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- Aug 26, 2015
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I just joined this website. I'm not a die-hard cat person, but I do like cats and have cared for quite a few in my time.
Anyhow, to get to the point, I may have lost my chance to befriend and vaccinate/neuter a feral tom.
Now on to the details and a history.
I live in a suburban area just a few blocks away from farmland. I have a decent sized backyard with hedges all around. I own a 15-year-old fixed female, who despite being fixed, is fiercely territorial. If anything (aside from humans and prey) wanders into our backyard, that cat will skip past hissing or growling and start right away with screaming, pacing, and lunging at the intruder - even when there is a glass sliding door in her way. A while back our cat let us know of such an intruder, which we discovered to be an unfamiliar intact tom. He had a scratched up face and was missing part of his right ear. I don't know if he lost it in fight or due to frostbite. But nonetheless, the cat was worse for wear.
A few times this tom would show up, and our cat would go ballistic. However, we began to notice some odd behaviour. When our girl would get aggressive, he would flop over on to his back and expose his stomach to her. While I have seen dogs expose their necks to indicate submission, I've never seen a cat do something like this before. He kept coming around, and our cat fretted less and less about his presence. Soon, she'd actually walk up and greet him by touching noses.
So, we began feeding this cat, and started calling him Gimpy. We've never seen him spray anywhere in our backyard - but I have no doubt that he does. He's even wandered into our house tentatively when we've left the door open due to hot weather. But he also would often show up with new scratches and sores - some of which would look swollen or infected. He came around more regularly when we began feeding him, but I was not sure why he was coming in the first place. I mean, our cat isn't intact, so she would not be leaving urine and pheromones to attract males. But once she accepted him, I think he preferred to stay in her territory because she was always ready to defend it. So if he was in our backyard, she'd drive off any OTHER cats that came, but let him stay, therefore offering him protection. He also would never eat all of the food we offered him, always leaving some for her to eat - and she would eat it rather eagerly despite the fact that she has her own food dish that we keep well stocked.
Anyway, he used to be dead silent, but he began squeaking and trying to meow, approaching us for head-pats, and otherwise, had warmed to us. So I wanted to get him into a vet for shots (especially if he is hanging around my old lady cat!), get some antibiotics, and eventually, get him neutered. So we get a carrier and make some inquiries to our vet about handling a feral and whatnot. We lured him into the house and closed the door but let him roam through several of our rooms. He was frantic, but eventually calmed down. When it was time to go to the vet we put him in the carrier. Again, he was almost eerily calm after he realised he wasn't getting out. Yet, once we made it to the vet and were just about to walk into the building he managed to bust the door of the carrier right off and booked it across a busy street. It was too dangerous for us to follow him, and he disappeared into the city scape.
I am NOT used to dealing with ferals and know very little about their behaviour. I forgot to mention that at first he would not let any of us come near him - only let our cat near. It took several months to get him to even let us touch him.
TL;DR
I befriended a feral cat, but he got away just outside of the veterinary clinic, and I'm worried I'll never see him again.
So I'm curious... since cats are territorial, and he KNOWS there is a food source here, is it likely that he will return to my backyard? Or will this event, trapping him and taking him OUT of his territory, likely cause him not to return because I 'betrayed his trust'? I am also frantic over not knowing if he is alive or dead. I don't know what services to contact to get information on whether the cat has been found or had ended up as roadkill. If you think he will return, how long do you think it would take for a male cat to travel roughly 4-5 km through a city?
I know this was a lot to read, but I try to include as much information as possible in anticipation of questions that might be asked.
Thank you for your time.
Anyhow, to get to the point, I may have lost my chance to befriend and vaccinate/neuter a feral tom.
Now on to the details and a history.
I live in a suburban area just a few blocks away from farmland. I have a decent sized backyard with hedges all around. I own a 15-year-old fixed female, who despite being fixed, is fiercely territorial. If anything (aside from humans and prey) wanders into our backyard, that cat will skip past hissing or growling and start right away with screaming, pacing, and lunging at the intruder - even when there is a glass sliding door in her way. A while back our cat let us know of such an intruder, which we discovered to be an unfamiliar intact tom. He had a scratched up face and was missing part of his right ear. I don't know if he lost it in fight or due to frostbite. But nonetheless, the cat was worse for wear.
A few times this tom would show up, and our cat would go ballistic. However, we began to notice some odd behaviour. When our girl would get aggressive, he would flop over on to his back and expose his stomach to her. While I have seen dogs expose their necks to indicate submission, I've never seen a cat do something like this before. He kept coming around, and our cat fretted less and less about his presence. Soon, she'd actually walk up and greet him by touching noses.
So, we began feeding this cat, and started calling him Gimpy. We've never seen him spray anywhere in our backyard - but I have no doubt that he does. He's even wandered into our house tentatively when we've left the door open due to hot weather. But he also would often show up with new scratches and sores - some of which would look swollen or infected. He came around more regularly when we began feeding him, but I was not sure why he was coming in the first place. I mean, our cat isn't intact, so she would not be leaving urine and pheromones to attract males. But once she accepted him, I think he preferred to stay in her territory because she was always ready to defend it. So if he was in our backyard, she'd drive off any OTHER cats that came, but let him stay, therefore offering him protection. He also would never eat all of the food we offered him, always leaving some for her to eat - and she would eat it rather eagerly despite the fact that she has her own food dish that we keep well stocked.
Anyway, he used to be dead silent, but he began squeaking and trying to meow, approaching us for head-pats, and otherwise, had warmed to us. So I wanted to get him into a vet for shots (especially if he is hanging around my old lady cat!), get some antibiotics, and eventually, get him neutered. So we get a carrier and make some inquiries to our vet about handling a feral and whatnot. We lured him into the house and closed the door but let him roam through several of our rooms. He was frantic, but eventually calmed down. When it was time to go to the vet we put him in the carrier. Again, he was almost eerily calm after he realised he wasn't getting out. Yet, once we made it to the vet and were just about to walk into the building he managed to bust the door of the carrier right off and booked it across a busy street. It was too dangerous for us to follow him, and he disappeared into the city scape.
I am NOT used to dealing with ferals and know very little about their behaviour. I forgot to mention that at first he would not let any of us come near him - only let our cat near. It took several months to get him to even let us touch him.
TL;DR
I befriended a feral cat, but he got away just outside of the veterinary clinic, and I'm worried I'll never see him again.
So I'm curious... since cats are territorial, and he KNOWS there is a food source here, is it likely that he will return to my backyard? Or will this event, trapping him and taking him OUT of his territory, likely cause him not to return because I 'betrayed his trust'? I am also frantic over not knowing if he is alive or dead. I don't know what services to contact to get information on whether the cat has been found or had ended up as roadkill. If you think he will return, how long do you think it would take for a male cat to travel roughly 4-5 km through a city?
I know this was a lot to read, but I try to include as much information as possible in anticipation of questions that might be asked.
Thank you for your time.