Taking In a Found Pet: The First 48 Hours

You've taken in a stray animal and its family hasn't been found yet — or you're waiting for the pound / shelter to collect it. Meanwhile, the animal sleeps at your place. These 48 hours decide everything: a well-organized intake keeps the animal healthy, traceable and unstressed — for them and for you.

Hour 0–2: secure first

Before thinking comfort, think containment:

• A dedicated room — bathroom, office, laundry room: closed, with no accessible gap (behind furniture, an extractor duct, a cracked-open window). A stressed animal squeezes in everywhere.
• Zero direct contact with your own pets at first — you know neither their health status nor their sociability. Isolation protects everyone.
• Windows and doors locked — a found animal is an animal that already managed to escape once.

The carrier doubles as an "airlock": to move the animal between rooms, for the vet trip (chip reading), or to hand it over to the pound if needed. Leave it open in their room — it often becomes their reassuring hiding spot.

Hours 2–12: vital needs

Drink and eat, without overdoing it

An animal that's been roaming is dehydrated before it's starving. Fresh water at will, always. For food: a small ration to start — a stomach empty for days can't digest a full meal. Found cat: improvise a litter tray in a flat box (even shredded newspaper works in a pinch). Dog: leashed outings only, never loose in the garden.

Create an anchor point

A blanket, a throw, an open crate: the animal needs somewhere to retreat. Don't force it out of its hiding place — let it come to you.

Hours 12–48: document and move the case forward

While the animal settles, the search for its family continues:

• Sharp photos — front, profile, collar and any tag: they serve the report and the alerts.
• Report to the town hall + I-CAD if not already done (see found an animal: what to do for the full protocol — it describes the French procedure, since Pista operates in France first).
• Post a "found" alert on Pista — the family may already be searching your area.
• Chip or no chip? — if you haven't yet taken them to a vet for a scan, now's the time. Free, five minutes, and often the key to getting home.

Mistakes to avoid

• Releasing it "so it finds its own way home" — it will roam again, usually farther.
• Force-bathing it — a fearful animal scratches and bites; if it's dirty, wait until it's relaxed, or let the vet handle the wash.
• Feeding it just anything — no milk for a cat (diarrhoea), no table scraps. Simple, appropriate food is enough.
• Getting attached too fast — this is temporary hosting. If no family turns up, what happens next is decided with the pound or a rescue — not in the heat of emotion.

And if nobody claims it?

Past the legal pound period (8 working days in France), the animal can be put up for adoption — sometimes by you, if you volunteer. Until then, your role stays the same: keep it safe, fed and identifiable. You're already doing the essential.