| Just a couple of ideas (I've never tried to catch a stray
cat, but I think these would work on my kitties if they were
lost and someone tried to touch them):
Try sitting down somewhere at feeding time (to give
the impression that you're not about to run after him.)
Put something on your hand that has a scent (like a bit
of hamburger.) When he comes by to get dinner, just
reach toward him and let him sniff your hand (but don't
grab.) Try to rub the top of his head or under his chin
(all with relaxed motions.) This may take a few days --
to get him to trust.
At feeding time, he's most vulnerable -- spend some
time making friends, then feed him. When the time comes
to pick him up, he may struggle and bite (you might want
to have a kitty carrier cage handy to put him into.)
He already knows you (but he may not be very familiar
with your scent.) Once you get him into the cage, talk
to him softly and let him sniff your hand (minus hamburger
smell) so he'll know you. I would give him the shots
before you handle him too much more (in case he tries to
bite.)
My older cat Woofie is the gentlest soul in the world,
except when it comes to be handled by strangers. Ever since
he had FUS, he's afraid to be "controlled" (picked up and held
by people he doesn't know) -- he won't even allow himself to
be groomed unless I stand there and look directly into his
eyes and speak to him. We get our kitties bathed by groomers
every 6 months (they have massive amounts of fur) -- Woofie
scares the wits out of all the groomers. My son and I fall
over laughing when we hear this, because he is such a gentle
cat -- he won't even "PRETEND" to bite us when we play with
him. But his FUS (4 years ago) was so painful -- he blames
all VETS and groomers (and he'll never forget!!)
Your kitty may be a gentle soul, too, that has reasons to be
nervous about people outside. Good luck -- I hope you can take
him with you to your new home!!
Suzanne...
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| For the past 3 or 4 years, I have been feeding stray cats at my
house and have tried (and tried) to domesticate the little buggers.
The problem with my bunch is that they were born in the wild to
Mom cats that were also born in the wild and they have never had
any human contact. Over the years I have never been able to get
any of them to allow me to touch them. But here are some things
I've tried...
Since he has you well trained to feed him twice a day, try moving
his food closer and closer to the door and finally place his dish
inside the house and welcome him in. Let him explore if he wants
to but don't try shutting the door behind him for a few days. I
tried this with my last litter of wild kittens and they were more
than happy to eat inside (and explore, much to my cat's dismay!)
but as soon as they heard the door close they went bonkers and kept
throwing themselves at the slider trying to get out. Since your
little one may have been a domestic cat once upon a time, he make
take to being inside easier than my tigers. If he's a wild cat,
I really don't think you'll ever domesticate him. But I wish you
all the luck in the world!! He deserves a good home.
One of the Mom cats presented me with her three little babies over
the weekend (more hungry mouths to feed!!) and I'm now trying to
win them over so they can find homes and be warm and loved. In
the meantime, they just want their food and water and don't seem
to care about being "tamed". It's very frustrating!
Good luck!
Mary
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|
Mary, I was in your exact situation last fall. I had been living
in Natick, Ma for about 10 months. During that time I had been
feeding 2 stray neighborhood cats, (Brutus and Crybaby). Crybaby
was quite attached to Brutus and according to our next door nei-
ghbors, they had a litter together the previous summer. Well,
during the summer Crybaby brought her ~5 week old kittens to my
garage. I didn't even know she was pregnant! There were 2 kitties
one a duplicate of mom, the other a duplicate of dad. Brutus
always let me pet him but Crybaby would not let me near her. On
one or two occasions I successfully attempted to pet her near the
tail end and she was so hungry she didn't bother to run away.
Well, to get to the point here, during the summer she had shown
some interest in the inside of the house. We had a sliding glass
door to the backyard and I used to feed her just outside the door
and on many occasions I would find her sitting outside the screen
door looking in, sniffing, you how they do that. I would put
my cats away and open the screen door so she could come in, which
she did on a few occasions, even wandered upstairs a couple of
times.
When we decided to move I decided I couldn't leave her behind.
I figured her hopes for adoption were slim as she would probably
be labelled 'unadoptable' by a shelter. So, one day when she came
in the house I just shut the door behind her. When she tried to
get out she flung herself against the glass, she was very upset.
There's probably no way around this.
So perhaps feeding him near a door and slowly moving the food inside
might get him in. Or just open the door up and see if he bites.
Another thing to try is to entice him into a game that will draw
him into the house. The way I got Crybaby's kitten into the
house was to take a long thing rope and 'snake' at all around the
ground. I slowly 'snaked' my way into the house, with kittie
following, unawares, behind. Most cats love some sort of snaking
game.
Well, when you've managed to get kittie into the house, then the
truly hard part comes in. Since Crybaby would not let anyone near
her, it was quite a feat to get her into the cat box for her first
trip to the vet. It took a double dose of tranquilizer and two
people to get her into the box.
With a truly wild cat, plan on spending dozens and dozens and dozens
of slow, painstaking hours domesticating. I'd be happy to give
you some first hand advice on this. You don't have much time to
work on getting the cat in so I advise you to begin now. Good Luck!
Please let us know what happens.
Donna , tamer of the tigers
t
hand
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| Pat: One warning - make sure that your cat and the stray you're
trying to tame don't come into contact until the stray has been
seen by a vet. Even though your kitty may have had all shots,
including FeLV, the stray can still bring in worms, fleas and
ticks. Also, see my note on the "stray" we almost took in....
--Louise
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