Feral Cat needs help

qvcaddition · ‎03-10-2010

There is a feral cat that lives under the bushes in front of the gym I go. The last few months a lot of kind people including myself have been feeding him,/her. I brought it a water bowl and food bowl and bring it home every day wash it and return with food dry and wet. Some people leave a bag of dry food or a can of wet. A few months ago a lady at the gym in the morning, I go in the afternoon, tried for two hours to trap the cat to take it to the vet because of an eye infection. Well it would not go in the cage. Now the cat knows or seems to know my car when I drive up, because I go faithfully every day even if I,m not going in the gym that day, to feed it. Yesterday, fluid or pus was dripping out of his eye. He will come up to me, but won,t let me pet him He hissed a couple of times, so I cannot pick him up. I would take him to the vet and get what needs to be done for him and bring him back to his regular place. I have called Forgotten Felines and they don,t come out to trap,. The person that sees these animals has to trap them and that was tried. I could not sleep last night worried about this cat. It,s cold and he is sick. Today, I an going to the Humane Society to see if they have any suggestions as to what can be done to help this poor cat. They tell you to do this and that for an animal, but , and I,'ve had this experience before, they can,t seem to help with feral cats. I have a rescue dog and cat at home now.

Does anyone reading this have any suggestions that might help,? I might mention, I have no one in my family that will help me, and I live alone. Suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Cakers1 · ‎03-09-2010

qvcaddition: I'm sorry to read this. You've done what you could for this poor cat; if the Humane Society or Rescue League or whatever you have in your area will not try to capture him and bring him in for treatment, I don't know what else you can do.

Somebody here once posted about a particular trap and hopefully she will see your thread.

Thank you for taking in rescues; there are so many out there I would imagine it's impossible for all of them to be found and brought in for adoption. ${#emotions_dlg.crying}$

KYToby · ‎02-19-2012

If all else fails, call your vet's office and explain the situation. The office may have a suggestion that has not been considered.

azterry! · ‎10-21-2011

A lot of regular vets will not treat a feral cat. They are wild and dangerous when stressed or sick. You really shouldn't bring them in to a regular vet's waiting room where people bring other pets.

Check your area for a Feral Cat Rescue group.

Sometimes they are called Alley Cats or you can Google for info in your area. They are far more informational than the Humane Society for ferals. In this area, there are many volunteers who handle the feral rescue issues.

lolakimono · ‎03-29-2012

A feral cat will not enter the trap if you keep bringing it food; there is no reason for him to enter it. The only way you can trap is by putting food into the trap.

bikerbabe · ‎03-09-2010

I have a friend who rescues ferals and she first starts putting food in an open (door removed) carrier for a number of days to get the cat used to it. Then she finally replaces the carrier with the trap, puts the food in the trap. It is not a quick process and can take days or weeks depending on the cat.

qvcaddition · ‎03-10-2010

Thank you for the suggestions. Going on line now to look up Ally Cats. I will call the ER animal hospital this morning. It is raining hard in CA and poor thing out there. My heart breaks for all animals. I will keep posting the outcome on here. I know by giving him food he would not go in the cage, that is the problem the lady who tried a month ago had before the eye got so bad. He was so skinny though. I would like to hand down the same punishment that these sick people do to animals, children, all humans, but there are some real sadistic sicko's out there. That little puppy that was thrown in the trash and almost got crushed before a worker found it, has been adopted by a good home. What kind of human can do that to an animal, and they call them animals. The human that does this is the animal. They could have brought it to the animal shelter or put it up for adoption. These people make me so sick.

Topaz Gem · ‎03-10-2010

Bikerbabe, that was going to be my suggestion too. Get the cat used to going inside a structure for food, then replace it with a Have-a-Heart trap. Good luck and thanks for caring. Please update this thread with any news.

"Summer afternoon-summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." ~Henry James

azterry! · ‎10-21-2011

My neighbors and I have trapped several ferals and had them neutered.

A local TNR group supplies the cages and arranges for very reasonable/free neuterings.

We had great success with using tuna in the cages. Even our very well-fed ferals couldn't resist the tuna and several of them were trapped the very first night. The TNR groups recommend tuna to bait the traps because its strong scent is very attractive to the cats.

Night time is also the best time to try to trap as that is when the cats are very active.

nun ya · ‎03-09-2010

On 2/2/2014 lolakimono said:
A feral cat will not enter the trap if you keep bringing it food; there is no reason for him to enter it. The only way you can trap is by putting food into the trap.

I agree. maybe tell others to not feed him. He will go in the trap when he gets hungry enough.