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- Feb 12, 2018
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Hi Everyone,
Need some help with a stray cat situation. I've had a little visitor coming to my front porch for about a week and a half now, not sure if he's a "he" or she's a "she", but my gut tells me he's a boy, so right now I'll label him that. Like the title says, I'm having a hard time reading if this cat is true feral, or a cat who has been lost for quite some time. Here's some info. I have regarding our interactions.
Time Line -
First night I saw him was because my indoor cat was growling at the window, only for me to look out and see a little black and white cat curled up next the window near under our tree. Probably 3 1/2 ft away from our window. He actually just looked up at me and didn't run away when my cat and I were looking out the window, but when I went outside with treats he ran away. He looked to be 1- 1 1/2 years old.
He came back again the next night and I had wet food prepared. He ate right in front of me while I was a stone statue pretending I wasn't there. This has now been a routine for a week and a half, progress has been made with daily feedings. I give him wet food and some dry. He's licked wet food from my spoon, sniffed my hand twice (I swear I almost passed out because I forgot to breathe because I was being so still! haha), we've slow blinked together . At this point I still have never tried to pet him, he's still way too skittish.
Fast forward to the last night couple of nights, which have been interesting . He always now comes up to our patio window and looks inside, I leave the blinds open a little to peak his curiosity. When I come to the window he doesn't run away. I think it's because he sees me as food, but my human mind says he's longing to come into a safe warm home (Geez I wish!). It's still a little cold at night and in the morning where I live, so I feel so bad for him being outside! He also rolls on the patio, because again, I think he's excited when he sees me making food through the window. I should point out that he's never hissed at me, that is until this morning when I opened the "loud" patio door, I think I scared him, but hopefully he doesn't hate me forever now for it! Other than that he's never hissed or lashed out at me.
My question for you guys is if you think he could be feral or maybe someone's lost cat? I'm going to post his picture online in case he is someone's cat, but I've been looking online everywhere to see if someone's posted about him and can't find anything. We've actually been searching to adopt a cat in the past month and a half and are completely open to keeping him if he does end up working out for us and we work for him. I just don't know if he would feel comfortable in our home, he seems to be warming up to me, but he still has a lot of trust issues, which I completely expect. I know it takes a lot of time and patience and I'm willing to put forth the daily effort, but I don't know how to trap him and if I do, should I bring him straight to the animal hospital? If there is hope for this cat to be socialized I would like to take that job on, but if I bring him for TNR I don't know if I could have the opportunity to keep him...
I should mention that I do have a room ready from him upstairs if we do trap him and get him in the house. I only have a pet carrier and not a official TNR trap which I put outside last night with his wet food inside, but I don't know if I would ever be able to close him in there, again he's too skittish and runs FAST. I'm just a little apprehensive because I would like to have tests run for FIV & FeLV and hopefully he's negative because I have another cat. Probably should have him get a basic checkup at least tested for those right away for piece of mind.
I don't know guys, feral or lost cat? What do you think?
I added pictures of the little guy as well!
Sorry for the long post and thanks!
Need some help with a stray cat situation. I've had a little visitor coming to my front porch for about a week and a half now, not sure if he's a "he" or she's a "she", but my gut tells me he's a boy, so right now I'll label him that. Like the title says, I'm having a hard time reading if this cat is true feral, or a cat who has been lost for quite some time. Here's some info. I have regarding our interactions.
Time Line -
First night I saw him was because my indoor cat was growling at the window, only for me to look out and see a little black and white cat curled up next the window near under our tree. Probably 3 1/2 ft away from our window. He actually just looked up at me and didn't run away when my cat and I were looking out the window, but when I went outside with treats he ran away. He looked to be 1- 1 1/2 years old.
He came back again the next night and I had wet food prepared. He ate right in front of me while I was a stone statue pretending I wasn't there. This has now been a routine for a week and a half, progress has been made with daily feedings. I give him wet food and some dry. He's licked wet food from my spoon, sniffed my hand twice (I swear I almost passed out because I forgot to breathe because I was being so still! haha), we've slow blinked together . At this point I still have never tried to pet him, he's still way too skittish.
Fast forward to the last night couple of nights, which have been interesting . He always now comes up to our patio window and looks inside, I leave the blinds open a little to peak his curiosity. When I come to the window he doesn't run away. I think it's because he sees me as food, but my human mind says he's longing to come into a safe warm home (Geez I wish!). It's still a little cold at night and in the morning where I live, so I feel so bad for him being outside! He also rolls on the patio, because again, I think he's excited when he sees me making food through the window. I should point out that he's never hissed at me, that is until this morning when I opened the "loud" patio door, I think I scared him, but hopefully he doesn't hate me forever now for it! Other than that he's never hissed or lashed out at me.
My question for you guys is if you think he could be feral or maybe someone's lost cat? I'm going to post his picture online in case he is someone's cat, but I've been looking online everywhere to see if someone's posted about him and can't find anything. We've actually been searching to adopt a cat in the past month and a half and are completely open to keeping him if he does end up working out for us and we work for him. I just don't know if he would feel comfortable in our home, he seems to be warming up to me, but he still has a lot of trust issues, which I completely expect. I know it takes a lot of time and patience and I'm willing to put forth the daily effort, but I don't know how to trap him and if I do, should I bring him straight to the animal hospital? If there is hope for this cat to be socialized I would like to take that job on, but if I bring him for TNR I don't know if I could have the opportunity to keep him...
I should mention that I do have a room ready from him upstairs if we do trap him and get him in the house. I only have a pet carrier and not a official TNR trap which I put outside last night with his wet food inside, but I don't know if I would ever be able to close him in there, again he's too skittish and runs FAST. I'm just a little apprehensive because I would like to have tests run for FIV & FeLV and hopefully he's negative because I have another cat. Probably should have him get a basic checkup at least tested for those right away for piece of mind.
I don't know guys, feral or lost cat? What do you think?
I added pictures of the little guy as well!
Sorry for the long post and thanks!
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