Homeless cat - need your advice

[loves2travel]

For the last 1.5 weeks or so, a cat has been coming up to our house's back porch and standing there. She just watches us and she sleeps there too. A few days ago, we decided to give her something since she kept watching us eat, so we kept out water for her since i know milk can cause diarrhea. Then yesterday i was making a tuna sandwich so i gave her a bit. Now, she seems to permanently resid at our house. I put my guinea pig carrier outside and she sleeps in it. Whenever she sees one of us, shell come out and watch. When I go out to pet her, she is so friendly! She just rubs against us and crawls into our laps and purrs. She's very cute.

She doesnt have a collar, so I dont know what to do. Should I get her scanned for a microchip at the nearest vet? If so, how would i proceed.

I cant bring her in the house because the guinea pigs are in there, i have semi allergies to them, and my parents have pretty severe allergies. Not to mention, my mom can't stand cats.

Please....I have no idea how to proceed. Ive done lots of volunteer work at a cat shelter before, but i have no clue what to do here. My dad says that if we find out she doesnt belong to anyone, we can adopt her and make her an outdoor cat.

[loves2travel]

I forgot to mention in my earlier post, if I make a vet appointment, then how do i make sure i can get her in time? sure, most of the time she hangs around my house, but there are times when she goes away for several hours. how do i get her?

[DocDolittle]

Does she have a schedule? If so, try to get her into the carrier then. I know how you feel about the kitties, we have tons around here. My friend brought a stray cat into her home and she's really sweet.

[pennick]

Its possible shes already someone's outdoor cat. Maybe you can post some fliers in your neighborhood to see if she belongs to someone. If she comes and goes on a regular basis she may belong to someone close by.

[sofiemuffins]

I agree, you should post fliers or check your local newspaper to see if anyone is missing a cat. I'd think that if the cat didn't have a collar, it was homeless...but you never know. They could have been wearing a collar, but it got off somehow. There is an outdoor cat that lives down the street from me that doesn't wear a collar, but I know she belongs to these people who live near by (I've seen them letting her in the house and such). I'm totally against cats living outdoors so maybe if you keep her you should consider taking her inside. We have one cat that gets to go outside, but that's because she's evil and is miserable indoors (we got her as a feral cat). I'm hoping that she doesnt get a disease of some sort, especially since we have other cats.

[Faunn]

Ask some nearby neighbors if they own any out door cats and show them a pic of the cat. You might get some results.