Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: Felix Felicis on February 10, 2009, 20:06:25 PM
-
Hi there,
Our neighbours kitten has got out and been out since friday (at least). She is very scared of humans, and though she will sometimes sit outside their door, if they open it she will run away instantly. They cannot get her inside and don't seem to try very hard either. Me and my partner have spent several hours trying to coax her by throwing single pieces of cat food (biscuits) which she will chase and eat, but as soon as we get within 2 metres she will run away. She has a "brother" cat (not really brother but lives in the same house), who is an outdoor cat and is un-neutured. We noticed today he was mounting her. She is about 6 months old and the boy is about 10 months.
Since it has been 5 days we are starting to get quite worried that she will run away permanently or become feral, and after seeing the brother cat mounting her we are worried she could become pregnant which I gather can be quite dangerous at 6 months. If anyone has any advice as to how we could catch her and bring her inside, and what we should do with her after that it would be a great help.
Thanks.
-
Wow thats a bit worrying. :( I am sure some of the others will have some good advice :hug:
It sounds as if she will shortly become pregnant if she is left un neutured
The only thing I can think of to catch her if all else fails is a trap. You could probably borrow one from your nearest Cats Protection :hug:
-
Okay, thanks for the fast reply, I will email them now about that suggestion, any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
I am also curious as to what people think I should do if I get the kitten. As I said the neighbours don't seem to care a great deal, they are of the mind that "she will come when she's hungry", although it's been at least 5 days now so I don't believe this is the case. I am tempted to keep the kitten in my place so she isn't in danger of getting pregnant, the fact that they have a 10 month old outdoor un-neutered male and a 6 month old un-neutered female leaves me quite worried :censored:
-
Sounds like your neighbours have a very strange attitude, very worrying :(
It would be great if you could take in the kitten, wonder if its had all of its injections :shify:
Otherwise Cats protection could take it in
-
I once had a neighbour whose little kitten was basically living in a coal shed, with a bit of food left in the garden - I strolled up there with my Cushty and the kitten followed us home - I shut the door quick and managed to smuggle the kitten out to a rescue two days later
the neighbour abandoned the rented property a week later and never inquired about the missing kitten
-
I think if the little one is pregnant it might be a consideration to get her spayed; I think it's possible. She would lose the kittens (which don't get me wrong is terribly sad) but wouldn't have to cope with the rigours of motherhood at such a young age herself.
Have you tried putting a cat carrier on the floor with something really tasty in (tuna, chicken) and catching her that way? If she trusts you enough to enter a cat carrier with you that close that is. ;)
-
I could try that yes, I doubt she trusts me enough to go inside with me too close but i might have time to get over and shut the door before she realises. My only worry with that is, if she escapes it might make her very wary of any trap we might put down if we were able to borrow one, and thus make that option void. I don't know, but I am quite worried for her, at least the last 2 times we saw the male mount her our neutered male cat jumped on him and allowed her to escape, he is quite the hero.
-
Contact your local rescue - see http://www.catchat.org/ and check out the left hand side - as a matter of urgency. They will be able to help and advise you.
-
By the way, we are actually having Chicken for dinner tonight, would you suggest raw or cooked chicken to lure her in, I don't know how acute kittens sense of smell is.
-
I am sure the smell of cooked chicken might lure her, best of luck
-
I would actually get them both in and both neutered. Just not right thinking these people just let their cats run around getting other cats pregnant, if my cat was caught without me knowing I would go insane!
So please try to get them both sorted, it will help them in the long run.
Do you have any cats of your own? If not you seem to care more about these 2 more than their actuall owner, so I would suggest to the owner if she dosnt really want them for you to take them. Thats if you could.
And also tell her not to be getting any more cats if you do take them!
-
I do agree CC, but one step at a time. ;) The female has to be priority at that age being allowed near unneutered toms. Then maybe a sneaky op for the male.....they probably wouldn't notice anyway from what's been said. :(
Cooked chicken should be fine. :)
-
Yes we do have one cat of our own, a 6 year old neutered male who is bashing the other male a bit when he mounts her.
I tried the cat carrier thing, it kind of worked, but wasnt fully successful. She went in there and grabbed the food and ran out before I could get close! But I think it's building up her confidence and hopefully I can go again after I've eaten my own dinner ;D
It's tough though, I have to throw several biscuits to get her to notice the food in the carrier, and I'm worried she may get too full up to care soon. Also the male is mounting her every 30 sec and then she runs away a little, add to that the ^%&^ing annoying sensor light that keeps popping on every time I move a muscle and this is becoming a big chore. Hopefully we'll get there in the end though.
Thanks again for the advice.
-
If she hangs round the back door ... they could try luring her in with the aide of a long piece of string. They need to be sneaky and position themselves where she can't see them but they can lure her in and them once she is in shut the door behind her.
