HELP! Found a stray, how can I trap him?

For a couple of days now, the kibbles that I left outside for my neighbor's cat have been eaten way too fast for her to be the one doing the eating.

Two nights ago we heard a cat's vocalizations outside our window, and it was not Lili (neighbor's cat).

Last night nothing, but half an hour ago (it's now 10 AM here) a cat jump in my windowsill. Scared the hell out of Sparrow, but they just looked at each other, no signs of agression on anyone's part.

When I approached the window, he stayed on the sill, and I could see that he was beautiful, but one of his eyes was weird looking. No wound or anything, he's just got on cross-eyed eye (is this clear enough?).

I got some kibbles and went outside, and he didn't bolt when he saw me, so I don't think he's feral. But at the exact same time, a woman and her dog came on the street, and she obviosly didn't know how to control her dog, he was literally dragging her, she was sprinting to keep up. In any other circumstances, I would have laughed, but this of course made the cat bolt, and I have no idea where he went.

I set up a carrier in the other windowsill, but the kibbles inside, and left a trail of treats leading to it. He knows where the bowl it at because he's been eating here for the last two/three days. I hope I can catch him, and take him to the vet. I'm trying to call the wowan who helped me adopt Sparrow last year, she works for a shelter (they are fonctioning exclusively with fosters, they don't have any shelter per say). If she can let me in the program and pay for the vet and food, and if the kitty outside is not identified, then I'm fostering him. I'm not leaving this guy outside anyway.

Any advice on how to "trap" him?

Is my "setup" any good?

I'm going to go outside and try to coax him out of wherever he is. Maybe it's a she?

I will also took photos and post them here.

It's now 10:27 AM here. I'm thinking of waiting until noon to see if he comes out once it's more quiet around here?

1:38 PM. No signs of the cat. I asked around, and no one knows or have seen him. I'll keep an eye out, and see tonight around 9 PM if he's still around.

Here's how I set things up :

That's the windowsill where I always leave the bowl. I made a trail of treats going from the bowl to the carrier.



Here's the street on the left of the window (you can orient yourself with the car) :


Here's the street on the right :


You can see a lot of bushes along the road. I think he's in there. But it's really tight, there's no way I can search that properly.

I'm going to prepare the bathroom just in case, 'cause that's the only room with a door

I already looked around on the web, and found a FB page dedicated to find lost pets or their owners. If I can catch him, I'll post a pic there with description. I can also get in contact with the shelter, so that's good too.

My vet is 5 minutes away from the house if I need to get him there.

I hope I can get him today.  

Hi @Lyzzie  if this cat knows he can get food at your place he will keep coming back. I think it would be better to wait until after dark. Particularly at this time of year when it's warm out cats tend to stay hidden until the evening when it's quieter.

Does the shelter or your vet have a humane trap you could borrow? It would be much easier to trap him in that than in a carrier. 

Other than that I think leaving food out for him so he stays in the neighborhood is the best thing you can do now.

Thank you for trying to help him.

Thanks @Norachan I'm going to see how it goes tonight. If I can't approach him I'll call around to get a humane trap.

I saw him again tonight. His head was in the carrier, and I approached him. Shouldn't have! He bolted when he saw me, but not too far. I took the bowl of food and put it on the sidewalk, retreated a bit, sat down and waited. I talked to him very softly, telling him that he was safe and that I wouldn't hurt him. He came closer, and closer, and then gave me a wide berth and left. He went through a neighbor's yard so I think he will come back (plus he didn't eat). I took the carrier back to my house and left the bowl. I added some dried freeze treats. I will go check again in an hour or so, and top off the food.

Tomorrow morning I'll see about getting a trap.

Now I'm wondering if he's feral, semi or stray. In any case he doesn't seem very trusting of people.

I guess there's nothing more I can do until I can get a trap.

Well, interesting development. There's now 2 strays. And 1 neighbor's cat.

