Friends up the street needed to move but couldn’t take their cat along. “Tommy” was not the sort to be picked up, or taken willingly to a new home, anyway. So we thought I would be able to entice him down to my home, less than ¼ mile away. Gradually, I moved his feeding place toward my home.
Tommy is a beautiful orange and white cat, who had been a stray that took up residence at the home of my friends. He eventually became their pet, but at this point is resistant to getting a new home.
When I got him to about half the distance he needed to go, he stopped coming by. So I moved back toward his old home, and he came back to eat.
At the suggestion of my friends, I decided to use a humane trap that I have to simply take him down to my house. That worked like a charm – or at least seemed to at first. He went into the trap to eat the food I’d put there, but did not like being trapped at all.
I managed to get him to my home, kept him in the cage for about 24 hours, feeding him and making sure he had water. He seemed to settle down and talk with me. At the end of this time, I put more food into his dish, but a little bit away from the trap. I gently opened the cage for him to get out and eat. He took time to smell the food, but dashed off across the lava to his old home.
Because I thought he might remember where the food was, I left it, and in a 30 minute period of time when I wasn’t watching, the food was gone.
The next day, I put out more food, then watched to see if it was Tommy who came to eat. Surprise!
Now the gray and white cat has become brazen enough to come up to the back door to eat whatever food I’ve put out. I don’t know if s/he belongs to someone or if s/he is a stray. In Ocean View, many of the cats sort of rotate their feeding place, and if there is food out, they’ll find it.
I don’t know where Tommy is at this point, but I suspect that anyone buying my friends’ house will find themselves the owners of a beautiful orange and white cat, as well! I wonder if I’ve ended up with a gray and white cat?
A hui hou!