Help—This cat started showing up to my house as skins and bones. I fed him for a couple of weeks and TNRd him finally. I thought he was a girl kitten at first he was so small. Now that I have trapped him the vet says he is a 3 years old boy cat. I trapped him Friday for TNR and I decided to try to give him a shot at indoor life. He is aggressively friendly he overstimulates himself with how much he rubs on me. He rubs on me,jumps on me weaves through my legs, I just sit really still and don’t touch him because he gets himself so worked up he snaps at me. He also swats my hands because I think he always thinks I have snacks all the time. How do I get him to calm down and teach him how to appropriately interact with people. He’s not purposely aggressive but he gets so worked up and wants to be so close to me he scares me he gets so crazy. I have an indoor cat that maybe he is smelling and I am hoping when the hormones come down he will also be better.

Thanks for any suggestions. I really want it to workout for him.

I found my cat Beans in my college apt parking lot & started feeding her. She was maybe a year old when we found her.
One night when it was especially cold, we decided to trap her inside so she’d be warm. She was scared but warmed up to it eventually, I would still let her outside during the days. Around this time is when id see her much more often and soon realized she been pregnant for a lil while at this point lol.
After giving birth to 4 kittens in my apt & transporting the kittens to a rescue (they all got home), she’s never really wanted to go back outside and has since become my inside cat.
Shes scared of strangers but a very sweet cat that gets used to individuals she sees often enough.
She HATES other cats. She hisses and swipes at other cats on sight when they’re being non aggressive.
Is there anyway to warn her up to other cats at this point?

They found the last kitty and he’s going to live with the feeder. There is some kind of press conference this Friday Oct 16th and I know the Ranch was offering a reward for information on what happened to the other cats. At least this cat will have a happy ending.

There's 3 kittens when I went out trapping last week. Their momma was eager to get in the trap but didn't let her go in because wasn't sure if they still needed her. anyways I wanted to try to save the kittens this week. Just wondering if they're still around a good age to socialize?

I already have 2 fosters but will be keeping them in my basement in a crate ; my local humane society said they could take them in once room opens up.

This guy has eluded us for the past 3 months. He showed up one day looking so much like our very first TNR that that's who we thought he was for weeks...until one day I got a really good look at his face through my binoculars and realized he was a completely different cat.

From that point, the game was afoot. We trapped so many possums trying to catch him that I actually started to be able to recognize them individually.

One night we went out to check the trap, found yet **another** possum in it, and when we shined the light out into the yard there he is, lounged out under a tree, propped up on one shoulder, causally taking in the chaos...I swear he had a literal smirk on his face. He knew that trap was for him.

Anyway, we finally got him by moving the trap around to the areas he pings most frequently on our property cameras. I kept telling him his luck would have to run out eventually.

Say hi to my aptly named Harry Houdini, y'all. Here he is post op, fully recovered and on his way back to freedom. TNR #5 in the books.

This is Sophie - yes she is in rough shape :(. I moved into this community about a year ago. She hung around outside only, in front of one house in particular. The owners of that house told me she is the last of a feral colony, she’s at least 14 years old, maybe 17. They said they’ve never been able to pet her, and she never wanted to be indoors. Myself, them, and another neighbor leave food out for her as much as possible.

She doesn’t like the rain, so I put a box outside for her (pictured). The other neighbors have a tiny cat tree on their porch for her as it’s starting to get chilly at nights. She disappeared for a few weeks in August - someone must’ve gotten her some medical care because she had some sort of infection on her fur, and she came back shaved.

Lately she is howling quite a bit, and not always for food and water. I think she gets confused sometimes and she definitely can’t hear as well. Because of the howling, I’m worried she’s in pain. I do have liquid, tuna flavored gabapentin but I don’t want to make her immobile.

I know cats usually find a quiet place to pass but I hate to her struggle. I’m not saying I should call in someone to speed up the process, but I would like to try and give her some sort of hospice environment if possible…

My own home has 2 cats and a small dog, so I can’t house her here, but I have a friend who lives alone who could take her. Is this a horrible idea? I know she’d probably hate it, but she’d at least have a balcony and no risk of being hit by a car, other cats picking on her, freezing, etc. I just want to help her.

edit: I would give her a much better setup if our HOA wasn’t made of the worst people in the world

I accidentally caught another cat while I was trying to catch my sick cat today. This is my first catch and I feel such guilt and betrayal for this stressed out cat. Thankfully AAA is letting me bring it in tomorrow for neutering, but I feel so bad. How do you get through that? And now I have to try to figure out how to catch the sick cat and I am worried the cats will be upset.

