|
Post by kunuma on Jan 21, 2009 16:53:04 GMT 1
Beautiful, healthy but elderly feral tortoiseshell cat. Prospective adopters should bring team of helpers and net! Seriously, this cat knows all about traps............... I'm trying the 'feed her in the cage' approach, ever seen a cat retrieving food through the bars of a cage without going inside it once?!!
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Jan 22, 2009 13:28:53 GMT 1
My dad is pretty good at catching feral cats. He has caught quite a few. Will ask him for some tips!
|
|
|
Post by garej on Jan 24, 2009 20:09:59 GMT 1
Have you tried putting a cover over it?
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Jan 26, 2009 20:00:38 GMT 1
garej - that was my Plan A - I thought she might go in it as though it was a cardboard box then, but she is very wary of going into anything dead ended with me around. So Plan B was without the cover, but isn't working, so think I'll try it covered again . I Have to catch her, I noticed today that her hind leg injury is still bothering her, as it appeared to give way as she went to run, and there is no way she will survive without support - I think it would have helped if the cage was much bigger - but I'd need to find someone to carry it up there!
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Jan 26, 2009 22:04:48 GMT 1
How close can you get to her?
|
|
|
Post by zoe on Jan 27, 2009 11:24:49 GMT 1
I've no helpful advice sorry but good luck. I think all the PMBL's need to move closer to each other so we can help each other out so whoever of us wins the lottery first needs to buy us a few ajoining farms and we will be sorted!
|
|
|
Post by garej on Jan 30, 2009 13:48:36 GMT 1
I have no other advice, except when they have done in the Cats Protection, they have always used a cover.
Pickle apparently was a bugger to catch (and they had to use a trap too) when he was first noticed with a hind leg injury, and he is not feral (just gets upset easily!).
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Feb 25, 2009 20:25:48 GMT 1
Cats! Although she is now almost back to how she was before the attack, she def knows about cages. I can put the food in the front of the cage, and she will put her head in and eat it, but won't put a foot inside. I can even touch her while she is eating again now, but I don't think I am going to get her to go in this cage. I am going to try and find a much bigger one, (and bribe someone to take it to the barn) - if I got one of those huge 4 foot ones she would be much less aware that it was a cage! She meaows )how the heck do you spell that?) at me when she sees me now, I can't give up on her! Although I'm wondering about getting a dart gun!!
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Feb 26, 2009 1:33:18 GMT 1
Do you put the cage out every day so she is used to it? My dad lays a trail of food towards the cage but not actually in it, then each day food gets nearer to cage and eventually in it. You can also net them but with an adult cat you can get severely clawed getting them out also its a bit traumatic for them. I think the bigger cage is a good idea. Really hoping you manage to catch her.
|
|
|
Post by zoe on Feb 26, 2009 23:16:14 GMT 1
Good luck Kunuma - it sounds like you need it! I quite like the dart gun idea haha though could you put some sort of sedative inits food?
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Feb 26, 2009 23:25:45 GMT 1
Good idea you could try soaking its grub in gin lol ;D
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Mar 10, 2009 11:03:04 GMT 1
I've tried vodka and cranberry juice! ( Oh, you meant for the cat! ) I did wonder about the sedative in the food trick, but knowing how the effects of these vary even on a healthy animal who you have been able to weight check etc - thought it might not work, she might go to sleep where I couldn't find her. Things are getting difficult here, so her time is running out, but today she put her front feet in the cage! Hooray, first sign I have that I might succeed. The cage IS too small though, I have managed to get a bigger one, now just need to get it into the barn. I do set it up and leave it up for her - and don't feed her near it when it is noisy and chaotic outside, only when I am the only one about so she doesn't get spooked in it. I thought I had somewhere for the tame one the other day, but when I said not near a road, they thought it was OK if the road was outside the garden, and they were not prepared to have her as an indoor cat - so she is still with me!
|
|
|
Post by zoe on Mar 10, 2009 13:44:30 GMT 1
It sounds like your patience is starting to work, although I'm not surprised it has drove you to drink! - Vodka and vimto is nice too!!
