Any suggestions to get cat to come to you

Now that it has been 4 weeks since Tommy's amputation I feel more comfortable about letting him outside when I'm outside but he wants to wander back under the spruce trees and once under them he doesn't come back out when I call him. It took 50 minutes Monday nite and finally using mosit food as a lure to get him to come out from under the trees.

I little background, I've had Tommy a 3 yr(?) now neutuered for 11 months-he appeared in the back yard and toook me a few weeks to get him to come, eat. I think he was dumped off and must have been a indoor/outdoor cat cause he is littered trained. Very friendly (except to my other cats). He was shot 4 weeks ago and I had back leg amputated which is going well. He did bite me back in December-mainly my fault. He would stay outside at night and inside the garage during the day waiting at the door). So I never got in the habit of calling for him, but now that the situation has changed I need help!!!

Gail, be very, very careful letting him outside now that he only has 3 legs. Something you might want to try is a cat harness. That way, he can have his outside time but still be safe.

If one of my babies refuses to come in (very rare but does happen) I use a few tricks. One is to squat down and dig a little hole or play in the dirt with my finger, making it seem like I've found something interesting and telling the cat so. The cat will come to investigate. Another trick I use is to find a branch and drag it along behind me in a squiggling, random pattern. The cat can't resist pouncing on it and then you can pick him up and bring him inside. Whichever way you use to get him to come to you, reward him with lots of praise and a treat you kow he loves.

As Tommy was homeless for who knows how long, he is wise to many common tricks. He just lays under the spruce trees about 2-3 ft away from me and will not budge!!
If I reach for him-he gets testy. I tried fresh catnip I don't know if that made him better or worse.

I am sure you have tried this, but what about shaking a bag of treats? Would he come for that?

The treat shaking worked for me when my tortie got out (she wasn't in heat that time).

Also what worked the second time she got out (not in heat that time either), I got her favorite toy (being stray does he have a toy?) it's a hot pink feather on a string. I flopped it around until she came to attack it. As she was playing, and had the feather in her paws, I took the string, and wraped it around her tail and leggs, playfuly. As I stepped towards her, she tried to get up, but with all the string moving as she moved, she was distracted with trying to play with it, I cought her.

The last time she got out (towards the end of her heat), I had to throw treats on the ground near her do distract her and the male who was guarding her, and grabbed her as soon as she looked where they landed. Luckilly she's a very loving cat, and was happy to be back in mama's arms, but she didn't want to leave her new THREE TOMMY boyfriends behind.

Because your cat was shot prior to this, I would strongly suggest you keep this three legged baby inside your home. If he is attacked by anything human or animal he will be severely hampered in getting away to safety.

I have a sure-fire way to get all the cats to come running. Even if there is a stranger in the house and they are scared of them, or if they're out in the garage playing and they won't come down to come inside. It's simple really. I feed my cats dry food. Every now and again I give them a can of wet food to share as a treat. So, what I do is, before I even go in the kitchen, I scream "WHO WANTS CAT FOOD?" in the highest pitch Mariah-Carey like voice that I can muster. Then I go "CAT FOOD CAT FOOD CAT FOOD...WHO WANTS CAT FOOD!!?!?" I mean, I sound crazy, and I look crazy too because I'm so excited and waving my hands around. But the cats know that this special "Call of the Cat food" means they will get their special wet-food treat. You just have to be consistent and do the crazy thing before you give them this treat every time. When I use it to get Grayson and Cleo in from the garage (which I have to sometimes because they sit on piled boxes so high I can't reach them) it gets everyone excited, and of course I can't not give them anything. The trick is to not do it too often. Anyhow, that's my trick. If I had a tape recorder I'd record it and play it for you

LOL Sarah, I'm like that with my babies. "Popcorn, Coco, Milo, Vegemite! Din-Dins!!" I'm sure the neighbors think I'm loopy.

I'm only letting him outside when I'm close by-since he is closed up in a 2 car garage with no views. He will never be outside by himself as he used to but because he doesn't get along )yet) with the other cats he is confined to the garage and let me tell you -sitting out in the garage with him is no fun!! He is still trying to be independent and just a matter of will I guess. I do the hollering for the other cats but they grew up with it I have to condition Tommy. Maybe when his hormone levels finally drop he will respond better too.