Advice please. My cat is under my house and won't come out.

[crispini]

I have two cats. Both are ex-feral. Fannie is pretty normal but Jen is painfully shy to the point of still being borderline feral. Now, yesterday my brother (and dog) moved into my house. Both cats being kind of skitzy, they hid. And stayed hid and stayed hid and stayed hid.

Now. The next part to this story is that I have been renovating a bathroom. Meaning that part of the bathroom is still stripped down to the studs, i.e. no drywall. And where I live, houses have a crawlspace under them instead of a basement. And apparently, at this one point in the bathroom, behind the bathtub, there is a hole in the subflooring which leads down into the crawl space.

So Fannie came out more or less on her own -- which is how we know about this -- but Jen is not about to do so. I went down there and crawled around after her for awhile but she's pretty wigged out by the mere presence of someone else in my house so she is not about to let me come near her -- although I did get within 3 feet once, which is pretty good.

So I have left the door open and am going to lurk outside and wait up as long as I can and see if she comes out on her own (she MUST be hungry and thirsty at this point, poor thing) and shut the door behind her, but I have doubts as to whether or not I can outwait her, and anyway she may very well just run back in.

Thoughts? What do I try next?

[Az]

1. Tuna

Open a can. Set it outside where the puddy tat can smell it. Wait.

[Jed Dilligan]

3. jinx nt

[crispini]

4. Yeah but how do I keep her

from eating it up and going back in?

She's THAT feral, she really is. I should have realized this would happen and put her in cage and administered kitty xanax before my brother even moved in. Although I didn't know about the hole.

[Jed Dilligan]

2. Have you tried putting out some nice ripe tuna fish? nt

[In_The_Wind]

5. She will adjust. Hearing your voice will calm her.

If she doesn't come in before you go to bed consider putting food and water under the house for her. You don't want her to wander off because she is hungry or thirsty. She will stick around if there is food and you can win her confidence again.


good luck - remain calm and loving

[crispini]

6. She can't get out from underneath the house, the crawl space

is pretty well sealed up. That's one good thing.

The bad thing is it definitely smells like catbox under there in a couple of places. I found this out earlier when I went down there and crawled around. I have to get her out before the entire house smells of catbox, heh!

Do you think I could borrow a live trap from somewhere? Maybe the humane society?

[henslee]

9. Live trap is the way to go. Do not crawl around there. You will

subject yourself to funky dust, mice shit and who knows what.

[barb162]

10. you can rent them at these rental outfits

but I think it is better to get the smelly cat food and string toys to coax her

[NV Whino]

7. First step:

Remove brother and dog.

Second step: make sure food and water are available

Third step: wait.

[barb162]

11. yeah, remove the dog

wehenever a dog is within a fifty feet of my cats, they run and hide

[MrScorpio]

8. Send in some dogs

They'll run out

[hickman1937]

12. Might sound stupid, but just lay under there and talk to her for awhile.

with a can of tuna of course and some water.

[MarsThe Cat]

13. Tuna. Plus one of these-

a few years ago we had to get rid of a raccon that had taken up residence in our basement while we were on vacation- I called the city/county and they dropped one off for free- when the raccoon was captured, they would pick it back up.
loaded trap with tasty ham.
went to check on it later, and we had caught our siamese cat- who, lured by the smell of the ham had made her way through the walls, into the basement, and into the trap. (we were remodelling, and our basement doesn't have an entrance directly from our unit. we have a two-flat, live on the first floor & rent the 2nd floor).

we never did get the raccoon. it just left.

i think...

[crispini]

14. Update!

Cat came back!

Here is how it all came out:

Night 1: This is the first night she went missing and I didn't even know she was gone. I just figured she was hiding somewhere.

Night 2: I realized where she had gone and crawled around all under the house, could not reach cat. Then I staked out the hole in the floorboards for hours. But, cat stayed under the house, and did not emerge.

Night 3: We procured a humane trap, put it under the house with some food in it. Cat was either not liking that food or not smart enough to figure out how to actually go in the trap (this is a VERY dumb cat, although she is adorable.) Still no cat.

Tonight: I went to Jack in the Box and got Cat's absolutely favorite food, a Sourdough Jack Bacon Cheeseburger. She just LOVES those things! Whenever I get one she comes up to me and practically takes it out of my mouth. I went down under the house and sat down and ate it. She came right up to me and I was able to get her out. None the worse for wear! I have two cats again! :bounce:

[miss_kitty]

15. sweet!

you'll do that first thing next time, right?

:D

[crispini]

16. Heaven forbid there's a next time!

But yes. I tend to forget about her unnatural love for Sourdough Bacon Cheeseburgers. It's just so uncatlike. :)

[Moochy]

28. Jack in the Box - subliminal messages for cats

Does she watch alot of late nite TV?

http://www.jackinthebox.com/pressroom/factssheet_co.php

1968 Ralston Purina Co. acquired controlling interest in Foodmaker, Inc.

[crispini]

31. LOL! Well, that explains a lot. :) nt

[barb162]

21. wonderful ! is she getting along with the dogs now?

[crispini]

24. No. But the dog keeps trying to chase her.

I think the whole acclimatization is going to take awhile. :D

[hickman1937]

23. Doncha love it?

Did she tentatively put her front paws on your legs, then go for the food and refuse to let go? Buzzing the whole time?

[crispini]

25. No, she circled and circled and circled and circled,

meowing loudly and plaintively the whole time, getting closer and closer, until I tore a bit off and put it down for her near me. She came and got that and then she demanded some more and I grabbed her. :D

[hickman1937]

26. You brought her back in. That's all that matters. n/t

[crispini]

27. Yes. Now she's hiding under the stove.

At least I know where she is. :D

[hickman1937]

29. She's in and safe. Where I live it's getting cold.

A lot of elderly people die in the dim months in my state, and their asshole relatives just put the companion cat out to fend for itself. Nice to know that a little one is warm and safe.

[crispini]

30. That's very sad.

:( What an awful way to treat the furchildren. You know, if you get 'em, you have a responsibility to them. They're not chairs or tables, they're critters!

[GOPisEvil]

17. Yay!!! I'm glad she's back!!

Jack In The Box? :rofl:

[crispini]

18. Yep. This is one weird cat.

Sounds like a kid's story... the cat who liked Jack in the Box!

[lonestarnot]

19. OMG he/she is under house arrest!

Try here kitty kitty kitty.......meeeeeow meeeeeeow. See if that works.

[caty]

20. Do you give your cats treats?

If you do, shake the treat can or bag. When I want any of my three cats to come to me---I shake the "Pounce" can. They come a runnin'.

[DanCa]

22. Did you try a flash light and get her to chase the lights?

Kind of like fishing with a light beam?

[crispini]

32. UPDATE 2: I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!

So I got the cat out last night, the dog was safely in my brother's room, and all was well. She sat next to me, had some burger, watched some TV, everything was fine.

This morning she just would NOT settle down. Walking around the house, meowing meowing meowing. I kept trying to pet her, made sure she had some food and knew where her box was. I'd take her to her food, she'd eat a bit, and then she'd start crying again. This went on for about an hour and I decided to just ignore her because I couldn't figure out what she wanted.

So she goes and opens the door to my brother's room, WHERE THE DOG IS, and opens the door to the bathroom, where the hole under the house is, and she goes back UNDER THE HOUSE!!!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! :banghead: