Need Hints on Luring a Stray to My Yard

Hi all!

So, there's been this orange and white young cat that I see periodically in my neighborhood.  I first noticed him (I'm using the male gender because our he looks alot like our Casper) about a year ago and it was evidently quite young at that time, although not a kitten.  Two or 3 times in the past year, I nearly ran him over.  Luckily, I live in a neighborhood where we drive slow, it's very residential, and each time I was able to slow down enough to miss him.  

In the past few days he's visited our back yard several times.  Today, as I was coming up the driveway I saw him amble towards my patio but he must have gotten spooked when the car drove up and went around the house.  A few days ago, I saw him lazing on the patio as if he owned it. Tried going out with some food, but he ran off.  Left the food for a while, but he never returned.

Our cats have gotten wind of him and while they don't seem quite as perturbed by him as they are by my next door neighbors cat (who we call "Enemy Cat") he definitely has them curious.

Anyway, he has no collar and at the moment, looks kind of on the thin side to me.  I'd like to be able to tempt him to the house so I can get a better look and see if he's neutered if male.  Obviously, won't be able to tell if female.  I know he is not ear tipped. My suspicion is he belongs to someone nearby who doesn't care enough about him to keep him indoors, fed well and collared.  

I have no experience in trying to lure a stray (I do not think he's feral, since in my immediate neighborhood there are no colonies).  I'm concerned that if I leave food out, either raccoons or other cats will poach on it. I surely do not want to be bring raccoons around - we've had issues with them at my house specifically.

Any tips?  I'm more than happy to TNR him if necessary and him a home if he's social enough.  Unfortunately, keeping him ourselves is off the table right now.  

Thanks.

Food is the natural motivator.  You could start with a bowl of dry food left out during the day or when you are home.  You could place the food in different locations.  If the dry food doesn't work, go for stinky wet food.  Just don't leave the food out overnight!!

Ditto for food but I would set the trap not to snap shut (use zip ties). Feed in the trap (again only during the day) for a week or so and assess things. If you think he's eating the food, you can set the trap and get him to vet check/TNR.

If you catch anyone else, you can just release him/her.

I agree with Ondine.
Though... if you trap another cat, I'd get him/her spayed/neutered. Chances are you won't get, well, another chance.
(I was trying to trap one specific cat in an area I wasn't familiar with. Never caught the cat I wanted to catch--but six others made their way into the trap. Lesson: there are more stray/abandoned cats that you don't see than the one(s) you do see.)

Thanks everyone.  

I'm going to try leaving out some kibble in the day time.  I've seen him poking around at all hours of daylight and as I mentioned, a few times in my yard.

Just have to put it out of eye range of my kitties.  I have a sliding glass door in the kitchen, and they have a full view of the back area (very small I might add).  I don't want mine getting all  territorial.  They tend to flail themselves at the glass when my neighbors cat is there but as of yet, have not seen this behavior with this particular visiting kitty.

Not ready to throw down a trap yet - plus I'd have to borrow one although I'm sure the rescue I deal with would be happy to lend one.  I'd like to see if I can get him comfortable with coming to my yard for a while first.  And yes, highly unlikely I'll trap any other cats.  The only one I've ever seen before roaming is my neighbors and after he tried to claw his way into my living room window and tore up the screen, she finally took it seriously and keeps him indoors nearly 100% of the time (she did pay for the screen repair, in her defense).

BTW - so *duh* of me not to realize I could put down kibble lol.  I was totally thinking wet food which would obviously go bad fast   

Ritz is right - I should have thought of that!

Ondine said:

 
Ritz is right - I should have thought of that!

Click to expand...

Oh I would.  No way would I let one go that wasn't already taken care of.

i recently gotten a stray cat (milo) the sweetest thing ever! if i were you...yes definately keep him if you get the chance. a way to get him u might just need to let him warm up to you then maybe trap him lol .Good luck!

Update.

Today, our friend showed up on our patio again.  Or at least, I think it's the same cat. I thought he was more reddish, on closer look now he's somewhat buff colored, similar to our Casper.

Tom was home at the time and heard both of our cats howling and clammering at the patio door.  He went out with a small bowl of food, and said the cat was more interested at first in loving up to him.  He was not sure of the sex at that point, took these pix:



Once he started eating,he was hungry.

When I got home a couple of hours later,he was in the back again. I called to him, and he very cautiously came over to me - seemed afraid of my pocket book,so I set it down. He was VERY affectionate, but I did notice that he had some hesitation about being touched completely at first.  

Also he IS a he, intact. 

Our cats are NOT thrilled with his presence and it's very difficult to block off views.  Tom seems to think he belongs to someone but he has no collar, is intact and as I said, somewhat skittish but extremely into the affection.  

I'd be happy to gain his trust further, and try and TNR him.  I don't even mind setting up somewhere warm for him to sleep away from where Cocoa and Casper can see him easily.  I'm going to put out a notice on a local website for our neighborhood to see if he belongs to anyone before I go and try and fix him. While I hate the idea of an unneutered cat in our neighborhood for obvious reasons, I also think I should make some small effort to see if he has a family nearby. 

BTW, he does not look hungry, but does not somehow look well fed. His face, has this odd angular look to it, a bit too thin. He has a fairly large primordial pouch, which somehow I wouldn't expect if he were a complete stray ; most I've seen tend to be in better shape.  But, he's very well groomed and clean.  And vocal, quite communicative which doesn't happen with feral cats.

