Ducati Monster Forum

His name is now Checkers. I made it up. He's black and white and cool-all-over. A racing-flag-shaped name tag is in his future.
He's not mine. He isn't anybody's even. He sleeps on my front porch, and eats the cat food and milk i put out. He's about 12 inches from nose to tail.
I must have him. Whether it be permanent or not.

I managed to get a cat-carrier OVER him last night. But when i went to shut the door, he managed to slip out in the 1/4 of a second it took me to do so.
Still came back for more food and sleepz though.

Any ideas on how to safely cage the beast? He won't let anyone touch him, or really be within 10 feet if he can see you.
He's not too sharp about people sneaking up behind him though...

Seems perfectly healthy too.

Any thoughts or experiences are appreciated.
My dog will hate him.

http://www.pneudart.com/ (http://www.pneudart.com/)

I have a jet-black little guy living under my deck. Judging by the lack of rabbits/rodents in the yard lately, he's working. He doesn't like people, and hisses at you if you get closer than 3' away. I've been making sure he has a full dish of water, otherwise he's on his own. Kind of hope he sticks around to be my outdoor pest control kitteh.

I've named him Maynard.

Throwing a cat carrier over him is unlikely to give him the warm/fuzzies about you.  Food is a great motivator, use it to get him to come to you

I'd just make sure it has water and a comfortable place to crash and call it yours

Don't cage the little fella, you might make it hate you

A comfy chair for you, food and water (or milk) for him. Patience. Spend about 15 minutes a day for a week or so and you should be able to pick him up by then.

+1

good luck  ;)
try to get a pic too... he sounds adorable!

Letting them get used to you seems to make a huge difference. We've got a couple of black feral cats that have adopted our yard. Initially, they ran for cover as soon as I opened the door, then they'd wait to see if I (or the dog) was actually coming their way, and then they started largely ignoring me altogether. One of them has taken to sleeping under the truck, which we park on a gravel pad. The other day I went to check/top off the gear oil in the transmission/transfer case and when I crawled under the truck I got a half-hearted hiss, saw the cat think about running, and then decide "Aw f-ck. It's too hot for this nonsense." S/he curled up and went back to napping under the rear differential, and stayed their while I clattered away with wrenches, dropped the skid plate & opened up the smelly gear oil. Apparently I've become unworthy of his/her further attention.   [laugh]

put the food/milk/water in the carrier, along with a towel or some other soft item. he will become used to it, and may actually end up sleeping there.

If all else fails...

I have a cat you can have. ;D

You practically have a vending machine that dispenses them.

 [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

Must be a new critter around...

the cat level is pretty low these days. :P

Don't worry. Your barn will hatch more.

You might have my friends "puppy hawk"   ;)

One word of advice: don't be putting your face next to the door to the carrier when you go to change the food in there. After dark. In a woodsy neighborhood full of big-ass raccoons. Don't ask me how I know.

lol... wow. this thread is getting way more attention than i thought it would!
anyway, got home from work today... sure enough... his little black and white head is poking out from under our front porch.
he's found a hole to call home under there...

i'll put the cat carrier away tomorrow... i figured it was a bad idea.
i'm just going to keep feeding him. eventually he wont fit in that hole anymore, and he'll have to get used to me if he wants that free grub!

i'll try and grab a pic of him. but he sees, smells or hears anything coming and he's in that damn hole.

i had to laugh. i found my self playing cat and mouse... only the cat was the mouse... irony, i loves it.

still there!
i put a small (clean) sock out near the food to get him used to my scent. got home yesterday from work and he was literally rolling around in the dirt wrestling with this sock.

put a t-shirt out this morning, it's supposed to storm pretty bad so i hope he's alright.

it's a lousy, out of focus cell phone pic, but you can see him make the beast with two backsing that sock up pretty good.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-bkUHG5_8zJw/Thb7AMibZEI/AAAAAAAAAV0/eds0Y97jCfU/s800/IMAG0147.jpg)

I put an old, folded bathroom rug under the edge of the deck thinking my stray might use it for a bed.

He just lays next to it.  :P Still not interested in getting near me.

Maybe call your local vet, or cat-specific vet, for advice on how to gain the cat's confidence.  Is your ultimate goal to bring him inside? 

I want mine to be an outdoor-living, rodent-killing machine. Not sure about the OP.  ;)

I have too many indoor kittehs.

