My family took a very skinny but very kind orange stray cat to a shelter but we're worried it'll die if it's released back into our neighborhood as summers in the California Desert are said to reach 117-120 degrees for the summer. Advice, please!

There's a an orange stray cat that frequents our home every night. It's not hostile at all, the opposite, it's very kind and friendly. We've posted next door asking if anyone recognized the cat or owned it, no one has come forward. So my family and I advised a plan to take the cat to a shelter. Because it visits every day, we fed, bathed it, and checked it for fleas the day before taking it to the shelter.

Throughout that whole night, the cat was still very calm and kind to us, but we could sense its anxiousness and underlying illnesses as it wouldn't drink any water and was very skinny. My only apprehension taking it to the shelter was that they would release the cat back into our neighborhood if they found it didn't need to be in the shelter. This is exactly what the receptionist said would happen if the vets at the shelter found the cat to have either a chip or a clipped ear.

I'm worried that if this is the case, the cat is just going to come back on the property, and because we bathed, fed, and provided it was a cooler environment, she'll become more attached than she is already. The worst-case scenario is that the cat will die just from the overwhelming heat, which is again pitched to reach 117-120 degrees for the summer. If we could take in the cat, we would but we already have a Shih Tzu Maltese who is just as kind but gets very jealous and territorial.

If they do release the cat, would it be wrong to find another place where it'll have a chance to be adopted? Or a place that will euthanize it so it doesn't have to suffer anymore?

submitted by /u/aaikins19
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/ogdoe9/my_family_took_a_very_skinny_but_very_kind_orange/