How do you take a feral cat to the vet?

So my feral cat only likes me and my husband. The last three days he has not been eating nearly as much as he normally does. I thought he must have found another food source. But I also noticed that he looks a little thinner and he had dirt (or grease?) around his mouth a few days ago too...which is really odd for him. Yesterday I noticed that he is coughing and sneezing. One of his eyes looked a little red. And today when I pet him I felt a swelling about the size of a nickel by his jaw line right under his ear. The swelling/mass does not seem to hurt him. I was able to move it around a little without him showing any sign of pain. I am hoping it is just a swollen lymph node. But I am thinking I will try to take him to the vet on Monday if he gets worse. But this is a cat that went berserk when I tried to bring him in my house. He has never lived in a house; he was born to another feral cat under my neighbor's house. So how do you take feral cats to the vet?

Thanks,

Shelly

i would go to the store and buy an animal trap. I caught my cat that ran away with Olive's wet cat food, overnight. once you caught it, leave it in the cage and cover cage with a blanket and take it to the vets office. My family has done this before with the feral and stray cats in the neighborhood.

Hope I could help!

But how does the vet look at the cat when it is terrified of people?

Some cats freeze up at the vet if they get scared. Why don't you ask the vet what they usually do?

Will the cat let you put him in a carrier? You could wrap him in a towel, if it helps. My cat has gotten carrier smart, so now I tip it on its end, open it up, and drop him in butt first. It works for him, anyway.

Meanwhile, you might want to wear gloves if you aren't sure why he's sick, especially if he hasn't had a rabies shot. I'm wondering if it's a tick causing the lump, but it could anything, I suppose.

depends. if they need to, they can put it under anistetics (knock-out gas) but we have a cat, and she is scared of people. when we have guests she hides and we dont see her till shes gone. i should mention i have 11 cats at our farm. when we take her to the vet, she tries to hide but then she chills out. your cat should probably just calm down after awhile. maybe just put it in a room if you plan on keeping it, and socialize it before you take it so it wont be as scared. it will know you better and trust you wouldnt do anything to hurt it.

oh, and that way to put them in the carrier actually works well! we had to rescue a stray yesterday and she refused to get in, so we put the opening facing up and put her in rump first. no questions asked.

ShellyChip said:

 
But how does the vet look at the cat when it is terrified of people?

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If the cat is truly feral, the vet may need to sedate the cat to do an exam.  Having the cat in a humane trap will make it much easier to sedate. 

Other wise you can try feeding the cat in a large cat carrier.  Once the cat is inside, see if you can get the door closed.  This sometimes can take a few days.

Be sure you contact the vet ahead of time so they are aware the cat is feral.  Most vets do ok, but some will refuse to see ferals. 

I hope you are able to help the sweet one.

If he needs an antibiotic, does anyone know if the vet can just give him a shot? I don't know how I could possibly medicate this cat. He freaks in the house and sometimes disappears for a day or two outside.

Yes, they can use all sorts of medicines with the knowledge that the cat is feral.  I am so glad you are taking him to a vet.  Has he been neutered?  If not, please consider getting that done while you are there because if he is not he is most likely fighting with other cats and running the risk of catching all sorts of horrible diseases.  Not to mention, impregnating feral females and producing more feral cats.

Well, somehow I have made huge progress with the feral. I told you he was friends with the cat next door. Well, the cat next door likes to come over and have cat treats every morning. So one morning I opened the door and let the cat next door in. I had my dogs in the back yard at this time. He hung around a bit and then I put him back outside. The next morning I propped my front door open in the morning and put some cat treats just inside the door. Both the neighbor's cat and my feral came in to eat the treats. My feral stood right in the doorway, ready to run out.

I have been propping the door open just a bit several times each day and my feral has been getting braver. Today he actually came in and laid on the couch next to me. The door has to be propped open or he freaks, but I think this is huge progress.

The swelling on his cheek is going down too. He is starting to eat more as well. But he still is coughing. I ordered some lysine off Amazon in case he has kittie herpes. If he starts acting sicker I will take him to the vet. I am hoping he is on the upswing and will beat whatever has him coughing.

I am going to keep letting him in and out of the house. I am also going to try to work with my dog who doesn't like cats. She is going to stay next weekend with a lady who swears she has reformed cat hating dogs before. The lady has two cats. I am a bit nervous about the whole situation, but I am hoping for the best. I also might have this lady come over to my house when my cat settles in a bit more. Right now he is so weary of any change and pretty much everyone else. He has started to warm up to my husband a bit. Hopefully I can get the house to all work in harmony and take the cat with me when I move. I can't imagine leaving him here at this point. I have even thought about trying to find a house with an exit off of one room or something where the cat could come in and go out without the dogs being able to be around him.

Here is an article that talks about introducing dogs and cats. http://www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-dogs

I have done it a few times.  It takes time and patience.  I was careful for the cat to know that I would not allow the dog to chase him.  I kept her on a leash and added a carabiner to my belt loop.  At times I just carabined her to my pants and went about my day.  The dog just had to follow me everywhere.  I then progressed to leaving a leash on the dog so that if needed I could grab it quickly.  Also lots of treat rewards for all. 

Thank you for the article. Tom seems to be on the upswing. He ate all of his breakfast and lunch today at my place. The selling on his cheek is only about the size of a pea now. I heard him cough yesterday, but I did not hear him cough today (though I didn't have much time with him as I have been at work). I ordered lysine and will be putting it on Tom's food for now on. Thank you for all of the suggestions regarding the dogs too.