-
Or a lazer pen may work. I can manage to lure my cats into the house with that. Although if they are not prepaired to do anything for the kitten she may aswell go to another home.
-
Another way of trying to catch her is to tie a piece of string to the carrier door so that once she goes in you can pull it shut quick and then you have time to get to it to close it.
Do you know these neighbours are they approachable?
-
(My OH wrote the other posts but had to go to bed - another late night out with carrier, string and cat treats :innocent: Hope it is ok that we write from the same account, if not I will make a new)
Still no luck catching the kitten, the flat stinks of fried chicken and our own cat is now very excited :tired:
This has been going on for some months now, they originally only had one cat (the male) but got the female from friends because their kids was to rough with her.. some weeks before Christmas the owner came out while the 2 of us tried to catch them both (this was when they were still young and not allowed outside, but jumped out of the first floor windows..) but quickly got tired and went to bed. We then caught them and kept them inside, the next morning my OH delivered them back. Some days later the male was outside again, now allowed to be out and the female inside but far to often climbing the top of the open first floor windows. I do not know their situation well enough to say if the cats/kittens have a good home when they are inside but it does seem quite noisy over there (police trouble couple of times per year..)and they also have a son though i do not know if he is good with cats or not.
I guess they are approachable but the few times we have seen them outside they seem to be of the opinion that "the cats will come back when they are hungry enough" or "yeah they got out again" type of attitude :-[
We tried with the cat carrier and string on door but did not get her close enough to give it a proper try, I will go out again in a bit and see if i find them and if I do sit down with the carrier and hope for the best. Sadly she now tries to avoid the friendly male and knows my OH is up to something.
I have been looking for another cat for quite some time actually, but after some disappointing trips to the local rescue (they put FIV cats down when they have about 80 free pens, some might agree on this but for me that is horrible and we are not interested in adopting from them) and no luck on the half reasonable ads that pop up on -well you know those pages we don't like them very much. If or I should really say when we catch her, I would love to keep her but not sure if we should talk to the neighbour or not, sure they probably want her back but for how long will she stay. It is all very frustrating, and I really do feel she need a calmer home with more socializing and attention so she can get used to humans and enjoy it. Either way we have to catch her and get her spayed, I agree that the male should get neutered too but sadly it will be hard enough to scrape together 80£ for getting one of them done and we do feel the female is more urgent as she can already be pregnant :(
Time to get outside in the cold again, I will keep you updated and thank you for all the great advise! (I will also make a proper post and introduce us and the cat, about time now that I've lurked around here for months reading what everyone else is posting :shify:)
-
No luck yet, it is not raining or snowing tonight so I guess she found a new hiding place :doh:
Got some other questions as well, when we catch her would it be fine to use stronghold on her? (Don't have any frontline at the moment) or should we wait until she has seen a vet and been spayed/vaccinated? Can the vets refuse to spay her if they know it is not our cat and/or recognizes her? (Not sure if she has been to the vet before or what vet it would be). Catnapping is not an easy task >:(
-
OMG
reading this post im shocked :Crazy:
I recon that if you can manage to catch her then by all means, try and get her spayed, definately.
I know through having Louie, that Cat Protection can help you with the cost of neutering, or any expenses that occur through you helping the little minx!!
Fingers crossed things get sorted and your neighbours learn through this and dont go getting anymore cats!! :-[
To catch her, try a sneaky tactic! :evillaugh: :sneaky:
If you have a kitty toy thats like a feather or something that a kitten could not resist, try getting her into a playfull mood, and play with her from your door step, if you can stay in the doorway, and not go out this should work!!! hopefully she gets 100% fixed! then if you can slowly get yourself further indoors, so you can kind of see her and she cant really notice you! While playing she might come in following the toy! It worked with my Co-co when he was a baby, and decided to escape out of the slightest gap in the kitchen window!!
good luck, my fingers are crossed for ya x ;D
-
For kittens under 2.5kg you should use the 15mg size Stronghold. The next size up is 45mg for cats over 2.5kg.
-
This is an awful situation for you. It makes you wonder why some people have cats or any animals for that matter. I think a CP trap would work best if you can borrow one. This is what Dawn and I did when trappping my neighbour's multitude of half feral cats. Dawn put some pilchards on the newspaper inside the trap and even the wildest of them couldn't resist. In fact, I think it was the wildest that went into the trap first. Of course you would have to try to make sure you trapped her in the day as it would be very cold if she was in the trap all night. The problem with asking the neighbours if you can have her is what if they say you can't? Best of luck
-
First of all they need spaying/neutering but they belong to someone else (who doesn't sound interested)
If I were in your situation I would contact the local CP asap, if they are like ours they will listen to the situation and tell you what to do step by step.
