- Joined
- Feb 3, 2016
- Messages
- 68
- Purraise
- 14
Hiya all, I just have a couple of question about a stray tom cat in my area.
I started seeing him about once a week in the summer of 2014. He is a long haired black cat that had a very clearly visible break in his tail. I tried to get him inside with food but never had any luck as I would always miss him. In the end he just disappeared for about 6 months and reappeared with only half a tail. I assumed a recue had gotten to him, had neutered and fixed his tail and realised him because he was feral. Since then I have routinely seen him every evening while he passes through my garden. A couple of months ago I saw him cross a main road about 10 roads down from where I live. I'm 99.99% sure it was him because I don't know to many other cats that have half a tail too lol. So I contacted my local animal rescue and told them my predicament. This led to the question if he wasn't neutered and was roaming then was he ever taken to the vets? Was it possible his tail just fell off?
The woman at the rescue was a saint. She gave me lots off food to take home to try and start feeding him again. At first other cats were eating the food but in the end I managed to catch him eating the food. I ran outside and made an attempt to shake the packet. He bolted across the garden but then slowly started to come over (Thinking back he must off been really desperate to have come over to me). I fed him some more food but couldn't manage to grab him as he was very skittish. I continued feeding him for about a week and a half until it got to the point where he was waiting and sleeping in my garden. I started to wonder whether he was really feral or maybe just a stray. He didn't have the same attitude I have seen in most of the feral cats. I also started to realise how swollen and distended his belly appeared from worms.
I then borrowed a trap from the kind lady at the rescue and started trying to feed him in the trap. Instantly he knew what the trap was. He refused to go any where near the thing and would just stare at the tuna expecting it to grow wings and fly towards him. So instead I tried a different approach and tried to lore him inside. At first he was really skittish but after a couple of chunks soon gave in. He even let me stroke him for a while. Finally on Monday I managed to lore him inside and shut the door. At first he froze but then he started to meow and soon hid under the table. I picked him up and placed him into a carrier (without a hiss or scratch) and took him to the rescue.
The woman told me she would keep me up to date with his progress and phoned me yesterday to say how things were going. She said they took him to the vets to neuter him and found a microchip on him. I off course was completely mind blown. However this didn't last very long. She promptly told me that the microchip only had a road name (5 roads from me) and a number on it which was dead. Most likely he was abandoned when they moved house so they were able to carry on with the neutering. She also estimated him to be a about 8/9 years old.
Over this whole period I have completely fallen for him. Before I enquire about getting him from the rescue I'm worried in case he carries on roaming around the neighbour and still sprays. Would he settle down now that he's neutered? Or would he carry on living like this, after all old habits die hard lol. I would keep him in at night time off course. I know that some cats just enjoy exploring but for him I'm not so sure. Since we started to feed him he practically lived in our garden.
Ps I live in the uk. I understand that most cats are indoors in the US however its quite common for all cats to go outside over here.
I started seeing him about once a week in the summer of 2014. He is a long haired black cat that had a very clearly visible break in his tail. I tried to get him inside with food but never had any luck as I would always miss him. In the end he just disappeared for about 6 months and reappeared with only half a tail. I assumed a recue had gotten to him, had neutered and fixed his tail and realised him because he was feral. Since then I have routinely seen him every evening while he passes through my garden. A couple of months ago I saw him cross a main road about 10 roads down from where I live. I'm 99.99% sure it was him because I don't know to many other cats that have half a tail too lol. So I contacted my local animal rescue and told them my predicament. This led to the question if he wasn't neutered and was roaming then was he ever taken to the vets? Was it possible his tail just fell off?
The woman at the rescue was a saint. She gave me lots off food to take home to try and start feeding him again. At first other cats were eating the food but in the end I managed to catch him eating the food. I ran outside and made an attempt to shake the packet. He bolted across the garden but then slowly started to come over (Thinking back he must off been really desperate to have come over to me). I fed him some more food but couldn't manage to grab him as he was very skittish. I continued feeding him for about a week and a half until it got to the point where he was waiting and sleeping in my garden. I started to wonder whether he was really feral or maybe just a stray. He didn't have the same attitude I have seen in most of the feral cats. I also started to realise how swollen and distended his belly appeared from worms.
I then borrowed a trap from the kind lady at the rescue and started trying to feed him in the trap. Instantly he knew what the trap was. He refused to go any where near the thing and would just stare at the tuna expecting it to grow wings and fly towards him. So instead I tried a different approach and tried to lore him inside. At first he was really skittish but after a couple of chunks soon gave in. He even let me stroke him for a while. Finally on Monday I managed to lore him inside and shut the door. At first he froze but then he started to meow and soon hid under the table. I picked him up and placed him into a carrier (without a hiss or scratch) and took him to the rescue.
The woman told me she would keep me up to date with his progress and phoned me yesterday to say how things were going. She said they took him to the vets to neuter him and found a microchip on him. I off course was completely mind blown. However this didn't last very long. She promptly told me that the microchip only had a road name (5 roads from me) and a number on it which was dead. Most likely he was abandoned when they moved house so they were able to carry on with the neutering. She also estimated him to be a about 8/9 years old.
Over this whole period I have completely fallen for him. Before I enquire about getting him from the rescue I'm worried in case he carries on roaming around the neighbour and still sprays. Would he settle down now that he's neutered? Or would he carry on living like this, after all old habits die hard lol. I would keep him in at night time off course. I know that some cats just enjoy exploring but for him I'm not so sure. Since we started to feed him he practically lived in our garden.
Ps I live in the uk. I understand that most cats are indoors in the US however its quite common for all cats to go outside over here.