So, the long story.
About a week ago my mom heard some awefull screams out in her yard and saw two orange blurs running to her shed. One (the cat) made it in, the other (a fox) stopped outside and then ran away. My mom had seen the cat around her shed a few times and she became concerned that the cat had been hurt. So she borrowed a have a heart trap from a neighbor, and set it up last week. Yesterday afternoon, the orange tabby was in the trap. He is a big (14lb?) beautiful orange tabby with double paws and no noticeable injuries. (See picture) We sat down about 3' away and discussed what to do. The cat simply watched us, blinking his/her eyes a bit, almost like he was sleepy or relaxed. Also I noticed he was trembling (and still is- whether from cold (about 40 here now during the day) or fear or fever I'm not sure.) He growled a bit when I came right up to the cage and when I put some blankets over the back, he hissed and charged the front of the cage. He calmed right back down as soon as I backed away.
The next three hours were filled with much calling back and forth amongst the neighbors to cat rescue friends, but it being Easter weekend, no one was going to come and take our new cat away that day. (I have no idea if a rescue place will take him or not, we'll see as the week progresses.) It was decided that my mom would have to take the cat to the vet herself (after the weekend of course). We were very concerned about keeping the cat in the trap for the weekend, but luckily a neighbor had a large dog cage she was willing to let us borrow. (see picture) By this time we had picked up the trap and moved the cat into the landing to our basement. He did *not* like that and hissed and charged. Again, he calmed right down when put down and continued his blinking observation of us. We got him transfered to the dog cage without trouble (he wanted *out* of that trap!).And we left him in a shed for the night with food and water and litter. This morning his cage was very stinky, and still is. He had peed on the towels, not the litter, so we took those out, and put a soft kitty bed in. Concerned about his continued shivering we moved him into a spare bedroom inside. He was very quiet while we moved his cage, didn't move or hiss. When I was taking the towels out and getting him move food he stayed crouched at the back on the litter box. No growling or hissing, just leaning even further away when the towels moved right next to him as I was taking them out.
One of the questions I have is just how feral is he? You can see from the picture, he is beautiful and very healthy looking. Too healthy for a feral? And seemed fairly calm when we were near, and didn't try to attack or escape when I was taking the towels out and putting more food in. (yes I wore rubber gloves) But he obviously is not ready to be touched by anyone! Any suggestions on making him more comfortable? And the cage smells aweful! Any suggestions on de-oderising it?
I hope that he can eventualy be rehabilitated and adopted by someone. (My mother has an elderly neurotic cat who is scare of her own shadow let alone another cat. And I have tiny apartment with an orange tabby who has gotten very used to being by himself the last 3 years. (enlarge the eyes and take away the double paw and my cat Kenan could be this stray's twin.))
Sara
