Stray Cat Hiding in Garden

Tonight a gray and white stray cat came to our backyard. At first, we did not see him because he was hiding in the grass garden. When there was movement in the garden my husband and I went to investigate and that is when we found a nice looking adult cat.

When the cat realized that we saw him he sat up and started to meow. His meows were loud and sorrowful. My husband decided that the meowing was anxiety or he was trying to tell us he was hungry. So we decided to offer the stray cat a bowl of food.

We fed him Natural Balance limited ingredients duck and chickpea morsels that were mixed with two tablespoons of water.  This food was given to us by a neighbor and the feral cats like it because there are only one protein source and no fillers.

My husband brought the food to the cat. The cat did not hiss which is an indication that it is not feral. He put the food down two feet from the cat and the cat walked by my husband, his fur brushing up on his leg. This tells us that the stray is not fearful of humans.

There was no collar on the cat but maybe the cat has a microchip? We did not want to pick up the cat because it might frighten it. So we will watch the cat, to see if it hangs around our house or goes back into the neighborhood. It is possible that it just came to visit our yard and hang out in the gardens.

The stray ate every morsel in the bowl then went to our pond to get a drink. Then we watched as the cat walked toward our front yard. Instead of heading back to his house the cat laid on our front porch until the neighbor's cat came to visit, then the stray ran into the woods.

We are not sure if this little guy is lost, abandoned or what...but will watch out for him to make sure he is okay and will look for "lost cat posters" in the neighborhood.

Here is a photograph of the stray kitty in our yard. 

How to Catch a Lost Domesticated Cat

Today one of my friends asked me how I go about catching adult domesticated lost or abandoned cat and I replied that it is not an easy task because they are freaked out and have trust issues, but that it can be done.

Know that before I bring out the live animal trap I try my best to get the cat to come to me. I use the trap as the last resort because it terrifies the cat, that is stressed out to begin with.

When I say lost or abandoned I am referring to cats that show up in my woods out of the blue. Could be a cat that left their home and got lost or it could be a cat that was abandoned. Know that my woods has predators and it is no place for a domesticated cat.

Steps to Take to Catch a Domesticated Cat

The first thing I do is locate the cat by seeking it with the lens of my camera.  Then I will get a safe distance from the cat, lower my eyes to look at the ground, followed by calling out to the cat.  "here kitty kitty kitty".  Pause to see if cat responds.  

Know that if you look at the cat eye to eye that the cat will become defensive because direct eye contact indicates dominance.

If the cat does not come right away, I will sit down and wait...calling out to the kitty occasionally. The cat knows I am there and if it wants to come to me it will come to me very slowly. (May take several hours)

When waiting for the cat does not work, say the cat moves closer to where you are but is still cautious. Set out a bowl of stinky fish flavored food like Friskeies.com salmon pate or whitefish.  This food puts out a strong aroma that will get the lost domesticate cats attention. 

For me it works to squat or sit down and read a book. If a cat is hiding in my yard I will put out a sleeping bag so I can sit on it. Then set up food and water close to where I am sitting and wait.

A few days ago I rescued a lost housecat from the woods, the rescue took 6 hours, it occurred at night when coyote were out and about.   If the cat had not been stressed out we would not have rescued at night but since the cat was putting out a stress meow, husband and I reacted and did everything possible to keep the coyote back and rescue this lost cat.  

When the cat finally came to me it walked behind me and rubbed on my back, marked me as their person. Then it stood on my lap and rubbed its face on mine. Then I could pet the cat and get a hold of its scruff before picking up to put in cat carrier.

Know that if this waiting procedure did not work then I would have to trap the domesticated cat with live animal trap. If you do not have a live animal trap then I would recommend these online stores for cat traps.

havahart.com 

lowes.com

tractorsupply.com

acehardware.com

amazon.com

Always bait the trap with a stinky fish flavored canned food and cover the trap with a twin size blanket. But do not cover the opening.

Learn more about trapping and baiting a trap here

Gray Cat at My Door is Injured

Not sure why cats find their way to my house but they do.  Our home is at the bottom of steep hill and it backs up 29 acres of dense woods with creek in the valley.  There is nothing around except a dead end street where cats and dogs are usually abandoned.   It should not surprise me but it always does when an animal finds its way to my side door. 

