Help...

Hey everyone, haven't been on in a long time. Lightbulb is doing well...getting a little fat but we are working on that

Well, about 2 weeks ago I found a little cat walking around my neighborhood, but that's no surprise as there are tons of strays. This one was different though. She came up to me, limping. I thought she was injured so I scooped her up and guess what? She's a 'tripod'. She's missing her back left leg. So I took her home, and we finally decided to keep her when we couldn't find her original owners.

My problem? She likes to escape. She bolts out the door when it's open. We've been fine the last week with no escapes, but she just got out again tonight. I haven't been able to catch her, but I do have her trapped in one of those drainage pipes under the parking lot (blocked both ends with rocks). I spent 30 minutes out there trying to coax her out with a can of wet food, but she wasn't having it. I'll try again here in a little bit.

How can I stop this behavior? She's completely fine indoors. She's actually made herself 'queen of the house'. She uses the box, loves attention, etc. It's not like she's acting scared. My biggest worry is I haven't gotten her spayed yet (she may already be spayed, but I am not sure) and I don't want a male in the neighborhood getting a hold of her. Being three-legged scares me too, but she gets around great and can really hold her own (seriously...Lightbulb won't mess with her at all anymore...haha).

Thanks!

I'm fairly certain she doesn't have an owner. I'm not even sure if there was an amputation, or if she was born this way. I have things posted, and called the shelters and vets near me. No one new the cat, and no one has contacted me.

I caught her later that night (actually...she somehow escaped the drainage pipe and came walking up the road to me). Little Houdini cat...

She occasionally meows at the door. Not as much as when I first brought her in though. Her favorite place is on the arm of the couch right next to the door, watching the door.

I thought about that, but my boyfriend would probably get pretty aggravated. He didn't want to keep her in the first place, but I was able to convince him. I'm going to research some cat training techniques to maybe help get some control over the situation. I'll also be training her on a harness and leash so that I can take her out, and she can have her time outside, but I'll have complete control.

Just an update. While she does escape every so often, I can usually catch her immediately because she comes right back to the apt. She's doing a lot better now, and settling in great. She's even started to chase around the toys and such