Just after the new year, a little scrawny cat started appearing around our place. He took off like a shot whenever we went out the front door, but I noticed that unlike the other cats in the neighbourhood, Secret Cat was happy to have him around. I felt I needed to take some action on behalf of this poor bub; everything about his behaviour said ‘displaced untame puss’ rather than ‘cheeky neighbour’s pet’ – in fact the difference between him and Secret Cat (who has definitely been around people since she was young) couldn’t have been more textbook!
Since Secret Cat was cool with him, I started giving Other Cat a bit of food. In three weeks he went from a skitty feral, to a chubbabubba who would stay nearby as I filled his bowl… even though he gently hissed at me as I did so! It was sad to see the little guy so fearful.
But you know – just like in the Community Cats campaign – feeding on its own isn’t enough. Fast forward to yesterday when my humane cat trap arrived! Woo!
And as it turns out catching him was easy peasy! I put the trap out early yesterday evening (so he’d have all night to get in there before his appointment first thing today), I walk inside & hear ching! through the open window… success!
One very pissed off cat in a convenient, transportable package…
The vet has been able to confirm that he’s… a he! He’s about three years old and apart from a few fleas is in pretty good health. He’s now had his harblz removed and in a few hours he can come home and go back out into the garden.
Hopefully he’ll forgive me & stick around, but if not that’s fine too. I’m just happy to know he will no longer be the local Lothario.
Long live the Community Cat!
*** Update – Saturday ***
Lookit who’s sleeping on my steps – my big tough (ex)tom cat!
Good info. So glad you were able to get this guy fixed. Wondering about the hiss thing, though.
Back in the summer of 2001 when we started feeding a cat that was living under a neighbor’s back deck, he would hiss at us when we fed him. (We brought him in the fall and got him fixed). Since then, I’ve learned that a hiss can mean other things.
Cats will hiss like that when they are excited, like when they’re playing. I’ve also seen them do that when you give them a special treat or feed them sometimes (maybe when they’re really hungry?). Perhaps it’s like how we can say “hey” in a few different ways.
More excellent info on lost and displaced cat behavior and pet recovery is on the non-profit site, http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/recoverytips.php, in the related blog there,
and Cats in the Bag, http://catsinthebag.org/