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Hello. I have a cat that escaped, and now lives outside. In our backyard, and also the three backyards around us. She looks fine, we put food out.. Other cats eat it, I hope she does too. She does not seem to want to come back inside.
There is a treeline along the fence, the yard behind us has a pool, and the two backyards next to us have a shed and trees and pebbles and she seems to be along the fenceline of these three all the time, I just saw her in the alley between the houses too.
I put a cage out there with a door open, blanket over it and a cat bed inside.. in our yard. No idea if she ever went in. Of course, it has also felt like spring since I did that. it's almost 50 degrees today on Christmas...
She seems to be psychic and extremely intelligent about "being caught again." Though that may change if it gets super cold and she gets hungry. She has been outside for months.
Was this a feral cat that you adopted? It's not like a house cat to become so comfortable in the wild, unless you just took it in. You need to be outside whenever you see it, so she/he knows how much you care for it. Talk slow, and low while having treats in your hand to bring it back. If they trust you they will come close enough so you can pick it up. If that happens you just may have a friend for life, and not worry about it sprinting off any time soon.
You may get more responses if you post this in the Cats subforum of Pets. Although there are plenty of cat lovers here in Garden, too. If she is comfortable outside and getting food and shelter, it may be very hard to convince her to come back in the house unless it gets very cold. And even then, no guarantees. If it were my cat, I would do everything I could to bring her back in, including using a humane trap (Hav-A-Hart) or a drop trap, if I had to. If you can get her close enough to let her pet you, you could also try bringing a sturdy blanket outside and dropping it over her when she comes close for a pet. You would have to be fast and the blanket would have to be sturdy enough to contain a distressed, probably angry, cat. Would work best if you had someone helping you. Good luck! I know I would be very upset if one of my cats escaped.
You may get more responses if you post this in the Cats subforum of Pets. Although there are plenty of cat lovers here in Garden, too. If she is comfortable outside and getting food and shelter, it may be very hard to convince her to come back in the house unless it gets very cold. And even then, no guarantees. If it were my cat, I would do everything I could to bring her back in, including using a humane trap (Hav-A-Hart) or a drop trap, if I had to. If you can get her close enough to let her pet you, you could also try bringing a sturdy blanket outside and dropping it over her when she comes close for a pet. You would have to be fast and the blanket would have to be sturdy enough to contain a distressed, probably angry, cat. Would work best if you had someone helping you. Good luck! I know I would be very upset if one of my cats escaped.
Well the good news is that she actually slept in the cat cage I put outside, with the cat bed inside, and was asleep when I saw her through the window. By the time I fed my other cats, she had woken up, and was looking at me. (She probably heard the noise and sensed the activity of the light on through the window, plus the other cats let me know she must have been up as they all ran to the window to look.)
If it was a cage that somehow the door could fall and securely STAY DOWN, all I would have to do is come outside and get her inside in the morning. I have no idea how much a cat/dog trap like that costs, but it would have to look VERY much like the cat cage I have now, as she slept in that last night and I woke her up.
All of we cat people know that an attempt to walk/run up to the cage would be unsuccessful, as kitty is lightning fast.
She lets us feed her, and looks in our window but she won't come in by herself...
I keep looking outside to see if she is out there. She hangs out in the backyard... Waits for food. There is another cat maybe even some more out there but, it is my hope that this one, along a fence and covered and looking like a "tunnel" will get her. She is smart, but she also slept the night in the cage with the open door so she seems open to the idea...
I have 5 cats they are all outside all the time. When it is really cold there is one cat I will let come into my laundry room. Somehow they all survive. We live in the country so plenty of coyotes and bobcats around here. All my cats are neutered or spayed so no new babies. They keep the mice under control and the moles.
The Tomahawk trap you linked to is similar to a Hav-A-Heart trap. Those traps are usually narrow, and I don't think her bed would fit in it.
I once trapped an entire family of Mom and her 4 kittens in this kind of cage (before I knew about Hav-A-Heart traps): https://www.amazon.com/MidWest-Stage...dp/B0002AT3M4/ It was smaller than the one in that photo. I got the Mom and babies used to feeding in that cage and one day, when all 4 kittens and Mom were chowing down, I quickly closed the door to the cage and latched it. Bedlam ensued, as you might imagine. All 5 of them lived to be quite old, comfortably ensconced in my bedroom.
Food works every time. Try feeding her treats, chicken or tuna fish from your hand. At first she probably won't come too close to you in fear of getting captured so throw it near you and keep throwing it closer until she'll allow you to touch her.
Since she knows when you feed your other cats, I'd let her see that and not feed her right away or don't feed her at all for a few hours. Let her suffer a little bit so she understands inside is much nicer than outside.
But, since she's got a taste of freedom it's going to be very hard to keep her inside once you do manage to get her back in the house. I once had a cat that climbed up my drapes to get to the almost ceiling height window and knocked out the screen to get outside.
I hope your kitty is fixed and up to date on rabies shots.
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If she is comfortable outside and getting food and shelter, it may be very hard to convince her to come back in the house unless it gets very cold. And even then, no guarantees. If it were my cat, I would do everything I could to bring her back in, including using a humane trap (Hav-A-Hart) or a drop trap, if I had to. If you can get her close enough to let her pet you, you could also try bringing a sturdy blanket outside and dropping it over her when she comes close for a pet. You would have to be fast and the blanket would have to be sturdy enough to contain a distressed, probably angry, cat. Would work best if you had someone helping you. Good luck! I know I would be very upset if one of my cats escaped.
