Need some advice.

We have a cat outside that we have been feeding for a little over a month now. Very shy at first but now we can get it to eat in the house and then he stay at the back door for awhile and leaves.

The problem now is that my mom let it in to eat and went down the hall to get something ( she has done this before and the cat just eats or leaves). This time the cat walk down the hall before she could shut the bedroom doors. In other words she lost the cat somewhere down stairs.

We looked all around and can not find him. Any ideas on how we can draw him out? I don't mind if he stays in the house. It is cold tonight. I would just like to know where he is.

Thanks for taking care of this little innocent cat.

You might put out very smelly food (fish?) and several litter boxes.  If he uses the litter box and/or the food disappears, at least you know he is inside.  (I was co-fostering a cat, cat freaked out when put into a cat carrier to go to his forever home, two weeks later he showed up at my cat colony, where he'd been rescued nine months ago. We were afraid he'd died somewhere in the house.)

If the cat can fit his head into a space, he can fit his entire body.  Do you have crawl spaces--if he is very afraid, he could hide there.

Although perhaps a bit extreme, you can put some baby body/corn starch/flour in dark spaces (where cats like to hide) or in the general direction where your mother last saw the cat.  You can get an idea of where he was/is if you see any paw prints.

Other than that, I'd just wait until he shows himself.  Try not to make any loud noises, he is probably somewhat afraid.  And of course listen for meows!

Thanks I will try that. He was in the house before. The last time he was scared and jump on the window ledge in the stairwell. It is very high. He stayed there for 2 hours. He became was upset so we let him back outside and didn't see him for a couple days after.

He seems to like when we talk to him. He looks right at you. We tried to catch him once but it did not go well.

If he looks right at you, that tells me he was someone's cat at some time in his life.  Like Ritz said, anything your do, do slowly and quietly.  If he shows himself, talk to him calmly.

If you can approach, get down low and offer him your fist.  It will look like a cat asking for a head bump.  Don't use your open hand as that seems to make cats uncomfortable.

Thank you so much for caring for this kitty.  Good luck!

And put out Water with the food. Here's hoping for a good result.

You might try trails of small spoonfuls of gerbers chicken baby food leading in the direction you want the cat to go
?. Or canned mackeral?

Have you thought about leading the cat into a humane trap, where you can then take it to the local vet and have it checked out, then spayed or neutered? Webites like alleycatalleys.org are GREAT for helping guide you in the art of luring cats into traps - and then guiding you to local sources to help you after.

She should like she just wants a warm place to seleep and a warm belly. Now lets see if we can go one step further and make sure SHE doesn;t make MORE warm bellies

Any luck?

Yes, we got the down from the back of my mom's closet. He ran out the door. My kids couldn't stand seeing the cat run into the door. He did this a few times.

He is still coming back to the house for food three times a day. We are pretty sure that he is staying under the deck of a neighbour that has moved out. We are going to try and catch him again.

Right now he looks okay and is still eating.
Thanks for the help.

missmycat said:

Yes, we got the down from the back of my mom's closet. He ran out the door. My kids couldn't stand seeing the cat run into the door. He did this a few times.

He is still coming back to the house for food three times a day. We are pretty sure that he is staying under the deck of a neighbour that has moved out. We are going to try and catch him again.

Right now he looks okay and is still eating.
Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

missmycat said:

Yes, we got the down from the back of my mom's closet. He ran out the door. My kids couldn't stand seeing the cat run into the door. He did this a few times.

He is still coming back to the house for food three times a day. We are pretty sure that he is staying under the deck of a neighbour that has moved out. We are going to try and catch him again.

Right now he looks okay and is still eating.
Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

Are youputting the bowl inside the house or outside. If inside you can keep moving the plate more and more into the house.

Now is a good time to put a box or large carrier or some shelter for him near the door that you feed him by.

I know it's cold up there.....'cause it's cold down here !

This will give you/him a good start NOW.....before maybe someone moves in next door that really doesn't want a cat.