Rajah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
- Messages
- 9,633
We Almost had her tonight.
Last night, the kitten didn't want any food. So either someone else already fed her or (I think more likely) she caught another mouse. She still came by to say hi, though, and cuddled against the car while mewing and looking at me before she curled up with a content smile under the car for a nap.
Tonight, though, she was waiting for me when I came home, even though that was an hour earlier than her feeding time. She mewed and came up to me, almost coming out from under the car but not quite. I spoke to her and told her she'd have to wait for a little bit, but I'd be down in a bit.
I went up and got my food, then fed Blaze and Skye before readying her plate and taking it down. When I got down to the parking lot, I found the guy I'd spoken to earlier in the week (or was it last week?) sitting on the curb off in a corner feeding her again. I joined him and set my food down next to his, and his wife (or girlfriend, not sure which) joined us when she got back from the store a few minutes later.
I asked them about the other cat they'd been inquiring about, but they said they never heard back on her. So I asked again if they were interested in the girl. The lady said they were, but didn't want to take her from me if I was wanting to keep her. So I explained again why, no matter how much I *want* to keep her, I can't (allergies, asthma, yada-yada-yada). So they said yes, they were interested if I was sure.
So we decided to try and catch her tonight since they already had an appointment at the vet tomorrow -- they'd been planning to go to the SPCA tomorrow and get a cat. So he went up to their apartment and got their spare carrier, I went to mine and got some tuna, a toy mouse, the string, and the gloves.
Since she'd already eaten pretty much her fill, we knew the food wouldn't be enough to entice her into the carrier. But she was very playful tonight, so I decided to try getting her in with a toy mousie tied to the string. It wouldn't substitute for a real mouse, but it was as close as we could get.
We tied one string to the top of the carrier door, and I held on to that one so I could make sure the door didn't swing closed when we didn't want it to, and so I could hold onto it once we *did* get her in the carrier and hopefully keep her in there. The other lady had a string tied to the bottom of the door and was off to the side where she could actually *see* the kitten and see when she was *in* the carrier. The guy stood to the other side ready to jump out and hold and lock the door. He had the gloves.
It took a few tries (and a couple of scares with cars, but the people in the parking lot were overall very good about slowing way down when they saw the kitten), but she came out to investigate then slowly stalk the toy mousie as I dragged it across the parking lot back to where we had everything set up. When I got close enough, I strung the string through the back of the carrier so the mouse would go inside. This was really where my "Think Like A Cat" "training" (so to speak) came in handy. Having studied how Blaze and Skye reacted to the mousies when they moved specific ways, and having watched her a couple of nights earlier with a *real* mouse, I made the toy mouse move as much like a real one as I could when it was on 20 feet of string.
I was able to entice her all the way across the parking lot back to the setup, and even to the door of the carrier, but she wouldn't go completely inside. She kept thinking about it and thinking about it, then played with the door, then thought about it some more, then went over to eat from the plate we hadn't taken up, then thought a little more. We had her half-way in the carrier 3 times, but each time something outside of the 3 of us (a car, another person, etc) scared her away so she never went fully inside.
We were about to give up when the decision to continue or not was made for us. Out of absolutely nowhere, the orange cat came BOUNDING past, almost on top of the other lady, running through the parking lot and disappearing. Apparently (s)he came to see if the food was there, and was startled by someone walking their dog behind the garages we were working next to. She startled us and broke our concentration, and really startled the kitten so that the kitten hid under a car with a frightened look, and I decided it was no good. We'd lost our chance for tonight. With her frightened like that, it would have taken more time than any of us had tonight to even have a chance of getting her into the carrier.
So we're going to try again tomorrow night, and if that doesn't work, maybe Sunday night. But whatever the case, it looks like she does indeed have a home -- a good one -- if we can just catch her. And this couple uses the same vets we do, which makes me feel even happier.
I just hope maybe they'll let me come visit her a time or so after she's moved in (if all goes well). And maybe we'll keep in touch and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to say I actually have *friends* in the apartment complex by the time all of this is over.
Last night, the kitten didn't want any food. So either someone else already fed her or (I think more likely) she caught another mouse. She still came by to say hi, though, and cuddled against the car while mewing and looking at me before she curled up with a content smile under the car for a nap.
Tonight, though, she was waiting for me when I came home, even though that was an hour earlier than her feeding time. She mewed and came up to me, almost coming out from under the car but not quite. I spoke to her and told her she'd have to wait for a little bit, but I'd be down in a bit.
I went up and got my food, then fed Blaze and Skye before readying her plate and taking it down. When I got down to the parking lot, I found the guy I'd spoken to earlier in the week (or was it last week?) sitting on the curb off in a corner feeding her again. I joined him and set my food down next to his, and his wife (or girlfriend, not sure which) joined us when she got back from the store a few minutes later.
I asked them about the other cat they'd been inquiring about, but they said they never heard back on her. So I asked again if they were interested in the girl. The lady said they were, but didn't want to take her from me if I was wanting to keep her. So I explained again why, no matter how much I *want* to keep her, I can't (allergies, asthma, yada-yada-yada). So they said yes, they were interested if I was sure.
So we decided to try and catch her tonight since they already had an appointment at the vet tomorrow -- they'd been planning to go to the SPCA tomorrow and get a cat. So he went up to their apartment and got their spare carrier, I went to mine and got some tuna, a toy mouse, the string, and the gloves.
Since she'd already eaten pretty much her fill, we knew the food wouldn't be enough to entice her into the carrier. But she was very playful tonight, so I decided to try getting her in with a toy mousie tied to the string. It wouldn't substitute for a real mouse, but it was as close as we could get.
We tied one string to the top of the carrier door, and I held on to that one so I could make sure the door didn't swing closed when we didn't want it to, and so I could hold onto it once we *did* get her in the carrier and hopefully keep her in there. The other lady had a string tied to the bottom of the door and was off to the side where she could actually *see* the kitten and see when she was *in* the carrier. The guy stood to the other side ready to jump out and hold and lock the door. He had the gloves.
It took a few tries (and a couple of scares with cars, but the people in the parking lot were overall very good about slowing way down when they saw the kitten), but she came out to investigate then slowly stalk the toy mousie as I dragged it across the parking lot back to where we had everything set up. When I got close enough, I strung the string through the back of the carrier so the mouse would go inside. This was really where my "Think Like A Cat" "training" (so to speak) came in handy. Having studied how Blaze and Skye reacted to the mousies when they moved specific ways, and having watched her a couple of nights earlier with a *real* mouse, I made the toy mouse move as much like a real one as I could when it was on 20 feet of string.
I was able to entice her all the way across the parking lot back to the setup, and even to the door of the carrier, but she wouldn't go completely inside. She kept thinking about it and thinking about it, then played with the door, then thought about it some more, then went over to eat from the plate we hadn't taken up, then thought a little more. We had her half-way in the carrier 3 times, but each time something outside of the 3 of us (a car, another person, etc) scared her away so she never went fully inside.
We were about to give up when the decision to continue or not was made for us. Out of absolutely nowhere, the orange cat came BOUNDING past, almost on top of the other lady, running through the parking lot and disappearing. Apparently (s)he came to see if the food was there, and was startled by someone walking their dog behind the garages we were working next to. She startled us and broke our concentration, and really startled the kitten so that the kitten hid under a car with a frightened look, and I decided it was no good. We'd lost our chance for tonight. With her frightened like that, it would have taken more time than any of us had tonight to even have a chance of getting her into the carrier.
So we're going to try again tomorrow night, and if that doesn't work, maybe Sunday night. But whatever the case, it looks like she does indeed have a home -- a good one -- if we can just catch her. And this couple uses the same vets we do, which makes me feel even happier.
I just hope maybe they'll let me come visit her a time or so after she's moved in (if all goes well). And maybe we'll keep in touch and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to say I actually have *friends* in the apartment complex by the time all of this is over.
Good luck with kitty.