I heard cat fighting sounds outside, so I checked, and there was stray #1 in a stare contest with Georges (one of the neighbor's cat). Lots of vocalizations on #1's part. I guess he is not neutered. I don't know if Georges is, but he used my showing up to get out of there as fast as he could. #1 followed him, but came back after a while, looked at me, and then left.

I went back home, looked out the window, and saw stray #2. She's white, grey and black and I guess got some tabby in her.

So I put up a second bowl on the windowsill.

This is getting out of control real fast. I cannot not give them food if I know they are out there. I hope I can get help with a trap tomorrow for Buddy (#1).

There is often just one stray... But there is seldom just one feral.

@ralphonzo I had no idea they were this many cats in my neighborhood, probably because they only come out at dusk & dawn. That was a surprise.

I just called the association I talked about, they took all the information I was able to give them, and I'm now waiting for them to call me back. The woman on the phone agreed that Buddy needed to be TNR'ed.

I told her right away that if need be, I could take Buddy, provided that he and Sparrow could live together.

I'm going to keep an eye out for #2 also.

This makes me realize that I could do more for these cats.

I learned that in France, domesticated animals were considered furniture by law until late 2014.

What you call feral, we call free cats (as in freedom) or community cats.

I'm definitely going to get more involved with the association.

Thank you so much for helping these cats.  It sounded to me as if the first cat was a stray or abandoned but that he has been on his own long enough to be wary.  I sure hope it works out that you can keep him.

With the association's help, I believe you can probably TNR the cats in your neighborhood.  It will cut down on kittens, fighting and all sorts of other unwanted behaviors.

Blessings on you and your endeavors.  Having TNR'd more than 25 cats and found homes for 54 more, I can tell you it is one of the most satisfying things I've ever done

@Norachan

@Ondine Thank you. I actually didn't know anything about TNR until I came here. I'm learning a lot!

I'm in need of guidance! The association hasn't called back yet, and I'm thinking about putting a "plan" in place, to try and get these kitties to trust me.

Should I try to do that, or wait for them to call back? If they can come and trap the cats, would it be bad for the cats' relationship with me?

I guess what I'm asking is if I succeed in gaining a little bit of the kitties' trust, will that be in vain if they get trapped? Will they still trust me?

I'm a bit lost right now. What should I do?

Do you plan to feed them after they are TNR'd?  If so, the cats will be a bit upset at being trapped but once a routine is established, feeding, visiting, etc., they will become used and dependent on it.

I would wait a day or so before doing anything on your own.  If you begin to feed them, do so every day at the same time and in the same place.  Do not leave food out overnight as it will attract other critters.  Feeding at the same time and place gets the cats used to going there on routine.

If you going to do the trapping, you can tie the trap open and feed only in the trap for a few days.  This will get them used to going into the trap and you will be able to make any necessary vet appts before setting the trap to spring.

If the association is going to do all the trapping and fixing, then I would wait for them.

@Ondine I just got a call back, they are overwhelmed right now. They want me to try and take a picture, and then post in various websites dedicated to lost pets. If I can get him in daylight, I will take a photo. I will also make some posters even without a photo, and distribute them in the neighborhood.

She said that if he seems to be ill or wounded, I should call them right away, but if I can trap him and get him to the vet, I should do that.

I'm going to do all of these, short of the trapping.

I will keep feeding them after they are TNR'd. If Buddy is not identified and is willing, I am prepared to take him in.

I'm going to feed them once in the morning and once at nightfall, always at the same time. I already did that yesterday and this morning, but I didn't stay, I just shook the bowl of kibbles, placed it as usual, and then went home. Do you think I should do that but stay a little ways away, just watching, so that they can get used to my presence?

Edit : for the trapping, if I can't approach him, I will call them back, they are willing to help, just not this second because he doesn't seem sick.

