Trapped cat, but confined him to room before taking to Vet - help!

Hello - I'm new here and have backed myself (and a new feral) into quite a corner. I can't believe I've done this, but here's my situation. (Before I start, we have another huge cat, age 5, and a blind dog, age 13.)
I had been feeding a beautiful black cat about a year old or less, (skinny but seeminly very healthy, behaving more like an abandoned pet than a feral cat). He was warming up to me from the regular feeding for about 2 months, but still would only come within about 8 feet of me in the backyard. I also feed squirrels and birds. One day, I saw him actually on top of the feeder eating a bird, so decided to trap him (and friend had the humane trap). I had thought to do this on the weekend when I am home, and we caught him within 5 minutes of setting out the trap on Sunday morning. We then let him into the decent size bathroom just off of my bedroom. He probably has a concussion from hitting his head so hard in the cage. After some initial panicked behavior and hissing, he had been only quietly growling at me until last night (Monday) after I went to bed, when he went WILD - howling, screaming, clawing at things and climbing, through the night while in the bathroom.
I now realize how FOOLISH I was not to plan this out so that I could trap him and then take him to the vet - not only to determine his health, get him treated for worms or other illness, get him spayed or neutered (I'm not sure he is a male), but also to get the trauma for him over with at one time!
PLEASE HELP - Should I try capturing him again now to get him to the vet? I may be able to do this by placing a cat carrier in the bathroom closet where his kitty box is now, thinking this is the darkest and best hiding place and he may go in there and then possibly I could close the cage door and capture him. OR, should i just wait this out and then capture him for the vet later when he's more relaxed? This way, the trust will be broken and set us way back. Couldn't I be risking the health of our other cat while he is with me? (My son will NEVER forgive me if something happens to his beloved cat, Scootie. I'm now questioning my sanity and common sense in taking in this cat in the first place, and I went about this in the wrong way! I really do want to give this a chance.)
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your good advice!

Thank you both for your advice - I couldn't wait to get home and check the postings. Somehow I knew you would say to get him to the vet ASAP - yikes.

Hissy, in your comment - Why do I need the feliway spray? What effect does it have?

Wow, this towel capture technique sounds plausible - but tricky! It scares me! Perhaps I will plan this for Thursday morning when I can be off, hoping you will help me with some encouragement! Something tells me I should try to get him to consider the cat carrier on his own first, by moving it to the darker closet where the litter box is. Don't you suppose I could close the door and capture him this way if he backs inside when I approach? (I'm hoping...!) If that fails, I'll can try the towel trick. If all else fails, I suppose there must be some way.

Unfortunately, I have to go away for the weekend, so my son will need to be the person coming in to feed him in the bathroom. The cat has already seen him a few times, so I'm hoping he'll get used to both of us (my adult son lives with me and loves animals).

I so much appreciate all the information I'm finding and learning!

Thank you so much for your helpful posts. I have been thinking a lot about this in the last 24 hours. At this point I think I should either (a) let this wonderful but traumatized cat go by opening the bathroom window (back into my backyard, and just feeding him there - not the best possible solution, but an option) - or
(b) this evening, buy a larger cat carrier and the "comfort zone" or feliway potions and trying to catch him to take him to the vet this way, and stay the course.

Part of me wishes I had never captured him, as he probably would do okay outdoors (except that I don't know if he's neutered or not). I just hate to see him out there in the heat (and eating my birds), knowing that he may have a short life - but then I'm conditioned to think I should try to give all of them a home (when I don't have as much time as I would like to give this with a full-time job). But I also hate to see him so desperately unhappy being inside - knowing he will have a long road ahead as well.

I will give it a little more time (and will try the carrier for capture) before trying to make any decision on this very important matter!

THANK YOU!

Yesterday, I purchased a larger cat carrier and ordered the Feliway to be overnighted. (It was $45 in the Petsupermarket, but only $21 online through the link I found on your website!). We had put another older cat carrier in his favorite hiding place in the bottom of the small linen closet yesterday, but the cat reacted fiercely to it - and after we took it out, I realized it had smells of cat spray on it probably from being left in our shed (OH NO - not a good start!!). So he spent another day rather freaked out - although I can now place a treat within less than 2 feet of him and use the sink from this distance to clean water dishes without him even growling. I also took the good advice from one of your essays and purchased an inexpensive CD player/boombox, which actually fits in the other sink, and I have it softly playing classical music with nature sounds. He was curled up next to it this morning.

I took a fecal sample to the vet this morning, and will do my very best to entice him into the carrier. Perhaps the feliway will help in this process - also with putting his food there starting tomorrow. If this fails, we will try the large towel as you have so kindly recommended (wearing leather jacket, gloves, goggles...). I talked with the vet yesterday, and I will do my very best to capture "kitten" very soon and get him in for treatments, vaccinations, and spaying or neutering (still not knowing if he is really a boy). Even if we do return him to the yard, I know it is essential that he be neutered and as healthy/protected as possible.

Last night was another night of terror, with him howling throughout the night. When he does this (in bathroom close to my bed), I talk softly to him (It's all right, kitten, good boy, etc.) and this seems amazingly to have a calming effect on him. Working full time, it's hard to spend any time at all with him, but I have a cold and have decided not to go visit my elderly mother for the weekend - so I can work more on trying to gain his trust.

Thanks SO VERY MUCH for staying with me on this - I really do need your support!

