Question About A Feral Cat

[abyeb]

This is my first experience with TNR so please bear with me and forgive my ignorance...

When I was walking around my neighborhood yesterday, I saw a small (guessing about 8 lbs) chestnut-colored cat, sitting in a crouched position. Upon seeing me, the cat darted away, at which point I could tell that he was a whole male. Based on the quickness of his escape and the fact that he had not been neutered, I'm assuming he is feral. I contacted my local TNR group, and was told to try to feed him. I searched around my neighborhood again just now, but he was nowhere to be found. Do you have any tips for how to try to find him again? How should I attempt to approach him if I do see him? I desperately hope to be able to help TNR him, as it saddens me to think that he is going around impregnating females, and contributing to shelters filling up with more and more kittens.
Thanks so much for any advice!!
Abyeb

 

[tabbytom]

Hi abyeb, thank you for taking up this interest doing TNR. At this point, it's hard to conclude if this was a feral or a stray. A feral will run away from humans if being approached and a stray that has been straying for a long time could have totally lost confidence in humans and thus gone being a feral.

Having said that, you have to do a stake out because he's illusive since he has seen you. He could be anywhere and he sure have a hiding spot. Also, he might not be from this part of town. He could be a wanderer looking to mate.

Once you see him the next time, do not approach him but watch his movements and observe him. From here, you can gather informations on his behavior and then plan your approach. Otherwise he'll scoot off once he sees you.

Whether it's a feral or stray, this will take some time. Bring food with you each time you go looking for him. Once he's comfortable with you around, offer him food and as usual, let him associate you with food. He still might not come near you and you have to place the food down and back up so that he'll eat.

Then if this happens, chances of trapping him would be easier. Best is to work with the TNR group.

Do keep us posted of your progress

 

[abyeb]

Hi abyeb, thank you for taking up this interest doing TNR. At this point, it's hard to conclude if this was a feral or a stray. A feral will run away from humans if being approached and a stray that has been straying for a long time could have totally lost confidence in humans and thus gone being a feral.

Having said that, you have to do a stake out because he's illusive since he has seen you. He could be anywhere and he sure have a hiding spot. Also, he might not be from this part of town. He could be a wanderer looking to mate.

Once you see him the next time, do not approach him but watch his movements and observe him. From here, you can gather informations on his behavior and then plan your approach. Otherwise he'll scoot off once he sees you.

Whether it's a feral or stray, this will take some time. Bring food with you each time you go looking for him. Once he's comfortable with you around, offer him food and as usual, let him associate you with food. He still might not come near you and you have to place the food down and back up so that he'll eat.

Then if this happens, chances of trapping him would be easier. Best is to work with the TNR group.

Do keep us posted of your progress

Thanks so much for your response! I do have plenty of cat food around. I'll probably go looking for him again in a little bit! Hopefully I'll be able to see him again soon, and I definitely will post updates on my progress with him, maybe even post a picture if I can snap one. he is very fast, though, so that might be difficult.

 

[abyeb]

Several days later, after searching for the kitty, I couldn't find him anywhere. You were probably right, tabbytom , that he was just passing through, looking for a mate. I do wish that I could have done something, though, so I'll probably try to see if there's anything I can do to volunteer with the TNR group.

 

[tabbytom]

Hope you meet him again and do something good for him. It's no good for him to go wandering.

 

[abyeb]

Hope you meet him again and do something good for him. It's no good for him to go wandering.

I know... that poor little guy is living a dangerous life. I hope I'll be able to track him down somehow.

 

[tabbytom]

Do keep us updated if there's any lead on him

 

[abyeb]

Do keep us updated if there's any lead on him

For sure! For now, I'm bringing cat food with me whenever I go around town. People have given me some strange looks, ha ha

 

[abyeb]

I just came back from searching for the cat (I'll call him Caspurr, sounds better than "the cat" ). It's night now where I live, but I figured this might be the best time to try to find him. I did see the silhouette of a cat darting away! It was about a block away from where I'd seen Caspurr the first time. Of course, I can't be certain that it is him, but this cat did seem fast, so there is some hope that Caspurr is still in the area! How big of a territory would an unneutered male have?

 

[tabbytom]

I guess their territory is pretty big. And they do know the areas well. Not sure if he's a dominant Tom, he sounds like a smart cat.

 

[di and bob]

I would just leave some dry food out around where you think he might be an keep an eye on it. Sooner or later he will come (and a LOT of others, I'm sure) Food attracts even ferals. Dumped cats can be very wild too at first, they are very scared and wary. Good luck!

 

[abyeb]

I would just leave some dry food out around where you think he might be an keep an eye on it. Sooner or later he will come (and a LOT of others, I'm sure) Food attracts even ferals. Dumped cats can be very wild too at first, they are very scared and wary. Good luck!

This might sound like a dumb question, but would I have to be worried about raccoons or foxes eating the food?

 

[tabbytom]

It's possible and maybe other cats too

 

[abyeb]

It's possible and maybe other cats too

Okay. Hopefully it will also attract Caspurr to the area. Then only issue is that I've never seen him on my property, just wandering the neighborhood. Where should I place the food? Do I put it in a bowl or just scatter it on the ground?

 

[tabbytom]

This is hard to predict as he does not appear on your property. Scattering and putting down a bowl is just like hit and run.

Best is if you can really locate him and confirm his hangout, otherwise it'll be futile for you.

 

[orange&white]

Any roaming animal will eat the food. Unless you're putting food down and planning to stay and watch for an hour or two, I'm not sure about the point of the exercise. The cat is likely to show up when there is food, but will be off roaming again once the food is gone. Maybe if you set up a trail camera with a time and date stamp you could find the cat's routine if he's still around.

 

[Willowy]

I've never gone looking for a particular cat. But I guarantee that if you start putting cat food out, you'll soon find many cats to TNR .

If you feed them, they will come .

 

[abyeb]

I've never gone looking for a particular cat. But I guarantee that if you start putting cat food out, you'll soon find many cats to TNR .

If you feed them, they will come .

The only reason I was trying to find Caspurr specifically is that I thought he was the only feral in the area. I don't know much about caring for ferals, so I thought that they tend to avoid residential areas. Do you think there could be others around? I do live close to a large forest preserve, do you think that cats could be coming from there?

 

[orange&white]

He has parents (and probably siblings) somewhere...and cats "breed like rabbits". Feral colonies often rely on humans either directly for food, or to go dumpster diving for scraps.

 

[abyeb]

Any roaming animal will eat the food. Unless you're putting food down and planning to stay and watch for an hour or two, I'm not sure about the point of the exercise. The cat is likely to show up when there is food, but will be off roaming again once the food is gone. Maybe if you set up a trail camera with a time and date stamp you could find the cat's routine if he's still around.

Thanks for the tips! I'll see if I can set up a motion-activated camera by a food bowl to see if I can attract any of the ferals.