Pics of the stray

Well it did come back again, I got pretty close to it last night, I've been feeding it away from the other cats food for the past few days, what I've done is left a small amount of food by the back door and watched it eat, when its almost done I grab another pouch of food and refill the plate with food, it obviously runs away when I go near it but it can see what I'm doing so comes back, last night it didn't run away but just moved away from me about a metre, so I said hello, put down the food and left so it knows I'm not just gonna grab it!

So here are some pictures, not very clear but better than nothing


Tried to get a pic of the injury but it didn't come out well, it looks smaller than last week but its still open as you can see.


and heres a picture of Courtney so you can see how much they look alike

 

It really looks like Courtney's twin, lol! They are both very cute. I hope its sore is not infected by maggots. :shock: How do your kitties feel about not being able to go outdoors?

 

A tuxedo cat. I think your pics turned out good. :y_the_best: As for maggots they are actually beneficial to wounds. They use sterile maggots in our health care system for deep wounds. During the wars they often found soldiers with horrible wounds, but found that the ones that were infested with maggots were healing well and controlling possible serious infections. Are you going to take the cat to the vet to have they treat the wound?

 

You can see now why the first night I wasn't sure if it was courtney or not and it looked right at me! vene, the cats are going out again theres no way I could keep them in long term lol, they would just drive me mad they're too old for change I'm afraid!
Spoke to the vet about this cat today (I will post about the vet visit later but have to go to work any min) he recommended asking around the neigbourhood about the cat, if I can't find the owner and I get near the cat Yes it will be going to the vet, I don't wanna spend the money at the moment but if noone else is going to help....well it walked into the right house didn't it!

 

Do you have any low cost shelters or vets willing to give a discount? My feral cat cost me a total of US $15 for flea treatment, vacs, wound treatment, testing for feline AIDS and Leukemia, dental work, and unfortunately pts. It's funny how the cats usually choose the "right" family for "help." Do you have a feral cat focus group in your area?

 

Courtney's doppleganger!!!

 

Well last night I got very close to touching the cat, I'm pretty sure its a boy now so until further notice 'it' will be 'he'.
Yesturday I was pretty unhappy to find out someone has sprayed the microwave with 'eau de tom cat' spraying walls is one thing but microwave on the kitchen surface .... yuck! This problem needs sorting out fast!

So he strolls in at the usual time last night ignores the food I left for him away from the other cats and walks straight for my cats food, Tango saw him and has obviously decided enough is enough and was walking towards it, the cat scarpered and luckly we trapped Tango indoors before he attacked it, I've never seen Tango is angry.

While my bf was calming Tango down I went outside with food and a plate for the stray.... put the plate down and then the food, when he saw the food he ran towards it (and me) and we ended up face to face within touching distance I was crouched down, his body language told me he wasn't happy this close, his ears went down and back like he was scared stiff and to be honest I was pretty scared too, cats can be unpredictable I thought he might attack me so backed off, as soon as I moved he ran the other way! Still I stayed close to the food and he came back, I talked to him and he seemed ok with that, he finished off 2 pouches of food and I grabbed another and opened it, I wanted to put it on the plate so moved it closer to him and instead of him backing off he tried to eat it from my hand! Again we were both unsure about this and he backed off, then ate some of the food and has a wash and he was gone again.
So we're getting there slowly.

I'm fairly sure hes been making a visit in the early hours while we're asleep and something must have happened to change Tangos mind so drasticly, so last night we shut our cats indoors and left food outside for the stray(which was all gone this morning) , I don't know if you'll remember but a while ago I had a problem with Bones peeing in a corner, it was all sorted except when we shut him in he won't use the litter tray anymore and he pee'd in the corner again last night :x .
So we've printed off nearly 100 flyers asking if anyone owns this cat or has seen it around to phone me asap, we're going to put them though everyones doors today and see if we can find an owner - fingers crossed.

