Need help with a housecat that has gone feral

[xiporah]

Hello everyone, this is my first post on the site.

In January my 8 year old male domestic long hair Titan escaped. I did not know he was gone and left to go on a out of country trip the next morning.

I was gone for a week, during which I learned that he'd escaped. My live in boyfriend and my mother tried looking for Titan, but he ended up staying outside for a total of 12 days. When I got home, we were able to spot him hiding in a sewer, but he wouldn't come to me or my boyfriend.

I finally managed to catch him using a humane HaveAHeart cat trap that I bought online and brought him home. He was and still remains however, completely and totally feral. I left him go in my basement so he could readjust to the house slowly, but he remains in hiding four months later.

I have tried spending time downstairs talking to him. I have tried giving him space. I have tried sitting on the basement floor quietly for hours, reading. I also tried reading out loud to get him used to my voice again. Nothing I have tried has worked.

He is eating and drinking, but litterbox usage is sporadic. He poops in his box but only urinates in it occasionally and is urinating near his hiding spot in the basement ceiling.

I am open to suggestions and ideas. I have had him for most of his life, since he was about 10 weeks old, and he is my first cat and my baby. This cat was a complete and total cuddle bug and lap cat. He was very affectionate, demanded attention almost constantly and to go from that to what he is now is just heartbreaking to me.

I am willing to accept that Titan may never be a cuddler again and may always be distant now, but I would at least like to get him to come out around us, to regularly use his litterbox, etc. I would be happy if he simply came upstairs.

If anyone has any help to offer, I would be deeply appreciative. I feel like I am feeding a ghost.

 

[detmut]

i think you should take him in for a check-up at the vet

 

[xiporah]

How do I catch him? I'd love to take him to the vet, but I haven't even seen him since I let him go in the basement. Should I use the trap again? I think I know where he has been hiding, but I am not entirely sure.

I'd like to get him to come out without cutting the ceiling open and traumatizing him further.

 

[misterwhiskers]

Is there any chance that loss of food and water could have resulted in neurological damage, or that he could have been injured some other way, resulting in pain? I second a vet work up.

 

[2bcat]

I'm with the others.  12 days outside for an 8-year-old cat...I mean sure, he'd be shaken by that experience, but I feel like that alone would not take him to the extreme that you are describing. The additional time downstairs as you describe is only serving to prolong this behavior. I don't really have any answers for how you get him back to more interaction after this time, but it definitely warrants an exam. I suppose if he's going to have strong negative reaction to all people it might be tricky to do, both to catch him and to have a vet examine him. If you can no longer catch him you'd have to use the trap again, which may or may not work easily, and you'd have to warn the vet of what is going on.

Good luck to you.

 

[Willowy]

Yes, I think a vet checkup would be good. And even if he's healthy, don't let him go in the basement again---put him in a small room, maybe a bathroom or spare bedroom, and try to minimize hiding spots so he can't totally disappear. Provide a box for hiding but try not to let him get anywhere like in the ceiling or in the bedsprings. I think that would help him get used to you again.

I have heard of cats that acted strange after getting out, but his behavior seems pretty extreme. You might even consider anti-anxiety meds if you can get a kind you can hide in his food.

Trapping him again will be hard, so get the best bait possible. Fried chicken seems to be a favorite. Sardines, canned mackerel, etc.

 

[southbound]

I would take him to a vet to see if he was injured or infected while outside since he is acting like this. My 16 yo boy got knocked off the deck by his brother when he was 2 and was gone over 2 months. We found him on the other side of our impossibly large apartment complex. He was hiding in one of the basements all that time and was found by my next door neighbor while walking around town. We drove over to the building he was camped out in. I crawled into the basement and called him. He came right out to me we took him home and it was like he never was gone. All the cats greeted him no hissing nothing. I would bet your cat got bit or was traumatized in some way. Get him to a vet.

 

[detmut]

the only other possibility i see is that it is not the same cat. but unless your cat looks like a lot of other cats, something must have happened to him out on the streets. 

 

[handsome kitty]

 
the only other possibility i see is that it is not the same cat. but unless your cat looks like a lot of other cats, something must have happened to him out on the streets. 

I was thinking the same thing.