I just don't know what to think. He's a long way from where the colonies are in my town.

While doing TNR I came across several cats like that.  They seemed well fed, clean, and some I was able to pet, but no collar.  Early on I'd already made up my mind that if I nabbed an un-neutered/un-spayed cat it WAS going to the vet to have that taken care of - regardless of whether or not I knew for sure if it had an "owner".  (And don't i hate that word !)  I figured it was worth risking an angry neighbor. 

The situation in my neighborhood was that, although there were many cat lovers who put out food for the ferals, and some even let them inside, no one was taking any responsibility for them.  So there were several cats i trapped that looked well fed, and clean, etc. but were still technically "homeless" and needing to be neutered.

In fact, when I had to leave CA, and I announced to these kind (but irresponsible) neighbors that i was taking some of the kittens from the colony with me to MI, i was surprised to hear some of them express some mild resentments because the cats would be missed.   I nicely explained that I was willing to "marry" these animals, and take them to the Vet if they got sick or hurt, and care for them no matter what for the rest of their lives - when no one else was.  I still wasn't positive they were all getting my point, so I kept a very close eye on the kittens the last few days before we left.  I didn't feel the need to also tell any of them that i had EVERY INTENTION of leaving with those cats safely in their carriers right next to me in the moving van. 

Sorry, I do seem to be rambling, huh ?  I just believe that whenever a feral can be taken out of the colony and given a real "forever" home, they have the right to have that.

I guess my point is - if you find that your little buddy is sort of a 'neighborhood cat', and that's why he doesn't seem desperate, I hope you can give him his deserved Forever home. 

Blessings !

* He is beautiful, btw !  

He is pretty!  I would bet its a boy - most gingers are.  He also looks fairly well fed, so he may very well have gotten lost.  Any new neighbors?  They may not have realized he needed time to acclimate to his new neighborhood - he may have wandered from a few blocks away.

No matter what, I am of the school that if an unfixed cat comes into my yard, said unfixed cat gets fixed - period.

I have never had trouble with neighbors, mostly because they all know I'm the go-to person concerning strays.  None of my neighbors, with one exception, let their cats roam.  That one exception lets his female breed and usually is the reason I have strays in my yard.  I've approached him a couple of times but he's unresponsive, so I do my best.

If you get him vetted (and fixed if needed), you will need someplace to recuperate him.  Do you have a shed or garage he can stay for the interim?  I know your own cats make it difficult to TNR him in your yard but if he's that friendly, I'd try to find him a good home.

Thanks both.

Ondine, I don't really know my neighbors very well at all.  Even though I've been here a few years, I work full time, leave quite early in the morning and don't return until after 7pm.  The only neighbor I'm friendly with is the one next door on one side, who has cats but this isn't theirs.  The few others I've met we have nothing in common with, one in particular we've even had to call the cops on several times for outrageously loud and late parties.

However, I'm fairly sure he doesn't belong to anyone close by.  If this is the same one I've seen on and off, it's been over a year since he first showed up.

I do have a space for him to recuperate if we can manage to TNR; we have a garage and although not attached to the house, it's a safe area and, at least it isn't winter yet.  If worse came to worse and it got too cold out I could put him in our basement for a short time as long as he was caged. It isn't safe down there otherwise for cats as it's unfinished.  Not heated, but it never gets cold down there even in winter, as our boiler and furnace are there, and the heat they generate by running seems to keep it at a decent temperature.

Luckily, I am friends with one of the people who runs a local rescue organization and if need be, I probably could borrow a trap and cage.  I'd buy the cage if necessary I guess. She would be an excellent resource to find him a good home afterwards.  Either that, or I could call upon her to get him and offer to pay for the neuter, associated necessary vetting and any other financial help required.  This may even be a better course of action as I have concerns that if he's trapped right after I leave in the morning, he'll be stuck in the trap for 12 hours and I can't even imagine the stress of that for him. And it isn't like I can just take off work at a moments notice to run him to a vet.

I wish we could foster him, but unfortunately, right now it's not a good idea.  If he had already been fixed, I'd just make sure there was a safe, warm place for him on our patio away from our cats view.

With me being out nearly all day, and Tom having gone back to college full time we just can't devote the attention he'd need.  It's one thing with our cats since they are already acclimated to our schedule (and Cocoa came to us while Tom was out of work and not in school yet, so he had lots of time to spare to help her adjust) but there's no time to give to socializing another cat, let alone the stress it will put on our two.  It took Casper quite a while to get used to Cocoa, and it's now nearly 2 years later and he's older and less likely to be accepting than he even was before - he's not really a "cats cat".  

Well, if the neighbors aren't going to object, your plans sound good. I have often recuperated in my shed. Even in winter, it is in full sun, so it is usually nice and cozy in there. I have a crate set-up that gives them plenty of room but keeps them confined.

If you have help, that's even better. Helping the cat in any way is wonderful.

I get what you mean about your own cats adjusting. We have a cat with her own room! She just doesn't like our other cats. Luckily, her room is the office, so she gets plenty of human contact.

Great. There ARE two different red cats. Saw the skinny one just now on our patio. Extremely weary of me, ran off. Just got more complicated, and not sure if male or female, was too far from it. Oy.

Oh brother. I swear, it never ends. It is so frustrating, but thankfully, there are people like you who can help. It sounds like you may have to plan for the skinny one too. If the rescue can help you find a home for the healthier one, maybe your outside home can be used for this new one.

It makes me want to cry, sometimes! But hang in there, you are making a difference!