This is going to be a little long, so bear with me...

Ok, last week, I think it was Friday I thought I heard my cat Yazi meowing from the basement, so I went down there to get him and called him. When, after about five minutes, he still had not come to see me I figured I was hearing things and came back upstairs. About an hour later I was hearing the same thing so I went back down and found a very skinny, very dirty white and ginger tabby male in a leather collar. I got him out of my basement and gave him some food and water. It was too late to take him to the shelter so my mom said that if he was still around the next morning we'd take him then. Well we didn't see him the next day until after the shelter closed so we decided we'd take him in after she got home from work on Monday. We see him on and off for the next couple of days, but never between the time that my mom got home from work and when the shelter closed so we still couldn't take him in.

Well this afternoon he decided he was going to be brave enough to actually come into our house. He followed me around for about two hours earlier today and he's actually made friends with our cat Yazi. He is just the sweetest thing you could imagine and absolutely loves to be petted. Of course, my mom made the mistake of naming him and now I've grown completely attatched. My mom thinks he's lost, so we put a found ad in the paper that will run from Friday to Tuesday of next week. If we don't get a response I have until probably Wednesday to convince my dad to let us keep him or we'll have to take him to the shelter. I've already decided that if we can keep him I'll be paying my parents back for all the vet bills and such. Does anyone have any other suggestions for me? I'm going to wait a few days before even bringing the subject up with my dad. Thanks in advance for any help!

start by taking extra good care of all of your animals your parents will notice that also proceed to tell him how theres an overabundence of animals at all shelters and how theres a 99% chance he'll just be put to sleep and then mention how your mom and you are attached. Then if that doesn;t work say how could you do this to him? Say umm I mean your hurting me by hurting him. They are just gonna put him to sleep. Can you have that on your concence? lol I've done this before how I kept baby kitty. had her from a day old and bottle fed her like crazy. now shes still living with them and im moved away with my own cats

You might try putting up some flyers around just in the nieghborhood also as be surprised how many people dont read the paper with computers in thier homes now adays. I had a little one escape before and found it 4 months later of all places at the home across the street from me. By that time thier children were so attached to the little one I didnt have the heart to take him back and away from them. If I had put up flyers they would have seen it very quickly.

Does your mom want to keep the cat? If so, you can try getting her help to convince your dad. Ask her what she thinks his primary objections would be and work with her to have rebuttals prepared in advance. When you talke to him, have her there to support you.

"Please, Daddy. I love you..." can also be very effective.

excellent advise. also, batt your eyelashes....and a few tears can't hurt either. My Daddy has a hard time saying No to me when I batt my eyes & he absolutely can't bear to see me cry. Yeah, I'm in my 40's but I'm still a Daddy's girl (Mommy's girl too) since I'm an only child. Also stress the fact that you will take good care of the new kitty & that it would be horrible to put him in a shelter only to be put down if he's not adopted. Good Luck. Keep us updated & post a pic if you can

Thanks for all the advice guys. I put some flyers up around the neighborhood yesterday. Yeah, my mom wants to keep him too. I'll see if I can get some pictures of him later today.

It's a little late now, but you really should be keeping he and your other cat separate. Feline Leukemia, FIV, FIP, etc. can all be transmitted cat to cat. You don't know what this new kitty has and could pass on to your existing cat. At the very least, I'd take the new kitty in and get it combo tested for FeLV/FIV.

Here's a link with a list of common cat diseases:
http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/fd.html

Best of luck.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, although there's no way we'll get to keep him. My dad saw him this evening, walked into the other room and said to my mom 'You're not keeping that cat.' *sigh* At least he'll have plenty of loving until the add runs out. I'm just hoping we get a response.

I was going to say the same thing Jade did. You really should keep stray cats quarantined in a separate room until you have them checked by a vet. At minimum it could pass on worms and fleas. at worse the list Jade gave.

Anyway, sorry your dad won't let you keep him. I was lucky enough my parents were suckers for animals (especially my father actually, even though he may not admit it. ) Anyway, maybe your father would agree to let you find a home for him instead of taking him to the shelter?

I would try what Keritsubo said and ask your dad if you can keep him until you can find him a home. By that time your dad may have even grown attached to him! Or maybe you can get your dad to agree that if he does go to the shelter and doesn't get adopted before his "time is up" that you guys can go back and get him and try to find him a home yourselves. Maybe once your dad realizes how commited you are to do the best for this little kitty he will cave - oh I mean agree to keeping him.

And like the others said - bat your lashes! Shower the new kitty with tons of attention in front of your dad. Usually once they realize how in love you are with the new addition they agree more quickly. You are too young for this but one say you will realize this tactic also works on husbands!
I hope mine doesn't read this!!

i wanted to put in the statement of how many times my dad said that to me about a stray cat... we've always kept the cat...

my parents live (i don't live with them anymore) out in the country in an old plantation house with plenty of yard. most of our cats were primarily outside (they could come in during harsh weather of course) with just a select few who were primarily inside cats. people were almost constantly dumping cats near their (our at the time) home. our cats are very agreeable unless the cat threatens them - then they team up and chase them off. the momma cat (she still is even though she's fixed) is the ring leader, everyone is under her authority. if she likes the visitor, than usually everyone follows suit - it's still like that with the newest member of my parents' outside family being Sinatra, a sable siamese blue-eyed songster. she adores him, so he stayed... my dad has never been able to give any of these cats up (even if he says otherwise in the beginning)

you know your dad better than us... "daddy, please" has always worked for me on animal issues (never on anything else!!).... use your daddy's girl charms

OKAY!!! you have come to the right place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JK! it took me two years to convince my grandparents to get a dog and now we have two! Well, i would say that if you take it to the shelter they could put it down and then you will be so upset and thats another cat that the world will miss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

any update?

Yes, actually, I was just about to post another thread on this. We were going to have to take him into the shelter today but my mom finally managed to convince my dad to let us keep him! So we took him to the vet instead. For the most part he is ok, he has a parasite that we're giving him meds for though. More information and pictures in another thread in the next couple of minutes.

the daddy's girl always wins!
congrats on your new addition!