Best of luck with this.
-
No more advice for you, people are giving good ideas already - just wanted to send you and OH a hug. :hug: Well done for trying to help these little guys; it's awful when you know an animal isn't given the shelter it needs isn't it?
We have two cats near us with different owners who are let out (which is not an issue with me) but don't a cat flap. (which is) They can be out for hours at a time, and one of them even tries to come in our house. Poor things.
-
I wouldnt bother explaining, if you get a do gooder they wont help steal someone elses pet whether its wanted or not! Stick to the its a stray story and no one will care ;D
Once you catch her and get her done, can you keep her in until her hair is back? Then atleast if they argue its their animal she wont ever get pregnant and it can be worked on for her to go elsewhere, they are more than likely not going to care shes gone :(
-
the problem with taking the neighbour's cats in is that they might go on to get more
-
We tried with the cat carrier and string on door but did not get her close enough to give it a proper try, I will go out again in a bit and see if i find them and if I do sit down with the carrier and hope for the best. Sadly she now tries to avoid the friendly male and knows my OH is up to something.
[/quote]
Hi , i tried to get a cat to my flat once by puting the food closer to the door and left the door open and second serving just where the entrance was so the cat had tiny bit and then came for second helping and then i did this and left the food inside the flat but is best if the kitten or cat doesnt see you ! THis way you can earn thier trust and it may take few days but once in, you put the food further and further and then close the door, also puting some strong catnip and leaving the door open might help, thats if she likes catnip!
Good luck , i am sure you will catch her. X
-
the problem with taking the neighbour's cats in is that they might go on to get more
The other option is to let this one breed... with people like this theres no easy option, you have to act on each problem they cause as it arrives. It sounds like they only took the cat on to help a friend never went looking for one so hopefully wouldnt get another replacement
-
Poor wee things need rescuing and at the very least, neutering. Aside from the lack of care these two are getting, what would happen to the poor kittens (doesn't bode well given the standard of care for these ones) - and from what you say. it's only a matter of time...
Don't get me wrong, have nothing against cats going out as such, but this is different.
We don't have a cat flap at the moment (big issue to do with lack of cash and an old back door that fell apart), but I'm here all day, and when Magnus is out I'm either in a room where I can see the whole garden, so if he comes home I know and let him in, or I'm at the window shouting at least once an hour, just in case!!!!!
There's another cat hanging round our back door at the moment - I'm trying to work out if it's lost or just left out all day - and half the time I hear it (won't let me get close enough to tell if he or she) yowling and think it's Mags and go to let him in :innocent:
-
Sorry for the slow update!
After all your great tips my OH (I'm not a phone person :-:) took contact with rspca but they didnt have any cat traps and said she was probably on heat and would come back after some days. He then left 4 messages with different CP contacts in the area (this was during worktime/lunch so I guess most people were out working themself). Our work is very close to blue cross so my OH went in there after work, they don't have any cat traps either (my hopes started to go down by this point) but he got some tips from them as well when it came to catching and got a bunch of leaflets to give the neighbour - though it might be a bit late for that. (In the end we didnt push them through their door, they already know but they dont do it)
Later in the evening we got a call back from a very friendly lady from CP, she came with lots of tips, she also said it was a hard situation to be in and came with some good suggestions. They also have cat traps ;D they were in use when she called us, but we will get contacted again when they are available so that is great as I think we really will not make it without. We don't have a car but they could even help with getting them here! Our friend with his old wreck of a car can bring it back again this weekend (crossing all fingers and toes - we will catch her).
After the chat with CP we went out to try to find the little furball again, but no sign of her at all. Some hours later it started snowing, but no paw prints in the snow. I started thinking something bad might have happened to her, we don't live on a busy road but it only takes one car on the calmest road and one unlucky cat so as the hours flew by I got more and more upset. It is bad enough thinking about a small shy young hungry cat laying outside in the snow trying to keep warm, but when we did not see her for almost 2 days in a row I couldnt get my mind of it. :'(
Yesterday (if we are not counting past midnight!) my OH decided to talk to the neighbour. I was at work so do not know what was said in detail, but she is def wanting to keep the cat, and the reason they arent spayed/neutered is because she was unsure how old the female is. My OH explained that the male is mounting her and that something must be done really ASAP, and she said she had planned to take them to the RSPCA together (for neutering). OH also said we havent seen her for some days, but we do see the male and as they are usually together we were getting worried about her, but the neighbour said she was almost certain she was hiding in an old shed nearby and would check it in daylight. She also said the cat is friendly inside and now let her son stroke her and often comes up for a cuddle. Bit of back on forth my OH didnt want to be rude or to pushy and the fact that she wanted to neuter them made it a tiny bit better. (but only for one night) Today OH met her after work, she didnt bother checking the shed because she had to go somewhere and had not seen the cat around.
