Newbie needs help Please.

A friend trapped 5 feral cats at the age of 8 months and had them all spayed, neutered, and given their shots last week.  They were then in a basement for 1 week before we took 2 of them to our home in the country.  We placed them in the garage with no doors so they can come and go.  We provided them with beds, straw, water and food and there are plenty of hiding places in the garage for them.  It has only been 2 days and on the 1'st day we saw the food was gone but did not hear or see them and we know they didn't leave the garage because there were no paw prints in the fresh snow.  Today I looked to see paw prints everywhere on our property as well as up the mountain behind our house and the food was gone.   Now there is a cat in the neighborhood that we have seen occasionally and is probably not fixed. How do we know who ate the food? and what are the chances that the cats will return to our house. They are sisters and we definitely want to keep them as outside cats.  Is there anything we can do to help them adjust and would they try to get back to the area where their mother and siblings are, 35 miles away?  Right now I am doing as much research as I can and praying alot for their safety.  Thank you.

At first it was unclear if you put them in the garage with no open doors to give them time to get used to the change ("We placed them in the garage with no doors so they can come and go. ") or if you put them in an OPEN garage so they could leave immediately.  If they were free to go immediately, then they could go anywhere they wanted, but at least they know there is food in the garage so they will most likely come back there to eat.  Other cats may come too, and there is no way you will know who ate the food.  Just keep putting out the food, and hopefully the cats will be eating it and not the possums and raccoons.  Since they were not confined long enough for their internal radar to adjust to the new location, it IS possible they may try to make their way back to their old home, but there is nothing you can do about that now.  Just keep that food available and hopefully they will make your home their new home base.

This idea may not help with getting them to stay, but it might help you keep tabs on their comings and goings. When I set up a shelter for a feral cat "Jess", I couldn't tell if she was using it or not. I got one of those infrared game cameras like hunters use. They have models at all prices with different features. Mine is a cheap to mid-range one, the pictures aren't great or anything, but serve their purpose. The night pictures and video are actually better than the day ones for some reason. It uses AA batteries and has a removable memory card for viewing on computer,tablet, etc. At this point I would probably instead get one of the newer little wi-fi security cameras so I could see the real time feed and view the motion activated logs as well.

Anyway the camera told me that the cat I built the box for did not use it because several other bigger cats were using it. I build another bigger box and more cats showed up! Then I knew we had a real feral cat situation and I got help from a TNR group. Jess is now neutered and sleeps most nights in a shelter in our garage where the other cats won't go.

jan2424
Today at 2:29 pm

Well it has been 4 days and no sign of the cats.  I went to the neighbors to ask them not to feed or try to catch the cats and put pictures of them in my post office with the same information and a phone #.  I sat in the car for 1/2 our in 20 degrees after putting out some cooked chicken and tuna last night and saw no movement.  This morning the food is all there and I am heartbroken.  We should have done research before agreeing to take these poor cats in.  Not only did I disappoint them but also the people that took the time to capture them, fix them and trusted me to do the same.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as the nights are bitter cold right now and hopefully someone with experience will find them.  Thank you for your help .I have learned a very heartbreaking, valuable lesson through this .Please keep up the great work to educate those that want to do good, but didn't.

Jan, please don't beat yourself up about this. You and your friend have done so much to help these cats already. Remember that these were feral cats that were previously living outside. They are much better equipped to handle the elements and outdoors than if you just took two housecats and put them outside. Considering they are feral and so much has changed in their lives they probably just got anxious about the whole situation and ran off to hide. That other cat may also have scared them off "his" territory. You set them up with food and shelter that I'm sure they will remember. I don't know that there is a whole lot more that you can do at this point.

The only other thing I can think of.... I don't know what the size of your town is but if you have local vets, animal control, pet/feed stores, or any place people go to buy pet supplies they would be good places to put up signs. Most people assume cats showing up at their homes that start hanging around are strays and just start feeding them until the cat calls it their new home. I don't know if the cats got microchipped or ear-tipped or not, but that might be a way to locate them if someone brings them to a vet or animal control.

Don't lose hope. My aunt lives in the country and has a couple of indoor/outdoor cats and dog. She adopted another cat at the pound and was told it was to be kept indoors as it wasn't used to being outside. Well not long after she got it, it managed to slip out and run off into the woods. She looked for days and couldn't find it. She feared a coyote may have gotten it. Almost a year later the can showed up back at her house looking a little rough, but in overall good health. She never figured out where it had gone or if someone else was taking care of it the whole time or not. It remains a mystery. So there is hope they will come back, or a good chance that they are making a home elsewhere. Please don't assume the worst. It will accomplish nothing, but making you feel terrible.

Thank you for your encouraging words Molanic. They did have their ears tipped but I doubt that one of them will let you get near her, let alone capture her.  Today the food is gone and there are prints from 2 different areas so I am a bit more hopeful today.  There definitely is an odor of cats in the garage that was not there before.  We have talked to the owner of the male cat and they will be trying to keep him indoors, so now it is a matter f if our other neighbor has a stray, as before. Our garage is unfinished so it is a open area for any animal to enter.  We did check the prints and they were definitely cats, just hope it's our 2 lost babies.  I will try to have more positive thoughts .  Thanks again.

You could try to trap them again. Many animal shelters will rent or loan out a trap; that would be one quick-and-easy way to determine if the cat coming to get food is one of the two or not.

I've never owned an outdoor cat before (too paranoid about my cat being injured by car, human jerks, wild animals, etc) but my suggestions would be that you need to make your house feel like 'home' first and foremost so they always return there. Before placing them in an environment where they could easily run off at the first chance, I'd suggest maybe keeping them indoors for a week or two. Acclimatize them to your presence, make them happy and comfortable. They should associate you and your house with 'home'. Put down blankets and play with the cats on the blankets so they smell like you and the cats. That way the cats will get used to your smell and associate it with being safe and happy and whatnot. Every time you put down food, make sure they see you doing it so they can associate you with meals. They'll know their meals come from you and your scent and your voice. That way you could easily call them for mealtimes and they'd run out to greet you directly.

When you move them into the garage, put the blanket out there so they can always return to the blanket when they feel insecure or unsafe.

Thank you for the new and wonderful ideas.

My husband wants to get the infra red camera this weekend.