Success!!!! I’ve trapped the stray. Except s/he’s terrified.

reba

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The good news after 4 solid months of feeding and several trap fails I was able to close the kitchen door before my stray escaped. Yeah!
Right now though I feel bad because s/he’s terrified. S/he talks to me all the time, but now s/he’s just meow-moaning. Has quieted down some. It’s little cat tummy was heaving it was so scared. I have it shut in my kitchen where this cat gets fed twice a day, so the room is not unfamiliar. I put a playpen in there with a bed, hopefully to provide a secure space. Right now it’s got it’s self stuffed in a corner on one of the counters. There’s really no place to hide in my kitchen. I put litter/water/food in there. Is that all I can do for now? I checked my garage for kittens. It’s early spring here and plus the way it acts (e.g., I see it out playing in the yard pretty carefree since it warmed up the last few days so I’m assuming a mother cat wouldn’t act that way.).

My plan is to let it calm down and then take it in for vetting. It’ll have to stay separated from my other cats for now. I hope that doesn’t take to long, but the reality is I haven’t been able to pet it once. I believe the cat is about 1 year old since it looked like a teenager cat the first time I saw it in the yard last summer.

Is there anything else I should worry about? The last stray I trapped had a really sweet disposition, so it morphed into a house cat again within a day or two.
 

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Cover most of the playpen so that s/he doesn't feel so exposed if s/he enters into it. You will need to observe him/her so that perhaps you can close the playpen once s/he enters. If all of the necessities are inside the playpen and she goes into it, then - yes - the key will be to keep her fed/watered and with a clean litter box until she settles down a bit.
 

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You might want to try one of these enclosed cat beds. My cat who came in from outside initially really loved having it as a safe place to sleep.

Edit: also does your kitchen have cupboard that would be accessible? You could also clear one out and put bedding inside as a safe hiding/sleeping area.

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di and bob

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Yes, give her/him a nice place to hide. if it is a true feral, the taming down process could take a long time, many months, but it can be done. Make SURE you walk around and make sure there are no kittens, they would be screaming. do you remember if the cat looked fat at all? If not, you may have lucked out and it is a male. good luck!
 
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reba

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I”m going to start calling the cat a she, since odds are it is.

She settled down pretty quickly, but this morning I find she’d crawled behind the miniblind and she started yowling when I walked in. Luckily I got it raised with no problem - it’s always the things you don’t consider as safety hazards (ugh!)

Anyway, meowyowled up a storm when I walked in with breakfast. Didn’t eat the dry food last night and wouldn’t eat this morning. Used the litter box though.

So I left and about an hour later she had eaten her breakfast (yeah!) We even played a little as usual by putting a feather toy under the door. She loves my other cats and races to the glass door if she sees one on the other side. Then she went into the playpen and put herself in a loaf.

However when I walk into the kitchen she heads for the windowsill and starts yowling. I don’t try to touch her; but even approaching her with my hands in my pockets escalates the screeching. But if I stick my fingers under the door she will smell them. Same with if I open the door a crack and stick my hand in there with the palm up.

So I guess I just keep with this plan and hope she improves (?). I assume it’s ok to delay taking her to the vet until she calms down a little. I don’t think I could get her in a carrier at this point anyway.
 

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I”m going to start calling the cat a she, since odds are it is.

She settled down pretty quickly, but this morning I find she’d crawled behind the miniblind and she started yowling when I walked in. Luckily I got it raised with no problem - it’s always the things you don’t consider as safety hazards (ugh!)

Anyway, meowyowled up a storm when I walked in with breakfast. Didn’t eat the dry food last night and wouldn’t eat this morning. Used the litter box though.

So I left and about an hour later she had eaten her breakfast (yeah!) We even played a little as usual by putting a feather toy under the door. She loves my other cats and races to the glass door if she sees one on the other side. Then she went into the playpen and put herself in a loaf.

However when I walk into the kitchen she heads for the windowsill and starts yowling. I don’t try to touch her; but even approaching her with my hands in my pockets escalates the screeching. But if I stick my fingers under the door she will smell them. Same with if I open the door a crack and stick my hand in there with the palm up.

So I guess I just keep with this plan and hope she improves (?). I assume it’s ok to delay taking her to the vet until she calms down a little. I don’t think I could get her in a carrier at this point anyway.
Sounds like you are following all the best advice I have read about situations like this.

See my post above about an enclosed cat bed, maybe as an eventual transition. You can also put it up higher and make sure the entrance is facing the door to your kitchen (or whatever room you may move her to later) so she can spy on everything from a high, enclosed space.
 
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reba

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You might want to try one of these enclosed cat beds. My cat who came in from outside initially really loved having it as a safe place to sleep.

Edit: also does your kitchen have cupboard that would be accessible? You could also clear one out and put bedding inside as a safe hiding/sleeping area.
I think I have one of these beds to put in the playpen. Watching some videos on YT my takeaway is it’s a 2 steps forward, one step back process. So good to have expectations in line with reality.

A few hours ago I found that she managed to cram herself underneath a free-standing cupboard, so I chased her out of there and blocked that off. She can go into the playpen. I fit it under the table in the kitchen against one wall, so it’s low light in there. It’s funny how she’s cycling between terrified or looking out the french door into the house and trying to interact with one of my other cats.

I put a towel against the bottom of the door because I was worried about him catching something if they sniffed under the door to smell each other.

She looks healthy, but who knows. The only thing I worry about is she has started panting a few times.
 