Needless to say OH rushed over to check the shed asap (its behind a fence through a garden so a tiny mission ok but not something you need full daylight and scene lights for) no cat to be found. I told OH my worries and he started to feel a bit down too, poor little kitten possibly pregnant outside freezing and being hungry - or overrun by a car. We got some smelly fish from the shop, and left it outside so she could pick it up during the night if she was hungry and still around.
Today we finally spotted her again, and my OH managed to get her pretty close by offering some smelly fish and throwing biscuits towards her. I'm so happy she is (looks like) ok and still hopefully nearby, and know where to come for food now - fish, chicken and biscuits (RC) is surely better than the cheap stuff from the shop anyways ;D Hope she won't get an upset tummy :shify: Still very shy, and running off after about 10-15 min with sneak feeding her. Our cat is always very interested, not that easy to trap a cat when our own is sticking his head into the cat carrier and wondering if all this great stuff is for him :evillaugh: so we are keeping him inside now. My OH hoped the neighbour kitten would realize we are good and loving people by seeing how we are to our own cat :innocent: but that didnt work so far!
I'm really frustrated at the moment, I don't feel we can do the right thing whatever we do - except to trap her and get her neutered - but feels wrong to give her back, she will be out again within 3 days im sure :( If we keep her we could get in trouble, and the CP lady told us we have to sign a legal document at the vet to spay a female cat - stating that we are the owners and she recommended not doing this, and we really really do not want to hand her over to any shelter, mostly because she is so shy and we think she needs all the attention and socializing she can get in a warm home but also because we are right here, we care about her and can give her that and we also got a cat that are perfectly fine with her. I'm sure it will turn out ok for all parts once we catch her.
The CP lady also told us about a vet clinic in London (? need to double check with OH!) that can spay/neuter as young as 4 weeks, and I didnt know that cold be done so early so close to us so when or if we get a new cat or kitten on our own at least we know about that!
We also offered to foster for CP, but we already have a cat and no secure/own garden so they usually wouldnt place a cat/kitten with us, but they wrote us down anyways. We do have a guest room so it would be fully possible, and after all the great help we got from CP it would be really nice to help them out too if they need it ( I would realize I can't live without a possible foster cat within 1 hour so I would probably end up keeping all :shify:)
Ugh I'm still a bit down and frustrated, if it was MY cat missing I would be out every hour of the day trying to get the cat in, buying snack and making tons of tempting toys, asking the neighbours and putting up posters anything I could do.. but these people havent been outside to look not even once, dont even ask if we have seen her when we meet them outside. Our place looks quite horrible now, the floors are muddy from running in and out - fetching carriers, string and food, and it is freezing cold and wet, if we catch her she will probably not notice she is inside :rofl:
-
It makes me so mad to read about your irresponsible uncaring neighbour who definitely wants to keep her cats. I don't know what you can do as now you have spoken with her she knows you are involved with the cat. I just hope you can catch the little mite and that you can do whatever you think is best for it. Best of luck and well done to you for caring when your neighbour so obviously does not. I have a neighbour like that too!
-
You and OH are brilliant :hug:
-
It makes me so mad to read about your irresponsible uncaring neighbour who definitely wants to keep her cats. I don't know what you can do as now you have spoken with her she knows you are involved with the cat.
Yes that makes it much more tricky!
If the cat is friendly indoors then why isnt it going home? It obviously doesnt want to be in there and they cant really care as they dont make any attempt to get them in and down the vets. >:(
Time is of the essence because if shes left too long there will kittens born outside and you will feel the responsibility to sort it all out. :(
Have you a friend who is looking for a cat or could look after her temporarily
-
This is all so sad and you and OH are doing a great job :hug: :hug:
-
This is so, so sad.
You and your oh are wonderful - your neighbour needs a good slap.
Oh yes, they definitely want to keep them, but they provide no care for them whatsoever, and can't even be bothered to look for them.
>:( >:( >:(
If it was one of ours I'd be out day and night!!
-
I first spotted Tiffany curled up in my neighbour's porch in a flowerpot, as she had no other bed. She spent all her time shut up there, in a space 5ft by 1 ft, apart from the odd ten minutes in his house. So I nagged him and nagged him to put her into my enclosed garden in the morning, which he did perhaps twice a week, which was enough for me to get her socialised. And I could leave food in the porch, and fresh water, and clean the litter tray, when I took her back. I made it plain I would keep her if he didn't want her, but 'No way' was the only answer.
This went on for more than a year, and then one blessed day he locked himself out and had to break into his house through the porch door. He couldn't be bothered to mend it, so I was able to open the porch door myself and fetch Tiffany every morning, and take her back at night. And after two years of this, the roof of the porch blew off, and Tiffany has lived with me and Trigger every since.
