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I've been tasked with trying to rehouse a very old friends cat as he is no longer able to look after him, trouble is the cat usually bolts as soon as anybody arrives at the house, so won't be easy to catch.
So any advice on catching cats or even funny tales of failed attempts to help cheer me up as palliative nurse has called this pm to tell me said friend has just days left.
a very old friends cat
Is the cat very old or the friend? Irrelevant, as I have no advice to give other than cats will inflict serious wounds on you when they don't want to be caught.
sorry about your friend.
Our cat will only be caught by appealing to her stomach, you have to use Dreamies or if it's mealtime then her regular cat food will do. She'll still be wary but you can probably get the job done. I think there's two key things; patience to get them to emerge from hiding and then decisive speed when you actually make a grab - if you're tentative they will just bolt again.
Herding cats
I take it you've got a pair of welding gloves?
Milko has it. Cats are answerable to nobody but their own stomach. Bribery with dreamies is your only option. They're also make the proverbial greased piglet look slow and cumbersome when it comes to escaping your grasp. Oh... they'll also have your eyes out if they don't particularly fancy being picked up
You might get lucky. One of our cats is a bastard and won't let anyone near him, apart from my eldest daughter who can throw him around like a rag doll and he doesn't give a monkeys. She puts him over her shoulder and walks around the house with him, happily purring away. Anyone else tries it and he'd hospitalise you. Weird.
Glue board to catch it, then one of these to bring it home.
I take it you’ve got a pair of welding gloves?
Will leather gardening gloves be up to the job?
Definitely need a cat carrier, but recon this one would wriggle out of that contraption..
Catnip or Dreamies, both are irresistible.
Catnip gets them stoned and dopey
Dreamies gets them within grabbing range.
Best to withdraw food for the 24hrs before catching your old cat/friend to increase the chances.
Welding gloves are a good call as it a cardboard box. The cat will be quieter in the dark of a box...
What is it with cats and cardboard boxes? Our two get excitable whenever theres a delivery that involves a cardbord box.
I remember reading somewhere that cats can't resist being smothered in Sudocreme by toddlers.
Something like that
Will leather gardening gloves be up to the job?
Maybe if they're a really stout thorn-proof pair but you want something that comes up well past the wrist. If the cat's annoyed you'll want to be holding it firmly at arm's length to get it in a carrier. You could try immobilising it by swaddling it in an old towel but there really shouldn't be any need if you're just grabbing and crating it.
That Binmog is lovely btw, really nice colouring.
If you can pin it down then this trick might let you stop it from trying to murder you for long enough to get it into a carrier:
Leather gauntlets, cardboard box, first aid kit all at the ready, catnip & dreamies to be bought on the way, I'm going out now I may be some time ....
Most cats (actually all in my experience but no doubt there are exceptions) respond well to a firm scruffing. Grab a good handful of skin/fur at the back of neck and keep a firm grip. Of course that requires you to get close in the first place. It's not a complete paralysis but does quieten them down.
As for the actual capture, as others have said, food/treats. But if they are properly spooked you may just have to corner them with enough well-gloved people to cover escape routes.
Is the friend/owner not able to help? Sorry to hear about them.
If you are thinking of using a cardboard box for cat transportation it had better be a very strong one, as I found out many years ago when I took tabby on a 5 mile bus ride to the town centre vets in a standard weight cardboard box in which I kindly made small holes thinking it would be nice for kitty to peer out through. First came claws, then a paw then a whole thrashing leg, followed by an enraged, biting head. There was not much left of the box by the time we somehow made it to the vets. She came home in a proper cat container.
A nervous cat does not necessarily equate with a vicious or aggressive cat. Far from it, I have known cats to piss in fear but not attempt to inflict any sort of injury.
Furthermore it is perfectly normal for a cat to run and hide in fear upon the arrival of a strange human into their home, even a cat which isn't necessarily scared of humans on neutral territory such as a street pavement. Strangers in the wrong setting is a perfectly reasonable thing to be wary of.
