How to catch a feral - urgent!

[WetBandits]

Greetings! A beautiful feral cat has been frequenting my garden, he’s definitely a stray; he’s absolutely filthy, has a big fat Tom head and massive balls, scars all over his mush and he’s always hungry. The local Facebook group suggests he’s been hanging around the area for at least 3 years and nobody owns him. He’s quite shy but will just about let me stroke him while he’s eating now.

Anyway, a local cat charity has agreed to take him, he’s booked in for neutering and a full vet check tomorrow and they have asked me to catch him so they can collect him 😳 any tips on how I might catch a feral cat who will probably freak out when I go to pick him up?! My plan was to get someone else to distract him with food while I approach from behind with a thick towel to scoop him up as I expect he will probably bite and scratch like his life depends on it. Any other tips would be appreciated, thank you!

Still working on DP to agree to let him stay and we’ll just have four cats 😅

Ah he will! I’ve suggested that he could go to a farm or stables or something as he’s used to roaming around freely, although he seemed perfectly happy sitting around in my kitchen and having a little cuddle when I picked him up, so perhaps he’ll make a lovely lap cat in time!

I collected a cat last year for a rescue. The people who'd been 'caring' for him, had told the rescue how aggressive he was, and they'd lined up four people to help get him in the box. I let him
Out of the room, picked him up and put him in the box. He was as good as gold. He turned into the soppiest loveliest cat. And us living the life of Riley now.

Oh bless him, well done OP! I think even the feral-ist of ferals sometimes realise (in older age?) that humans have a good side. Our super-soppy boy lived on the streets until he was about 8, apart from the fact that he’s huge and a bit scarred you’d never know it now.

Based on his behaviour my guess is he had an owner in the dim and distant past.
Well done for rescuing him @WetBandits - he looks and sounds gorgeous so hopefully will get a comfortable retirement home very soon.

Oh what a sweet face. I love a tuxie.

Thanks for looking out for him OP

🐈‍⬛ 🐈 🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛🐈

Poor baby has tested FIV+ so needs an indoor/catio access home ☹️

He’s staying with his foster carer until a suitable home is found though 🙂 and he seems pretty healthy otherwise!

He is gorgeous. Glad he's going to be rehomed not PTS, FIV need not be a death sentence and he sounds so chilled he will make a great pet.

What a lovely thing you did @WetBandits , given how relatively placid he has been, I wonder if he was cruelly abandoned when diagnosed with FIV? I don't know if it is possible to know how long he has had it? I hope he falls on his paws and gets a perfect home really soon 😻

I truly hope not. There were lots of comments on the posts I made about him from people he visited, I think he was a long term stray and a bit of a six-dinner Sid 😁 there were comments saying he’s been visiting for at least 3 years and was already fully grown at that time. No idea how old he is or how long he’s had FIV, but he is in very good shape considering.