Feral cat sighting after missing for 7 MONTHS - thoughts ? advice ?

A friend was staying over at my house and woke up to see a missing feral I last saw 7 months ago.

I WISH he'd woken me up too!

My friend had seen the cat before and since he is distinctive looking, so he knew it was him.

Backstory:

Last Winter was fierce and I finally took this cat inside because he was in bad shape.

Kept him inside a few months.

Took him outside last May and he bolted away.

Current:

Friend says he opened front door and cat was sitting in front of the door  "like he was waiting for something"

Friend put out old plate of cat food from last night (I have multiple indoor cats)

He said the feral stared at the plate but didnt move.

He said he came back a few minutes later and cat was gone.

Again I WISH my friend had woken me up.

Were the smells of my cats on the food plate ?

What scared him off ?

It's nice to know he survived this long, but I am also upset because I still have a horrible neighbor who hates cats and is abusive and am worried what she will do if he wanders near her house.

Thoughts on how to handle this ?

Is this a one time thing or will he probably show up again ?

Also I should note that I still feed a couple cats out in the backyard, should I put food in new location for him back there ?

Thanks 

How wonderful that you have spotted him again.  First off, is he neutered?  What about the other cats you are feeding, are they spayed and neutered?  One of the reason he may have run off is that if he is not neutered his hormones will drive him to wander and wander in search of a female.  Also if the other cats you are feeding are not spayed/neutered you will soon have so many cats on your hands you won't know what to do.

I had a feral that I did TNR on.  He had been living on/near my property for 6 months and I was finally able to trap him.  Once I let him go after the neuter, he left.  I have no idea where he went, but he was gone for exactly 8 months.  He found his way back to me after surviving a bitter cold winter.  He decided to stick around this time and has been here since April.  I believe he is here to stay.

I would just continue to put out the same food you are now, but maybe a bit extra.  Do not leave food out overnight as it will attract other wildlife.  He knows that will have food for him, but having been gone for so long, he has developed his feral ways again.

The kindest thing you can do for him and the others is to be sure they are all spayed and neutered.

ShadowsRescue said:

 
How wonderful that you have spotted him again.  First off, is he neutered?  What about the other cats you are feeding, are they spayed and neutered?  One of the reason he may have run off is that if he is not neutered his hormones will drive him to wander and wander in search of a female.  Also if the other cats you are feeding are not spayed/neutered you will soon have so many cats on your hands you won't know what to do.

I had a feral that I did TNR on.  He had been living on/near my property for 6 months and I was finally able to trap him.  Once I let him go after the neuter, he left.  I have no idea where he went, but he was gone for exactly 8 months.  He found his way back to me after surviving a bitter cold winter.  He decided to stick around this time and has been here since April.  I believe he is here to stay.

I would just continue to put out the same food you are now, but maybe a bit extra.  Do not leave food out overnight as it will attract other wildlife.  He knows that will have food for him, but having been gone for so long, he has developed his feral ways again.

The kindest thing you can do for him and the others is to be sure they are all spayed and neutered.

Click to expand...

Hi, yes he was neutered about 18 months ago. The only neighbor nearby who likes cats worked with me to get Alley Cat Allies to to TNR several cats.

Everyone else in this neighborhood are recent immigrants from Africa. No one will smile and or wave, so it's hard to open communication lines.

Since most are Muslim, I have been tempted to anonymously let them know that caring for cats is valued as a very good deed in Islam.     

After the neutering, several of the cats were then either poisoned or swallowed antifreeze last Winter and it was a trail of heartbreak finding them dead in the backyard (they came back there to die it seemed)  

So on the one hand it's cool that "Thorn" survived so long, but on the other hand it makes me nervous. I may get a motion cam for the heck of it. 

And one other observation is that over the last 4-5 weeks, 4 other cats have shown up.

They all looked like plump house cats gone stray. I see them in the backyard once or twice a week nibbling at food I have for the remaining 2 regular backyard  ferals .

I am wondering if someone moved away or died and the relatives let the cats loose. Perhaps the feral "Thorn" had been feeding near an unknown cat lover's house ?

