Luring a wild cat

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74Dusted

74Dusted

Stock Piler of 340's
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Anybody have some tips? There is a feral/wild cat that just showed up a bit ago. A rare 'tortie' breed, looks identical to a cat I used to have (who was stolen out of my fenced in backyard about a year ago).

Even has the same markings in the same spots, but she is extremely skittish and runs at the slightest sound. I dumped some food outside and I'm playing the "waiting game" at the moment.

If that fails, I'm rigging up one of those Pet Carrier boxes with a rope on the door... You know, the poor mans "live trap". food inside and wait until I have gray hair to yank on the rope to trap the kitty inside (heavy welding coat and welding gloves mandatory!)

Anybody have some other suggestions to try? Tortie cats are extremely rare, and I'm 100% certain this is my missing cat. I'd like to catch her and tame her again. I have a knack for taming feral cats once I have my hands on them, it's the catching part that i suck at :D
 
We had a ferral kitten that came up about three or four years ago. It was a tiny thing. I rigged up a $10 flat rate postal box as a box trap and put some tuna in it for bait and caught the little bastid the first try. He's one of our sweetest cats now.
 
Sometimes your local shelters will lend you a trap. There's also rescue groups that lend traps.

We used one of these to get my fathers cat after he passed away. We found her a real nice home after catching her, now she's as tame as can be: http://www.havahart.com/store/live-animal-traps
 
StrokerScamp said:
We had a ferral kitten that came up about three or four years ago. It was a tiny thing. I rigged up a $10 flat rate postal box as a box trap and put some tuna in it for bait and caught the little bastid the first try. He's one of our sweetest cats now.
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That's what I had in mind too. Only my other cat is a real lunkhead, huge fat beast I call Scamp. He's an idiot and now he realizes I want to catch the other cat, so he ate all the food and won't come to me so I can put him inside to leave food for the other car.

I think he's jealous...or maybe he's just hungry (as if, he must weigh as much as the 340 in my Duster)
 
I don't have any tips for ya, but that would be awesome if it was your old cat.
Hey, now that you think he's back, do you still think he was stolen, or do you think now that he might have simply escaped last year?
I remember when that happened.

Good lock!

George
 
George R said:
I don't have any tips for ya, but that would be awesome if it was your old cat.
Hey, now that you think he's back, do you still think he was stolen, or do you think now that he might have simply escaped last year?
I remember when that happened.

Good lock!

George
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It's possible she escaped, but I'd still figure she was stolen. One of the neighbor's hates cats and has been known to steal or kill any cat that I own (just haven't figured out which neighbor it is)

This has happened before, and the cat came back after it had been 'removed' from the backyard. A friend nearly 10 miles away called me about 4 years ago and says. "Hey man, Hemi just walked past my house, looks like she's heading in your direction." (Hemi being a tortie I used to own, who was poisoned 2 years ago by a neighbor).

I had him go get her and take her inside till I got there to pick her up. He figured that my neighbor grabbed the cat, took her out in the middle of nowhere and dropped her.

The current Tortie in question was named Demon... Because she had "horn" markings on her forehead in her fur. along with a patch on her neck/chin that looked like Lucifer's Goatee. No two torties have the same exact markings/pattern, so I'm sure it's Demon I saw earlier.
 
1. place some catnip
2. put a small bottle of Wild Turkey next to the catnip
3. when the cat gets sloshed, just scoop her up.
4. have a nice breakfast ready for her in the morning lol. she wont remember what happened.

actually, if you do catch her i think spaying might keep her close to home. was she already fixed?
 
StrokerScamp said:
We had a ferral kitten that came up about three or four years ago. It was a tiny thing. I rigged up a $10 flat rate postal box as a box trap and put some tuna in it for bait and caught the little bastid the first try. He's one of our sweetest cats now.
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agreed. i caught a wild kitten one time by taking off my tshirt and throwing it over him. he turned out to be the best cat i ever have owned.

for the first 24 hours though all he would do is hiss and put up his little paws with teeny claws... so ferocious. he was about six inches long haha
 
StrokerScamp said:
We had a ferral kitten that came up about three or four years ago. It was a tiny thing. I rigged up a $10 flat rate postal box as a box trap and put some tuna in it for bait and caught the little bastid the first try. He's one of our sweetest cats now.
Click to expand...

Oh, this is good. stroker loves cats, but he can come in here, and insult the crao ut of a fellow human.
 
Ok i have had a few i just make sure they see me putting out there food and talk to them while u are doingg it then just walk away go on with the day if there eating and u go out side dont even try to pet them set down a good bit away and talk to them ..do this for bout 3 weeks and soon they will come to u .. when they do that dont try to pick them up just try to softly pet them alittle .... just takes time .. good luck
 
Hmm seems there are lotsa cat people on here.

Cats are just about as misunderstood (and harrased) as Mopar people.

Patience and tolerance. But you already knew that.
 
My wife lured one one time by throwing pieces of American cheese in its direction....he finally starting taking it straight from her hand after a few days. We had him for about 12 years.....was a great cat.
 
Get a good "stud muffin" cat to lure her to you (since all tortie cats are female)...

She may be looking for a nice male studly kitty to hang with...

Or try to lure her with food.
 
