We appear to have acquired a new cat. It wasn't really of our choosing but we have noticed him in our garden on and off since around Christmas - but in the past two weeks he seems to have been in our garden all of the time. I am not in the uk and the weather has been terrible - snow and a thick sheet of ice underneath and not above zero.
The has been eating bird food - I have seen him grab fat balls and run off with them and last week we saw him take a stale bread roll to eat. We are very rural. There is only 1 other farming family within ½ a mile and the farmer (who knows if anyone sneezes within 2 miles) has seen the cat around but has no clue who owns it. There are no posters up in the nearest shop (4 miles away) and he is not listed as missing on any cat shelter site. Unfortunately some people seem to dump their unwanted or sick cats in the forest about 1 mile from out house - while they generally survive summer/autumn - when winter hits they starve.
We have been worried about him as it has been minus 10-15C at night. But he was too scared to come to us although he happily wolfed down dried cat food and ham thrown from the ground floor window - coming within a metre or so to get it.
To cut a long story very short - we borrowed a cat trap from a shelter 40 miles away and 15 hours later he was caught. We managed to get him to the vet the same day.
- not chipped or ear marked
- about 2 years
- vet didn't think him feral (and at our house he knows how to use litter tray)
- in fairly good condition - unlikely to have been out many months
- very scared.
Yesterday obviously traumatised him. We have 3 other cats but we have a small room we can isolate him in. Yesterday I could stroke his head but today he is wedged between the litter box and radiator - but as the food disappears he obviously comes out now and again.
I am torn over the best thing to do. the cat shelter can take him on Sunday although they are rammed at the moment. Plus we have 3 other cats to consider ...
I'd like to make it work for him if possible but I need some tips to help him come out of his shell and be more sociable