it does not make it yours - in Britain, for instance, a finder must notify the authorities and gains no ownership for months (Dogs Trust).

The street, Balkan edition

FOUR PAWS - the organisation that actually works with this region’s street animals - wrote a dedicated guide to street dogs: never run (it triggers chase instinct), no staring, stand sideways, keep distance from groups, and against real aggression crouch slowly as if picking up a stone. In Montenegro, in practice, it is the NGO network and local vets who answer first - from Kotor Kitties in Kotor to the shelters of Budva and Podgorica.