Advice?

bookish

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So I moved into my house a few weeks ago, and I noticed two stray kitties hanging about. One day, I opened the door and found the little orange and white one (who I've named Tavi) hanging on the porch and meowing. There's an abandoned house next door and they live under the porch. They're little - they can't be more than six months old. It's so sad.


Long story short, over the past three weeks I've been feeding them both (and every once in a while, my neighbor's cat who escapes and I've dubbed 'Fat Cat'!). The other kitten, Mittens, is very, very skittish and won't come near me. She sees me looking out the window at her and runs away! Tavi , on the other hand, will let me pet him and even tried to come in the house the first day I fed him.

Last week, neither of them came around for a few days. The next time I saw Tavi, he came running up to me, and he was in pretty bad shape. The top of his ear was torn off and he had cuts all over him. He's healed a bit since, but right then and there I decided to adopt him. I called the shelter's clinic and we have an appointment to get him neutered and given shots on Thursday. They are also going to send someone within the next few weeks to catch Mittens and take her in. Thank goodness.

Now I have to catch him.

My boyfriend and I tried last night. He came up into my lap as usual, but when I stood he freaked out and ran off. He came back a few minutes later and we tried luring him into a cat carrier with some lunchmeat (the only thing besides dry cat food we had that we thought he'd respond to!). Well, he ate the ham out of my hand, but he ran away again when we tried to get him into the carrier.

I really thought we had blown it - he scratched me, but he never hissed or spit at me - just pushed his back paws at me. They're little scratches - my cat at my parent's house got me way worse when she was his age. Even so, I was convinced he was never going to come back. Then he was back on my porch about an hour later for dinner! I opened the door and he came up on the porch, but by the time I went back inside and set the food out both he and Mittens were gone. I left the food for them, and they both came back within a few hours and ate.

So my problem is this - how can I catch him? He's a sweetie, and he didn't seem to be too mad at me for trying, just kind of annoyed. I think it's a good sign that he came back twice. I really don't want to scare him off for good.
 

jimmylegs

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i have a hard time even catching my regular house cats, much less a semi-feral kitten! can you ask the vet if they know of any source for traps you can borrow? that's really the easiest way to catch a cat. and while you're at it, you could catch mittens too and get him fixed as well! but this guy is fairly tame, so if you can get him onto your lap again, maybe you can throw a towel over him and get him into a carrier?

at any rate, there's probably a feral cat group somewhere around Columbus that might be able to help and hopefully the vet might know to call. good luck!
 
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bookish

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Thanks! I was thinking that a using towel might be the easiest way. If I don't get him tonight, I'm going to call the shelter tomorrow and see if they'll send someone over with traps to help me catch them both.
 

chadsgirl374

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I don't know how quickly you want to work, but here's what worked for us:

When I had to catch my feral mama kitty and her 3 babies I had to plan well in advance. At that time, only the mama and one of the kittens let us pet them or touch them. One of the other kittens would let us look at her, but nothing else, and the other kitten wouldn't even let us see her (we had to pretend to look away).

I bought carriers (the plastic ones) and put them outside with a towel in each one. I put them where they normally slept and eventually they started sleeping in them or just hanging out in them (approx. 3 weeks). They always come running to meet me when I open the door - just in case it's time to eat
We moved the carriers to that area (where they normally eat) and left them another week. After that, they used the carriers for basic lounging and for sleeping. We then put a can of their favorite food in each carrier (they just couldn't resist
) and when they went in to eat, we shut the doors.

We then had to keep them in our house overnight since their appointment was first thing in the morning. Boy that was a rough night
.
 
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bookish

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Oh my goodness. Thank you both for your replies - but I guess I shouldn't have been too worried. About an hour ago, he ended up just walking right into the house!

After I got home from work I walked over to where they live, and as I turned the corner Tavi hopped up onto the steps and started purring. I sat down next to him and he rubbed against me, purring louder. I petted him and he stood up and walked off - towards my house and away from his little hideout. I followed him as he ran through my front yard, up the front steps -- and right up to the front door. I walked up behind him and opened it up. Their food bowl was sitting near the steps, a good five feet in. He ran right over to it and started eating, and I shut the door.

At this point he kind of freaked out a bit and ran upstairs and into an empty bedroom (my roommates aren't moving in for another month) and started crying and crying. I felt horrible


Ten minutes later, though, he was rubbing all over us and purring and exploring the room. It kind of makes me think he was abandoned at some point. Right now he's curled up on my feet, sound asleep.

I can't believe it!
 

skimble

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Wow, that's great ! Looks like he claimed you and your house as home. The holistic vet I know says she believes we don't find animals, they find us.

What about Mittens? Hope things continue to go well.
 
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bookish

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They're sending someone to trap her soon, I think, so she can be spayed. I feel so bad that I can't take her! When I go to the shelter this morning I'm going to ask what I should do, or if they knew anyone who could take her and socialize her.

Tavi is such a charm. All he wants to do is play. It's so funny.
 
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