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reba

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Yes, give her/him a nice place to hide. if it is a true feral, the taming down process could take a long time, many months, but it can be done. Make SURE you walk around and make sure there are no kittens, they would be screaming. do you remember if the cat looked fat at all? If not, you may have lucked out and it is a male. good luck!
I checked the garage last night and this morning where she comes out of hiding. Unfortunately I can’t get into certain spots, but I don’t hear anything either. The last few days when it warmed up I watched her run around the yard and then go exploring. She disappeared all night the first warm night. She hasn’t parked herself at the door or pawing at it to get out. What makes me think she’s a girl in addition to what I can see on her rear end is that she is particularly interested in my male cats, though they are fixed.
 
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Update: We are doing fine, though she hasn’t been to the vet yet. From what I can tell it’s going to take a long time to be able to pet her and I’m taking the recommended approach of letting her decide if she wants to touch me. So far the only time she’s rubbed against me is in the morning when I bring her food in. She talks to me as much as ever as far as that back and forth when you ask them a question. Also is now comfortable sleeping in the playpen in the cat bed. She still looks longingly out the window and looks unhappy, but doesn’t seem despondent about her situation. I will have to drop her off at the vets for the day and I’m a little concerned about that freaking her out, not mention getting her in the carrier. That’s the latest!
 
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reba

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OK the vet appointment is Wednesday at 1:30PM. Now onto plotting how to get her into the carrier. I have cat gloves, but I won't be able to scruff her if I use them. All the videos on the youtube are for how to get your amazingly calm cat into the carrier, not one that's going to flip out. That said, so far she seems to limit her aggression to hissing and swiping with her paws. I've tried practicing the pillowcase method on my other cats and that seems far from a sure thing. I
 

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Would the vet prescribe any gabapentin for you? It's used to calm cats so you can get them into the carrier as well as doing better at the vet. I have 6 former feral cats living inside my house and always use gabapentin to get them into the carrier. The standard dose is 100 mg a few hours before the appointment.
 
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reba

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Yeah I just decided to cancel the appointment. I was experimenting to see what her reaction was to trying me trying to get ahold of her and she flipped out and somehow managed to leap and wrap both her paws around the mini-blind at the top of the window. Hung there for a bit and let go.

Oh well, at least she’s not going to make more kittens and I don’t have to worry about her being hit by a car.

It’s funny the last cat I trapped was the mangiest looking guy and he’s a mensch. Clearly was handled a lot and never was abused. This girl looks like a princess and clearly she hasn’t been handled by humans given her intolerance for any kind of touch.
 

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Yeah I just decided to cancel the appointment.
Probably best, for right now. But if you take her to the vet before she's used to being handled by you, I also recommend gabapentin.... a first dose the night before the visit is supposed to make it even more effective, as well as the one a couple of hours before you need to leave the house as shadowsrescue shadowsrescue suggested. If she's still afraid of you, she'll probably be even more terrrified there. Be sure to warn the vet so s/he knows what to expect and can have gloves and an assistant ready. Covering the carrier with a towel should make her feel a little bit more secure, especially if there are other animals in the waiting area.
 
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reba

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Called the vet and they won’t prescribe before seeing her.

She was friendly when I went in with breakfast, but when I just started to clean out the sink (she was sitting on the window sill above it after breakfast), she got very upset again and tried to climb the window. I don’t know why this was the option instead of simply jumping down off the counter and hiding behind the playpen (that turned out to be plan B).

I feel badly that she is so terrified, I hope she wasn’t mistreated. Once I leave the room she came out and even headed over to the door for a play session.
 

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It’s funny the last cat I trapped was the mangiest looking guy and he’s a mensch. Clearly was handled a lot and never was abused. This girl looks like a princess and clearly she hasn’t been handled by humans given her intolerance for any kind of touch.
Yeah, you never know. My cat Willy came in from outside, and looked absolutely terrible when I took him in. But he was the friendliest guy ever.
I feel badly that she is so terrified, I hope she wasn’t mistreated. Once I leave the room she came out and even headed over to the door for a play session.
You never know what goes on in their feline brains. When a new cat is in a strange new situation and getting acclimated, the most random thing can set off a wave of fear.

Mistreatment could be a possibility, but some of what you describe sounds like normal stuff from a fearful cat. They can be starting to come out of their shell and acting friendlier, and then BOOM goes a burst of fear out of nowhere.

Sometimes I wish I could see inside their minds, but I might be afraid of what I find.
 
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reba

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cmshap cmshap

It’s my fault. I pushed her boundaries because I wanted to see if I had a shot a scruffing her and popping her into the carrier without getting bit. I bought some cat gloves like they use at the vet, but have realized they are only really good for holding them in place and not hanging on if they go all Tasmanian devil.

It’s only been a week now. I guess I got lucky with the last two strays who morphed back into house cats when I got them inside.
 

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It’s my fault. I pushed her boundaries because I wanted to see if I had a shot a scruffing her and popping her into the carrier without getting bit. I bought some cat gloves like they use at the vet, but have realized they are only really good for holding them in place and not hanging on if they go all Tasmanian devil.
Maybe try a large cardboard box instead of a carrier the first time you bring her in? Might be easier to get her into.

I used a cardboard box with Willy for his first trip to the vet. He was friendly, but fought like hell when trying to get into a carrier. So I plopped him into a large cardboard box instead, and carried it into the vet. I looked silly, but it got the job done.
 
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reba

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Well despite this morning’s setback, I did get her to play with a toy on a string for the first time today. :). Now if I can just be patient enough to not push her again! I wish she understood that her trip to the vet = access to the house/new cat friends.
 
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reba

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Also question: she may have fleas. Should I be worried they will get into the house? I just came across fionasmom fionasmom posts about fleas and FELV. Until I get her to the vet to rule FELV out, I can’t really relax. She doesn’t look sick at all, but she’s only a year old.

I have some flea spray I think I’ll spray it at the base of the kitchen door.

Also thanks for reading. I know the blow by blow is old hat to many, esp. the mods.
 
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