Feral Cat Living in Ceiling for Years

[aknight143]

The husband and I just recently bought a home, and undisclosed to us the house came with a cat. A little bit of background that I got from the neighbors, the homeowners prior to us used to house and take care of all the neighborhood cats. They would take care of feral pregnant cats so that way they had a safe and warm environment, and then would rehouse the kittens to good homes. Well, I guess one of the kittens shortly after birth got into the ceiling above the furnace, and has been living there for years. It comes down to eat and to use the litter box. Apparently, they have tried using animal protective services multiple times through out the years to trap it. The house did come with a little bit of a smell, but it’s not overwhelming. My biggest concern is that I can tell it is always coming out of the ceiling to use the bathroom, and we’re gonna have a serious toxic issue here soon. I will take any suggestion on how to remove the cat from my ceiling.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I don't really have any quick suggestions, but I am curious about a few things - and, maybe knowing the answers will help with coming up with solutions. Where is his access point to/from the ceiling? If he comes down, can that access point be easily blocked off? Where does this cat go to use the bathroom? You've left a litter box for him to use? And, are you feeding him? If so, where?

 

[Xena44]

Hi. I don't really have any quick suggestions, but I am curious about a few things - and, maybe knowing the answers will help with coming up with solutions. Where is his access point to/from the ceiling? If he comes down, can that access point be easily blocked off? Where does this cat go to use the bathroom? You've left a litter box for him to use? And, are you feeding him? If so, where?

Damn! Poor kitty!!!!

 

[susanm9006]

First, I assume/hope that you are continuing to provide a fresh litter box, food and water for this cat? If you are doing that then there shouldn’t be a build of of odor or anything toxic? Second, are you really sure you don’t want to continue to provide a home for this poor cat. I would expect at some point it will get tired of the ceiling and come down.

Assuming you do really want to rehome him then I would buy a good sized cat trap, leave it unset and start setting the cat’s food near it, moving it slowly a day at a time into the trap. Once the cat is eating the food with the dish at the far back you can then set the trap and hopefully catch the cat.

 

[Texaskitty]

If you're not up for trapping the cat yourself, you could hire a company to go up in the attic and trap the cat. They know how to trap raccoons and squirrels in attics. Ask them to very gently trap the cat and bring the cat to you. Then you can decide what you want to do. Seal up the attic entrance and keep the kitty in your house or re-home the kitty.

 

[fionasmom]

If you are in an area similar to mine, AC is not actually going to go inside your house and help with this. The most you might get is a trap on loan/rent from them. A better bet is a humane animal trapping service who will turn the cat over to you.

Where are the previous homeowners? Are they elderly and moved into assisted living or the like? If not, where are they in all of this and would they take the cat back? Does your realtor have any info about that?

You might see if there are rescue groups in your area that you can alert to this situation in case you don't want to keep the cat. You may not know yet if it is more feral or if it became more domesticated over the years it lived there. It may be more tame than it might seem and this is just its routine.

The previously mentioned suggestions are all really good and I would try to follow them as much as you can.

 

[tarasgirl06]

The husband and I just recently bought a home, and undisclosed to us the house came with a cat. A little bit of background that I got from the neighbors, the homeowners prior to us used to house and take care of all the neighborhood cats. They would take care of feral pregnant cats so that way they had a safe and warm environment, and then would rehouse the kittens to good homes. Well, I guess one of the kittens shortly after birth got into the ceiling above the furnace, and has been living there for years. It comes down to eat and to use the litter box. Apparently, they have tried using animal protective services multiple times through out the years to trap it. The house did come with a little bit of a smell, but it’s not overwhelming. My biggest concern is that I can tell it is always coming out of the ceiling to use the bathroom, and we’re gonna have a serious toxic issue here soon. I will take any suggestion on how to remove the cat from my ceiling.

*PRAYERS* for this cat to be treated kindly. Someone is feeding him or her? If not, (s)he must be doing rodent control and have a very good supply of prey (mice is cats' main prey in the wild, if they can get it. Contrary to some reports, birds are NOT cats' prey unless the birds are old, sic, weak, very young, or otherwise not high in the gene pool. They are excellent rodent controllers, which is why the ancient Egyptians and others in west Asia, north Africa etc., prized and respected them.
Providing a clean and well-maintained litter box would be good for the cat and for you. Almost all cats instinctively use litter boxes and they are fastidious and very clean.
Other posters have excellent suggestions. For cleaning, I have always used NATURE'S MIRACLE-JUST FOR CATS which is an enzymatic cleaner available from Petco and many other places including online. It is an enzymatic liquid that actually destroys the molecules, leaving the area truly clean and used as directed, is very effective.

