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.
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.