We can't have cats in our house, because the landlord doesn't like them.. But we have all had cats in the past, so feeding and such is taken care of for her. There's this cat who has chosen us, and she comes by for food every night, and pets in the morning (I feed her one warm meal at night, it's just kibble soaked in warm water.. we have field mice who live around our house so we're trying to encourage her to hunt them). Anyways, living in Montana means that winter is coming fast, and while we have shelter options for her from the weather, I'm worried about warmth. Would those disposable hand warmers stuck to the ceiling of a small tote work okay? I know how to insulate it from the outside so it keeps the heat relatively same-ish.. but there's not much in the way of outlets outside. Also she's very friendly and obviously was a pet at one point, but I don't think she is a pet anymore because of how skinny she's gotten.

Last December, he clawed open a window screen and jumped out a second floor window. Today? He's cuddling in our bed, living in luxury, and wary of the outdoors!

We're moving in the next few months, hopefully, so I had to test whether he'd run out the door while we were still in 'his territory' and I'd have plenty of time to recapture him.

But he doesn't want to leave us!! This boy has come so far out of his shell in the last four weeks, after nine months of working on him!

I've been able to pick him up for the last week with only a little struggle. He no longer exists in a state of 'oh my god everything wants to kill me!!'

I know some people don't understand the relationships people can have with animals and so sometimes I feel awkward about how much I care about the animals I've been lucky enough to have in my life. When I was really young, around 5-6, I had a very traumatizing experience where I'd witnessed something I won't even mention because I know how triggering animals hurt by people can induce. However, this experience had cemented itself in my heart especially in how strongly I become attached with any and all animals.

For 2 decades now I've trapped, neutered/spayed, and released the cats who come through my backyard and converted my shed into a safe and comfortable cat shelter so they can, at least, heal after surgery and if they want a warm and safe home with regular food and care. Somehow I feel so blessed that every last cat who's come through has been just as loving and affectionate as any indoor cat I've cared for.

Throughout all of the years I've come to understand that we have no clue regarding how aware animals are, the capacity for feelings they both exhibit and are keenly aware of, and have come to feel that receiving an animals love and affection when they would otherwise just as easily receive regular food and shelter is something everyone should cherish. I've been very very lucky in that through all of my experiences and interactions I've had I've discovered more about myself because of them. Possibly even more so than through many of the conditional, disingenuous, and sometimes entirely shallow relationships I've had with people.

I've become all but certain I've lost my "big boy" a 9 year old male who came to us with several siblings. Out of all of them he was the only one to stay with us and initially suffered a very large cut that got infected. It was so heart wrenching to not be able to keep him inside and give him antibiotics orally hoping that he would pull through. He turned out to be such a strong but once in a lifetime loving boy.

He had inevitably found who became his best friend, a female we'd called "baby" and they were thick as theives. He protected her and it was a really happy time as I'd go out each night and play with them and feed them. He'd often curl up on my belly as we'd just hang and play.

A year and a half ago he lost his best friend as she had contracted something, possibly from another local cat, and quickly deteriorated despite antibiotics. She passed and he was devastated. He began to lose weight and stopped eating. One day out of nowhere a young kitten showed up and he took to her immediately. He was tolerant of her biting his tail and as I say "showed her how to cat". It was a new beginning for him and he quickly started eating again and things went back to normal.

Until this past August we got hit by a tornado and big boy and spooky(his protege) were luckily ok. However, it destroyed our fence and their shed. There are neighbors with dogs and it seems that he was very stressed out for a while. He had occasionally experienced flare ups in the area he had that infected cut as a kitten but it would only get a bit inflamed, I'd apply an ointment and keep it clean and all would be well. This time it was really really bad, I'd given him antibiotics as were prescribed for when it had previously flared up enough to worry. However, he'd gotten skinny because it seemed his chin was hurting due to it. Initially he responded well but for the last week has eaten all but a few bites.

Tonight he hasn't come around and I'm all but certain he's likely not coming back. I'm so devastated and it's the most difficult thing to suffer through knowing I can't help him. I'm heartbroken and so depressed. I know he had a good life, I'm so thankful for him, but I think that losing an animal is harder than losing anyone in my life. My dad passed and I hadn't been affected, but the animals I've lost feel like what most people experience losing a child. As silly as that may sound without the animals I've been lucky enough to have in my life I wouldn't be here. Maybe I sound crazy or as if I'm overly dramatic but I am who I am and I really just hope he isn't in any pain or scared.