The moral of the tale being that if you are patient, and persistent without actually falling out with your neighbour, that little cat will, I suspect, eventually end up curled up on your hearth. I certainly hope so, and I think you are wonderful for caring so much.
-
Trigger that is a lovely story, and I really hope ours get a happy ending :Luv:
Today we got a bit lucky, went out for a check and she was sitting outside looking at us from downstairs - she is quite funny my OH think she looks a bit like a mouse because of her markings. She seemed to be a bit more confident and when throwing biscuits at her she ran for them and tried to catch them with her paw being very playful :wow:
In the past when we have played with the male, she usually just sits curled up a bit away not really daring to join in. I went to get some string (the yellow type you tie up garden plants with!) and she chased it a bit, grabbed it with her paw and was alot more relaxed not looking around scared all the time like usual. Our own lovely boy decided to check what was going on and decided to attack the thread and attempt to eat it (he is extremly laid back with other cats, he never snarls or act aggressive in any way) she was watching him while getting some more biscuits.
After a while the male came around so we called our cat back and took him inside, he scratched the door so much I was afraid they would both run of (how dare his mummy put him inside with all the biscuit throwing and playing outside!) but luckily they stayed. The male is very playful, let me stroke him and pick him up, he even rolls over like they do on warm summer days when laying outside :Luv: We then fetched our cats bowl and put it at the top of the stairs (Just to explain, theres 3 "houses" with 2 flats in them each all connected with outdoor stairs) and the male quickly came to eat more and the female got very interested in both the string and food bowl, I was now sitting in the middle of the stairs with the male at the top with the food and the little girl at the bottom watching it all. She so wants to play and eat and trust us, you can see it in her eyes but she is scared :Luv2: After about 15 mins with throwing the string at her she became a bit more eager and came very very close sometimes, then backing off again and back and forth, in the end i started playing with the male at the top and she came up too! OH almost exploded when watching because I was 1 cm from her and had such a great chance of catching her :censored: I let them both eat, never has a bowl of biscuits been cleared that fast :-: played a bit more with them both without getting any good chances of catching her but they strolled away and at least they are both well fed now and I know she is more or less fine. At least they are both long hair, and shouldnt get to cold in this weather though I think my bottom almost turned to ice :rofl:
Ironic enough there was alot of noise next door, the neighbours were fighting/arguing/being loud and my OH said at one point "we only have until one of them storms out and ruins it all". I'm still happy about the progress, and she still doesnt know that I am up to something as horrible as catching her and giving her a warm bed and everything she needs.
Time is of the essence because if shes left too long there will kittens born outside and you will feel the responsibility to sort it all out. Sad
Have you a friend who is looking for a cat or could look after her temporarily
I'm more than happy to sort it all out, and I would love to give her a new forever home together with the male myself. They have been out about 7 days (?) in a row now, and I've yet to see them look for their cats... if I took them inside myself and covered the bottom of the living room window + the glass door that the neighbours can see if the cat was sitting there.. then maybe they would never know! Or maybe we should catch them and buy a nice house out in the woods were no one can find us :shify: To answer your question, we do have a friend that loves cats that could possibly look after them, the problem is that he also got a dog and these cats are not used to dogs :( He also works full time as a chef (silly hours) and usually comes here in the weekends with his own cat!
I also think they both have ear mites, bit of shaking head and scratching. Our own Mitsy also had a bit of trouble with ear mites and have been through 3 different types of ear drops for it, everyone knows cats loves getting stinky ear drops :-[ I do not want to give them back before theyre neutred and recovered,treated for the mites (if they have them) and possibly flea. I'm just worried that if we hand them back like last time, we will see them outside again and grrrr It makes me so angry to think about because all they have to say is "take the cats" and they don't have to worry about it at all and it won't be their responsibility.
I have also been thinking about what the CP lady said (we are calling back tomorrow for an update on the trap) about spaying and needing a signature confirming we are the owners. If we took the cat to the vet, and said she had been outside our place for more than a week obviously being hungry so we gave her some food.. then saying we have been in contact with shelters and have been told it is absolutely best to get her spayed as soon as possible.. would this be pushing it?
I'm now going to eat a nice big bar of chocolate and get my blanket and cuddle with the best cat in the world and hopefully I will be able to stop worrying for tonight.
(PS: hey hey when i write ch o co late it makes it in to HEALTHYFOOD :shify:)
-
Hi,
Glad to hear you contacted CP they are very good at taking you through the right steps in these situations and telling you what you can and can't do as they have been through it all before. Best of luck sorting this situation out.
