# How to catch a stray cat



## Earthsiege (Jun 12, 2010)

Good evening everyone.

I'm writing because there is a stray or possibly feral cat that has been coming to my porch for food the past two weeks. My girlfriend and I have been feeding it in an attempt to catch it and bring it in to get checked for tags. So far we've been unsuccessful, even though we've had minor successes. When I say that I mean, we were so close to catching him, but due to our neighbors who don't care for the cat, he always gets scared off. When they hear him meowing at our porch (we're in an apartment complex), they open and slam their screen door repeatedly until he runs.

This morning we were able to get him inside the house to eat, but as soon as he came in and started to get settled into the sweet can of wet food, the neighbors started it up again. We've talked to them about it, and they don't care, even though I made sure to tell them that all it does is scares him away for a few hours and then he'll come back.

At this point, I'm not sure what to do anymore. Obviously I'm going to keep at it. I was wondering though if anyone had any advice as far as catching him. I thought about trying to use a humane trap, but I don't know of any places in the area that loan them out. I'm in the Milwaukee, WI area, in case anyone here lives/knows where I might be able to find one.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Welcome!

The Humane Society here "loans" them out for a fully refundable $50. if you use one, use the smelliest lure you can, like tuna or sardines. 

What jerks you have as neighbors. :?


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## Earthsiege (Jun 12, 2010)

They do? Awesome! Thanks so much!

And yeah, they are. It's hard to believe that people can be so uncaring.

**EDIT**

Thought I'd post a picture of him, in case anyone was curious.


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## Claiken (Dec 18, 2007)

Those are quite jerky neighbours... especially since youve tried to discuss it. the cats not even coming to see them, theyre coming to see you, so what does it bother them for?? What if it was actually your cat? Stupid people....


But, i hope he/she lives somewhere. even if it ends up being with you/an outdoor kitty. I prefer indoor myself but i figure outdoor and loved by someone is better then likely euth by a humane society (for virtually no good reason). at least its a chance at a good life.


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## Earthsiege (Jun 12, 2010)

We already discussed it, and if the owners can't be found after 7 days (that's the holding time that MADACC has to try and find them), we're going to keep him.

Would anybody be able to nail down what breed he is? Someone speculated Lilac Siamese, but I wasn't entirely sure about that.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

That's a good guess. Without knowing who his parents were, he's technically a DSH (domestic short hair). 

He'll be very lucky if he ends up with you. He's a gorgeous guy.


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## Earthsiege (Jun 12, 2010)

marie73 said:


> That's a good guess. Without knowing who his parents were, he's technically a DSH (domestic short hair).
> 
> He'll be very lucky if he ends up with you. He's a gorgeous guy.


Hah, too true. My girlfriend's cat is classified as a DSH, when he clearly has fur longer than that. Seems that's a go-to term when vets don't know. :lol: 

I'm excited though. He's rather friendly and will let us pet him, but of course he's wary, and will definitely not let us try to pick him up. The few times we tried, he somehow knew what we were planning and left before we could properly execute the plan, so we know he's rather intelligent.

My girlfriend wants to call him Chairman Meow, which I thought was pretty funny. It comes from a show called Psych, I guess.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I love Psych!

Well, there's DSH and DLH, which my twins are. Moggies. Calicos. Although Charlee's hair is shorter, but there doesn't seem to be a DMH for medium-haired cats. 

A new cat IS exciting! And you have experience with your GF's cat, so it's not like you don't know cat facts.

Such as, dogs have owners, cats have staff.


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## Claiken (Dec 18, 2007)

hows he doing now? have you seen him again?? Im curious where he will end up. :wink:


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I think, if he will let you pet him you should try for a scruff-hold/carry type of move.

I would have a room, either a bathroom or bedroom, prepared for him. Have it all set up before you catch him. 

With cats new-to-the-home, I don't like to have furniture a cat can hide under or in that makes them inaccessible to me. If there is a bed, try to stuff the underside FULL of storage boxes so there is no room for him. Well, you could leave a 1-2 foot space around the _edges_ for him to hide under the bed, but not so he could reach the very center or up against the wall at the center-head of the bed. _In case of emergency, I want to know the cat is within arms-length at any time I need to catch him for evacuation._ 

If it is a room w/ no furniture (bathroom), or a bed on-the-floor, you will need to set up a large cat carrier with a towel inside for comfort and a towel draped over the top to make it cave-like and safe for him to have a place to hide. This will become his 'retreat place' and it will be a place he can go to feel safe and unmolested unless you are periodically offering him treats to encourage him to come out and socialize.
****

Have food, water and a litterbox set up. Scratch-post if you can, and a simple toy or two.

When the area is prepared, the next time he shows up and lets you pet him, get a good scruff-hold and then lift him by the scruff *_but_* also support most of his weight with your other hand/arm, either under his chest or haunches. 

