Anything V

It appears that Speculative Vision is having a Bandwidth problem. Anyone heard anthing about theis?

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Nommy

It happens now and then. He'll get it back up.

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Selah

A question for people who know a lot more than I do about cats.

My brother is trying to rescue a cat. As far as he can tell this is a rather young cat, a stray, and probably pregnant. He is trying to "catch" her so he can take her to the no-kill shelter - he can't have a cat, his guinea pig would have a heart attack.

He has been putting out food and leaving it every day at the same time. He then comes back about 5 minutes later and she is always there. She runs off a bit. He talks to her and lets her see him put more food in the dish. His next step is to start putting the dish with food in a cat carrier with the door removed.

Does anyone think this is going to work? Is there anything else he should do? I don't know what - rub the carrier with something that smells good to a cat? Any ideas?

Thanks for the help.

-Polly

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Hi Polly,

Terrific thing your brother is trying to do for his feline friend.

Unfortunately strays are unpredictable, especially new mothers and pregnant, especially when young. We adopted a cat from the SPCA that had been living on the streets and had kittens. A family adopted her for 10 weeks until the kittens were old enough and then turned her and the kittens over to the SPCA. She apparently got so stressed over the whole ordeal that she almost died of a cold. After 2 months in the infirmary she was finally put up for adoption and we took her. By this time she was still only a year and 2 months.

To make a long story short we gave her lots of love and spoiled her, but she hid under beds, was not at all affectionate, didn't even purr. One day after we'd had her for about a month she darted out the window and hasn't been back.

So the moral of the story is to be careful with her, she's very delicate at the moment if she's young and homeless and pregnant to boot.

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Sindatur - The Grey owl Wizzard

Polly,

Your brother should contact the no-kill shelter now. In all likelyhood, they will be able to provide him with a live trap to use to capture the cat.

I hope he is successful soon. It's getting cold up there, and the cat would be better off in a proper home before the kittens come along.


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MightyLady of the Flame Red Hair
Every time I push the envelope, I get a paper cut.

Catching stray cats is no joke--they bite and scratch. He might try luring it into his apartment (or a garage if he has one) and then calling the no kill shelter to see if they will come get it. My experience with putting any type of a cat in a confined space--ouch ouch--they don't go for it.

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"Close your mouth, Michael, we are not a codfish."

Hi, Polly!
My experience has been both positive and dissapointing. With the current "new" kitty, I put the carrier on the steps with a towel inside and my saddle blanket over the carrier as it was getting colder. At first, she slept on top, but as the nights got colder, she adopted the carrier as her own. She is now an indoor kitty--fluffier and fatter!

No experience with pregnant moms, though. Hugs to your brother and good luck to him!!

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I borrowed a cat catcher from a friend when I had stray teenage kittens living under my porch. One had hurt her leg and I had tried to catch her in the conventional ways. Her I was able to catch, she was starving and couldn't get away from the tuna plate even if she had tried.

So I caught her and put her in the cat lady's house down the street. We were friends and she left her window open in the dead of winter for cats to come and go as they please.

Now Slick, this kittens brother was already going into the cat lady down the streets house on his own. So we weren't worried about him.

But the last cat was tough. He was able to get away and hard to trick. So I borrowed the catcher from a friend.

The way the catcher worked was it had a pressure plate and the plate I put on it was too heavy. So I put a small can of tuna on it. The door that would swing down was pretty heavy.

So the third kitty goes in to eat, since he wasn't eating at the cat ladies, he was pretty hungry. So he goes in. Now here is where it gets complicated. He is munching down and Slick notices him and starts to follow him in. Just in time to get clobbered in the head. http://www.hostboard.com/ubb/wink.gif But I scooped in in time to get him away and not spook the third kitty out before the door swings shut.

If you can get one of these catchers, possibly from a shelter, that should work.

Good luck.

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Selah

I hear ya Wizz. My last accident, which basically invloved flyong over the side of his trunk, was not much fun. The person siply didnt look and took a left from his lane , toward a store, into mine. I may have done gymnastics as a kid, but I did not enjoy the high flip in the air.

Needless to say, and I am very sure you know this, you can NOT predict what other people will do around you on the road. I eould love SO MUCH to ride again, but admit I am leary.

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Nommy

<font face="georgia">Wow...snow. Here I thought rain was a bit more of a challenge than I wanted to handle for a bit. Ice, too, I'll bet...better off with chains on the Scout than even thinkin' about riding a motorcycle in weather like that.
Well, it's been three weeks after a 23+/- hiatus of motorcycle riding. Had to drive the car for the two-day rain spell, and the the three-day keys-were-lost time-frame. I'm a lot more comfortable commuting these days. Warm hands that aren't going to sleep as much as before. Even the 80mph commute (hey, honestly...if you aren't going to stay in the far right-hand lane on 280, 80 is going to be in short bursts constantly. And the right lane is where cars are merging into from onramps, a questionable place to be if you're on a motorcycle). At first, keeping up with traffic was like the proverbial cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Most of the people rocking observe the cat and some actually make sure they don't rock when the cat's near. However, there's always that one person that doesn't like cats, and s/he is always in a different rocker. So far, the tail and paws are secure. I actually look forward to going to work, and (get this!) going home. What a great distraction. Ok, I could go on, but I won't. Life is full of ups and downs; I'm really enjoying the current "up". Just keeping an eye on every vehicle within proximity, as required.

http://www.hostboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif


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Do not tempt the patience of Wizzards, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.