Stray cat in the neighborhood

Recently a black cat has been hanging around our neighborhood. He sleeps in my neighbor's bushes and can be seen roaming around the block. My next door neighbor's husband hates stray animals and wants to call animal control. I'd rather see if I can get it over to my house and either tame it (if it's not already tame) or catch it and take it to our local humane society that works really hard to find homes for animals. Do any of you have any suggestions on how to get it over to my house? I put out some cat food on the front porch, but I couldn't think of anything else. The cat looks healthy, but runs when anyone calls it or gets too close. I'd also like to find out if it's neutered. What do you think I should do?

Thanks!
Dawn

I don't know where you live, but in most states animal control only will come out on dog calls - in Connecticut no-one will come out for a cat. So the thing to do is to continue to put food out, perhaps some catnip - you need to get him into your yard voluntarily. It took me a full year to get my last stray to come near enough to me so I could grab him and get him over to the vet for shots and neutering. Some come around in a few days - others never. You need to find out how friendly he is - if he is a stray or a feral - if he ends up being more feral, you may have to borrow a have a heart trap to trap him and get him to a vet. If he is feral, don't take him to a shelter as he will not be able to be placed as a pet. Good luck - I hope you succeed in truly rescuing him! Keep us posted.

Take an old shirt of yours and put it on and give it a full work-out. Get it all smelly with your sweat, and feed the cat on the shirt. This will acquaint it with your scent and it will be easier to get closer. It sounds like it was dumped as someone's pet and not feral. Ferals are really spooky. Put out food and water, and talk to a vet office or feed store near you about renting a trap. You can also try looking up Critter Busters in your area, for a fee they will come out and trap the cat and then either turn the cat over to you, or find it a home. Don't feed it out in the open, make sure it feels safe wherever the food is put. You can even try setting out a box for it to sleep in, but don't hold your breath that it will go into it right away. Good luck!

I'm so glad you decided to try and help the little guy. He's probably all alone.

In the meantime can you talk to your neighbors and let them know that you're taking care of the situation. People that hate cats can do some nasty things to cats they think nobody owns.

By the way, I'm moving this thread to Cats SOS as it's about a rescue.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I put out food for the cat, and some has been eaten. I'm assuming by the black cat and not some other. However, this week the weather has turned horrible (I'm in DFW Texas), and I haven't seen the cat since. Hopefully he's holed up somewhere warm. I'd like to get a box out there with some shredded newspaper in it (if my husband doesn't mind it on the front porch) and see he'll start sleeping there. I know the neighbor's mostly concerned with the cat sharpening his claws on his boat tarp and spraying. Hopefully this won't happen. I'll keep you posted.

Dawn