Lifting a cat older than 4mo only by the scruff can damage their connective tissue. That particular lift is only used by mother-cats with small kittens who don't weigh much and therefore don't damage that tissue. When they get bigger, the scruff-hold is used for *imobilization*, not carrying. This is why we must support their body weight if we use a scruff-hold on a cat to move it anywhere.
_*there are also some cats who do not imobilize when scruffed, and in those cases you either have to move fast to carry the cat where you want it to be, stuff it into a carrier asap or use a trap to catch and move them._

**** After cats are socialized and acclimated to our home, I allow them free-roam. If they are upset or want alone-time and go under the bed, that is their place to be unmolested. When guests with children come over, I let the parents and the children know that they can pet any/all cats they see ... but if a cat goes under a bed it is saying "leave me alone right now" and they *will* respect the cat's private and personal space. We have plenty of friendly cats who like to be mauled by any and everyone, the ones who don't like that kind of attention from strangers, *need* to have a place to retreat away from the activity and feel safe.

Best of luck,
heidi =^..^=


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

I would call him a "Lilac Pointed DSH" 

He's pretty, I bet he's got the most gorgeous eyes! I wonder if he's got an owner or not! My mom's cat likes to go around the neighborhood, and we have found out through the years that more than one or two people have been feeding him, because he acts like he's STARVING at their back door! That brat! He's even been 'adopted' by someone before- they put a collar on him and named him and everything after he'd lost his collar and ventured to their back door. We had to call them and explain that he actually had an owner when he came home a few days later. Now he's micro-chipped though!


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## Earthsiege (Jun 12, 2010)

Thank you for all the tips and helpful hints! 

We didn't have to use the scruff-hold to get him inside. Actually, he came inside all on his own, though he did have a bit of a fit when we closed the door behind him. 

But now we come to the problem, we're not sure how to get him into a carrier to get him checked out. We put food and a towel in there, and even covered it, but he wont come out from under my girlfriend's papasan chair.

How should we go about this? As we totally didn't expect him to come in by himself, so we thought we should capitalize on it.

PS. Animal control said that they could come and get him, but we were afraid that we might not be able to adopt him if they did.


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## Earthsiege (Jun 12, 2010)

Here's some new pictures of him. He's actually very friendly, although our little 9 month old female kitten named Trogdor is seemingly getting jealous, as she keeps jumping by him and hissing when we're giving him attention.

**Sorry for the huge pictures**


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

He's cute! He's probably very nervous, it might be a challenge to get him into a carrier especially a small one. One thing you can do is used a towel to gently catch and hold him. Take the top part of the carrier off, cover his eyes, and set him in. Then quickly try to get everything back together in a safe manner before he escapes from the towel!


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## Earthsiege (Jun 12, 2010)

I forgot to mention, he has bright blue eyes. Really pretty.

Anyways, we had animal control come and get him, as we didn't think we'd be able to get him in the carrier. Shortly before animal control came, he was really starting to warm up to us, so we felt terrible when the guy came to pick him up.

We're going to go in tomorrow morning and check on him, and hopefully within a week, they won't find an owner, and we can take this awesome little guy home.

:luv


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## gwdprincess (Feb 7, 2006)

It seems the he has found his owner, you :luv . I know he is nervous and shy but at the same time he takes comfort in knowing that you mean him no harm. He is very handsome. Too bad you can't put week old, left in the sun, can of sardines in your jerk neighbors vents


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## Earthsiege (Jun 12, 2010)

Well, I could perhaps attach a can to their air conditioning intake. ^_<


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Earthsiege said:


> I forgot to mention, he has bright blue eyes. Really pretty.
> 
> Anyways, we had animal control come and get him, as we didn't think we'd be able to
> get him in the carrier. Shortly before animal control came, he was really starting to
> ...


What a beautiful cat! Our animal control only holds cats for 3 days so be careful and make sure 
they dont put this guy down before you can go get him. You will have saved his life in more ways 
than one.. white cats can get skin cancer from being out in the sun. 

here is an article on how to prepare for bringing a new cat into your home. The resource 
library is a good one you may want to bookmark. The site is written by a vet and has loads 
of great information.

http://littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=basecamphowtoprepareforyournewcat


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## Claiken (Dec 18, 2007)

make sure they dont do anything without you knowing. make sure they know if theres no other owner that you want to be!!


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## Earthsiege (Jun 12, 2010)

Yeah, we filled out an adoption application in the event that the owner doesn't come for him. The cat wasn't chipped, so we're hoping he won't come.

The local animal control in Milwaukee holds them for 7 days, but because we'll be in Hawaii at that time, a friend will be picking him up and caring for him until we get home.

Thanks for all the help everyone!


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## Claiken (Dec 18, 2007)

Earthsiege said:


> Yeah, we filled out an adoption application in the event that the owner doesn't come for him. The cat wasn't chipped, so we're hoping he won't come.
> 
> The local animal control in Milwaukee holds them for 7 days, but because we'll be in Hawaii at that time, a friend will be picking him up and caring for him until we get home.
> 
> Thanks for all the help everyone!


awesome, im glad that is in place so they know not to act so quickly!


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