Help! Need to get cat into basket!

[Psychologika]

We are moving house and need to be out today. Tried getting our 7m old male kitten into the basket but no luck st all. He can't be handled or even touched (his sister is the complete opposite). Last time we deflead him he bit DH so badly he needed antibiotics.

Have always got him in basket before, but now he's having none of it. What do we do?!

What have you tried?

Ultimately you grab and dump into a top loader basket. Suede gardening gloves would be my choice of hand-wear if he's that vicious.

If you have time, shut him and a person in a room, open cat basket with bowl of dreamies, prawns, tuna inside and wait for him to go in to eat it.

Cat nip spray in the basket.

Or throw a towel over the cat.

Tired dreamies, toys etc. I might have to go and get a top loader basket? We only have a front one

One of our boys was like that. The vet always wrapped him in a towel as a safe way of handling him. We did the same in order to get him into the cat carrier.

Good luck with your house move. Stressful in itself, so I do hope this helps.

Catnip has no effect on cats under 1 yr old. Try the towel, you have to be really quick though. Good luck.

Not managed to get him with towel.

Gawd, it's going to be a long morning. I was crying last night as I was so stressed and i hate making him stressed

Yy to the gardening gloves! With our reluctant cat I turn her box on end two the door is on top. Get hold of her and I have one hand gently holding the scruff of her neck which seems to stop her struggling, then lower her down and shut the lid before she can jump out

Oh, and put the front loader on its back, so it becomes a top loader, and use the wrapped towel to get him in. Then slowly and gently return the carrier to its correct position. He won't be hurt by it. Just cross. And he's cross anyway.

I go with the towel technique - throw it over, full on pick-up-and-swaddle, then move very very fast. You'll feel awful but I think it's actually less stressy for the cat than some long drawn out effort.

You can tip the basket up so opening at the top. Get some Leather/suede gardening gloves on, pick up the cat and put him in the basket bum first. Then shut the lid quickly.

Get him in to a room with as few hiding places as possible. Get the basket ready, preferably with a familiar blanket and sprayed with feliway. Then make everything calm for ten minutes. Just sit down and relax. If he likes catnip and it makes him chill rather than wild, give him some. When everything is calm, and you feel ready go for the swoop-grab-drop. I hope your basket opens at the top? If not prop it securely so the open end is at the top, drop him in backwards. You’re trying to avoid the situation where all four legs are being used to resist going in. You have one chance to use the advantage of surprise so you need to gather your senses before the attempt. Try to avoid chasing him from hiding spot to hiding spot with all of you getting more stressed.

Log burner thick leather gloves work too or skiing gloves

I'm not sure how you can catch him but when we got our cat from the rescue centre the advice they gave was put them in the carrier backwards, that way they can't see that you're trying to shove them into a small box.

After a traumatic time getting our cat to the vet a few months ago, he (the vet) advised having the carrier backing onto a wall and putting (or more likely shoving) the cat in backwards, bum first. Will probably need gauntlets!

Think I'm going to invest in a cage type top loading carrier though. Good luck, it's the most stressful part of having a cat IME.

I agree with pp, turn the basket on its side so it’s facing upwards and lower him in.

X-post with Edin.

Yep, stand the carrier on its end and put the cat in hindlegs first. Another way is to quickly slip a pillowcase over his head, roll the pillowcase up like a sock first and quickly pull it over the rest of his body and legs, then feed him into the carrier as above.

Put him in backwards
Then he can't splay his legs out to stop you putting him in!

what's his Forbidden Food that he desperately tries to steal from from plates? for ours it would be cheese. Bait the bag.

if that doesn't work remember the scruff-of-the-neck reflex - a cat cannot fight back if held firmly by the fold of loose skin at the back of the neck and you won't hurt him picking him up by that fold. you don't give to put any part of you within reach of the claws.

Ours go crazy for tuna or a bit of nice ham. They were extremely timid, cautious when they arrived and ham was one of the only things we could get them to come to us for a couple of weeks.

The first few times ours went into the carriers out of curiosity. I put them in the room for half an hour or so closed, which they were sitting on top of and trying to work out how to get in, and as soon as I opened the doors they went in to explore. More recently it has been slightly more difficult but managed with a few small pieces of ham right at the back of the carrier.

Stand basket on end. Grab firmly and confidently by scruff. Use gravity to swiftly plonk bum first into basket. Shut door. You have catch him by surprise and have the whole thing done in about 5 seconds or he will have time to resist.

If you have already tried multiple times today, leave him for a bit and come back to the problem when he is marginally less wary. This is a time for exuding confidence, not being nervous of him.

We did it! Lured him into a tall box (can't resist a box!) and taped it up (with airholes).

Here they are in their new home. Thanks for the tips, so relieved!

Glad you got there in the end.

Our cat was always a challenge to get into the cat basket. I always wished I had bought a top loader instead of one that had the narrower opening at one end.

I too used to have the basket standing on it's end and lower my hissing and spitting cat into it back legs first. Then, when we had arrived at the vet (usually where we would be heading) he would try and refuse to come out.

He was easy to get back in for the journey home from the vet as he hated vets. Just open the basket door while still in the consulting room and he would shoot back in like a rocket.

If I could have my time again I would definitely buy a top loader basket. They must be much easier with recalcitrant cats, which many cats are.

That's funny (and clever) to have conned him with a box! What has helped for me in the past with a front loading carrier is to put them backwards, they'll still resist a bit but it doesn't seem to stress them out as much as going in forwards.

Congratulations! On one particularly stressful occasion I ended up chasing mine into the corner of the room with a large broom and then putting the open catbox next to the corner, so it was the only place she could run into. Not dignified.