Advice for catching Gary...failed

[Moesha]

Gary, the stray/feral kitty that has been hanging around for several months finally has an appointment tomorrow morning to be fixed. We're not taking him to our vet but are using a low cost program in the next town west of here. He has to be there at 7:30 in the morning. My mom is going to drop him off when she takes my dad to the airport. She'll have to leave here around 6:30. He has to be in a carrier not a humane trap. He has gotten where he'll rub up against your legs when you go out to feed them. You can even touch his back while he is eating. (A far cry from when he ran away if you looked at him.) If we try to touch him when he isn't eating, he has squatted at us. So how do I go about grabbing him and putting him in a carrier. He eats on the deck in the back with a sliding glass door. I've thought about putting the carrier inside the house and positioning the food bowl in front of it. Then while he is eating I would sneak up and grab him and toss him in the carrier. I'll have to be sure that I'm well protected because I sure he'll get scared. Should I try to do this tonight and leave him in the carrier all night? Should I do it tomorrow and take a chance on something going wrong and not being able to get him? Advice please!

[Anikaca77]

When I would trap cats I would set out the trap at night and catch them and keep them in a cage in my bathroom.

But if you don't have separate cage, I'd say the cat carrier would be fine. Sometimes when they get so excited I put a towel around the cat carrier so they can't see out and that tends to calm them down right away.

If you can get Gary without using a humane trap I'd suggest doing it but wearing a long sleeve sweatshirt and maybe some gloves incase he trys to claw you.

Good luck and I hope you get him before his appointment.

Melissa

[kuhio98]

I'd try to catch him tonight when he's calm and eating.

Kitties have been known to teleport themselves to an alternate universe when they know they are going to the vet. Somehow they pick up on these things............

Also, when we neutered a stray, the vet advised to keep him in a quiet room for the weekend until he recovered. So, we put Seymour in the bathroom. He flew out of there and thru the barely open window in about 15 seconds! It took a while for him to trust us again, but he eventually came back around and did just fine.

[catmandu]

I WOULD TRY HUMAN FOOD LIKE SOME TUNA FISH, OR A DELI CHICKEN.

THAT IS HOW I CAUGHT SCRAPPY 2 THE SENSATIONAL, TUBSTER PANTHER AND MANY POOFED CATS LIKE ELLY MAE CHRISTINE, POUNCER KARINA , AND SCOUT.

WE OF COURSE ARE SENDING OUR PET ANGELS TO HELP LURE GARY IN,
AND WE ARE PRAYING THAT YOU CAN GET GARY IN SAFELY.
MAY OUR GOOD LORD BLESS YOU FOR HELPING THAT HOMELESS ONE.

[mruffruff]

I've always caught them in a humane trap at night and transferred them to a carrier in the morning. I do the transfer in the smallest possible room--closet or bathroom--in case they try to escape.

Good luck!

[Emeraldgreen]

I think your idea of trying to get him to eat the food inside is good. Maybe you could start with some food outside the door and then put some more closer to the door and then just inside the door and then inside and then inside the cage maybe. But if you think that is too long for him to spend in there, if the cage is small, maybe you could carry the cage into the bathroom as others have suggested and let him sleep in there tonight. And hopefully you can get him in the cage tomorrow morning without getting too scratched up.

Hope it all works out.

p.s. is there anyone you can borrow a large crate from? That way you could have litter box inside the cage and once you get him in there tonight, you could just leave him in there.

[StarandBratsmom]

I have personally used to live traps, putting food in it. We used to be apart of this Alley Cats organization, the members chose neighborhood, and we'd feed, and care for the homeless cats. We had to also catch them so we could get them fixed, to help with the population of feral cats. We used the live traps, at night time, after they've been caught, by morning they have calmed down a little.

[AbbyMom]

p.s. is there anyone you can borrow a large crate from? That way you could have litter box inside the cage and once you get him in there tonight, you could just leave him in there.

Recently I nabbed a friendly feral using a portable dog kennel and placing his favorite food inside. He wasn't happy when I shut the door behind him.

He returned in the kennel and we kept him there over night like Emeraldgreen suggests and let him loose in the morning. We used a kitten litter box inside the kennel.

Good luck!

[Moesha]

I've had the humane trap out there, not set of course, for several weeks. That just isn't going to work. Gary is a kitty with definite habits and will only eat from one place. I also have Juliet and Jose out there at the same time and there's no way to make sure neither of them go in the trap instead of Gary. I tried bringing them inside to start with and luring him in. That was a DISASTER! My pet carrier is large. It is for a medium sized dog because Morgan won't fit in anything smaller. He'd have plenty of room and I would cover it with a sheet or towel to help him be calmer. I don't see him being able to be inside anywhere. Once he gets in the carrier, he is going to have to stay there. I think I'll wait to feed them as late as I can and then put him in there tonight. I'm not sure what the organization that is fixing him is called. I know there was a number at the library for vouchers to be used at the local vet's office. When we called they were out of money for that program and gave this other number to us. I'm not sure if they will give him shots or not. If they don't, I'm going to have my mom stop at our vet's office on her way home and have them vaccinate him. I have no idea how this is going to work out. Gary is definitely a wild cat. I'll be sure to post an update if and when I can capture him. Thanks for the suggestions so far.