How do i catch a stray - Paw Talk

MissAmandasZoo · #1 03-25-2005, 02:34 AM

There is a pretty stray black cat that comes every night or so and eats some of out cat's food. I'm not fully sure if it's a stray and when we turn on the porch light it runs. How do i catch it? Do i get like a skunk or a racoon cage?

When we moved into this house about 3 yrs. ago we brought our cat from our old house and as soon and we opened the car door he ran away and we never found him. This couldn't be him could it? He was solid black, and so is the stray. Can cats navagate back to a certain place? There are tons of black cats, I was just wondering if a cats would really be able to find someplace, and know we lived ther after 3 years. Probably not, but anyway, how do I catch it? Should I even? I figure if he has a collar, or a chip or whatever we would try to find the owner but if we knew it was neglected or a stray we might be able to keep him.

DirtySouthChins · #2 03-25-2005, 05:20 AM

Well you can do several things, if you want to try and catch it to find out if it has a chip or not and possibly find it's owner.
You can either call animal control in your area and see if that will come out, or you can contact them, a local shelter, or even your vet, to see if they might have a cat trap that they are willing to sign out to you on a time basis.
If you go the route of the cat trap, I would get a can of cat food, or something really fish like sardines, and place it in the back of the trap, I would also recommend covering the trap with a sheet or blanket, as cat's seem to be more curious when they can't really see what is in there.
Or you can just try to sit out with some canned food and try to lure the cat your way or do this over several days trying to gain the cat's trust.
If the cat is a stray it might be harder to gain his/her trust, specially if it is feral, but those are the only options I can come up with in trying to help at this time.

Chinchilla_Girl · #3 03-25-2005, 01:12 PM

You should be able to borrow a trap from Animal Control and do like Kim said. Be sure though you take it to the vet to be vaccinated against rabies and if the cat is feral, do not try to handle it. The vet can scan for a microchip.

MissAmandasZoo · #4 03-25-2005, 04:10 PM

Thanx, one problem with the trap is i'm sure i'd catch my cat! The stray is so skiddish, when i turn on the light it's gone in a second. I'll just have to try a few things. It looks like it has a home, and i dont think it's feral. One of my cats- KeyKey has gone into neighbor's houses, and most people think she's a stray, but she just doesn't like to hang around! KeyKey doesn't really like it indoors, but she can come in whenever she wants. She is just so adventurous, and I'm guessing the black kittty is just the same way, but it never hurts to try. I can also ask around the neighborhood, to see if he belongs to anyone. My guess is that he does. Thanks for you advise though, I'll try to lure him in, at least to findout if he's a stray or not.