Towards the end of summer last year, I periodically spotted this light orange colored cat. After seeing him a few times, I posted on Facebook asking if anyone knew who he belonged to. No answers. I started putting food out. That's when I quickly learned that there was more than one cat out there. The weather was about to get cold, so I ordered an insulated cat box from Amazon. I checked with all my neighbors to make sure they were okay with me putting a cat house out. One neighbor was not just okay with it, but she was equally excited! She knew exactly the cat I was talking about. This was the start of what would become my daily entertainment.
Every night, I'd go put food out, sit on my porch and watch from afar. It was FREEZING outside, so I'd bundle up and text my neighbor the play by play on which cat was out and doing what. The most frequently spotted cat was the light orange cat and he was aptly named "Tan Cat" for research purposes, of course. In the mornings, my neighbor and I would go place piles of kibble in places we thought the cats might be living. We'd go back at night to find the kibble gone and no cats in sight. A few times, we put on our snow boots and followed their paw prints. We still never found where they lived. The neighbor spotted a tiny gray kitten - and since we couldn't get the cats to use the insulated house, we decided it was time to set a trap. The weather man said there was something called a "Siberian Express" coming. My neighbor phoned a friend who regularly traps and rescues cats. She delivered us a kitten trap and we eagerly set the trap and crossed our fingers.
We took turns checking the trap every 20 minutes or so to make sure it didn't get trapped and freeze to death. A few nights passed and we were successful! We trapped the kitten! We attempted to transfer him from trap to carrier, but unfortunately he was smarter and faster than us. He got out and ran out my front door. We took our chances and set the trap again. One night I got out of work to a text from my neighbor saying indeed there was a cat in the trap, but it wasn't the gray kitten. It was a "fluffy orange cat"! The fluffy boy was kept in the trap in her warm basement until the next morning when I drove him to the local vet to get him scanned for a microchip. He didn't have one. This time, I let the professionals transfer him to a carrier. My neighbor posted on Facebook to see if he belonged to anyone, He now happily resides in New Jersey with my niece. His name is Cheese.
Time to set the trap again and try to recapture the gray kitten. About a week later, we caught him again. This time, we didn't screw it up! He lived in the neighbor's toasty basement until he found a forever home. His name is Mowgli. Now, it was time to trap the big cats. My husband and I went to Rural King and purchased larger traps. Time to set the trap. "Tan Cat" was my primary target for capture - he was the one I saw every single day. I set the trap with some wet food. Tan Cat came over and investigated but wouldn't take the bait. The next couple of weeks I tried everything I could think of. I moved the trap, I tried other food, I even buried the trap with field grass to camouflage it. I heated up gravy and trailed it in. I made a tuna trail ... tried it all!
I gave up on trying to trap him, but I wouldn't give up on caring for him. I continued putting food out every day. I had to feed him from about 20 yards away and if I blinked too loud he ran. The days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months. I attempted to slowly move his food bowl closer to my house; however, that was a hard "no" from him - he didn't trust anything different. As the weather started to warm up, I eventually began sitting about 10 feet away from his bowl with my back to him. Over weeks time, I'd get a little closer and a little closer. He started doing funny things. He'd walk away from me and roll around then chirp at me. He finally acknowledged my existence!!
He started to get close to me and would stick around after he ate to play with sticks or scratch a tree. Then he began following me every night when I'd walk up to the cornfield with my flashlight to look around. He'd follow me making funny meows and sometimes he'd even lead the way! Eventually, he came over into our yard and around July he rubbed up against my legs for the first time. In August, I was allowed to pet him! Now he sits on my porch with me and climbs on my lap.
After spending at least an hour a day with him (usually more) for months, it finally paid off! I've got a new companion.
Oh, and he is no longer "Tan Cat" - he is Reginald Von Vegetable! And he no longer plays with sticks and rocks because he has REAL toys!
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