-
I was worried about Tiffany getting spayed, but I got vouchers for my neighbour from CP (though he could have afforded it) and made up the amount myself, telling him it was a cash donation from the local CP branch, and he did take her to the vet
if you get her spayed the neighbours will know - the male could be castrated without their ever knowing though
are they likely to go away on holiday and leave the two of them outside? you would have a good chance to swoop then
-
Whatever you do dont grab her with your hands! She will more than likely freak out, hurt you and then your back to square one with trust issues, keep on gaining her trust and lure her towards the house/box, much safer that way.
You sound like you have decided to get her done, keeping her in with the window covered so they dont see her is the only way really as there will be a large chunk of hair missing! Makes it quite obvious :doh: Go with the been a stray for some weeks story and dont worry about it, my vets admission forms dont say 'i declare im the owner' on them, the problem the CP lady has is she cant tell you to take someones cat although she will be thinking it lol
They can have a spot on for ear mites/fleas/roundworm in one go ;D
-
You are doing so well ;D
Yes c h o co... changes to healthy food lol
-
Well they want her spayed anyways (from what they said about taking them to the rspca) and as she has been out for more than one week, fleeing if they open the door when she is close.. well they can't complain even if they do find her hairless in my house if they decide to break in :rofl: Does anyone know what I can use for the living room window? I was thinking something similar to what you put in car windows that you can stick on but that can be removed later :-: At the glass backdoor i'll put up a curtain or something... open for suggestions :evillaugh:
They can have a spot on for ear mites/fleas/roundworm in one go
Stronghold is supposed to do this I think, but try telling the mites Mitsy gets! :shify: Johnsons normal ear drops that doesnt need a prescription seems to do better than the vet ones, I'll check the names later got them in a box somewhere - long and difficult names beginning with a C!
Tried calling CP again today but couldnt get through and no news on the cat trap. Thinking of having some goes with the carrier again as I think she really has been out long enough now.
Some hours ago she was sitting outside again, so I went to get Mitsys food bowl and she understood right away it was feeding time :wow: I got quite close to her, put the bowl down and let her eat in peace and quiet. Some youngsters ran past some mins later and she strolled off, but at least she got some food.
-
i wonder if you could ask teh vet to do a midline spay, that way it wouldnt be as obvious?
-
From my experience of 'taming' stray cats, once they're happy to eat in your company that's half the battle. Try seeing if she'll let you sit right beside her while she's eating. Then whether she'll let you stroke her. Then the next stage would be that she'll let you stroke her without food, and the next stage ought to be that she'll let you pick her up.
All that has to go at her speed though, and that's not necessarily fast - so keep trying with the carrier, keep asking for the trap, as there is obviously urgency with this one (more than the usual of getting her off the streets).
-
The car window stuff should work ok.
What area are you in? There may be someone here who can help you out...
i wonder if you could ask teh vet to do a midline spay, that way it wouldnt be as obvious?
What excuse could be used tho if thats not the vets normal method? Could get tricky if a reason is wanted :sneaky:
-
The suspected pregnancy could be a reason, although I know they can do normal spays in that situation.
-
Not sure if this is a good or bad day =( The neighbour, well the man that sometimes is around there caught her today with his hands. He was bleeding and it looked pretty nasty when my OH saw it and talked to them. They said they would get her done this week, so I really hope they actually bother doing what they said this time.
I'm both happy and sad, she is inside now and hopefully have food and a warm bed - but on the other hand I would not be surprised if she is outside again tomorrow and we have the same problem with a cat that is even more scared to get caught.
Still did not hear back from CP so left them a message so they know we do not need the cat trap anymore.
Dont really know what to think or feel about it just hope it turns out very good for the poor little kitty and that they take some responsibility from now on >:(
-
Seems that they just dont have a clue about caring for cats and the feelings of the cats......just I bigger than you!
So sorry and you were doing so well , lets hope that this is good and she will be OK and not shoved outside again :hug: :hug:
I do j=hope they love her and will give here strokes, and a proper home.
-
people can be incredibly ignorant - hopefully your neighbours will learn that you can and will help if they have any problems
I would certainly tell them you are very happy to feed their cats if they go away - that could lead on to better things
ETA I told my neighbour when he still had Tiffany that it was his bad luck to live next door to a member of CP and he would just have to get used to it :rofl:
-
All you can do is hope that things work out well.
-
:censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: Guess who is outside :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:
What do we do now? Try to catch her? Leave her alone? Talk to the neighbours again? She is def not spayed (not a sign of any shaved fur). She is outside playing in the leaves now, think she found some bugs or something that she got very interested in, jumping around a bit and seems ok - did not run for it when i came closer but I did not want to scare her away so just talked to her for a bit and now I'm inside.
