- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #21
Unfortunately im worried about her not even going into the warm place. I put out tuna in the shed this morning and as of right now it hasn’t been touched.
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My cat got outside for the first time since we took her in, what are the chances she returns?
- Thread starter RickCMC
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You would be surprised at the way they find a place to keep warm, I have shelters out for ferals and they don't always or ever use them because they have somewhere else to go.Unfortunately im worried about her not even going into the warm place. I put out tuna in the shed this morning and as of right now it hasn’t been touched.
Don't lose hope you have provided a warm safe place for her and she is probably very scared right now. When she gets hungry enough she will come out. Just keep doing as you are doing.
How Do Cats Survive Winter? 27 Cat-tastic Tips You’ll Love - Toy Pet Reviews
So if you use a blanket it will get cold. So use straw. Food and fresh water will help keep her warm. I live in Houston so I am unfamiliar how cats survive the cold. Hope this helps. Good luck!
So if you use a blanket it will get cold. So use straw. Food and fresh water will help keep her warm. I live in Houston so I am unfamiliar how cats survive the cold. Hope this helps. Good luck!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #24
New update: I saw her again in my back yard a few moments ago. She was by the stairs that lead down into the basement. I opened the back storm door slowly but she ran off back under the shed. I’m upset she didn’t come into the house, but I’m relieved to know she’s still under the shed and close to home. Hopefully she eventually comes into the house.
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- #25
I’m just concerned that none of her food I put out is being eaten, yet she is close to the house since I saw her last night and she ran back under the shed. Where is she getting food and water from if she’s not using what I put out? Also im wondering if I should put some food outside the shed instead of inside of it? Maybe she doesn’t know to go into the shed? Maybe I should put something in the spot where I saw her last night near the steps. So many questions. If I can’t get her back tonight im picking up a humane trap tomorrow.
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I saw Luna eat just a tiny fraction of food, just a couple of the days she was out, and she was gone over 7 weeks. I think many days she just did not eat, some days she may have hunted. It has not been that long -- depending on temperament displaced cats can hide, in place, without moving, eating, drinking, or anything, for a week to ten days. She's definitely not doing that, she's moving around more and earlier, and learning what resources are available to her. I was sooo confused on where/ if Luna was eating and it felt so awful.
I'm sure she's not enjoying the cold, but since you rescued her from outside in your neighborhood, she clearly has the genetics of cats that can survive in your area. I don't know details on how cats survive the winter, but we live in a cold place that snows, and we consistently see the same feral cat come by on our cameras, even in snow. Other people also watch / care for feral cats near here, and see them survive over winter even in the cold.
I'm glad you are seeing her, and yeah I agree that you can go the humane trap option tomorrow if you don't have success tonight. That is something you will need to be careful with in the cold. I wouldn't worry about a cat that can retreat under the shed like I would a cat that has been trapped and doesn't have freedom of movement. Short periods are fine, but certainly not anything extended like overnight, It will depend on the weather, and other people can weigh in, but a dry 20 degrees wouldn't overly worry me for periodic checks every forty minutes to an hour. If you can, try to get a remote motion sensor too, you can stick that right on top of the trap at the back pointing down, so it'll alarm only when she is fully in and has triggered the trap. You can have the receiver inside with you and know when you'll need to go out. I'd still check at least hourly anyway though. We did leave ours armed all night for Luna, but we also had cameras with active alert systems which woke us up if any animal got anywhere near it, and then we could watch and release any wildlife immediately, and we brought Luna in quickly when it worked with her.
This is really long, but has some good trapping guidelines:
http://www.3retrievers.com/humane-trap-guidelines.html
This is shorter, but also good advice:
You May Need to Trap Your Lost Cat! | Pet FBI
These people may have local branches near you that you can borrow traps, but all their guidance is for feral, not lost cats. The techniques on luring and especially timing are substantially different, however there may be good links to mechanical tips and videos on how to arm and place the trap can be quite good.
Trapping Guidelines
Lastly, I remembered another suggestion I read, that I didn't read early enough to be effective for Luna -- sometimes displaced cats will come back and check the exact method they left the house trying to get back in, but they will only do this sometime between the hours of 10 PM and 2 AM, when it is quiet and feels safe to them. This was really hard to implement for me because of weather reasons, but for opposite reasons for you! It was really hot and humid when Luna was out, and I didn't know how to leave the door open a crack and yet make sure the weather wasn't crazy. I ended up buying some of the pink sheet insulation that can be found in hardware stores and cut out a small section like a cat door. Then I locked up my other cats in an internal bedroom at night, and jammed it into the door so that only a small section had any opening, and it minimized air transfer. I'm not sure whether this would be possible in your case, there are a lot of logistics involved. The suggestions I read also included to use a motion detector there, so you would be able to know when / if she came in and go close the door after her. There are also potential suggestions around security to make sure no people could come in, I don't know what your neighborhood is like. I didn't bother doing those. This typically only will work within the first week -- I tried it later when I first learned about it anyway, but it didn't ultimately work in my case and the humane trap and food luring was what finally did it.
If you can go outside with food and talk gently to her (even if you can't see her), at times similar to when you've seen her in recent days, you may have luck tonight. I really hope you do. They sometimes relatively quickly set up a personal schedule for themselves and might stick to it, so times she has been active before are good times for you to be out trying to lure her back.
I'm sure she's not enjoying the cold, but since you rescued her from outside in your neighborhood, she clearly has the genetics of cats that can survive in your area. I don't know details on how cats survive the winter, but we live in a cold place that snows, and we consistently see the same feral cat come by on our cameras, even in snow. Other people also watch / care for feral cats near here, and see them survive over winter even in the cold.
I'm glad you are seeing her, and yeah I agree that you can go the humane trap option tomorrow if you don't have success tonight. That is something you will need to be careful with in the cold. I wouldn't worry about a cat that can retreat under the shed like I would a cat that has been trapped and doesn't have freedom of movement. Short periods are fine, but certainly not anything extended like overnight, It will depend on the weather, and other people can weigh in, but a dry 20 degrees wouldn't overly worry me for periodic checks every forty minutes to an hour. If you can, try to get a remote motion sensor too, you can stick that right on top of the trap at the back pointing down, so it'll alarm only when she is fully in and has triggered the trap. You can have the receiver inside with you and know when you'll need to go out. I'd still check at least hourly anyway though. We did leave ours armed all night for Luna, but we also had cameras with active alert systems which woke us up if any animal got anywhere near it, and then we could watch and release any wildlife immediately, and we brought Luna in quickly when it worked with her.
This is really long, but has some good trapping guidelines:
http://www.3retrievers.com/humane-trap-guidelines.html
This is shorter, but also good advice:
You May Need to Trap Your Lost Cat! | Pet FBI
These people may have local branches near you that you can borrow traps, but all their guidance is for feral, not lost cats. The techniques on luring and especially timing are substantially different, however there may be good links to mechanical tips and videos on how to arm and place the trap can be quite good.
Trapping Guidelines
Lastly, I remembered another suggestion I read, that I didn't read early enough to be effective for Luna -- sometimes displaced cats will come back and check the exact method they left the house trying to get back in, but they will only do this sometime between the hours of 10 PM and 2 AM, when it is quiet and feels safe to them. This was really hard to implement for me because of weather reasons, but for opposite reasons for you! It was really hot and humid when Luna was out, and I didn't know how to leave the door open a crack and yet make sure the weather wasn't crazy. I ended up buying some of the pink sheet insulation that can be found in hardware stores and cut out a small section like a cat door. Then I locked up my other cats in an internal bedroom at night, and jammed it into the door so that only a small section had any opening, and it minimized air transfer. I'm not sure whether this would be possible in your case, there are a lot of logistics involved. The suggestions I read also included to use a motion detector there, so you would be able to know when / if she came in and go close the door after her. There are also potential suggestions around security to make sure no people could come in, I don't know what your neighborhood is like. I didn't bother doing those. This typically only will work within the first week -- I tried it later when I first learned about it anyway, but it didn't ultimately work in my case and the humane trap and food luring was what finally did it.
If you can go outside with food and talk gently to her (even if you can't see her), at times similar to when you've seen her in recent days, you may have luck tonight. I really hope you do. They sometimes relatively quickly set up a personal schedule for themselves and might stick to it, so times she has been active before are good times for you to be out trying to lure her back.
