would like to move feral feeding spot, need suggestions

[mike5361]

ive been feeding a feral cat and would like to get it to come to my house for food, i live 1/4 mile west of a shut down hassidic jewish camp in upstate NY where i believe it lives under a building. there are no other houses on the road between me and it, just the occasional car passes by.

its paranoid of humans and wont let me near it, the only way i was able to see it close up was by putting a wireless webcam at its feeding place:


surprisingly i saw from pawprints that it once came to my door, i assume it tracked me by smelling my footprints or something. so i make sure there is food out on the steps in front of my door in case it returns but its been 5 days now and it hasnt made another trip. i figure if it were to just return to my doorsteps just once more now that i leave food there, that would do the trick to get it to come to my house as a habit. or else perhaps i could try to gradually leave the food closer and closer to my house, but that would take a long time to cover 1/4 mile.

 

[ondine]

I answered in your other post that I thought if the cat was eating OK and safe at its current location, you might not need to move the food.  If you are trying to get her to come live closer to your house for the purposes of having her as a pet/outside cat, moving the food closer slowly will take a long time.

In addition, because of the weather, making it travel to eat would make it harder on the cat.  If you wait until the weather warms up to move the food, you risk having the cat either run off looking for love or ending up where she is but pregnant. If its female, she will get pregnant.  Males will travel miles to mate.

Perhaps trapping and bringing the cat to your home will work better.  It will give you the added advantage of being able to take her/him to the vet for a check-up and neutering/spaying.  Once you bring it back to your house, you will need a place to confine it until it recognize the new place as "home."  That can be a shed if you plan to keep it as an outside cat or some room inside the house if you think it will make a good inside pet.

 

[mike5361]

 
In addition, because of the weather, making it travel to eat would make it harder on the cat.  If you wait until the weather warms up to move the food, you risk having the cat either run off looking for love or ending up where she is but pregnant. If its female, she will get pregnant.  Males will travel miles to mate.

Perhaps trapping and bringing the cat to your home will work better.  It will give you the added advantage of being able to take her/him to the vet for a check-up and neutering/spaying.  Once you bring it back to your house, you will need a place to confine it until it recognize the new place as "home."  That can be a shed if you plan to keep it as an outside cat or some room inside the house if you think it will make a good inside pet.

as it is written in the previous thread i was all set to do all this but it turns out that my parents have a friend who took in 3 cats and got lyme disease and he has to have antibiotics for the rest of his life, so they are really paranoid about that, and i cant blame them. telling them that theres a ointment to put on the cat didnt seem too convincing to them.

but since my dad has been involved like building the styrofoam box and i showed him the wireless webcam video i think hes becoming more concerned, maybe their attitude is changing.

 

[ondine]

That's right - I'd forgotten.  But remember, cats aren't the only source of ticks.  Ticks can drop from trees or jump from bushes and grass to get to humans.  I got Lymes from a tick that I'm pretty sure jumped from a tree in a park in New Brunswick, NJ.

I took one powerful course of antibiotics and that was all I needed.  Your friend must really have gotten sick to have to be on antibiotics for the rest of his life.  I can't blame your parents for worrying.

But if you keep the cat flea and tick free, she won't be able to spread them to you. 

 

[mike5361]

In addition, because of the weather, making it travel to eat would make it harder on the cat.  If you wait until the weather warms up to move the food, you risk having the cat either run off looking for love or ending up where she is but pregnant. If its female, she will get pregnant.  Males will travel miles to mate.

so a cat would travel miles to mate, forfeiting free food?

the cat gets its food every day by the front of the campsite but still hasnt made a visit to my front door since christmas day. if it would just make one more trip to my door it would find the food i leave outside all the time and i could put my heated foot warmer mat somewhere outside.

 

[ondine]

Oh, yes, the urge to mate is that strong.  The males won't eat for days - they are too busy finding females and fighting off males.  Ditto females - the biological urges are just too strong.

Hopefully, you can trap this kitty before all that craziness starts.