Stray cat missing, visited daily

Hello all,

I am looking for some advice, since I'm a "newbie" at caring for feral cats. We live in a community that is not exactly cat friendly; since July, we've been feeding s small colony that lives here with plans to spay and neuter the ones that are very sociable to get them out of the streets and into loving homes. They allow us to pet them and request to be petted, and some even ask to come inside, but only stay for a couple of minutes.

One of the cats, Yellow, has been missing since 6PM yesterday. She is always at our sliding door in the morning and stays inside for periods. She hasn't been missing for even a day but since it is so unlike her to not visit frequently is worrying me a lot. She left her kitten in our backyard, a beautiful tortoiseshell. I am worried she will wander away, looking for her mom. Should I try to capture her? We don't have a trap so our best bet is to lure her in with food.

Should I have reason to worry? One of our ofther ferals, Baby, was missing for 2 days before reappeearing on Christmas Day. We were so happy to see her again.

Any advice will be greatily appreciated. Thanks.

NewbieCatMom said:

Hello all,

I am looking for some advice, since I'm a "newbie" at caring for feral cats. We live in a community that is not exactly cat friendly; since July, we've been feeding s small colony that lives here with plans to spay and neuter the ones that are very sociable to get them out of the streets and into loving homes. They allow us to pet them and request to be petted, and some even ask to come inside, but only stay for a couple of minutes.

One of the cats, Yellow, has been missing since 6PM yesterday. She is always at our sliding door in the morning and stays inside for periods. She hasn't been missing for even a day but since it is so unlike her to not visit frequently is worrying me a lot. She left her kitten in our backyard, a beautiful tortoiseshell. I am worried she will wander away, looking for her mom. Should I try to capture her? We don't have a trap so our best bet is to lure her in with food.

Should I have reason to worry? One of our ofther ferals, Baby, was missing for 2 days before reappeearing on Christmas Day. We were so happy to see her again.

Any advice will be greatily appreciated. Thanks.

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Re the kitten - if capturing her, taking home as inside cat and fostering, etc is an option for you - yes, this is an excellent idea.  Plan for it. Please.  How old is the kitten exactly?  If its small kitten, its practically defenceless.  But also, should be easy to capture with some planning.

If its more or less adult - you must perhaps get a humane trap.   

Re Yellow.  Everything is possible.  Including someone else did a spontan adoption, but also, somene evil abducted her.   Especielly these whom begins to be friendly with humans, get the chance, but also these extra risks...

Hope for they best, but be prepared for the worst...

Hello NewbieCatMom,
Thank you for participating in looking after the feral cats at your community [emoji]128077[/emoji][emoji]127995[/emoji]
How old is the kitten? Has it been weaned off? How often did the kitten's mom went away and came back? It's hard to say why she went away or is she ever coming back. Sometimes they are fed at other places and they have a few hangouts. But hope that nothing tragic happened to her.
It'll be good if you can lure the kitten out and keep it in your house till the mom returns. The kitten will sure to wander looking for her mom and it's dangerous for it to wander as it is so young.

Thank you all fo replying. The kitten must be approx. 2 months old, she eats by herself (wet and dry). I'm trying to figure out how to catch her, I don't have a trap and she gets close but does not trust us fully yet.

She was practically always here, the other thing could be that she's out looking for males (she is not neutered).

Try starving her for a meal or so and she'll be hungry by then. Also just be where she is without food so that she can kind of get use to your presence and the next time you feed her, try to get her to eat near you. But do not stress her out or scare her otherwise she'll never come out again till there's no one around.
Can you borrow a a cage or pet carrier?