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Adding some more content:
Honestly I sometimes just took my phone out when looking for Luna, sat down, & browsed for lost cat / cat trapping advice. I occasionally talked aloud in case she was near enough to hear me. She may want to watch you awhile to make sure she has the correct identification -- cats rely a lot on context in recognizing people, and outside is a profoundly different context than she is used to. She'll need to calm down and have lots of thinking time to feel confident approaching you directly. A lot of people do successfully pick up their lost cats, but you'd probably want a carrier or some other very close method of securing her, because if she is spooked by an unexpected noise while you're walking back inside, you are unlikely to maintain your hold on her.
In my case my missing cat never did come up to me, we had to trap, but I'd had her for far less time than you have had your kitty, and Luna still had a lot of feral wariness from her birth outside (she was barely over a year when she got out, and was a relatively old kitten to be socialized when she was rescued.) She is SO TAME now, but she wasn't then. You've got a better chance on the just-pick-up method than I did.
Honestly I sometimes just took my phone out when looking for Luna, sat down, & browsed for lost cat / cat trapping advice. I occasionally talked aloud in case she was near enough to hear me. She may want to watch you awhile to make sure she has the correct identification -- cats rely a lot on context in recognizing people, and outside is a profoundly different context than she is used to. She'll need to calm down and have lots of thinking time to feel confident approaching you directly. A lot of people do successfully pick up their lost cats, but you'd probably want a carrier or some other very close method of securing her, because if she is spooked by an unexpected noise while you're walking back inside, you are unlikely to maintain your hold on her.
In my case my missing cat never did come up to me, we had to trap, but I'd had her for far less time than you have had your kitty, and Luna still had a lot of feral wariness from her birth outside (she was barely over a year when she got out, and was a relatively old kitten to be socialized when she was rescued.) She is SO TAME now, but she wasn't then. You've got a better chance on the just-pick-up method than I did.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #28
Yeah I agree I had a better chance on the just pick up method which is why im feeling guilty. Late Friday when I saw her she initially came towards me but I panicked. I should have just lunged at her and tried to pick her up, instead I walked toward her slowly and she ran away.
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I had a cat missing for 11 days she was not accustomed to being outside. I called and called and searched even took the flashlight out at night and low and behold she was under the deck at my apartment complex and it took her 3 more days to come oout and let me pick her up.
In your case I think a trap is your best resort.
In your case I think a trap is your best resort.
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I think your choice on Friday was good -- cats are super super quick, and I am not sure a lunge could have been successful. It might have scared her, as well. Now she has more association of your "outside self" bringing food, being generally nonthreatening, etc. Cats depend so heavily on context for identification, she won't necessarily be able to put 2 and 2 together quickly and realize it is you when you're outside. So you'll want to make sure if you do grab her it's when she's otherwise pretty calm and you're sure you'll succeed, and have somewhere close to hand to sequester her quickly.
You shouldn't feel guilty, at least, I think your actions were reasonable and could have worked -- if you'd chosen a lunge and that didn't work, you'd also be second guessing yourself.
I agree that you are making a really serious effort to get your cat back home and that the second guessing is just making you feel bad. I have only made two successful lunges at cats; both were very small, sick kittens and even if I had missed, they were not exactly going to go sprinting off or climb a wall.
Did she get along with your other cats?
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- #33
Yeah she definitely did. I have two other cats. This particular cat never tries to get outside, it’s always one of the other ones. I can’t remember if I mentioned it, but how this happened was I went to walk my dog and I thought I had shut the storm door the whole way, but when I returned about 5 minutes the storm door was open and my one cat was outside, I managed to get her inside and almost immediately I realized one of the other cats was missing.
Since she was so close I thought maybe there was something about your house that stopped her going in like loud noise
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- #35
Yeah I don’t get it. She’s very close but I don’t know why she won’t come back in.
At least she knows where to go for food and shelter
Have you seen her today?
Have you seen her today?
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- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #37
Nope not today. For the last two nights I saw her around midnight. It seems like she’s coming out late in the night. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for her.
Is she eating the food?
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- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #39
Nope, she hasn’t been. I don’t understand why.
Google dyi cat trap
I feel bad suggesting this but she has to eat. Or stay up all night and see if she shows up. Is tuna something she's eaten before? One of my cats does not like that
I feel bad suggesting this but she has to eat. Or stay up all night and see if she shows up. Is tuna something she's eaten before? One of my cats does not like that