I had a female tame prego mommy unload under my house. Nothing like low crawling under your house with a flashlight and a shoe box at 4:00 AM trying to find the wailing lost kitten. I grabbed it (about 2-3 weeks old) and played with it until 0600 then I let it go because mommy came snooping around with a scared look on her face. I didnt know there were 3 more under there. After about 2 weeks of watching them eat food I put out for them with a webcam I put in the crawlspace, I got a little closer to them and when all 4 were out of the crawlspace, I slammed the door shut on them and they all bolted into a penned off area at the open end of the dog run except 1 that went the other way and hid under a 5 foot tall woodpile. for 20 minutes I chucked about 1/2 a cord of wood over the fence looking for this little black kitty. Found it and grabbed it by its nap but the little **** turned on my hand and bit me! so now Im running with this kitten attached to my finger and I end up flinging it into the pen. The other 2 went for the other intrance but I put a cinder block in front of it so they both hid in the 2 cavities. I just blocked the front of the block off and picked it up and put it in the pen, the 2 kitties never got out. So now I have 4 ferile kittens in the pen along with mommy. Everyones happy but me becasue I know I have to get rid of them. I get mommy and the kittens in 2 large boxes but one gets out and I chase it all over thy yard until I throw my shirt over it and pick him up in it. Now Im a little pissed and winded, so I haul them off to the shelter. I later heard that it was a "high kill" shelter and the wild kittens were probably gassed before I got home :-( Mommy made it on their website and was surely adopted.
So....maybe you could rig up a trap in this manner: If its a small cat that cant really jump yet, get a box with the end cut off, put some food at the other end and hang it off the edge of a table over a trash can. When the cat goes in to get the food, itll tip off the table into the trash can and maybe you can rig the top to close. Throwing a towel over one allows you to pick it up without getting rabies....
 
First of all , thank you for wanting to rescue this little heart :cheers::glasses7: !

Torties aren't all *that* rare ; however , if you've got a male Tortie ( or a male Calico ) , those are rare !

Torties are superb hunters , too , as are Calicos .
I have a 10 year old Callie whose name is Molly Anne McCalico . She's a miniature Mountain Lion ! All of the grunts , chirps , buzzes and whistles she produces (especially in her sleep) are entertaining :smile: .

Good luck in catching her . You'll be rewarded with unconditional love and companionship :cheers:.
 
I assume it's still a little cold at night there in PA. Food is good but hang a heat lamp about 5 feet above some blankets in an area that is blocked from the wind. Cats can always find food but a nice warm place gets them coming from miles around. Once the cat finds the warm area you can do the trap thing. There's a lot of things I'd rather catch than a feral cat. One wrong move and you'll be left with a stump where your hand was.
 
moparlover said:
1. place some catnip
2. put a small bottle of Wild Turkey next to the catnip
3. when the cat gets sloshed, just scoop her up.
4. have a nice breakfast ready for her in the morning lol. she wont remember what happened.

actually, if you do catch her i think spaying might keep her close to home. was she already fixed?
Click to expand...

I thought he was trying to get his cat back, not looking for dating advice.
 
LH23H2R said:
First of all , thank you for wanting to rescue this little heart :cheers::glasses7: !

Torties aren't all *that* rare ; however , if you've got a male Tortie ( or a male Calico ) , those are rare !

Torties are superb hunters , too , as are Calicos .
I have a 10 year old Callie whose name is Molly Anne McCalico . She's a miniature Mountain Lion ! All of the grunts , chirps , buzzes and whistles she produces (especially in her sleep) are entertaining :smile: .

Good luck in catching her . You'll be rewarded with unconditional love and companionship :cheers:.
Click to expand...

To be honest, I never even checked if Demon was male or female. It was about 5 weeks old the last time I saw it (over a year ago), and after you own a bunch of torties, there's no point in 'checking' since 99.9% of them are female anyway.

I only ever owned 2 male torties, and they were from the same litter (the only 2 in the litter too)

Demon ain't no little kitty anymore, she's about 6" Tall (give or take), real lean (whoever had her, wasn't feeding her) and her tail is almost twice as long as the rest of her body. Which means... beware when petting. :D At that size, things can get ugly. Anyone who's ever given a cat a bath (or picked up a wild cat), knows what I'm talking about. I still have scars on my left arm, shoulder and back from when I gave my cat Ash a bath.
 
The Havahart traps are the way to go... I have one that will catch rats and one that will catch coons, opossums, skunks, cats and small dogs. They are very useful. Just tie the bait above the trigger panel so they have to spend some time getting it.
 
JCMini30 said:
The Havahart traps are the way to go... I have one that will catch rats and one that will catch coons, opossums, skunks, cats and small dogs. They are very useful. Just tie the bait above the trigger panel so they have to spend some time getting it.
Click to expand...

Good point about tying the food/bait. cats aren't stupid when it comes to traps :D and when in an unfamiliar confined space, will grab the food, run and then eat it when they're in a safe location.

My grandfather has one of those Havahart traps, I called him earlier to see if I could borrow it. He's gonna bring it along on monday when he stops by.

Until then, I installed a light (for heat) in the shed, put a food dish and some old torn clothes and worn out blankets in there. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll set up camp in there. It's pretty cold and windy outside, so if anything, it'll be looking for a warm place to sleep.
 
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