Update to feral cat got loose into crawl space between floors

I am DELIGHTED and most grateful to announce after what would have been EIGHT weeks tomorrow morning, we have succeeded in getting the feral cat out of the space. The opening was only 9 x 12 inches. No cage or trap would fit into it so we have to come up with something that would. After a lot of brainstorming, I hit upon the idea of a small box, opened at both ends, partially inside of a pillowcase that had a drawstring inserted into it at the end. Place food in glass dishes at the farthest end inside the pillowcase, hang the strings over the opening and wait, pray and hope, with welding gloves at the ready. We have only fed her tiny amounts to get her to want to go in for the food and water. Today I was very close by, heard the dishes clink and knew I had a few seconds to get there and pull that string with all my might. IT WORKED! After I got her calmed a little I eased the pillowcase, cat, dishes and all out of the hole. She is now in a large wire sided carrier with her first litter box in those 8 weeks and a small amount of food and water. She has lost weight and fur but seems okay otherwise. She is eating and drinking, she hissed at my son and the dog, who was outside the bathroom where her cage is. I am hopeful that this is a good sign. I am hopeful that she didn't have kittens while up there, I have no way to tell, other than looking at her belly if she will let me. If there are kittens they are very young and may not make noise. I am hopeful she didn't. So, necessity was truly the mother of invention in this case. There was no way to trap, put down anything we could track her with, etc and it was obvious she was not going to come down on her own. It was less than 8 inches that she would have had to jump down to to get food and water and she wasn't having any of it. We are just so blessed that this has a happy ending. One of her kittens from her last litter was fostered out directly from being fixed that day. The other two came home with us. We have been working toward fostering them out as well since we have 3 other cats. When the mother gets fixed we will see if she can be tamed. If so, she will have a home here --but NOT where she has been for the past 8 weeks!

Oh splendid! What a great idea, one that should be widely spread around.
Any chance you could post a picture of the 'trap'?

That was a brilliant idea!  I am really impressed with all your hard work and am sending vibes that this little mommy is tamable.  Poor dear was probably scared to death.

Hopefully, she did not have kittens but you have done more than your share of work to ensure her safety.  So many people would have treated her as a pest and called in exterminators.  God bless you for all the work you are doing!

Will you be rehabbing the house now? 

Thank you for updating and wow what a great story of perseverance!!!  I am so happy that you got her out.  Hopefully you can get her to a vet very soon especially if you are concerned of possible kittens.  Is there a way to get a good look into the space to see if you see anything?

Yes, please post a picture!

If there are kittens up there, wouldn't they be mewling? Also, mama cat would be going crazy, meowing, and wanting to get back up there. If all is quiet in that space and mama isn't going nuts, then I doubt there are kittens.

I'm very glad this has ended for you.

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I had been asked to post pictures of the trap that caught this kitty. Sorry for delay. You will see the following items. The yogurt box, open on both ends, box opening is about the same size as the opening into the space where she was. It was larger inside but I could only use something that would fit through the opening. So the box. Then a pillowcase. I used a navy blue one because I didn't want her to be able to see much inside. At the finished end of the pillowcase where it has the folded part, I clipped a small hole on both sides of the seam about the size of a button hole, just big enough to thread a shoestring through, well, enough shoestring that it would hang down out of the hole. Then two glass dishes so they would clink and I could hear her in the trap. Then a piece of paper towel roll, cut to fit to prop up the opening so she could get in but it would collapse quickly when needed. I put the box inside the pillowcase and got it into the opening. I pulled the box to the halfway point of the pillowcase and propped the opening of the pillowcase with the paper towel piece. Then put the dishes with a little food and water in them as far into the pillowcase as they would go.they were also close enough to clink when she ate and drank from them. I bated it for awhile, going a day or two without any food or drink into it. I wanted her to not be afraid to go in and hungry enough to when she did. The hardest part was waiting for it to happen and actually be able to get to the opening in time to pull the string fast enough to get it firmly closed because not only did I have to pull it,I had to twist it to seal off the pillowcase opening. I knew I would only have one shot at having it work and I wanted to cover everything that could go wrong and think it through and plan for it if I could. Fortunately it did work. She eats, drinks and uses the litter box. She has lost fur on her back which I am assuming is stress related. She has let me pet her - never did before- but not hold her yet. She has been eating the urinary support food as a precaution and will be going to the vet to get fixed next week. She appears to be healthy,maybe a little "shell shocked" still. I did talk with a vet who said that she is probably okay since she is doing everything a normal cat would do. I am pretty sure that she didn't have kittens, she didn't feel as if she had nursed, no "kitty juicers", as my nieces called them, were showing signs of use. She has not cried for any nor made an effort to try and escape. We went out of town shortly after her capture and I didn't want our sons to have to deal with the vet stuff so decided to give the cat time to get back some energy and weight before having her fixed and I wanted to be here to care for her afterward. I will see if she will let me take a picture of her and post that as well. Thanks again for your thoughts, suggestions and prayers!

Thank you so much for the update - I am really impressed with your ingenious solution.  Glad to hear the cat is adjusting.  It was kind of you to wait to spay her as she probably did need time to recuperate a little after her experience.

I am hopeful that she can become a part of our indoor cat family after she is fixed rather than releasing her back to the wild. Poor thing only has one eye, or at least it seems that way. She showed up with it all red one day last summer. I put some medicine,homeopathic, into water and she drank it. I like to think that it helped her. I think she would be a sweet kitty in time. She looks a little like the cat you have posted Odine. I knew she was weak and needed time to recover and get stronger to survive the operation. If it was right after she was captured I am not certain she would have been strong enough. Poor baby.

Yes, that's my Chester. He was six months old when we brought him inside. We know nothing about feral cat's at the time but luckily, he has adjusted pretty well. He doesn't allow long pets but he will accept a head scritch on occasion.

Keeping her inside may present challenges, depending on how wild she was. But she can get used to the good life. Hopefully, the vet can tend to her eye when she is spayed.