Help to catch our feral cat!

[norbert23]

Long story - will keep it short!
We've got a feral cat who's slowly become a little more tame over the last 12 years (found her and her kittens when we moved into our house in 2005).

She now sits on your lap for a fuss and lives happily in our house / conservatory / garden and we feed and take care of her, so she's 100% ours.

We're planning on moving in the next 4-6 months so I need to be able to catch her and take her with us. I've trapped her once to get her neutered when we first found her and ever since she won't go near any metal cage. The only other time I had to take her to the vet I had to arrange for the RSPCA to catch her with the long pole things (she had a nasty bite and abscess).

I'm hoping someone will have a good idea for how I can catch her without scaring her off - she's very intelligent so I'm guessing I'll only have one shot at getting her in some sort of cage / carrier.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated

Does she like cardboard boxes? I'm not suggesting you transport her in one, but if you manage to coax her into one inside your house, maybe you can then transfer her to an actual cat travel box when she's inside the house?

When she's sitting on your lap, could you wrap her in a towel like a purritto and quickly transfer her to her travel box?

A month before you move, could you leave her travel box in the room that she likes to be in, so that she can get used to it and then won't be terrified of it on the moving day. You could give her some treats inside the box.

I think she'd go mad in a cardboard box once I tried to move her but leaving the carrier in the room for a few weeks in the run up is definitely a good idea. I might try getting hold of a dog one so that it's bigger and she can stay in it comfortably on moving day.

May be worth speaking to your vet about some form of sedative that you can give her e.g. Valium, which might help with the catching.

I have a similar issue with mine (ex-ferals) and Boycat is still a little traumatised from his annual checkup over 2 months ago - wish I'd thought about the Valium option myself before that ! I quite like the purritto idea and will probably nick that for next time mine have to take mine anywhere; not that either will sit on my lap but I can sit next to them for stroking.

Make sure that whatever room you are in when you try to catch her is secured so she can't get out of a window / through the door / up the chimney / under low furniture etc.

The downside of a bigger carrier is that if she really freaks out she's more likely to hurt herself. I think a sedative from the vet's the best idea. We did this once and it worked really well. The dosage can be a bit tricky with cats, though, so it's not risk free.

One of ours hates carriers but is happy to go in a harness on a lead. When we move planning to also use it to begin to introduce them to garden. Once over the head the rest is easy. They are bemused at first but get used to it.

I second the purrito idea! Ideally you need two people, one strong person to wrap her firmly in a towel, making sure her legs are wrapped up so she can't scratch, kick out and escape, and one on hand to shut the carrier the milli-second she's inside.

I sympathise - my old girl cat was a nightmare to get into her carrier and she a housecat from the day she was born. She hissed, kicked and scratched and my poor arms still bear the scars!

Oh dear, I was hoping my ex-ferrel would grow out of this (and was hoping by December for next boosters!). She had Zylkene at Christmas and was fairly chilled out. Might be worth a try?

Thanks everyone! Great ideas - I'm pretty sure I have some Zykelene from bonfire night but I never tried her on it. I'll see if it chills her out and do a trial over the weekend. A more relaxed cat would make it so much easier!
Good point also about securing the room - when the rspca came she was on top of the curtain rail by the end, so she has the potential to go bonkers!!! She's a real old lady now though and I want her to come with us so she can live a warm, well fed retirement.
I've attached a photo of her lounging on the rug last week, totally chilled

Oh she's gorgeous! I missed my one shot last boosters when I didn't close the carrier quickly enough after throwing treats inside. Got her in the end, she was crying in fear though and it was horrible! Also was about 4 hours late to the appointment.

Oh she's gorgeous! You've done well to have her so relaxed given her history.

We have an assortment of rescue cats, some better adjusted than others. We stopped the more traumatised ones from going outside a couple of weeks before moving day. Just couldn't afford for them to get spooked. Then just before moving day they went to a cattery and were later brought to the new home. That was a temporary rental stay between house sale/ purchase so had the fun of doing it all again a few months later! The second time was a relocation so instead of using the cattery we locked the cats in one room at the rental, and at the new home they were again locked in one room with strict instructions that no one go in there at all while all the furniture etc was brought in.

Best of luck

If you started now could you entice to go into a cage by putting something completely irresistible in there? Maybe dreamies or chicken?

If you just left the cage with something tasty in it he might pop in eventually. This could graduate to him happily going into cage to get treats......

LivinginMidnight-your typo made me want to get a new rescue cat called Williams.......

I second the advice to leave the carrier out for a couple of weeks. I do this when I am due to take my cats to the vet or cattery, to avoid a frantic game of find-the-cat when the time comes to put them in their baskets.

Bertrand 😂 do it!

I'm very grateful for all your fab ideas, I think I'm going to invest in a nice carrier that's a little bigger than the ones we have and leave it out with a blanket and treats for a month or two. Very good point about a cattery - not sure if I'd get her back in a carrier a second time but I'm going to have a think about it. It's also worth trailing the cat Valium stuff to see if it has any effect on her, if it does I can use it just before and during the move.
She's very lovely but a real crabby tabby, often takes a swipe at my ankles if I walk past without saying hello. She's also survived with no vaccinations so she must be made of sturdy stuff! Where we want to move she'd be in her element, more countryside and quiet roads. Fingers crossed! Thanks again xx

Good luck. Really go for it with the treats- chicken, dreamies, liver........ Try not to let her know you want her to go into the carrier, she will be very cleverly watching your cues. You could also try a feliway spray inside the carrier.

Keep us posted- hoping for a picture of her curled up in the basket in about 3 weeks!

Haha! Yes I'll keep updating - forgot about feliway thanks! X

Good luck. She's beautiful. Just a thought about the cattery idea, if she's not vaccinated they won't take her.

In case anyone was wondering, a quick update! We moved yesterday and I managed to trick her into a box with some posh cat food and shut the door
She's doing brilliantly at the new house and far more relaxed than I expected!

Just to clarify, a proper cat carrier not a cardboard box!

Their more adaptable than we think aren’t they? Did you move to a rural area?.

Our carriers are kept in a spare room with the fronts off with a blanket in them and one of mine often goes for a wee snooze in the top one

It's got a farm nearby and a few fields but I doubt she'll go that far. She's 13 now and very much a creature of comfort. We do have a garage so I might add a car flap on the back door to it so that she can hide and chill out in there if she ever wants to but I think she'll end up having a favourite garden spot and just sleep on the sofa.
You're right about the resilience thing, she's been better than my other cat who hid for hours and spent all night yowling!

Cat flap, not car flap! Oops...