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Apr 8, 2009 17:10:09 GMT 1
Ok this is getting out of hand, now I have three cats! What's more, number three is a tom cat - aarrrggh! I have just been and borrowed a cat trap from the vets, only to find out that it is a huge metal affair big enough to catch a rhino, and I can't even get it out of the car, never mind lift it with a cat in it! I am now in a panic as of course the other two are females!!
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Apr 8, 2009 19:11:49 GMT 1
Oh dear can no-one give you a hand? Just have to hope the females dont come into season. What about trying to catch the tom with your other trap/cage. He may be more amenable? It would be something at least if you removed him from the mix!
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Apr 9, 2009 20:33:19 GMT 1
I'm very depressed today, I did manage to catch the tom, not a good sign in itself, and though I did get him straight to a vet (and refused to leave him so that he was seen as soon as possible) he was too badly injured to save. I had been so happy that I had caught him, so it was the worst possible ending.
|
|
|
Post by zoe on Apr 10, 2009 8:50:59 GMT 1
That's sad but at least you got him looked at - I know that doesn't make it feel any better, thinking of you
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Jul 3, 2009 13:12:21 GMT 1
An update on the Calico cat! I can now get her to go in and out of the cage - so when the 'day' comes I can catch her! It has been very interesting trying to tame her, she has definitely been through some seriously bad treatment at the hands of humans, way more than just feral, I have 'tamed' truly wild animals much more easily than it has been with her. Gradually her safety zone has got less, now it is down to about 20 feet outside, and she will lie inside the garden instead of outside in the hedge. Inside the barn I now insist she lets me touch her before I feed her, but I still have to move very cautiously, and it only works if she is hungry! The ideal home for her would be somebody with a cattery in their garden!
|
|
|
Post by zoe on Jul 7, 2009 9:27:41 GMT 1
Wow kunuma that is serious patience! well done.
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Aug 12, 2009 9:37:26 GMT 1
I have now got a feral cat that follows me around the garden and I even managed to groom a little bit of her, and put wormer drops on her! She has given me her trust and I feel terrible knowing I am going to have to catch her and leave her somewhere - if anyone out there has a big heart and a big garden, I am prepared to buy a cat kennel to put in it for her, and pay for all her food and vet bills for the rest of her life. I am sadly disillusioned with the cat rescues , but there must be someone out there who is as mad as I am!
|
|
|
Post by Buster on Aug 12, 2009 13:58:24 GMT 1
I have a spare dog kennel she can go in
|
|
|
Post by zoe on Aug 12, 2009 17:14:00 GMT 1
there must be someone out there who is as mad as I am! Ummmmmmmmm ;D ;D She is welcome to come and live in my barn at the horses as long as she gets neutered first! I know I live a long way from you though but the offers there if you need it
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Aug 14, 2009 20:37:27 GMT 1
Thanks you two! I have to admit to being really worried that as she is an old cat and lived here all her life, plus is so scared of people, that if I let her be released anywhere else she would try and come home, not realising that the home would no longer exist, hence the living in a cat kennel idea. I'm pretty sure she was perhaps neutered in her youth, I did try to check with the CPL, but they don't keep records! She has never shown any sign of being in season in the years I have known her.
|
|
|
Post by garej on Aug 15, 2009 21:28:34 GMT 1
I'm pretty sure she was perhaps neutered in her youth, I did try to check with the CPL, but they don't keep records! She has never shown any sign of being in season in the years I have known her. If she was thought to be feral and neutered, then an ear tip would have been cut. It's an internationally recognised mark in case someone goes feral trapping in the future.
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Aug 17, 2009 11:18:26 GMT 1
THANK YOU garej, I couldn't believe they had no way of telling which ones they had done, why they didn't tell me that when I was madly trying to trace whether she had been done or not I can't imagine! Needless to say, the minute I read your post I rushed out to look at her, and I think she has got a cut off ear, would it be the tip of the right ear?? She has got a very neat bit missing, across the top and side of that ear. It would explain a lot, the fact that she knows all about traps and is terrified of them, and the fact that she mistrusts humans so badly, and is most wary of a movement towards her with hands outstretched. I have to approach her with mine behind my back. Now she purrs when I stroke her though! Wish I could tell her that the nasty experience was all for her own good!
|
|