Taking semi-feral cat to the vet

[SandInMySandwiches]

Hello,
We have a large semi-feral cat who has adopted us. She has been around for years and lives outside all year round but comes for food and cuddles (taken a long time for her to trust me).
She is massive and has injured me lots of times.
At the moment, she has bad cat-dandruff and seems a bit subdued and not as affectionate.
I would like to take her to the vet for a check-over but don't know how to do it. I put her in a box once but she escaped then hated me for a while. I am afraid I will completely ruin all trust if I manage to get her into a carrier and get her to the vet.
She eats well and has all sorts of food as well as the odd bird she catches herself (jumped into the air, caught a magpie and ate it once - she is brutal!). We don't know how old she is.
Any suggestions?

She won't hold it against you for long. I promise. So I'm guessing she has been neutered at some point?

How did she escape from a carrier? What sort of carrier was it?

If you can touch her at all then you should be able to get her by the scruff of the neck and basically drop her into a top loader basket. This type of thing: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/131285817589?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&rlsatarget=&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108

Or maybe speak to the vets and see if you can borrow a crush cage. It the same type of thing as the top loader but allows the vet to give a sedative before they get her out of the carrier.

In either case you MUST secure the carrier, particularly if it's a crush cage, with cable ties or similar. You need to cable tie the side end of the crush cage to the top and the top of the carrier to the bottom.

If you don't think you can manage to get her into a carrier at all then the vet may be able to lend you a trap.

I've just noticed you can cuddle her. You can definitely get her into a top loader carrier then.

And are you sure she wants to live outside? Semi-feral cats normally choose to come in and sleep when it's cold as long as there is a cat flap.

And what sort of shelter does she have outside?

Yup, back legs first into a top loader carrier, with a towel/cloth handy so you can untangle the claws of her front feet from the entrance without falling victim yourself.

Thanks so much. She has been neutered, yes (I assume!). I can cuddle her, but only with me sitting on the floor. She does like to come in, briefly, to sit on the cold tiles (she is black and gets very hot) and to scratch her favourite mat but hates the door being shut behind her. She has ridiculously thick fur, I can hardly get my fingers through it down to her skin.
The carrier was just a large box (yep, bad idea). Will look into those suggestions.
Again, thanks for your replies.

I think a crush-cage would be best so the vet could give a sedative. Honestly, she is massive. She can get her teeth around the whole circumference of my arm and really give me a nasty bite when she feels like (and thats just when I have stroked the same spot for too long!)

Ah yes then, using a box instead of a carrier was of course a ridiculous idea.

If you get a cat flap she would start to not mind the door being shut behind her as she would know she could always get out. The best way to do it would be to leave the door of the flap off for a couple of weeks (easier in Summer of course) and she would then get used to coming in and out using the hole. Then put the flap on when she's inside and she will go out using it and should get the hang of coming in using it. That way she will become confident being inside. It would be so much nicer for her in Winter.

I know, I do worry about the winter. Thanks for that.

If you do use a crush cage make sure you use cable ties too. An amateur cat rescuer managed to lose two cats in the space of a week which she was attempting to bring into us in crush cages as she didn't cable tie the side end (despite having been told to do it and given the ties grrr).

Are you sure she's female?

Well, I think she's female - you've made me question it now. She doesn't have testicles, for sure. And never had kittens. I think she was owned by a family years ago but they didn't treat her well and moved house and left her behind :(. She is a giant manx.
I think I will try the wire top-loading cage. And risk her wrath.

It was just with her being enormous that it made me wonder. But if she doesn't have balls then she probably is.

Poor thing having been abandoned. Those are the sort that, with a bit of encouragement and understanding, end up being soppy house cats eventually.

Yeah, I love her. She's large but solid, not over-weight. She is slowly learning to trust again. Thanks for your help