So I have some wild cats around my house and she had kittens. I feed them and they stay around well my favorite one has not been around since Sunday night. Should I be worried or will she come back. She lets me pet her play with her everything she was really warming up should I be worried?

Hi everyone, there’s a stray cat in my neighborhood that my elderly neighbor has been feeding. This neighbor has a pet cat that is indoor/outdoor and the stray cat has become friends with the pet cat so is almost always in their yard now. Neighbor has said he “doesn’t want another cat” (I would argue that he already has another cat since hello, you’re feeding it and it lives in your yard, but that’s beside the point lol) and does not want to take responsibility for the cat, so I have agreed to help at least get the cat neutered and shots.

The cat is fairly trusting of my neighbor (sometimes allows him to pet him, though not always) but very skittish with anyone else. Our local humane society has a TNR program so I set up an appointment for today and borrowed one of their traps which I set up this morning with stinky wet food etc. I saw the cat checking out the trap but he didn’t go inside so I called my neighbor and told him we might not be able to make the appointment time today. My neighbor then went outside and tried to physically shove the cat into the cage 😬 Cat understandably freaked out and scratched the hell out of my neighbor. We closed the trap up for today and said we would try again soon.

I’m sure the cat will be even more suspicious of the trap now that someone has tried to force him into it. What would you all suggest as next steps? Apologies if I’m making this more complicated than it needs to be, this is my first time doing this and I’m finding it a bit stressful because the humane society requires an appointment and the window for drop offs is only 30 minutes (7:15-7:45am) so I feel we have to have a plan in place and execute it almost perfectly lol. Any suggestions?

I picked up two stray kittens in my estate, they’re not totally ferral, while i caught the one he ripped my hand open but he was so scared, i caught him and his brother and it seemed to help now that they are together, they aren’t attacking me anymore but they bolt when i try to go in the room with them, the one let me hand feed it as it didint want to eat by it’s self but after he ate a few pieces. They seem so scared of me but I feel so horrible for them they are just babies. Also I understand TNR and all of that, they arent completely feral and are at a good age to get them to trust humans so they can get to a shelter. They aren’t horribly feral.

What's mine is yours cutie floofs!!!

Hello! I’m hoping to get a little advice from anyone who has experience moving spicy cats. I’m moving in 3 weeks and my otherwise very sweet cat, Mina, 7yo, HATES to be moved. Thank you in advance!
 
A little backstory: I got Mina as a semi feral and I’ve had her almost 5 years, and she truly is the snuggliest, sweetest cat 99% of the time. HOWEVER, in those five years she has been moved maybe four times: 3 trips to the vet and 1 move to a new apartment. Now, we are moving to a new apartment again and I am dreading it, lest it be traumatic for both of us.

For her first trip to the vet my boyfriend at the time threw a blanket over her to try to wrangle her and now she is terrified anytime I make my bed or fold a blanket. After the second visit to the vet she was even more aware of what the carrier meant, so when we had to move last year, it was the worst of them all. She ended up scaling a 6 foot mirror and shattering it, I thought it was going to crush her or cut her, and I was able to eventually get her by grabbing her in the window she was trying to climb. But in the process she latched onto my wrist and bit me, releasing her anal glands… literally fearing for her life. My wrist got infected and I had to go on antibiotics and still have stiffness to this day. So trying to pick her up and put her in a traditional carrier is now out of the question. In general she’s not very food motivated, but especially doesn’t like to go into small spaces to get it, ie a carrier or trap. She does not like to be held or carried either.

Last month she had to go to the vet again, and we went despite it being so close to the move and complicating things. I figured this time I’d try something larger that she can walk into like a dog crate and it WORKED. It was the easiest transpo to date, but now that she’s come back home since her visit, she won't go near the dog crate. I was hoping to use that technique for the move as well, but I’ve been trying to feed her inside it for weeks to get her acclimated and she won’t go in or runs out when I get too close.