Anyway, I wanted to post this to give hope to people who have lost their cats.

4theloveofcats said:

 

ShadowsRescue said:

 
How wonderful that you have spotted him again.  First off, is he neutered?  What about the other cats you are feeding, are they spayed and neutered?  One of the reason he may have run off is that if he is not neutered his hormones will drive him to wander and wander in search of a female.  Also if the other cats you are feeding are not spayed/neutered you will soon have so many cats on your hands you won't know what to do.

I had a feral that I did TNR on.  He had been living on/near my property for 6 months and I was finally able to trap him.  Once I let him go after the neuter, he left.  I have no idea where he went, but he was gone for exactly 8 months.  He found his way back to me after surviving a bitter cold winter.  He decided to stick around this time and has been here since April.  I believe he is here to stay.

I would just continue to put out the same food you are now, but maybe a bit extra.  Do not leave food out overnight as it will attract other wildlife.  He knows that will have food for him, but having been gone for so long, he has developed his feral ways again.

The kindest thing you can do for him and the others is to be sure they are all spayed and neutered.

Click to expand...

Hi, yes he was neutered about 18 months ago. The only neighbor nearby who likes cats worked with me to get Alley Cat Allies to to TNR several cats.

Everyone else in this neighborhood are recent immigrants from Africa. No one will smile and or wave, so it's hard to open communication lines.

Since most are Muslim, I have been tempted to anonymously let them know that caring for cats is valued as a very good deed in Islam.  

  

After the neutering, several of the cats were then either poisoned or swallowed antifreeze last Winter and it was a trail of heartbreak finding them dead in the backyard (they came back there to die it seemed)  

So on the one hand it's cool that "Thorn" survived so long, but on the other hand it makes me nervous. I may get a motion cam for the heck of it. 

And one other observation is that over the last 4-5 weeks, 4 other cats have shown up.

They all looked like plump house cats gone stray. I see them in the backyard once or twice a week nibbling at food I have for the remaining 2 regular backyard  ferals .

I am wondering if someone moved away or died and the relatives let the cats loose. Perhaps the feral "Thorn" had been feeding near an unknown cat lover's house ?

Anyway, I wanted to post this to give hope to people who have lost their cats.

Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing your story.  I have always said that there is hope.  I have wireless surveillance cameras that I use to watch my feral cats.  That is how I found out my one had returned.  He always hid under my deck so I placed a camera there to know when he came.  I had just left the camera there after he left which I fortunate as that is how I noticed him again.

I hope that he will return to you and that you can once again care for him.  It is heartbreaking to think of the the demise of the other cats. 

Maybe if he returns, you could make an enclosure for him.  He could remain outside if he needed to be, but safe from wandering.  I have seen some really neat enclosure while searching.

I also used a trail camera for awhile.  It produced really nice pictures.  You just have to be sure to set the sensitivity correctly as well as keeping the batteries fresh.  They do require a micro SD card and then you have to have something to read the SD card.  I used to just pop it back into my old digital camera and then plug that into my computer.  Many of them also produce video.  I have bought one on Amazon for around $60-75.  I did return it as my yard had too much light and in many spots it was difficult to get clear pictures.  I love the wireless surveillance cameras. 

I hope that your buddy returns soon.

New update.

7 weeks later and I have finally caught / recaptured the aforementioned feral.

Need some advice because he is having a mini freak out right now.

Pics to come.....

4theloveofcats said:

 
New update.

7 weeks later and I have finally caught / recaptured the aforementioned feral.

Need some advice because he is having a mini freak out right now.

Pics to come.....

Click to expand...

So where do you have him right now?  It is best to keep him in a room of his own.  Don't allow him to just roam the house.  Make sure the room is cat proofed.  PIck the bed up off the floor as you do not want him hiding under the bed.  Also block off behind all large furniture.  You do want an appropriate hiding spot that is on the ground.  Even an old box on its side will do. 

A feliway diffuser will come in handy too.

Allow him time to adjust.  Keep windows closed too.  Also don't allow him any access to any other pets living inside for right now.

If you provide some more info we can help further.