Kitty in my garage

[LadyShea]

We have a two car garage and an attached workshop, about 800 sf total filled with shit; boxes and wood and workbenches and a bicycle etc. etc.

Sometimes when I am cleaning the kitchen I set the trash in the garage for later transport out to the big can. The other day we noticed something had gotten into the trash bag. The garage was closed and had been for several days. We searched as best we could but didn't see anything. We figured a raccoon couldn't stay quiet and hidden while we poked around, so I assumed rat (we have huge fucking rats around here.).

So a few days after that, Frankie hears a tiny noise and finds a little bitty cat! Poor thing had been in there nearly a week! We opened the garage door and moved the box she was hiding behind and she ran from her hiding place but instead of going outside she ran to the workshop and under a bench and wouldn't move. Fuck!

I left it a can of tuna and some water, which it ate, then put some cat food out. Frankie had the garage door open all day yesterday, and cleaned the garage so was hammering, moving boxes around, putting up shelves, etc. Pretty noisy and he never saw it again so assumed it left, but all the cat food was gone this morning so it's still in there.

Should I just feed it and let it live out there? Any way you can think of to entice her outside? We can't leave the garage door open at night or anything because of the raccoons and bugs and bats and rats. Also, will feral cats use a litter box if offered one do you think? I don't want cat piss everywhere.

[Javaman]

For everyone's sake, you need to catch it. Whether you intend to keep it or not, it has to get to a vet to make sure it's OK. We have a 'garage cat' and she's my favorite!

[LadyShea]

How do I catch it? I am a dog person, and have never dealt with even tame cats beyond petting them....I am clueless on how to handle a feral cat. We have at least 4 feral cats roaming the neighborhood, and various people feed them but you can't get near them. My mom tried to find a cat trap for one that visits her every night, and nobody rents them here.

I don't necessarily want to keep her.

ETA: This is a semi-rural area in the South. Many people are still pissed off that the sheriff came around to tell the neighborhood that their dogs can't run loose.

[Shelli]

Around here, there are agencies that you can contact and they'll let you borrow a Have-A-Heart trap in order to catch the animal. At that point, you can either bring it to an animal shelter which will probably end up having to put it down, or you could bring it to the vet and have it checked out, fixed, and have your very own "garage cat". :billcat:

[Watser?]

WEAR GLOVES!!

[LadyShea]

In Vegas we had stuff like that, the attitude towards animals here though is just...different. When my mom called around to the vets and humane society about traps everyone acted like she was insane "Why would you want to catch a cat? They can take care of themselves."

[Shelli]

When my mom called around to the vets and humane society about traps everyone acted like she was insane "Why would you want to catch a cat? They can take care of themselves."To an extent, I think that's true, however, they can and do also procreate at an alarming rate resulting in many more unwanted cats making yet more unwanted cats. :ffno:

[Miss Shelby]

why don't you put a can of wet cat food open outside of the garage and lure the thing out? then slap a laundry basket over it or something.

[LadyShea]

I think here they consider feral cats just another wild animal...no different than a raccoon or possum. It's very different than the attitude in the city.

And I can't seem to lure her out where I can even see her let alone catch her. She didn't come for the food until late at night, for example, and she keeps well hidden.

Oh well, I'll think of something.

[Watser?]

I grew up in the country, we used to treat our cats as staff, not as family. They did not step in the house and kept the mice away in return for food.

[Pinecone]

I had a scaredy cat once too! It wasn't living in anything though. I found it crying outside the fence that went around my back yard at the time. I thought it was just past being a kitten it was so small. When it saw me it ran and hid. I only had a dog, so I tossed out some dog kibbles where it had been standing. It was there crying the next morning so I did the same thing, and went to the store for actual cat food. I put the food in a bowl every morning and placed it closer and closer to the back porch every time. In about two weeks the cat was sitting quietly on the porch every morning waiting for its breakfast. In another week it was use to me enough that I could touch it and soon pet it. Then I did the dastardly deed....I got a carry box thing and called the vet and told him I was wanting to bring a stray cat in for a check up and 'fixed'. Instead of food the next morning I pushed the kitty into the box. I felt awful after just gaining her trust but...anyway she turned out to be two years old, and was so little because she was starving.
Other than that she had a clean bill of health and got fixed. She never did want to come inside the house, and turned into a 'porch' cat that had breakfast with us and then wandered off to do whatever cats do. She got fat and sleek, and we suspected she had another person giving her supper at their house. We sold the house a few years later under the condition that "Sylvester" the porch cat went with it. It wasn't a hard sell. The lady that bought the house had three cats already and was delighted with having another. Last I heard Syl was still alive which would have made her about 12 years old. I've not asked about her for a couple of years. I like to imagine Syl forever mooching her way into everyones hearts.

[Shelli]

:vibes:

[LadyShea]

Moms feral cat is a porch cat (FYI mom is also my neighbor). She goes there every night for dinner and sleeps in the chair, then is gone all day. That cat has come up to my porch a few nights on her way to moms, looks in the living room window then goes on her merry way.

In over a year though, she hasn't let anyone touch her. If you step outside she moves about 6 feet away and stays out of reach.

[Dingfod]

We have a couple of feral cats living here on Rancho Pobrecito, a black one and a fluffy tabby. They get into our garbage bags in the garage if we leave the garage door open, but they have not taken up residence in there yet. They were living in the barn on top of the stack of hay bales, but have since moved into an old dog kennel built into our woodshed. So far as I know we've never fed them. There is no way in hell they're coming close enough to catch. But, if I was going to reach under a workbench to catch one of them I'd wear leather welding gloves, they'll scratch and bite something fierce.

[Miss Shelby]

the local humane society here works in conjunciton with a group called 'felilne friends'--they have been known to collect cats such as these, spay or neuter them and them release them back out if the stray life is working for the cat.

[davidm]

Oh, Christ, I read the thread title too quickly and thought you said that Kilik was in your garage! Thank God I was mistaken!

[Miss Shelby]

What's a kilik?

[Leesifer]

You don't want to know, Miss Shelby. He posts here, so you can find out if you feel the need. I wouldn't recommend it.

lol @ davidm, though. That made me giggle.

[Stormlight]

Oh, Christ, I read the thread title too quickly and thought you said that Kilik was in your garage! Thank God I was mistaken!

:foocl: