A neighbor of mine found a stray/feral cat and we where feeding it. It liked to stay in her bushes and sometimes on her front porch. Then it bit her when she tried to pet it and she called animal control. My friend and I talked to the officer and he said they would keep the cat at the animal control place for ten days to make sure it does not have rabies. But then they would euthanize(put to sleep) the cat because it has no home. He then set a live animal trap with cat food in it. My friend and I love animals and don't want them to kill the cat so I threw a rock in the trap to set it off so the cat would not go in there. And I put out cat food near my house so that the cat will stay away from the neighbor that wants it killed. I talked to my mom and she said we could keep it all I need to do is catch it. I think the animal control scared it and I have not seen it since (this all hapend 7 hours ago). So how I do I catch a feral cat? And I know for a fact it does not have a home because it is one of the liter of cats that a stray had. Another neighbor was taking care of them when they escaped.
Anonymous2009-12-12T14:18:06Z
Favorite Answer
i can't believe these guys on her saying you should help them kill it cause it could be "disease carrier" i hate to break it to you but so could you guys! anything living could be so by your logic everything on earth should be killed cause who knows? they could have diseases...i love that your trying to save this cat! we need more people like you in this world! i think your best bet would be to get a live trap of your own and make sure that the animal control one stay closed... good luck i hope you can catch it.. and btw as farr as What if it does have rabies your neighbor could die... SHE can get tested also you don't have to have the animal to find out if you have rabies!!
If you are in a rabies danger area, then there are serious concerns about cat bites. And since animal control has been involved, they are not going to go away.
A trap is the only way, and your only real approach would be, if you can catch it, is to confine it to a room or enclosed area, and monitor. If no untoward signs occur, then you can try and tame it, and then get it checked out by a vet, without stating it bit someone. But that is also really courting problems. You really would need to make sure it doesn't bite you, even by accident. Depending on how feral the stray is, confining it would be very unpleasant for the cat.
I don't think the animal control officer was exactly upfront on what would happen. Oh, they might examine it to see if there are any signs of a wound, which could suggest a danger of rabies. But more likely than not, it would be the end of the cat right away.
A feral cat that bites in an area with a danger of rabies is a very serious issue.
I understand your concern. I work for animal control and I can tell you from personal experience we are not scared of the animal. The problem with feral cats is that they are dangerous. We get in feral all the time we run a program of TNR. We trap the feral and then we alter them and release them into the wild. That way they do not overpopulate. We try to place them at farms where they can live their lives in a barn and be fed and taken care of. Once a year we go back and trap them and put them to sleep to give them their shots. The problem with feral is they ARE WILD!! Have you ever tried to deal with a feral? They will tear you up. Right now at my shelter we have 3. They are awaiting surgery. I hate having the feral there. They are a danger to my employees. Cleaning the cage daily is a challenge, you get near the cage and they act like wild tigers. You open the door and they lunge at you .We have to use heavy gloves and nooses just to feed them. In the past we have had volunteers try to tame them but very often it is a loosing battle. As far as putting them down I understand your concern but sometimes it is for the best. The well being of the cat
You sound like a good person by trying to catch the cat. But you need to think about a few things first. A feral cat is very hard to catch, let alone raise as an indoor cat. It will bite, scratch, claw, climb, hiss, spit.... anything to get away. They don't understand that you are trying to help it. And animal control is right. The cat could have a number of disease's, rabies included. Help animal control catch the cat, its going to do nothing but breed and put more unwanted litters in your neighborhood. If your really wanting a kitten, and your parents agree, thats great. Do it the right way though, and get one from your local humane society or SPCA. You will get a written health guarantee, its shots, and it will get spayed/nuetered for free.
Your wanting the idea of a friendly animal you can play with, and it will lay and purr with you, right? The feral cat is NOT going to do this, ever. The most you will ever be able to do with it is feed it.
ANY person can go down to animal control and have a hold put on any cat or dog they have there. The animal control has to hold every cat or dog for a certain amount of time, and if it's not claimed then they do euthenize--so by asking for a hold on it, you claim it for yours once the hold time is up and you just pay the release fee for the cat then.
I went down to adopt two adult cats from our animal control place, I could have picked up the first in 2 days but the other was still having to wait 5 days, so they held both with my name and I picked them up after the 5 days were up.
Animal control does it's best to have good homes for their animals, but so many are unclaimed that they have to euthenize to make room for the new ones coming in. Our AC puts down 20 animals a day. There's nothing else they can do.
Don't damage the trap, you can just trigger it to close, without hurting it. Borrow a live trap of your own and get the cat, or at least keep feeding it on YOUR property. It takes a long time to have a half wild cat learn to trust you. We took in 2 male strays that way. They took a while to calm down but they did once they knew they were safe.