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Need cat advice

Posted: Jan 27, 2015

My cat is hiding underneath my neighbor's shrubs and will not come home. He is afraid I will keep him inside so he doesn't trust me anymore. He stayed out all night last night and I finally saw him this morning. I tried coaxing him, bribing him with food, and he just ran away to find a safer hiding spot. He got into a cat fight on Friday and got a small puncture wound. I kept him in on Sunday to keep an eye on the wound and he was not happy about it. That's why he doesn't trust me anymore.

Do I have to just wait him out? The only advice I can find online says to search the surrounding areas. I know he's in my neighbor's yard and searching will only make him run to a new hiding place. Trapping is just out of the question. Any advice appreciated. Thank you.

;

When he gets hungry he'll come home - nm

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.

Put box with blanket near door and - some food

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for him. He will come there to sleep. He needs to get in house or he will get in another fight and cat fights are horrible. Not to mention dogs.

He is completely indoor cat eh? Well I never had a cat I forced to stay indoors. I always left a window open and they stayed feet from window, smelling the air and marking their territory.

When I wanted a cat to leave the yard (he was harroassing my old girl), I filled a tin of water and threw it up in air between me and cat when I found him in my yard, and looked him right in eye and said, stay away. Cats understand. I did not get cat wet, of course, but it got the message. Indoor cat I new was so sad and lonely. Get another cat perhaps to keep it company. Cats are territorial, you know. Two cats are better than one in my book as they will discourage other cats from coming into space.

Best of luck.

Careful, putting cat food out...sm - VTMT

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may attract other critters like skunks.

Too late for that! Update - Kittymama

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My Woody is an indoor/outdoor cat. I have 5 other indoor cats. He's always been responsible about going out, comes when I call him, not going near the street, sticking close to home.

I always put out food for the strays, sometimes not at night though. Have lots of other critters who come, skunks, possums. Sometimes I put the food up on the back of my car so only the cats can get it.

I saw him again this morning in the bushes. When I came back with food, he was gone again. I have just resigned myself to letting him do what he wants. He is just so afraid of me and any move I make towards him scares him away. So for now, I am letting him go. He's still in my neighbor's yard. I can see the bushes from my work desk, so I keep a watch, I know he's there. I keep out food and water for him, but I can't force him. Makes me sad and I feel rejected, but it's his choice. I don't think there is anything else I can do at this point.

Thanks for the advice and to the poster who emailed me, it is possible he does have an abscess and I just have to wait it out. One of my strays had an abscess on her head once. She was gone for almost a week and when she came back, half of her head was bald where she was rubbing at it and she's great now.

Bless you for what you do - nm

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xx

let him go. - caretaker of 5 cats

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I have had perhaps 20 cats in my lifetime. Sometimes cats just don't want to be inside cats or even come home. Move on and get yourself another cat from a shelter who would appreciate being loved and fed. Trust me you CAN NOT make him be an inside cat if he doesn't want to be. You don't have to abandon the cat entirely, It may sound cruel but you can still leave food out for him and pet him when he comes around. I have had so many like this, we just let them go. They come back if they want to. We had cats with such bad behavior problems we modified our deck and put them out there. I love cats but if they can't behave or stay inside the best of luck to them, there are plenty out there that need love and will be happy to be with us.

I kind of agree with this - but...

[ In Reply To ..]
just make sure he is neutered before you let him start roaming around... in fact, this might turn him into more of the puddy-cat you want.

All of my cats are fixed - Thanks-OP

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He's never been the most affectionate cat, very aloof, but he's mine and I still love him.

I know it's hard, but I think you do have to wait him out. - Cats are so damn independent. LOL

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nm

your cat may be injured - sm

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Try to remember that you can't really read your cat's mind. Injured cats hide, and he was in a fight. Puncture wounds look small, and cats heal fast, so you have no way of knowing if something important got punctured, infected, or an abscess is occurring. Try to get your pet to the vet.

Update on Woody - Kittymama

[ In Reply To ..]
He finally showed up yesterday morning, well enough to jump over a 4-foot fence and was sleeping in the chair next to my backdoor. He had a terrible looking wound, so we went straight to the vet. Surgery, drains, E-collar, but he's home now, unhappy with the collar and being inside, but prayers were answered and he is safe and sound so far. He's going to have to be inside for 10 days and am really going to try to keep him inside from now on, I don't want this happening again, the worrying was driving me crazy. Thanks to all who responded.

Glad he is home. - I had an indoor and outdoor cat

[ In Reply To ..]
He had been a stray in my neighborhood and he also ended up with a wound on his ear. I kept him inside for a couple of months and then I was really worried that maybe he wasn't a stray after all and I had stolen someone's cat so I let him outside again. (He was skinny and always hungry and the wound wasn't being tended do, so I was pretty sure he didn't have a home that he liked.) He would go hang out on the wall between the houses an watch the world go by and then come back for lunch and a nap and that was our routine every day.

There's a tom cat - a true tom cat who is not sterilized - now in the neighborhood and this cat attacked Oscar twice while Oscar was in his own freaking back yard. It made me mad, but I told Oscar he was going to have to a strictly inside kitty from then on because if he came home with the snot beaten out of him, I didn't have the money for the vet. It took him a couple of months to stop hanging by the back door where I always let him out and me going out the front door so I wouldn't tease him, but he eventually settled down and he's been a strictly inside cat with everyone else now for about 2 years.

Your cat will adjust eventually. He'll make you crazy until he does, but he will adjust to being an inside cat if that's the route you decide to go.

Glad he made it home and relatively in one piece.

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