Tonight a large mature cat shows up at my side door and knew to scratch at the screen. I opened the door expecting to find my own cat wanting to come inside but instead there is a large gray and white cat sitting in front of the door looking at me.

My first reaction to this cat is to think that it is lost. So I turn on the porch light and go out to see if there is a collar and hopefully an identification tag. No such luck, this big boy with the shiny coat is well fed and I suspect either abandoned or lost.

I went indoors  to get some food and a bowel of water and set the cat bowls off to the side and that is when I realized that this cat was injured. His left hind leg is hurt because he is limping.

I called out to my husband and he examines the cats paw  to see if something is embedded but he said that the paw bed looked fine and he suspected cat got hurt in a fall or a fight with another cat. But again no bite or puncture wounds were noticed.  Maybe cat tried to climb a tree to get away from danger and fell?    We do not know but we both agree that this kitty that is injured must spend the night in our heated garage. 

 At this point we have no idea if this is somebody’s cat from the joining neighborhood.  All we know is that the cat is hurt and it is best that he is not spending the night outdoors tonight when coyote are in the area.  So there is another kitty that has found us and is of need of help.  We will do our best to care for him and hopefully we can locate his owner.

If you do not have a identification tag for your cat then I recommend this one. You can personalize it with your contact information.  If gray cat had a tag he would be home with his people tonight, instead of in my garage.

Cute identification tags for cats | Personalizable Pet ID Tags 

Declawed Gray and White Tabby

For the last seven days I have watched a white and black tabby cat go into my greenhouse to eat from the feral cat food bowl.  I assumed the cat was visiting my feeding station to get a snack and then going back to his home because the cat wore a leather collar (not a breakaway) with no tag.

My neighbor informed me that the cat was crying and that it was coming from the woods.  She said that something was wrong with the cat and it looked like its paws were hurt.

We  watched for the cat, hoping it would come to the feeding station so we could learn more about its ailment. No sign of the cat throughout the day, but in the evening we did see the cat and it was being chased by another cat.  

The lost cat tried to climb a tree but fell and with that the other cat was on top of him.  Se then realized that the lost cat had no claws so my husband went out to break up the cat fight.  When there was an opening the lost cat ran in my direction and leaped into my arms. 

The cat suffered a bite wound to the tail and on his leg.  The cat was shaking like leaf and meowing loudly  We checked his paws and realized the cat was declawed. 

Ear tip torn - side face and collar

I examined the cat and found it was declawed all four paws.  No way to defend itself, no way to hunt and no way to be safe in a forest full of coyote and other wild animals. 

 I took the cat to our cat shelter.  Gave it a bed, litter box, food and water and turned on the light.  The cat is obviously lost and does not know how to go home.

Side view of lost cat

My veterinarian told me that 93% of the house cats that go outdoors get lost and do not know how to find their home.  I think this is true especially if they are not accustomed to going outdoors.  I am glad that I was at the right place at the right time and able to rescue this cat from harm.

Tips for Finding Lost Cats Home

We got up early this morning to network the neighborhood when many people outdoors.  It is necessary to take as many steps as needed to locate the Maine Coon cat that I found.

By putting the word out in the neighborhood that cat was found we are hoping that somebody will come forward with information about the cat.

Along with talking to people in the community we also posted “found cat flyers”.  I also placed a free classified advertisement in the lost and found section of the newspaper.  The classified for found MaineCoon cat will run over the weekend and hopefully somebody somewhere will have information about this lost cat.

Cat Found Flyer by Susang6

Many people are not concerned with the whereabouts of their outdoor cat.  One neighbor said he does not worry about outdoor cat unless he his missing for a week. 

I know this to be tree as one summer a few years back a neighborhood cat left his home and walked three blocks before settling in my yard for the entire summer.  The cat hung out in my yard day and night.  I assumed the cat was going home at night but found out that he had chosen my yard as his summer retreat. 

Outdoor cats are funny, if left to wonder the neighborhood then will leave their home.

Hopefully I will be able to find this little Maine Coon cat’s people.