Hey all, so yesterday we were given a stray cat. I'm just looking for some advice here as I'm new to cats.

The story we got about this cat was that the owner of a 7-11 used to take care of him, but the store closed down and now there was no one around to take care of him. We took him to our neighborhood (about 20 minutes away from said 7-11) and are planning on caring for him at our home. The person who gave him to us told us a few things:

• He's been a stray for at least a year
• He enjoys 7-11 brand canned cat food
• He's a male, appears un-neutered
• He "does not know how to use a litter box"
• He doesn't like being in a cage
• He is comfortable in a harness & on a leash
• He does OK indoors but strongly prefers to be outside
• He's not microchipped
• He *looks* healthy, has no signs of fleas or mites, but no one knew if he had any vaccinations or lingering diseases

That is literally all we know about the cat. We had no idea if this stranger was telling us the truth or making up some lie just to get rid of their cat, but at this point it doesn't matter because he's in our hands now. It all just happened so fast and we didn't want to let the cat go un-cared for. We've only had the cat for about a day. We put out food, water, and a cardboard box with blankets for him (we plan on going to the store today to stock up on more supplies). We walked him around the house and got him familiar with the area before letting him go on his own. Here's what we've observed based on the past 24 hours:

• He is small/underweight, and he seems to be on the younger side
• He is extremely friendly around people, he let us pick him up/hold him right away
• He took about 7-8 hours to de-compress after bringing him to our home, and he spent most of that time under our shed. When he was ready, he came out from under the shed and he did laps around the house looking for us
• He does not run or jump when he hears a person or a rustling in the leaves
• He does back away a little when he hears our dogs barking inside, but he doesn't run away. We did have one of our dogs come outside to say hi and he just hissed at them
• We've put several different foods out for him (including the 7-11 brand food) and the only food he wants thus far is microwaved chicken nuggets from our freezer
• He KNOWS how to ask for food. He will meow and follow us to the door, then throw himself on the ground in front of our feet. He even came inside the house (just barely in the front door) this morning while we were heating up his chicken nuggets.
• He did not show any interest in the box/blankets we put out for him, and instead slept on one of our patio chairs all night
• Whenever we go outside to spend time with him or feed him, he has seemed so loving. He will roll around on the floor looking to be pet, and he will brush up against us and purr

We're kind of flying blind here. We know we have what it takes to make it work, but I'm wondering if anyone has any advice? Like, should we take him to the vet? Should we get him chipped? Neutered? How do you make an outdoor cat feel at-home? And how do you acclimate him to coming inside your home? We don't plan on keeping him inside much, but would like to have it as an option in case there is a bad storm or a particularly cold night. Also, how do you introduce a cat to dogs? We have 4, all herding breeds, and it's going to be hard to get them to coexist. Should we even try or just keep them in their own separate spaces? So many questions...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! TIA!