SIGH :tired:
-
its so hard, Tigerbaby used to live near a serial neglecter as well I think it must be very difficult, do you have the sort of relationship with them that they will take any notice (doesn't sound like it)
-
It worked it worked! ;D Finally! Went outside to see if I saw them around, and they were both 40 cm from our front door :doh: I scared her away, but when i put some food down for the male she came trotting back right away! After eating some I took the bowl (she ran off again) and put it inside, the male did not want to come inside but she came right away! Closed the door and tada now I got a little whiny cat walking around. She is calling/stressing around and does not seem to happy about this!
Now I need to calm her down a bit and make her understand that we don't eat cats around here :tired: Any tips would be great, at the moment she is not interested in anything in the slightest! Our boy is sleeping in the bedroom with OH, but in the morning is it safe to let him out of there? (They never growl or have any problems outside being close to eachother)
I'm so happy, finally inside!
-
Tiny update before I go to bed.
She was hiding under the sofa in the living room, but when I went through to the kitchen she came sneaking after me, checking out what I was up to :sneaky: Got some raw chicken out and she let out a big MIAOOO (I SEE WHAT YOU GOT THERE IS THAT FOR YOU OR YOU GONNA SHARE?) and came straight for it, even eating it from my hand without hesitating. After that I think she decided that I can not be all bad and came for some strokes, walking in circles around me and being very friendly. I sat on the floor for about 20 min cuddling with her, she also let me lift her up but she did not seem to like it/scared/nervous even tho she could walk away. After some more cuddling I went through to the living room to sit down in the sofa and have some snack myself, she hid under the sofa again and did not want to come out. Decided to test what would happen if I walked back in to the kitchen and there she was, this time when I went back in to the living room she was sitting next to the sofa stretching up sniffing (I had some left over gratinated potatoes) and seemed fine. I let her lick the plate and when she was done she went back to her hiding place.
Don't think it could go much better than this, considering she has never let anyone stroke her/cuddle her and lift her before :Luv:
-
she does sound like she likes you!
-
:yayyy: :yayyy: :yayyy: :evillaugh:
Im so pleased you have got her indoors, how long has it been since the tom got her?
It just shows how naff her owners were if she can enter a strangers house but not theirs, shes much better off permanently borrowed from them ;D
-
Its just time now and sounds like she likes you and off to a great start. ;D
Misa useed to get under the recliner.............looking at the space at him , he wouldnt make it now :rofl:
I am sure the lure of food will just be too much for her and if she likes strokes then you are well away ;D
-
are you going to tell them you have her?
will they ask for her back?
-
Well , i certainly wouldn''t tell them and definately never give her back to them.
Well done for catching her and keeping her with you .
-
Well I'm almost in tears now, the day after catching her they actually asked if we had seen her because they were going to the vet on saturday (today) to get them both done.. so we gave her back and let them borrow our carrier and everything.
She is now outside. There is no shaved spots on her, at least not that I can see and our cat had his front leg shaved and I assume that is quite standard.. So going outside again to get her, luckily I'm not out of raw chicken just yet :innocent: Hopefully if I get her again I can get her to our vet on monday and if they ask for her back again then well.. I havent seen her thats for sure.
Well , i certainly wouldn''t tell them and definately never give her back to them.
Well done for catching her and keeping her with you .
Should have seen this post before I handed her over, I did think they wanted to make things right when they actually asked and planned to go there :(
-
Poor you, you must be mortified to find you have been conned, if she had been done she would have a shaved patch on her side and stitches, If you manage to catch her again i certainly wouldnt be giving her back this time, do you have anyone who could take so she is away from them ,if only temporary until you can find a permanent home for her. :hug:
-
Where are you?
-
I'm so sorry your neighbours did that. Hoping you can get the little one inside again. :hug:
-
Do you think they are onto you, where abouts in uk are you? I think they are these its my possession type people, they cant give a hoot about her the way they are acting >:(
-
Please be careful. As Milly's Mum says they are on to you and might not be as nice if they have to knock a second time and ask for her back!
Its awful that they have let her out again, I don't believe they care for her at all. Perhaps the best way is to catch her and get her to a safe house away from your area before they realise that she is missing.
Good luck!
-
Thank you all again for great advise!
Well she is now coming in without being scared, knows what comes after the she hears the fridge door as well :evillaugh: Left the door open for a bit, and she went out to see what our cat was up to (he likes sitting outside on a bench pretty much doing nothing) and came in again several times for cuddles and some biscuits.