Vene about the shelters/vets, no luck so far, I had no idea it would be so hard to find somebody to help, I have 1 number left to call they aren't open until tommorrow [-o< hopefully they can help

 

I think we've found the owner! Posted all the flyers, met quite a few neigbours along the way, quite a few knew about the cat and were also worried. I never knew there were so many cats on my street.
A few people phone up from a cul-de-sac on my road saying they had seen him, a woman had accidently trapped him when one of her indoor cats had escaped who also looked like this cat that was 3 months ago and he had that injury on his neck then :? .
So this man phoned up later and said he thinks this is his cat, who he hasn't seen for 3 weeks, so I told him hes been coming to my house for about 2 and seems hungry, then he said he should take the cat to the vet about this injury, I'm thinking about it now.... that cat has been like that for 3 months ... he hasn't seen it for 3 weeks, surely he should have already been to the vet!!
Well tonight I've agreed to trap the cat and phone him and he will come and see if its his.
oh and I also gave him a small lecture on neutering the cat to stop him wandering, I don't think hes interested, he just told me it was his girlfriends cat and she left a couple of years ago, maybe he doesn't know what to do.
Something just doesn't feel right you know? but hes not my cat so I have no right to do anything, we'll see how they get on later, but I do feel if this cat wanted to go home it would have done already..its a 2 minute walk from my house.

 

Well I haven't seen the cat in my house since I last posted.... like he just knew what I was up to!
I asked the owner what his name was and after thinking about it for a good 30 seconds he said his name is Domino! I'm suspicious about the owner he had to think about what his cats name was, hasn't taken him to the vet for the injury or to be neutered (Domino is about 6 years old so I'm told) and the cat seems scared of people, much more than your usual wandering pet cat is. Saw Domino fighting another cat yesturday and broke them up and Domino wandered off in the direction of home, I'm sure he knows how to get home but is chosing not to right now.
So I can't take him to a shelter anymore, theres not a lot I can do, at least the whole neigbourhood is keeping an eye out for him, I get a phone call everytime someone sees him now lol .

 

If you catch him, I'd go ahead and take him to the shelter (especially since you're so uneasy about the "owner" ). Once you take him to the shelter (also explain to the shelter about the so called "owner"), if the guy calls again, tell him you had caught the cat and tried to contact him but couldn't reach him. You didn't want the keep the cat in a small carrier for a long time (plus it needs medical attention) so you took him to the shelter. Go ahead and tell him which shelter. He's going to have to pay a fee at the shelter to get the cat back (he may also have to do some explaining). So it will be a bit of a hassle to get the cat back and kind of a test to see if he truely wants him. Or if the shelter decideds he's unworthy of having the cat, it's their decision, not yours.

-Chelle

 

I agree with Chelle. If you do catch him, bring him into the shelter and let the owner deal with it at the shelter. Go with your gut instinct. If the situation with the owner doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. He need to prove his ownership and pay for Domino's health bills. I'd feel uneasy about anyone, especially a stranger going to your house. I hope you can find a good resolution.

 

Best of luck Ginger. I hope it all works out.

 

Your all right, I will take him to the shelter if I catch him, he's been round a couple of nights ago, his injury is healing up which is good, still looks scruffy though. Saw him today too he was sleeping right by the front door under a bush looking very sweet.
I said hello to him and sat next to him he didn't get up or run away! Finally! I reached out so he could sniff my hand he was nervous but had a little sniff and I got to touch his leg! I grabbed some food but he wasn't interested and he just calmly got up and strolled away like he always does, sprayed the wall across the road and went to sleep in a bush over there. He came back to my front garden but bad timing ment I disturbed him and he walked off in the direction of 'home'.
I'm going to phone his owner back and ask if he's been seen at home at all, and tell him the cat isn't coming round much anymore so I don't think I'll be able to get him.

 

Thanks for the update. Have you seen him lately?

 

I hadn't seen him for a few days (although he could have still been coming in for food without me knowing) but he turned up a couple of days ago, whatever problems he had with Tango seem to have been resolved as Tango and Mitz were in the garden and just let him wander past and in the door.

He was very hungry... he ate all the wet food and moved over to the dry food and ate all of that too! I fed him some more dry food and was sitting quite close to him, hes getting more confident with me but I still think it'll be a while until he lets me stroke him.

Finally got a good picture of his neck and the injury is almost gone... typical!


and another where you can see there were actually 2 wounds


In the first picture you can see he also has some kind of injury to his face but it doesn't look too bad. In the second picture it looks like the wound on the left could have a white lump in it, but that could be the camera making that bit of his fur look like that, didn't notice it while he was here.
Compared to how he looked when he first appeared hes doing very well

 

He looks much better. He's so lucky to have you feed him and be concerned for him. The lumps are probably scar tissue and if it's an abcess, it's tiny.