21 replies to this topic

[ohjoni]

Just had a very unpleasant experience. Was in the living room when I heard cat screams coming from the bedroom. I have an 18 year old cat and thought he was in distess and went running in. He was in distress as there was a feral cat in the bedroom with him. It evidently climbed the wall into our backyard and came thru the screen. Our cat and two little dogs are able to push the screen open, so it was open about 5-6 inches. Our poor cat got sprayed as well as the floor in the bedroom. Boy, does it stink and there was fur all over. My poor little guy is not well and now he stinks too. Mopped the floor 3 times and rubbed Willy down with a wet washcloth. He has never had a bath and I don't think he could handle it.

Does anyone know how I might catch this cat? My neighbor said he comes to her house and sprays her front door and upsets her cats. Have fixed the screen so my pets cannot open it....they won't like that!

I'm sure you don't want to hear about the time the skunk came in at 4am, the dogs chased it and it sprayed in the bedroom!
Oh well, this is Mexico.

Any suggestions on how to catch this cat will be appreciated. Do any vets have cages? I really don't know what to do and don't want him coming back.

[sue]

I think the Ladron's have a cage they loan out If not try the wildlife asc.

[ChrisB]

We have the same problem only it is kittens from a feral mother. So far we have caught two by throwing a large bath towel over them and grabbing and stuffing them into the small airline crate . They are as wild as the Mom. I would think am adult would find its way back and you need to be careful since cat scratch fever is NOT a pleasant disease. Shelter is not taking any more cats so EU. is probably it's fate.

[gringal]

Sounds like a nasty experience, but as I read the post describing the easy access to the house through the left-open-for-the-pets screen, I have to wonder if the OP shouldn't be worrying about burglars, too? A friend of mine used to leave her slider open just enough to let the cats come in and out............and sure enough, she got burgled.

I'm not sure that feral cat deserves a death sentence........I favor the "take it far away" notion much better. 'Course, first you have to catch it. Good luck.

[sue]

The shelter is still taking in cats we do not take in Feral cats / kittens as we cannot handle them. If you can only handle them by throwing a towel over them we do not have any magic that allows us to handle them either. It is a heartbreak but we save what we can

[gwynne]

If you can catch it and find someone with a barn far away........
I adopted two cats from the shelter who were "lacking social skills". Took them to the stables where we board and turned them loose in the tack room where the rats were taking over. No more rats and the two cats have made a home in the large stack of hay bales. We can see them sunning themselves in the morning and they look fat and happy.

[joyce]

You need to get your hands on a trap. You put some food inside it, set the trap and when the cat enters, it snaps shut. It has a handle on top for you to carry it wherever you plan to take it.

Maybe Pepe or one of the other local vets has one he can loan you. Good luck.

[sue]

Please have them spayed/neutered before you release them somewhere new. The two cats from the Shelter were Spayed.

[lakeside101]

best of luck. i'm surprised the feral came inside.
this is making me re-think my feeding a cat that is hanging around. not completely feral, i think she/he wants to join the family but is afraid. stays after eating crying, wanting attention.

i know both Pepe and the shelter have the cages to trap. definitly fix before releasing or EU.

[More Liana]

I had three cats for whom I was the unwilling and long-suffering portera (doorwoman) until I finally installed a cat door at my house in Ajijic. My three came and went at will. Until...that famous night when the feral cat sneaked in to get the cat food! Party time!

Fur flew, pottery crashed, cats screamed! Cats screamed, pottery crashed, fur flew! Felines tore around the house and tore into one another! We finally chased the feral cat out, corralled the house cats in a bedroom, and restored order and semi-calm. Then we figured out how to lock the cat door at night from both sides--nothing could get in, nothing could get out--and slept better after that.

[Ferret]

Lots of great help here on how to deal with the feral cat.
I sympathize with Willy who now stinks to high heaven and has never been bathed before. Our woofie just got sprayed by a skunk and I followed instructions I learned from this forum. A damp facecloth that has been soaked with mouthwash. I used orange Listerine and kept wiping her down then rinsing it out and starting again. I stopped wiping her down when she stopped hooking my leg and putting her head in my lap. She's now napping comfortably and smells like an orange.
Hopefully it will work for Willy too.

[ohjoni]

Just wanted to let all those concerned about 18 year old Willy...he finally came out of the closet (a real closet). I used a combination of diaper wipes and lemon juice diluted with water to wipe him down. I was more concerned about him smelling the other cat on himself than me smelling it. He is back to sleeping in his bed on the chair in our bedroom and eating cat treats every time I go in there

[Ferret]

You just made my day! Thanks!

[ohjoni]

Thank you, Ohjoni, I'm very glad to hear that. Poor Willy must have been terribly traumatized by the unwanted, unwelcome and unvited visitor.

Have you decided what to do with this aggressive feral?

Am going to have a motion sensor light installed in the yard. Hopefully it will scare off the critters when it comes on.

[augie]

re the feral cat, no easy decision. if you relocate him, you need to have him fixed first. then you have to wonder, if he's relocated will he find enough food and water. he's familiar with his current area. he may suffer a slow death in a new area. EU might be the kindest thing, altho since he would not be able to be held and comforted from fear, it's also a sad solution.
re the feral kittens, if you can trap them or catch them somehow, please have them fixed and put them back in their colony. if it's only your house they are hanging around they may eventually get friendlier.
i brought home from the adoption center where i used to volunteer, rocky, who is not a lap kitty and was hardly able to be picked up. he would never have been adopted, so i had him tested for FIV (negative; he had already been neutered) and brought him home to join my "tribe". he instantly became one of my older cat's shadow and quickly integrated with the others. for the first 6 months whenever i'd even walk into a room where he was, he'd run and hide. now he will actually get on the sofa and i can pet him. he's still not keen on being picked up, but all things in time.
i have also trapped and neutered outdoor cats. they have fresh food and water every day and every night i give them wet food (i also feed a family of raccoons and 2 possums - they like kitty kibbles and bread) and provide a warm place to sleep in the winter and in the summer they sleep on my patio furniture at night (just the cats, not the raccoons and possums LOL). one of the cats is the kitten of a mom i had fixed and haven't seen (the mom) for months now. i had trapped and fixed her other 3 kittens and found them homes. it took me months to catch the 4th one but i finally did and had him neutered. since he was so wild i put him back outside. for months as soon as i opened my back door he would run all the way to the woods. now, he'll stay on the patio when i'm putting out food. the first cat i had fixed will let me pet her. my own cats get outside to their new catio/patio (a 12 x 17 screened in patio for them and a mosquito free place for me).
i got way off the point here, being that the feral kittens may eventually become friendly. the problem with taking on feral animals is what happens if you move? if they become dependent on you for their food source, they don't learn to hunt, so you have to think about that. regardless, they should be fixed so they don't add to the feral population.

[gringal]

It's a tough call......but being given a chance at life in the wilds seems better than a fast death at the vet's. However you slice it, being born without a Person (aka slave) to feed and house you is not an easy life for a mini-lion. If they are really feral rather than in the habit of mooching, they learn to hunt early on. If an animal has had a caretaker Person and is abruptly deprived.......it's pretty much helpless out there.

[cookie]

The boys "part" doesn't grow after nuetering so please don't nueter them too soon...I'd say at least 6 months. I've seen too many nuetered males die of systitis. The canal remains small and is easily blocked... a very painful death...and the vet billl justs keeps growing as you try to save them.