 

[Xena44]

*PRAYERS* for this cat to be treated kindly. Someone is feeding him or her? If not, (s)he must be doing rodent control and have a very good supply of prey (mice is cats' main prey in the wild, if they can get it. Contrary to some reports, birds are NOT cats' prey unless the birds are old, sic, weak, very young, or otherwise not high in the gene pool. They are excellent rodent controllers, which is why the ancient Egyptians and others in west Asia, north Africa etc., prized and respected them.
Providing a clean and well-maintained litter box would be good for the cat and for you. Almost all cats instinctively use litter boxes and they are fastidious and very clean.
Other posters have excellent suggestions. For cleaning, I have always used NATURE'S MIRACLE-JUST FOR CATS which is an enzymatic cleaner available from Petco and many other places including online. It is an enzymatic liquid that actually destroys the molecules, leaving the area truly clean and used as directed, is very effective.

Totally agreed. And if they decide to keep her, de-worming her would be an excellent idea. Pyrantel pamoate ban be picked up cheaply online and can be mixed with some wet food. I’m sure she had internal parasites.

 

[di and bob]

once he is caught, I assume it is a he or there would be lots of cats up there, Natures miracle could be sprayed heavily over the entire attic, I got rid of the smell in a basement that dogs had been housed in for years and the smell of urine was so bad it burned your eyes. i had to spray three times, but it worked!
Please keep feeding and providing a box for this cat until you catch it. It would be much easier if you keep on with its routine. Since multiple tries have been tried to catch this cat, he will be wary. But they were strangers he might have smelled and it scared him. He will have to get used to you too.
Get a live trap from a farm supply store like Tractor Supply or Orschelns (around 20-25.00) and set the dish of food in front of it. Cover the back half of the trap with a towel. SLOWLY move the food into the dish, as said above, over several days or even weeks to get the cat inside. THEN set the trap and catch it. Cover the trap with a towel so it will calm the cat down once it is caught. You have my thoughts and prayers......

 

[aknight143]

The husband and I just recently bought a home, and undisclosed to us the house came with a cat. A little bit of background that I got from the neighbors, the homeowners prior to us used to house and take care of all the neighborhood cats. They would take care of feral pregnant cats so that way they had a safe and warm environment, and then would rehouse the kittens to good homes. Well, I guess one of the kittens shortly after birth got into the ceiling above the furnace, and has been living there for years. It comes down to eat and to use the litter box. Apparently, they have tried using animal protective services multiple times through out the years to trap it. The house did come with a little bit of a smell, but it’s not overwhelming. My biggest concern is that I can tell it is not always coming out of the ceiling to use the bathroom, and we’re gonna have a serious toxic issue here soon. I will take any suggestion on how to remove the cat from my ceiling.

Don't worry! We bought the cat a fresh litter box, food, and some toys! It's still being well taken care of, I would just rather it not live in the ceilings.

 

[aknight143]

Hi. I don't really have any quick suggestions, but I am curious about a few things - and, maybe knowing the answers will help with coming up with solutions. Where is his access point to/from the ceiling? If he comes down, can that access point be easily blocked off? Where does this cat go to use the bathroom? You've left a litter box for him to use? And, are you feeding him? If so, where?

The cat access the ceiling through a unfinished part in the ceiling above the furnace. It only comes down when we are sleeping, we've actually only ever seen in it once, and for like two seconds. It would be basically impossible to block it in unless we wanted to trap it in the ceiling. From what I can tell it is using the floors outside of the ceiling, and using the litter box we have provided. We are feeding the cat, the food is in a bedroom outside of the furnace area.

 

[aknight143]

First, I assume/hope that you are continuing to provide a fresh litter box, food and water for this cat? If you are doing that then there shouldn’t be a build of of odor or anything toxic? Second, are you really sure you don’t want to continue to provide a home for this poor cat. I would expect at some point it will get tired of the ceiling and come down.

Assuming you do really want to rehome him then I would buy a good sized cat trap, leave it unset and start setting the cat’s food near it, moving it slowly a day at a time into the trap. Once the cat is eating the food with the dish at the far back you can then set the trap and hopefully catch the cat.

I might not have mentioned this before, but the cat has been living in the ceiling for years and will only come out at night for food and to use the bathroom, and although it is using that bathroom outside of the ceiling, I suspect that to some degree it is using it in the ceiling even though we are providing litter, food, and toys. I would love to keep it, but my husband is severely allergic, and it's fur is in almost all the vents, he wakes up with a swollen face every morning.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I am hoping the story you got from the neighbors isn't entirely accurate. That - perhaps, this cat did 'visit' with the homeowners at least part of the time, but chose its hang out spot to be where s/he is at now and the homeowners let him/her do so. Losing the only humans this cat knew drove it to hide in the ceiling. If that were the case, after some time, the cat might actually come down to investigate his/her new care takers. Although, that could possibly take months.

I don't know why, but suspect the homeowners might have told stories to the neighbors and maybe no one really has ever tried to actually trap this cat. Or, to the opposite, the homeowners never tried to 'befriend' this cat, so it stayed away from them. Something just seems amiss about this whole backstory with the cat. But, that doesn't mean it isn't all real - it is just bizarre.

