Found my cat!

Question
My indoor 3 year old cat escaped 2 weeks ago.  I found her but I am unsure if I should keep her separate from the other cats and my dog.  Is it safe to have her with the others? Should I keep her quarantined?  Can she pass anything to my other animals (3 cats and a pug)?  I also no longer have her health records and I do not remember what, if anything, she was vaccinated for.

Answer
Morgan,

My recommendation would be to keep your escape artist separate from your other pets until she can be seen by a vet and given a thorough exam including ensuring that she hasn't picked up any internal or external parasites, blood work to ensure that her organ systems are functioning normally and there's no sign of infection in her blood counts. It's not a bad idea to ask your vet about testing for potentially serious viral infections. It's also quite possible that your other cats will treat the escaped kitty as a new cat coming into the home so for the sake of harmony she may have to have her own quarters for 2-3 weeks while she's gradually reintroduced into the household - once the other cats are comfortable with her smell or the sight of her you can start working towards face to face introductions. As for concerns about vaccines and health records I'd suggest that you don't worry about that too much, provided that this kitty was properly vaccinated as a kitten or when she came into your home there's good evidence in recent studies to suggest that being vaccinated properly once in a cat's lifetime may be all that's required for their immune system to recognize and deal with certain viral or bacterial conditions. Your vet can test the cat's blood to see objectively whether the cat's immune system is equipped to defend her body against the bugs we normally vaccinate against. If you have any further questions, concerns or you'd like me to clarify anything for you, please don't hesitate to contact me again.