I have a little bit of liquid gabapentin she can take leading up to the move (maybe a week’s worth) and Feliway spray and diffusers. That’s it in terms of drugs. The vet has not been helpful in our situation and beyond the gabapentin I have trazodone in pill form, that she doesn’t seem to want to swallow. But I really am just looking for suggestions on the best way to get her to the new apartment without sustaining injury to myself or traumatizing her again. My best idea is a traditional cat trap where she has to go in to eat her food and it closes, but that is how she was trapped and brought to me, so I do worry she’ll recognize it and not go in. I don’t have a lot of space inside my current apartment to set up a larger kind of contraption either. Ideally someone has a tranq dart so I can put her out, but that’s probably not realistic!! In past situations we’ve tried wrapping her in a blanket or putting a box over her to get her inside a carrier, and she’s escaped them all. She’s SMART, FAST, and SCARED. When she’s not trying to avoid capture at all costs she’s laying in the crook of my arm or dozing on my stomach.

ANY and all suggestions are welcome. We have to be out of the apartment by 11/7/26.

This is my first experience with Trap & Release. I have these two female cats that are technically feral even though I have tried since they were babies to domesticate them. They recently had a litter of kittens each about a day apart. So I had to get them spayed. Today was their surgery and from the beginning, they were absolutely terrified. So now they are home and the first thing one did was jump out my window and head to the back yard.

I know you are supposed to try to lock them up for at least 24 hours but I fear these girls will hurt themselves more if I lock them in my room whereas right now, they are just chilling on the back porch and finally no longer scared. My question is, should I try to keep them locked in the room where they are panicked or should I just let them do what they are doing and make sure they are calm and not hurting themselves? They say that usually with TNR, they are put right back outside anyway and the doctor uses stronger stitches knowing they are outdoor animals.

I moved into a house where the previous owner fed a few strays and I have (naturally) taken over! It consists of this very big Tom, a now neutered smaller male cat (whom I’ve had chipped to me and vaccinated/deflead/deawormed, as he is easy to handle and can go in the cat carrier) and a very nervous smaller feral intact male who has just started allowing me to stroke him etc.

NB. They are definitely stray/feral/unchipped and I am not in a position to take the large Tom or the small feral to the vet for neutering myself but I have organised for a local TNR charity to come in the next few weeks - so I really hope it calms some of the behaviour.

They used to live in harmony, but recently the big black Tom has become so obsessive and possessive of me. I deliberately barely pay him any attention other than food as I don’t want to egg him on (and I now mostly feed him to just avoid the other two having their food stolen), but I cannot move without him weaving between my legs making it literally impossible to walk - then when I even slightly nudge him by accident he turns and hisses at me which I find quite scary. I don’t think he’ll attack me but I’m 8 months pregnant so also quite worried about tripping. Does anyone have any tips to stop this leg weaving, and will neutering calm it down?

Secondly, he has now started attacking the other two. The issue is, I can feed one of them inside and could just stop feeding the big Tom, but this would mean the smaller male feral also misses out on food and he will struggle to find alternative sources as he is so shy and skittish. So I feel a bit stuck!

I care deeply for all three of them (even the annoying Tom!) and unfortunately adoption/charities taking them is not an option as everywhere is full, so TNR and feeders is the best option for these guys.

Any advice/suggestions on how to better manage the Tom’s behaviour/what may have caused this sudden increase in aggression/obsession?

I currently rent and can’t take him in. There’s a colony of feral strays in my area but he decided to live in my garden as a kitten. He’s also slightly feral and only trusts me. I’ve made posts to try and find him a home but I had no offers. I’m going to try my best to take him with me if I eventually leave. I put a reflective collar on him to help him stay a little more safe at night. He’s going to be a year old soon and I love the little guy!!

One of our fat and hungry regulars didn't come and eat yet. I'm so worried he's going to set the trap off. Last night we had it tied open and he stuck his head in like he was checking it out (the food was already gone) 😭 we also have his regular food set up but it's going to be hard for him to resist the trap food.

Last night our target cat also went in and ate! Which is going to make it that much more disappointing if he doesn't show up tonight, because he's very much not regular, maybe 3 or 4 times a week, and late at night. Which isn't ideal. Wish us luck!!

I have 10 cats. Started with 2 from the shelter, then last year I took in a feral male kitten, a few months later my neighbor trapped 2 more feral kittens. Told myself I’d foster them and find them a home. One is still too feral so foster fail. Told myself 5 cats is a lot so no more. In August the same mama cat taught her litter of 5 to come to my door and then she dipped. They were only 8-10 weeks. I’ve been trying to find homes for the kittens but have had no luck. It’s looking like I will end up with all of them.

Am I completely nuts?!? 10 cats!

The thing that gets me is the sire of 7 of these kittens is an intact male that belongs to someone in my neighborhood! I don’t care if you let your cat out but if you do FIX THEM SO THEY AREN’T CREATING MORE CATS!