DaddyCat,
Thank you so much for your encouragement.
I got the stool sample results, and "kitten" has hookworm. I'll try to sneak the one-pill treatment into some tuna for this tomorrow. And, I'm taking the day off to spend time with "him"!
Will let you all know how things progress. I hope we don't have to do the towel thing in the way of capturing him, as this seems really challenging. I want to get him to the vet by Monday morning if at all possible. (Well, we just have to do what we have to do!)

Hello everyone - you all are such generous souls with all of your caring advice.

Status report: The cat I took in that is still hanging out in my bathroom leaps from the carrier where I'm feeding him into another hiding place whenever I come in. I've had him in the (medium-sized) bathroom for 9 days now. (The carrier is placed on the bottom of a small linen closet, but there is just enough room for him to squeeze next to it and hide there.) I must go away this weekend (as I didn't last weekend). "Kitten" is getting a little more used to me, I can tell - and I spent quite a bit of time sitting in the bathroom reading to him (and quietly) this past weekend - although I'm now back at work, with the CD player still on the bathroom for him.

When I return Sunday, I would like to plan how in the heck I will get him to the vet. If I can't figure out how to capture him in the carrier where I'm feeding him, how much longer should I let this go on? I feel sorry for the poor guy crying at night and having to "live" in my bathroom. Also, I realize that all the work toward earning his trust may have to be repeated after taking him to the vet. That being so, should I just try to capture him with a towel or blanket? (Is there some kind of leathery thing I might find to do this? Or of course I can wear all leather in doing it. The vet says he uses welding gloves in working with very wild cats.) OR, shouldn't I consider putting the humane trap - well camouflaged - back into the bathroom and feed him in it, knowing he will again be trapped and traumatized by this? One way or the other, he won't like it - but I need to get him to the vet at some point, and can't see the situation changing for a very long time. I am very willing to be patient, if you all think that his behavior will change (i.e., he might back into the carrier as I come in when he is eating there). I could also spend much more time in the bathroom with him in another week, hoping that he will eat while I am in there, which he hasn't done yet. I'll also perhaps increase the treats, as he will sit in the corner of the countertop near where I place those.

So sorry for this long post! Any ideas you have will be very much welcomed and appreciated.

Ellsworth,
This is a great idea! Let me think about how I might go about this -it gives me great hope! I know there must be a way I haven't thought of. Thank you so much!

I'll definitely let you know if I have any success - next week, after I return. (But I may go and buy another cage before I go!)

From Hissy, earlier:
To give you encouragement, I scared up my old thread on Cyclone

here is the link

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...hlight=Cyclone


HISSY,
I only now read your post about the day you captured Cyclone - and I went back and read your more recent posts and realized he is now totally comfortable living with you. (Is he okay and making it?)

This made me feel more comfortable, in that this poor cat may one day trust me in spite of it all....

UPDATE for those interested (this is quite a story to tell):
- I have the small cat carrier within the larger dog cage, door open always, in my bedroom (with food inside) - using your great idea in my hope to recapture "kitten" so we can get him to the vet.
- Kitten still stays mainly in the bathroom. I started letting him come into the bedroom, but he will only do this at night. I could hear him eating dryfood out of the bowl after a couple of nights, and sat up to try to close the kennel, but he always shoots out - and doesn't back into the cage as I wish he would, in which case he might have gone in to the carrier.
- He sprayed all over my bedroom - and I was nauseated with little sleep. The little darling did this twice (!).
- I then decided not to let him out of the bathroom. Kitten scratched and howled again at night, obviously wanting to come out again - and sprayed in the bathroom.
- The vet gave me a sedative (3 tablets, although 1 tablet is the full dose) to use before throwing the towel over him to capture him "burrito style" - thanks to ideas on your websites. I tried for 3 days to sedate him, but he wouldn't go for the food I had mixed it into - even after putting it in chicken, grinding it into his favorite canned food, etc.
- After going on feral cat websites and seeing the video on use of the drop trap, I got to thinking that the best way to approach this may be just to let kitten go by simply opening the bathroom window, then retrapping him again with the drop trap with the adjoining carrier. I fixed a shelter for him outside, and opened the window yesterday around 3:00 pm. He just hunkered on the floor and then on the bathroom sink. I waited until almost dark (but couldn't keep the window open afterward as we live in Florida with tons of mosquitos). Food was even placed near the window to draw him near. He just doesn't want to leave!
- My son said, see Mom - Kitten wants to stay with us; he knows a good thing when he has it! I have to admit that I am very drawn to this cat, and feel such affection for him - and have to wonder if he isn't getting a little attached to us in his own way, as skiddish as he still is. He spends most of his time in the bathroom sitting as close to the door as he can on the countertop next to the sink. He even once sounded like he was purring as I read aloud to him last week.
- Now I just don't know what to do to capture this boy. My only hope I think is to wait a while longer and either rig up a small drop trap in the bathroom, or possibly try camouflaging the humane trap we used before so that perhaps he will enter it again - although it will again scare the bejesus out of him. Then I need to decide, if I can catch him, whether to keep him or let him go in the backyard.

Sorry my post is so long, but I wanted to share it all as you have such great ideas. As I think toward the future, I see my house full of cats with towers and shelves around - as the other feisty male cat we already have may not be very accepting of this boy if and when we get to a point of introducing them. (Oddly, Scooter hasn't even been upset with the spray smells coming from my bedroom...!)

LDG,
What are pill pockets? I guess I need to start googling.

Thanks so much for your time in reading my post and caring!