What does "catching strays" mean?

stray = stray bullets. like if someone said, "I hate this haircut. it looks like a mullet." but one of their friends nearby actually has a mullet. the friend with the mullet is catching strays because the implication of the comment is that mullets are ugly.

It basically means collateral damage. You got hit and you weren't even the target, online it is a metaphor meaning getting mentioned in some argument you weren't even involved in.

Depends on context

Strays refers to stray bullets. You’re targeted by a variety of things that were not aimed at you.

i know its an ai response but i want just to help In slang, "catching strays" means unexpectedly receiving criticism or insults that were not originally intended for you, often in a conversation or online discussion. It's like being hit by "stray bullets" of negativity that were meant for someone else. 

It’s when someone is having an argument or critiquing or criticizing someone and an unrelated third person is inadvertently attacked or criticized when they weren’t the intended target. A stray bullet is a bullet that’s fired from a gun and hits an unintended target. That’s the metaphor here.

What a dogcatcher does. Capture animals no one is responsible for.

Catching stray animals. 

You ended up being insulted by someone, typically while you are gossiping about someone else with said person

Huh I always thought it was for when you pick up someone else's rejected date. Someone else's leftovers.

TIL

It means somebody is being insulted despite not being involved in nor relevant to the conversation in any way. This can be a person or thing not present brought up for god knows why, or it can be cousin dave at the other end of the table when grandma finishes her story about a disagreeable vagrant encounter by comparing the vagrant to him for having long hair. Or when grandma brings up how much she hates whatever minority when you’re trying to discuss the stuffing recipe. You’ll see a high frequency of strays being fired off by the elderly, IMO. Etymologically, it refers to a bystander struck by a stray bullet during a shooting. They were not the target, they were not involved, but they caught a stray and died all the same.

It's a metaphor from urban crime. The strays are stray bullets. Someone was just minding their own business and then get shot by someone who had no problem with them, but can't aim very well.

‘Catching strays’ = ‘hit by a stray bullet.’ A stray bullet is a bullet that, after being fired from a gun, hits an unintended target. Colloquially, ‘catching strays’ is used to refer to someone who becomes the unintended subject of an insult/joke.

To be insulted in a conversation/situation you aren't involved in. Let's say you're A and you have friends called B and C. B: I heard you got fired from your job. C: Yes. B: You should be more professional at work. You can't keep getting fired. C: At least I have had jobs. 'A' has been jobless all his life. 'A' has caught a stray.