I'd set up a camera that can watch this cat's moves at night, at least at one of the locations it goes. I would also set up one or two cardboard boxes turned upside down with a hole for the cat to crawl into and see if it uses the box(es) at all. If it is warm out, buy one of those self-cooling mats to place inside the box. If it is cool outside, they also sell self-heating pads. Whatever you buy, let it air out first before placing it in the box. You might even consider taking a small towel and laying it underneath the cat's food/water dish to see if you can pick up some of its scent and use that inside one of the boxes. I would also set out some more toys to see if that would interest the cat at all. The toys can be simple things like paper towel rolls, crinkled up foil, etc. to start off with. You need to find out about this cat's personality/demeaner as that might go a long way in determining how to trap it.

In the meantime, can your husband try some different antihistamines to see if that might help him while you work on a more permanent solution for this cat?

 

[aknight143]

I am hoping the story you got from the neighbors isn't entirely accurate. That - perhaps, this cat did 'visit' with the homeowners at least part of the time, but chose its hang out spot to be where s/he is at now and the homeowners let him/her do so. Losing the only humans this cat knew drove it to hide in the ceiling. If that were the case, after some time, the cat might actually come down to investigate his/her new care takers. Although, that could possibly take months.

I don't know why, but suspect the homeowners might have told stories to the neighbors and maybe no one really has ever tried to actually trap this cat. Or, to the opposite, the homeowners never tried to 'befriend' this cat, so it stayed away from them. Something just seems amiss about this whole backstory with the cat. But, that doesn't mean it isn't all real - it is just bizarre.

I'd set up a camera that can watch this cat's moves at night, at least at one of the locations it goes. I would also set up one or two cardboard boxes turned upside down with a hole for the cat to crawl into and see if it uses the box(es) at all. If it is warm out, buy one of those self-cooling mats to place inside the box. If it is cool outside, they also sell self-heating pads. Whatever you buy, let it air out first before placing it in the box. You might even consider taking a small towel and laying it underneath the cat's food/water dish to see if you can pick up some of its scent and use that inside one of the boxes. I would also set out some more toys to see if that would interest the cat at all. The toys can be simple things like paper towel rolls, crinkled up foil, etc. to start off with. You need to find out about this cat's personality/demeaner as that might go a long way in determining how to trap it.

In the meantime, can your husband try some different antihistamines to see if that might help him while you work on a more permanent solution for this cat?

Thank you for help! I definitely hope it won't take months since I'm concerned for the cat's overall health, but I can only be patient at this point I guess. I just don't know if it will warm up to us since we have a dog too.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I might not have mentioned this before, but the cat has been living in the ceiling for years and will only come out at night for food and to use the bathroom, and although it is using that bathroom outside of the ceiling, I suspect that to some degree it is using it in the ceiling even though we are providing litter, food, and toys. I would love to keep it, but my husband is severely allergic, and it's fur is in almost all the vents, he wakes up with a swollen face every morning.

Yes, A aknight143 there are OTC and Rx drugs for cat allergies. Friends of mine have resorted to them rather than live without their beloved cats. And there are now some different cat foods including Purina LiveClear that reduce the allergens. So there may be a solution after all. FeebysOwner has excellent suggestions!

 

[FeebysOwner]

I just don't know if it will warm up to us since we have a dog too.

Is the dog crated/enclosed in a room at night, or allowed to roam? If the latter, I would think that there is a chance the cat has seen the dog. Or, there is even a chance that the cat could also be hiding because of the dog.

 

[Xena44]

Don't worry! We bought the cat a fresh litter box, food, and some toys! It's still being well taken care of, I would just rather it not live in the ceilings.

Cool. Thank you. This post may belong under “you know you’re a cat lover when”. Lololol!!!

 

[fionasmom]

You are very kind to continue to try to help this cat and resolve the situation. I only want to add that, along with FeebysOwner , there are many suspicious stories floating around concerning the sale of houses and what people will not disclose. To me, the story is fishy and I have worked only with ferals in all sorts of situations...but that really is water under the bridge.

This is not to hijack your thread, but when we bought this house, we were told it had hardwood floors. The realtor representing the owner actually allowed the home inspector to lift the carpeting in the living room to show us the hardwood floors. What the sellers "forgot" to mention, despite the fact that they had lived in the house long enough to have recarpeted three times, was that most of the house was on plywood floors.

 

[Xena44]

I might not have mentioned this before, but the cat has been living in the ceiling for years and will only come out at night for food and to use the bathroom, and although it is using that bathroom outside of the ceiling, I suspect that to some degree it is using it in the ceiling even though we are providing litter, food, and toys. I would love to keep it, but my husband is severely allergic, and it's fur is in almost all the vents, he wakes up with a swollen face every morning.

Thank you for taking care of him.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Any updates for us? I know it hasn't been that long, but was hoping to hear some encouraging news!