In the case of your friends cat Dicky I would initially attempt to play it softly softly - sit quietly for a few minutes in the same room as the cat talking softly and reassuringly to it in an attempt to entice it out of its hiding place. If it appears just continue to sit talking reassuringly and reaching out a hand that it can sniff which doesn't appear threatening. If it comes in touching distance don't initially attempt to pick it up but stroke it gently to reassure it. When you have won its confidence and it no longer sees you as a threat gently pick it up whilst still talking reassuringly to it.
The whole process might take far less time than you might imagine, possibly minutes, cats can be very quick at judging someone.
If you do struggle, and you are not intending to offer the cat a home yourself anyway, I would very strongly suggest that you contact Cat Protection, they will come and collect the cat themselves and re-home it. No one is more experienced in such matters than Cat Protection.
Really sorry to hear the sad news concerning your very old friend btw.
I’m going out now I may be some time …
How long until we call emergency services?
How long until we call emergency services?
Fire, ambulance or Purrlice?
Leather gauntlets, cardboard box, first aid kit all at the ready
Have you got your cycle helmet and emergency union jack?
Ernie just said pretty much everything I was going to.
Presumably you aren't strangers if it's an old friend's cat? Take your time, be patient. If you're keeping him (are you?) it'll be an investment in your relationship.
Update - no sign of the cat because there were two nurses & a neighbour here so it had legged it. Friend has just been dosed with morphine so just sat with him while he either nods off or talks jibberish - finding it pretty tough to be honest
I guess, slowly, slowly catchy monkey?
If your serious about taking the cat on... if it's really hungry it will eat,, you just need to take it slow.
It might well be getting food somewhere else and doesn't want to risk the new.
Sounds like the cats the least of your worries. Sorry to hear about your friend
If you’re taking a his cat on, you’ll find that essentially being a butler for an animal all day is actually strangely therapeutic
Cats are bastards! But they’re extremely loveable furry bastards who are great little characters to have around the place
I'm not taking the cat on, either one of his friends daughters will or I'll be passing it on to cats protection. Hatched a plan to get the neighbours to feed it in the cat box for the next couple of days and they try and catch it in there on Saturday.
Condolences for your friend. Cat's don't respond well to strangers, best bet is actually have the cat in the house and in a room before you try anything. Have a carrier set up, but where it can't see it - ours regularly travel to and from Wales in carriers, but if you get one out, they see it and are off.
Scruffing does work - never really done it to our cats but had to when 'bathing' one of the fluffy ones as he had the 'sh1ts' and we needed to wash him off.
If getting it into a carrier, reverse him in so he doesn't know where he's going - we've got one that has to be 'reversed' in, otherwise the crampons come out.
Dreamies are irresistable to most cats, or failing that Aldi's own version.
Handling it will be hardest depending on it's temprament - if it doesn't want to be held, you'll struggle to hold it without losing limbs - they are incredibly strong and the claws lethal. This is where 'scruffing' comes in.
Dreamies are irresistable to most cats, or failing that Aldi’s own version
We’ve discovered that the Aldi version of Dreamies is like crack cocaine to our two.
One of ours would live of the Aldi ones. She sits staring at you for ages, and if you ignore her she starts tapping you, but sticks the claws in your knee. One won't eat Aldi ones, but loves the chewy sticks. We've 4 and all are quite chilled, one rescue ginger and 3 ragdolls (which are laid back and can he handled easily). The ginger likes cuddles, but if he doesn't want picking up, he wriggles and out come the claws. Lethal.
Animal rescues such as cat's protection will have traps for catching ferals etc. if you ask nicely , I'm sure you could borrow one from them.
If he is 'legging it' as in has a cat flap, try getting the carrier secured against the cat flap and set the flap to out only.
Spooky, I think you underestimate cat inteligence.
I don’t like animals and certainly wouldn’t want to hold one. I have however had to get my daughter’s (young ) cat into its carrier. A piece of string running through the carrier, pulled from behind, had the cat follow it into the carrier without any difficulty. Apologies if this is a shit idea, but it’s all I have.
