# Cat doesn't want in.



## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

I call him Guy (As in "How are you today, Guy.") He's been visiting me for several years. The first time he came, he hadn't learned how to jump a fence. Mostly, when I'm ouside he just likes to be there. As I was feeding another outside cat and had kibble available, I always gave him a little. He had a collar with an address label, so I didn't worry much about him.

Then about the middle of this year he turned up without a collar and far more hungry. Like clawing at the back door screen hungry. I started feeding him three times a day. I thought about getting him inside, but I have health troubles and I'm no longer young and I didn't feel I could handle another inside cat. He'd have needed to go to the vet to get all those things done, and I don't drive anymore. I did worry what would happen in the winter.

On a rainy, windy day a couple of weeks back, I brought his bowl into the basement. Missy didn't go down there at that time so there was no chance of close association. He came in and started to eat, so I closed the door and went upstairs leaving him to it. I'd been prepared. There was a litterbox, and a cardboard apple box with an old blanket ready for him.

Half an hour later when I went down, the kibble had not been eaten, and Guy was nowhere to be seen and didn't come when I called. A couple of hours later I went down again to put out some water. He didn't want the water, but he did come out and go over to the door. I let him out and gave him his kibble, which he started to eat.

Today at 10am it's around + 21 degrees Fahrenheit/-6 Celsius. He came in, and I was going to wait until he'd eaten, but as soon as I closed the door, he stopped eating and went over to the door. I let him out and gave his food.

I'm hoping he's going to be OK this Winter. He was out in the snow the other day and he probably has a safe place he sleeps. When the weather is warmer, he does rest during the day in a plastic basket of dried leaves.

I do worry about poor, probably abandoned, Guy, but although it may sound strange to some of you, I'm against forcing a cat to be indoors when it doesn't want to be there. I was thinking earlier of turning him in to the SPCA, but then he'd end up in a cage. No!

He's a strange cat who doesn't/didn't seem to want or know how to play. Now the young female from next door seem to be teaching him how to play.


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## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

*He may just be a lost pet...*

not necessarily abandoned, who lost his collar over time. I would put up flyers just to cover all my bases (shelters, vet's offices, supermarkets, etc.) and maybe put out an ad in the local craigslist and pet sites first. He might be sorely missed in a loving home...you never know.

I can't say I agree with you with the outdoor thing, and yes life in a cage does not sound like the greatest life either, but he may already have a home and owners praying for his safe return. I just wouldn't be too quick to dismiss that idea. I know if I ever lost one of my babies (they got out, a fire erupted and they got spooked, had to travel with them and they were accidentally misrouted, etc.), I would never give up hope that they one day would find their way back to me although odds are that it won't actually happen that way . I would pray against hope that someone in your shoes made the effort to try to get her home to me.

Once the trying to get him back home venue is exhaused I would reevaluate the SPCA thing. It is a question of quality of life vs. quantity. Is it worth being alive, safe, and caged (with the possibility of being adopted even if it's a slim chance) or have a free roaming life (with no vet care, probability of injury, being infested by parasites, or dying of exposure, and for that wonderfully nomadic life to be dramatically cut short?

I am not judging by any measure...just my humble opinion.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

He's at least semi-abandoned as I know where he lived/lives. It's on the next block over and about three houses east. His collar was changed last year, and it's his change in behavior that makes me think he's been given the Heave Ho. They may have moved and left him behind.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

If you don't want to turn him in and he doesn't like living in; you could always buy one of those small dog igloo houses and put some blankets in it for him. That would give him a warmer place for winter ... I guess.....


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## katlover13 (Apr 15, 2008)

Poor Guy. He is lucky you have befriended him on his own terms. Perhaps as time goes by and he becomes more comfortable with short times inside he will settle down and like the idea. Especially when it gets even colder outside and the warm basement feels pretty good.


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## Claiken (Dec 18, 2007)

Just putting this out there, what does he look like? It is the same cat (with the collar as without), right?


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

MowMow said:


> If you don't want to turn him in and he doesn't like living in; you could always buy one of those small dog igloo houses and put some blankets in it for him. That would give him a warmer place for winter ... I guess.....
> 
> Amazon.com: Pet House Indigo Igloo (Medium - White): Kitchen & Dining


Unfortunately, there's a rather large family of raccoons living in the fir trees next door. (The woman there found one in her basement one time. It came in through the cat door.) That seems to makes cats feel it's unsafe to hang around after dusk. Our temperatures are normally not over severe here on the West Coast. I think the strays usually find themselves a secure spot under someone's porch or patio up against a house where there is some radial warming.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

Claiken said:


> Just putting this out there, what does he look like? It is the same cat (with the collar as without), right?


He's gray and medium sized. It's the same cat. He likes to hang around with me when I'm working in the garden, and on hot days he shelters under my grape vine.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

It was really cold last night. -10 C. 14 F. Today it didn't get above -5 C. I went down several time and I thought he might not show up, but at about 2:30 he was there. I have a suspicion that somebody else may be giving him food when they see him. He surely can't survive on a small handful of kibble especially on a day like today.

I just remebered how I started to give him a little food. It was while I think he still had a home. At the time I was feeding Hey! Cat a black and white, gay (don't ask) feral. He was rather an irritable cat, always trying to claw me if I got too close. Then one day, when I'd put some food out for him, I found that Guy had driven him away and was eating. I took the bowl from Guy and gave it back to Hey! Cat. Then I gave Guy a little kibble. From then on, although Hey! Cat was never friendly, I thought I noticed slightly more respect as if I were now seen as the dominant whatever.


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## katlover13 (Apr 15, 2008)

jusjim said:


> I thought I noticed slightly more respect as if I were now seen as the dominant whatever.


Well, ya know, it takes a very special person to be a Dominant Whatever.:wink


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

If you want to give him warm shelter, there's plenty of different ideas and plans if you do a "feral shelter" search. Usually it's plastic boxes stuffed with straw... or even better, styrofoam boxes (the kind restaurants get for meat). The "Dogloo" houses also work, because they're insulated.
But be sure to use straw! Blankets get very cold when they get wet, and soak up any body heat... straw insulates and keeps body heat near the body rather than deflecting it.

I would also position the entrance so that it's not to the wind. I did have my shelters facing south, since those winds are usually warmest. But the blizzard today/tonight was blowing 30+mph from the south with freezing temperatures...so I went and re-arranged the shelters so the openings were very near another barrier like weed clumps or trees, to break the wind a bit.

Even a cardboard box would be better than nothing. Please try to get some straw, though... maybe local classifieds, or something? I've seen ads for $2.50 a bale. Granted, most of that is bulk sale, but maybe somebody would just give you a single one... leftover decoration from Halloween, or somethin'. Some people do use those silvery thermal emergency blankets too, if you can't get straw... that would work great with a cardboard box.

Good luck!


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