I do know a few people that could look after her temporarily, but I really don't want to introduce her to more homes as she has had 3 already and now seems comfy about coming inside our home without being carried or tricked :( Maybe we just have to move now :tired: She is also very friendly with our cat now, perfectly happy pushing him out of his own food bowl :-:
Tonight she had tons of biscuits and some more raw chicken, slept on the sofa but I let her out again when she started crying for it (I dont know if this was a stupid thing to do but I'm now 99% certain she will be back everyday for food cuddles and a warm bed)
I think I will get OH to ask them again about spaying her, for all I know their vet was busy and had to move their appointment, but def need to talk to them. Maybe we can buy her >:(
We are in Cambridgeshire, but please don't show up with an army of angry cat lovers they would know who to "blame" :rofl:
-
Oh and I don't think they're onto us, they are very friendly and have only mention "the cat" once.. When we handed her back they did say she was rude to be moving house like that.. :-[ I don't think they "realised" anything when we were trying to catch her for 2 weeks either, they didnt look and anything could have happened. If a cat you didnt really pay that much attention to was gone missing for some weeks.. well if it didnt come back at all it wouldnt be that unexplainable. :censored:
-
Sounds like everyone is giving great advice, and theres not much else for me to say apart from i agree!
She sounds like a lovely little puss, who craves the love and attention her owners should be showing her.
At least she is getting the treatment she desearves, :hug: for you and OH.
-
They sound like stupid people but if you bring up spaying again they will twig something, if they were going to do it then it would be done and she would be kept in. You obviously want to see the best in them but you wont ever find it! Sadly theres people like them causing problems every day for rescues all over the UK. Dont feel guilty, its important shes spayed v.soon having already mated.
-
i wonder if you could ask teh vet to do a midline spay, that way it wouldnt be as obvious?
Midline is riskier and is usually only done on pedigree cats or cats that are heavily pregnant.
I would definitely broach the subject of getting her done again, or even offer to take her yourself.........she is far too young to be having kittens and if they were responsible owners, neither cat would be out unneutered anyway. Good luck and well done for trying to help, hopefully they will see sense and will get them sorted for the cats sake at least :hug:
Better still, I'd have the little one disappear for her own good and to an owner that will love and look after her ;)
-
Any update on this - have you caught kitty yet?
-
Late update, havent had internet for ages :tired:
After promising to get her sorted at the vets a billion more times and not doing anything about it the kittens came, 5 of them - 3 died. We offered to take them but she wanted to give them to friends instead. When they reached about 7 weeks she gave away one of them (yes we did tell her they should be 12 weeks), the other was going the day after but she redecided as she didnt think they would change litter and give her basic care.. (right person to talk :censored:) so we took the little girl. Full of flea and very tiny when we got her, asked if she could stay with mum a bit longer but mum was already outside all day and night making new kittens..
We never heard back from cats protection, and stopped calling/leaving messages as it started to feel like we were harassing them :scared:
She is now pregnant again, got a huge belly and are outside day and night - the neighbours are rarely at home and even when they are the cats only get a chance to go in and out when they go in and out. (As mentioned they got children so there is often children, prams and alot of noise when they come and go so the cats get scared and run off) She walks up to our door daily to get food and comes into the kitchen if we leave the door open and back off into the house, can also stroke her properly now (a good scratch on top of the head is best!)but not pick her up and she runs for it if we dont move very slowly so she know exactly where we are. If we close the door she stress around and take it out on our now two cats - so we let her out but she always comes back when she is hungry so i guess it is better than nothing.
My partner was made redundant not long ago so we are tight on money but still trying to convince the neighbour to let us have atleast one of their cats. Partner also overheard her talking to some friends about keeping all the kittens (She is VERY big, so assuming it is a big litter) so this situation is just going worse and worse.
We also have another problem now, both her cats always got fleas and ear mites, so our cats keep getting ear mites. They get stronghold every 5 weeks but this doesnt seem to stop the ear mites and i am getting slightly annoyed by having to take a taxi to the vet every month for a new check up >:(
It is very obvious the neighbour does not give a pooey (sorry the expression) about any cats or kittens, and the situation is getting more desperate (at least in my head). If we took the cat to the vet now, would they neuter her before she got the kittens? Is there any organizations with vouchers or can help getting the cat neutered until i get paid at the end of the month? (As my partner was made redundant and are awaiting job seekers allowance we are tight on money, but have no problems paying the full amount at the end of the month, but if she can be neutered now that would surely be the best for the cat?)
Sorry for the long ramble and slow update, after trying to contact cats protection several times and told by our vet that there is nothing we can do i hope someone here can once again, help us out :poke:
-
Hi Felix the cat needs sorting asap, contact CP again you did say they were helping you earlier in the year?, pester again if need be and get the cat taken in, I have done this a few times so it can be done. One feral cat I trapped and took to the vets was pregnant and they aborted it. It will never stop unless you do something and the situation will then be much harder to control.
If you ring the CP and tell them what you are saying here then I am sure they will help you, tons of luck :hug: