- Joined
- Oct 31, 2013
- Messages
- 7
- Purraise
- 10
Hello Folks,
Made an account just to ask this question, and thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
I'm going to give you folks full details, so heads up for a long post. Gonna organize it in order of the events that have happened over the last few days. If it's too long skip to the 'The Issue' section for my specific questions.
Day 0:
My girlfriend and I were out walking and saw a ragged-looking gray cat out prowling our neighborhood in North Carolina. This creature had clearly been outside for a long time, and was hungry. We didn't see it again, but it was near to our house so we left out a can of tuna to try and attract it + give it something to eat.
Day 1:
We put the tuna out the morning after we saw the cat, and later that afternoon the tuna was gone. That night we put out another can of tuna, and as I was working upstairs my girlfriend called up to me because outside there was a beautiful big (not fat, just large) golden-brown cat eating the tuna in our drive way. This was not the same cat we saw outside the previous day.
My gf had brought him (we think it's male) a bowl of water and had managed to get reasonably close to him while doing so. After I came down we brought out some cat treats and sat a few feet away from him while he ate and drank. While he was eating the tuna he purred so loudly -the loudest I've ever heard a cat purr - which makes me think he was happy for the food. That night he ate two whole cans of tuna and drank a bunch of water, which makes me think he had been on his own for a while. He even ate a treat out of my gf's hand! He let me sit with her while he ate his food, but when I got up to get more treats and came back, he ran away into the neighbor's yard
Day 2-Day 5: (Today)
We put out food every morning at 7:30 and at the afternoon around 4pm. The cat seems to come back periodically to eat because by noon the morning food is gone and the evening food gets eaten between 4:00pm and 8:00pm. We have seen the same golden brown cat come back each day at least at night. We have been putting the food right outside our back door on our back porch, and the cat has no problem coming right up the back steps and eating off our porch so long as we aren't looking. Last night there was food out on the back porch as always (to get out there we have two doors, a screen and a solid wooden one) and as i was cooking dinner my gf wandered toward the door and saw the cat at the top of the stairs. The second the cat saw her it turned around and ran to lurk at the bottom of our porh stairs.
The Issues:
We want to adopt this cat as our outdoor cat, and maybe move it to an indoor cat eventually, but we are not sure how to win its trust. The first night it seemed quite willing to let us be near it and it was brave enough to come near our house. Now it seems more jittery and scared of us.
Why do you think this change happened? We believe that the cat doesn't yet understand that we're giving it the food, but it thinks it's stealing it. Maybe it thinks that when we go to be present as it eats we're going to challenge it/shoo it away, which isn't the case. we just want to love it and earn its trust.
We have tried leaving the screen door closed but the back wooden door open so we can see out, but it hasn't worked. Last night I took some used shirts of mine (one from the gym and one i've worn a couple times this week) and hung them on the railing near the food bowl, and the food got eaten. This morning I put one of those shirts in a pile behind the food bowl and the food got eaten. I want the cat to associate my smell w/ food. We were also considering getting a ComfortZone plug and plugging it in in our kitchen w/ the screen open so the cat feels more welcome, but we're afraid the cat will think it's another cat being territorial. Are these good ideas? What do you think? Any other helpful suggestions on earning this cat's trust?
Also, we are not sure if it is feral, stray, a neighborhood outdoor cat, or a lost cat. It doesn't wear a collar and seems quite afraid of people (aka us) except on that first night. If it's someone's pet with a microchip, we don't want the family to worry any longer, but if it's a stray/feral we don't want to traumatize it and make it hate us by trapping it.
What do you folks think? Any and all ideas and suggestions are helpful.
Thanks in advance,
Shake
Made an account just to ask this question, and thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
I'm going to give you folks full details, so heads up for a long post. Gonna organize it in order of the events that have happened over the last few days. If it's too long skip to the 'The Issue' section for my specific questions.
Day 0:
My girlfriend and I were out walking and saw a ragged-looking gray cat out prowling our neighborhood in North Carolina. This creature had clearly been outside for a long time, and was hungry. We didn't see it again, but it was near to our house so we left out a can of tuna to try and attract it + give it something to eat.
Day 1:
We put the tuna out the morning after we saw the cat, and later that afternoon the tuna was gone. That night we put out another can of tuna, and as I was working upstairs my girlfriend called up to me because outside there was a beautiful big (not fat, just large) golden-brown cat eating the tuna in our drive way. This was not the same cat we saw outside the previous day.
My gf had brought him (we think it's male) a bowl of water and had managed to get reasonably close to him while doing so. After I came down we brought out some cat treats and sat a few feet away from him while he ate and drank. While he was eating the tuna he purred so loudly -the loudest I've ever heard a cat purr - which makes me think he was happy for the food. That night he ate two whole cans of tuna and drank a bunch of water, which makes me think he had been on his own for a while. He even ate a treat out of my gf's hand! He let me sit with her while he ate his food, but when I got up to get more treats and came back, he ran away into the neighbor's yard
Day 2-Day 5: (Today)
We put out food every morning at 7:30 and at the afternoon around 4pm. The cat seems to come back periodically to eat because by noon the morning food is gone and the evening food gets eaten between 4:00pm and 8:00pm. We have seen the same golden brown cat come back each day at least at night. We have been putting the food right outside our back door on our back porch, and the cat has no problem coming right up the back steps and eating off our porch so long as we aren't looking. Last night there was food out on the back porch as always (to get out there we have two doors, a screen and a solid wooden one) and as i was cooking dinner my gf wandered toward the door and saw the cat at the top of the stairs. The second the cat saw her it turned around and ran to lurk at the bottom of our porh stairs.
The Issues:
We want to adopt this cat as our outdoor cat, and maybe move it to an indoor cat eventually, but we are not sure how to win its trust. The first night it seemed quite willing to let us be near it and it was brave enough to come near our house. Now it seems more jittery and scared of us.
Why do you think this change happened? We believe that the cat doesn't yet understand that we're giving it the food, but it thinks it's stealing it. Maybe it thinks that when we go to be present as it eats we're going to challenge it/shoo it away, which isn't the case. we just want to love it and earn its trust.
We have tried leaving the screen door closed but the back wooden door open so we can see out, but it hasn't worked. Last night I took some used shirts of mine (one from the gym and one i've worn a couple times this week) and hung them on the railing near the food bowl, and the food got eaten. This morning I put one of those shirts in a pile behind the food bowl and the food got eaten. I want the cat to associate my smell w/ food. We were also considering getting a ComfortZone plug and plugging it in in our kitchen w/ the screen open so the cat feels more welcome, but we're afraid the cat will think it's another cat being territorial. Are these good ideas? What do you think? Any other helpful suggestions on earning this cat's trust?
Also, we are not sure if it is feral, stray, a neighborhood outdoor cat, or a lost cat. It doesn't wear a collar and seems quite afraid of people (aka us) except on that first night. If it's someone's pet with a microchip, we don't want the family to worry any longer, but if it's a stray/feral we don't want to traumatize it and make it hate us by trapping it.
What do you folks think? Any and all ideas and suggestions are helpful.
Thanks in advance,
Shake