I love cats, have two.  If you want to adopt a cat, or let it adopt you, that's cool.  But if you feed a stray that isn't fixed, then the stray will quickly make more strays to feed.  So IMO, catch it, fix it, release it back and continue to feed it. 

I agree with that.  Also get the animal a full set of shots.  When I lived in Chicago, I could get the whole "starter kit" for about $35/cat from a subsidized service.  However, that experience was very traumatic for my cats and I'd pay full price if I had to do it again. 

Catch him just like any other small critter:

(http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/public/abbgupPVyzI3ElbB5ddsfgizvkftWqFGXJsYN_sVRHA5mLyKOVP5YREp-Pw4XCPBzOje-hJ__vR4a-5Pgai3DqUR95lH88QCvjvPzH9pYJTjYdzUcoQMBK47Ix8nc9-uiG9vLEHZcg4fIxzPo1eDxx10fSQkNnTjaHjGhM-nhvZgayzCJhLGTm2SSaggT3lx65o)

A raccoon trap!  Added benefit of possibly catching a raccoon.

Dude...  That's just...

potentially tasty, like mini-veal  [cheeky]

You guys are disgusting.


And that's why I love this place so much!!

I was thinking about a Have-A-Heart trap like that.

But I also agree with others. I wouldn't trap it. What for? My wife's best friend is a huge cat person (I'm not... they remind me of my ex-wife [bang]) and has several indoor cats. When she and her hubby bought their house it came with a feral cat. The previous owners put out food and water for it and my wife's friend has continued the tradition. It just adopted that house regardless of who lives there. After five years of trying to pet it she still never has. No one has ever gotten close enough to touch it. Even though it sort of trusts them and will let them get close and roll on the ground and meow at them like it's all friendly and wants to be petted. But oh no, ain't gonna happen. They're just weird that way. The cat the OP talked about may be the same way.

^ Kind of what I hope for, really.

A small feline version of me.  :)

Many years ago we adopted two 8 month old cats, a brother and sister.  The boy tamed rather easily, the girl never let us pet her or pick her up even though she lost fear of us.  The vet said females are much more difficult.

Anyway, back to Checkers.  Unless you plan on taking the cat in as a pet I would do little to tame it.  Street cats should fear humans, there are some sick ones out there.

UPDATE.

Managed to lure him out of his hole with some solid white albacore tuna...

(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Pn2hw9sqM98/ThhUb6LeZyI/AAAAAAAAAWI/MIkvVNHvzSQ/s800/IMAG0156.jpg)

Checkers was a little to small for me to get in there and tell if it's a boy or girl.
But not to small to find a home for.
My friends cat Monty just died, and turns out Checkers looks just like him. He came over last night and took Checkers a couple blocks over to his new home. I got really attached in the couple hours i had him, and it was hard to see him go. He purred and fell asleep in my lap within 20 minutes of getting him in the house.
Hopefully he has a long and easy life.

Awesome!   Lucky kitteh!     [thumbsup]

Good on ya Corey !

Well done.................. [thumbsup]

if my dog didn't literally try to eat him, i would have kept him.

Excellent!  Glad it is safe & warm now!


Our boxer/shepherd mix chases & plays with out little 2lb kitten.  Even though sometimes it looks like he's about to become a snack  [laugh]

JM

Great story. Congrats on the snatch and transfer. One happy cat. [thumbsup] Good for you and your efforts. That's 100 animal karma bonus points for you!

My dog has a jihad for all felines. Must be something from a previous life. [laugh] Every day when I walk her and we go by a place where she has encountered a cat she goes nuts looking for it. Some of those encounters were a year or two ago but she still remembers! A house or two before we get to the spot she will start pulling on the lead like a freight train to hurry up and get there. And if I say the words "where's that kitty cat?" she'll damn near jerk the lead right out of my hand. Cracks me up every time!

yea, our dog indy just isn't socialized very well. he has a problem with all small things that move on their own. not to mention jealousy. we tried for a couple of hours and the dog literally just couldnt stop trying to eat the cat.

the kitten was pretty cool about the experiment, but i didn't think a stressful life of avoiding being eaten alive was what it deserved.

karma points are good, i can always use them.
i'll cash them in when i go to get a kitten of my own. hopefully it turns out to be just as cool of a cat.

 [thumbsup]  [beer]

 :)

So Checkers lives out side, now that the K9 has stood his ground? Maybe you can find a friend to take him in. Better than sending him off to the pound.

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aaawwwww... checkers looks so happy  :)
i'm glad to hear you found him a good home!

Really happy this worked out.