Renegade Cat!

Hey all,

my cat Lily is about 2. shes an indoor cat that escaped and now refuses to come back. she lives under the house we live at. I see her around and I always put food and water out for her. The only thing is whenever I see her and approach she runs for her life. she used to be so affectionate and loved to chill with me. She is not fixed and was going into heat about a week/week and a half ago which im sure has something to do with it.....will she grow out of this and come back? Or do i have to capture her some how? Im just concerned because I live in Maine and its getting cold at night I wish shed just come back.

thanks for any comments...

I would try trapping her. Then get her spayed as right now her hormones are keeping her outside.

Poor girl, at the mercy of her hormones... Yes, trap her. Ask your local humane society for a trap; put the food in the trap, and you should have her.

Schedule a spay appointment as soon as you get her.

The others are right - take no chances and trap her if possible. It most likely is her hormones, or that she really doesn't want you to take her inside. Another scenario is that she got scared of you by mistake; I'll try to explain by giving you an example -
Say an inside cat #1 sits in the window and sees another cat in the yard. The #1 inside cat growls and becomes agitated. Enter #2 inside cat into the room to see why #1 is upset. When #2 realizes the intruder in the yard, he poofs up and growling and yeowrrrling charges the window to scare off the intruder. Meanwhile, #1 sees #2 approaching in attack mode and misunderstands the aggression, thinks it's directed at HIM not the intruder and becomes scared. As a defense, he mistrusts #2 and begins to fight with #2 and from then on, their relationship is strained. In your instance, perhaps your cat was sitting at your feet, looking up at you getting ready for work or school when maybe a hairbrush or can of deodorant or whatever fell off the counter - your cat thinks you threw something at her and becomes skittish. Once outside, her defense mode goes into high gear and she becomes even more skittish - in that case, I would consult websites on taming ferals, esp. putting food out for her outside and sitting next to it while doing something not threatening, such as reading a magazine. At first, just let her eat without making any eye contact or direct communication with her - just hum to yourself, sing softly or better yet, if you have another cat, call it over & give it lots of lovins' with baby talk and cooing. Please keep us updated on how situation is going along! Susan