I think Buddy was waiting for me tonight. He was on the sidewalk not too far from the window. I shook the bowl a little, like yesterday, put it up, and retreated. He kept looking at me, but wasn't moving, so I went on the other side of the road. Almost immediately he jumped up and began eating.

I took my video camera with me, I got some footage. When he left, he went right past me, a lot closer than yesterday.

If I can figure out how to upload and edit the videos on youtube, I'll post them here. I'm hoping some of you can tell me if they think he's feral or not.

Here's last night video. I apologize in advance, the quality is AWFUL, but YouTube tweaked it a little, just to get it less dark. Tonight's video should be of better quality.

That's when Buddy left, and got past me.

The first 10 seconds, that's me trying to figure out why I couldn't see anything. Yeah, I hadn't open the thingy


What do you guys think?

He's a sweetie! Does he give a little meow to you around 25 seconds in? If he does that's a good sign. Feral cats don't meow at people, only cats that have been socialised and know that people respond to meows bother "talking" to people. He looks quite comfortable with you for a cat you've only seen a few times. I don't think he's a true feral. Either a socialised feral or a stray.

If the shelter can't help you trap him just yet the best thing to do is get him used to your feeding routine by leaving food for him in the same time and place every day. Does your vet have a humane trap? They might be able to help you trap him quicker than the shelter can.

I'm glad you're so on the ball about getting all the cats in your neighborhood TNR'd. I managed to get all the cats that lived around my last house fixed. It took a while, I was on a budget and there are no shelters that help with TNR in the place I live so I could only afford to do one cat a week. I fed the cats twice a day and they all came back after they'd been released. They usually took off for about 24 hours after being fixed, but they soon forgave me for trapping them and started showing up at dinner times again.

@Ondine  is right, helping these little stray and feral cats is very rewarding.

@Norachan If he did meow, it was a silent one. I can't TNR my neighborhood cats if the association can't help me financially. At best, I could do 1 a month, if that. But I already found affordable not too bad dry food for them. I'm still looking for wet food, but I don't think that's going to work out.

Maybe I could ask my vet to give me reduced prices? I know for a fact that all the vets in my town work with the association, so I should be able to barter.

I will call my vet right away and ask if he has a trap. That's an awesome idea, I didn't think about that!

This morning I made flyers and distributed them in letter boxes on my block. I had 100+, and that's not enough. I have to make more, I think I only did half the block.

I also posted on 2 different sites about Buddy, in hopes of finding his owner. These ads will also be posted on FB and Twitter automatically.

I will keep feeding at the same time. Hopefully I can get a better video tonight. I really need a picture to add to the lost ads.

EDIT : I called the vet, they don't have humane traps, but they are going to see if they can find one for me to borrow. They should call back today. People are so awesome

What you are doing to try to help Buddy is heart-warming.  I wish you the best of luck.

One a month on your own dime is AWESOME!  I hope you are able to find help and support, though.  It's hard work and can take a lot out of you emotionally.  I know coming here helps me a lot.

If you can't find a decent wet food, cut up chicken or turkey will help.  I always cook mine because I can't stand handling raw meat.

But if you can handle raw, that's good for them too.  The organ meats are especially good for them.  No bones, though.  I think the cooked bones crack and can be a swallowing hazard.

One of our other members, ShadowsRescue, posted a video about making bone broth.  It is very high in nutrients.  Here's the link:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/301643/...-make-broth-for-cats-very-simple-instructions

@dahlia Thanks so much

@Ondine The vet called back, they contacted the association on my behalf, and someone will call me back today to plan Buddy's TNR!!! I'm so happy for him! His eye is worrying me, he needs a vet.

I got to talk to a few neighbors since Buddy came, and they are all aware of the cats, but wish that they wouldn't fight and make noises in the middle of the night. I told them any chance I got that the plan was to TNR them, and find forever homes for the more socialized ones. They didn't have a problem with that, or with me feeding the cats. This is becoming quite the adventure, I love it!