Friend has just been dosed with morphine so just sat with him while he either nods off or talks jibberish – finding it pretty tough to be honest
that is tough. However its said that touch and hearing are the last senses to go so if you hold his hand and talk to him ( ortouch his shoulder etc) its more than likely he knows you are there
gauss1777 admiring his handiwork earlier….
Friend has just been dosed with morphine so just sat with him while he either nods off or talks jibberish – finding it pretty tough to be honest
Sounds really tough for you although hopefully you can take some comfort in knowing that presumably your friend isn't really suffering fully dosed with morphine, and is in his own own home?
If you planning to pass your friend's cat to Cat Protection anyway I strongly recommend that you contact them tomorrow and see if they can secure the cat themselves, they are very good at that sort of thing.
@tjagain thank you so much for that bit of advice, hope to see him again on Friday & will put that to good use
Friend has just been dosed with morphine so just sat with him while he either nods off or talks jibberish – finding it pretty tough to be honest
Tough indeed. Take heart that he gets to spend some of his final time with one of his best friends at his side. Have a big virtual hug from the folks here.
I wrap ours in a towel when we have to do anything to him. Sometimes we have to throw the towel over him, net like, to capture the ****er first.
Most vets will loan you a trap
We had a feral Tom that was attacking our two and costing us a fair bit in vets bills, the vet commented on the frequency of our visits and my 10 year old daughter told her I'd tried to catch Applebum (feral tom) the vet said " that's a lovely name" Megs replied "it's because of his balls"🤣
Anyway I borrowed the trap and proceeded to catch every cat in the village except Applebum! Eventually I got fed up of feeding them all and stopped putting fresh food in the trap, after a couple of days Applebum appeared to appreciate stale catfood and got himself trapped!
Swift visit to vets for castration (FOC) after which the vet advised me to release him back on his own territory! No chance!
Dropped him off 8 miles away on a rough arse estate, parting words were let's see how tough you are now mate!"
If you do get scratched or bitten catching the cat watch out for the rash moving up your arm. I had a lovely weekend last month in hospital due to one of ours
Towel is a good call - wrap and squash. Lots of videos on YouTube showing vets with docile cats. It's also having one person catching the cat and another holding the carrier.
Preparation is key here, I would set cat door to In Only and close all internal doors and get the cat limited to one room. Tempt with treats then at some point you have to grab him. The best way to get a cat in a carry box is to put the cage on the end of a table and pop them in head first, they have nowhere else to go!
Where are you based? My cat died in October (19 and a half so a good run) so I am looking for a rescue.
Condolences regarding your friend, it is just awful but at least he has you (& others hopefully) with him now.
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How is the cat getting in and out of the house? If there a cat flap, there usually an option to change them to one way (in only), so you then at least have a chance of catching him in the house... unless he does a great escape past people walking in the doors. I'd suggest a towel to handle him.
Yeah, as above.
Lock cat flaps.
Throw a big towel over then bundle the cat up so it can't see or scratch, then straight into the cat box whilst still in the towel. It can free itself from the towel in the box.
Do all this 1st go. Subsequent attempts will be much harder.
This is how we had to initially manage our very vary rescue cat when we first got him. Now he's as soft as it gets and you can just pick him up for a cuddle then into the cat box without any bother.
Update - cat caught and dispatched with new owner 👍 gained it's trust by putting it's food in open cat box for a couple of days and also hand feeding it dreamies (thanks for the suggestion) when it was hungry, still went bloody mental when we closed the cat box door on it this morning ☹️
My friend is refusing to go to a hospice and also refusing morphine, so at least can hold a conversation once I've worked out what he's saying, which is good as the other night was quite distressing, he actually looked so shit that his carers thought I was his son (he's 3 months younger than me) def living on borrowed time though ☹️
My friend is refusing to go to a hospice and also refusing morphine,
His choice tough tho it might seem
Just keep on being his pal and visit as and when you can
Good to hear that the cat issue has been resolved. Sorry to hear about your friend though. Hopefully you sorting out a home for his pet will be some comfort to him.
Stay strong dickyboy, you sound like a good friend.