How can I get my feral cat to come onto my house

[imkat61]

Hi everyone
I have a feral cat who I love and adore , I would love to help how I can get him to come inside my house ! It’s been two yrs now I can finally pet him , he rubs again my legs But skiddish if I try and pick him up ! Recently he had been living in my garage over winter , with a heat lamp and. Pay self warming cat bed that was in a basket ! Ans he would come out durning the day n sleepmin at night ! My landlord now rented out the garage n I had to take him out ! It broke my <3 ! He still comes to me for food but lost his shelter n security !
he won’t go in the heated cat house n now won’t let me lay him anymore ! I’m so upset over this situation! I want him to be safe n happy ! My golden retriever even loves him ans he is ok with my dog
Can someone please advise mw how I cam make this transition ! I love this kitty so much

 

[tabbytom]

Hi everyone
I have a feral cat who I love and adore , I would love to help how I can get him to come inside my house ! It’s been two yrs now I can finally pet him , he rubs again my legs But skiddish if I try and pick him up ! Recently he had been living in my garage over winter , with a heat lamp and. Pay self warming cat bed that was in a basket ! Ans he would come out durning the day n sleepmin at night ! My landlord now rented out the garage n I had to take him out ! It broke my <3 ! He still comes to me for food but lost his shelter n security !
he won’t go in the heated cat house n now won’t let me lay him anymore ! I’m so upset over this situation! I want him to be safe n happy ! My golden retriever even loves him ans he is ok with my dog
Can someone please advise mw how I cam make this transition ! I love this kitty so much

and welcome to TCS!

Thank you for taking care of this feral kitty and also trying too get him into the house so that he can be safe!

Transiting him or getting him into the house needs some work. Before getting him into the house, you must prepare a safe room for him and make sure that the room has no escape route for him. It can be an unused bathroom or a spare bedroom.
In the meantime, get some towels to and let him lay on them or stuffs that he's been using in the garage and leave them in the safe room together with some of your clean unwashed, non perfumed garments and leave it in the room. This way, there'll be familiar scents and he won't freak out so easily.

One way is to trap him with a humane trap and bring him in which is faster but maybe harder to trap him and the other way is, since he allows you to pet him, meaning he trust you and come close to you, you can quickly pick him up while you are squatting down while petting him, and quickly carry him into the house to the safe room provided he does not turn around and bite or scratch you.
One other way is may take a little longer is whenever you feed him, always bring his dish closer and closer to the door of the house and eventually during the last few laps of feeding, move his dish inside the house. after several meals in the house, and while he's eating, swiftly but quietly close the door. Once door is closed, never open not again else if he gets out, your efforts will be wasted and the next try will be harder to get him in.

Once he's in, give him time to acclimatize and don;'t rush him. Let him explore the house on his own terms. He may go hide initially and once he kn0ws that there is no harm or danger or threats, he'll overcome it and slowly will explore the house.

Now the main thing is to get him inside first and work on him later once he's in.

Feel free to ask questions and we'll try to guide you along to make the transition smooth.

BTW, he's a good looking cat

 

[maggie101]

Get a humane trap. Or if you have the time,socialiize. Instead of walking towards him squat at his level. Usually a stray cat does not like to be petted but loves being scratched below his ear. Let him sniff your hand. Tempt him with freeze dried treats. Good luck!