Anyone Know Anything About Cats?

[OrlandoEastwood]

Ok, Thursday, I was informed by next door neighbor that there's a kitten or a cat under my trailer. As I went to inspect, there was a Solo cup of cat food. I was like great. So, I wanted to try to catch it. Friday night, I went out with two things of cat food. At 10pm, after an hour, I found the first container completely licked clean. I placed the second can out and went in five to ten minute increments to check on it. He kept taking nibbles.

1 am came and I was dead tired. I realized that I wouldn't be able to capture him. So, best bet was to take my video camera and try to catch him on video, to see what he looks like. I left the camera out for an hour and within the first five minutes, he walks up to the camera and walks off.

So, Saturday, before going to my 11 hour shift, I left a shirt that I rubbed on my body to give him my scent and rubbed the bag over it too because he rubbed up against it too. So, I came home at 11 last night and saw footprints over the shirt. I left another can out and kept checking and nothing.

Problem is, we had a small snow storm and the weather dropped. I fear that he might have bitten the dust. I am feeling really bad about it right now. I had been contemplating these last few months about getting a pet and was feeling really happy trying to catch this little guy. Does anyone know if cats are able to stay warm in cold weather?

Here's a condensed version of the video. I added a time code to show how much time passed in the video that I shot.

Cat

[Billy13]

Cat's can usually do quite well caring for themselves, even in inclement weather. He's probably just somewhere else he could go to be warm.

Basically, he ate your food, and dipped. That's my guess.

[Visco.]

Originally Posted by Billy13

Cat's can usually do quite well caring for themselves, even in inclement weather. He's probably just somewhere else he could go to be warm.

Basically, he ate your food, and dipped. That's my guess.

If someone continuously lays good out, the cat will stick around. I've had 2 cats stick around my house for the last year because we continue feeding them.

My guess is he has found a warm spot under your home and is staying put. Try leaving some food out over night and if he doesn't eat anything then he might have moved on.

He'll be fine in the winter as long as he can find food.

[Villiam Hayes]

Yeah....they piss in my garden and if I could only get my hands(pitchfork)on them...

[sk33tr]

if you have any old clothing or blankets, put them under there and give him/her a place to sleep.

if he/she gets cold, they'll remember the spot and come back to it for a night's sleep.

it's good to know there are still those that are concerned for our furry friends. so many others would just ignore and hope it went away.....even in the cold months. so good for you.

[chip75]

That video was like the Blair Cat Project!

It's possible the little guy has got up underneath your trailer if there's any warmth there, I've known cats to go underneath car bonnets if they're warm too.

[memovieaddict]

i have four stray cats that i have been feeding for about 3 months now. i was inspired by one of the cats because she sleeps underneath my car. it took me about 2 weeks to make her feel comfortable around me, and i am finally able to touch her and play with her when it's eating time. like you, i am concerned about her health and the rest of the cats during this winter season. there was one stray cat that i took care of for more than a year that got sick because of the weather and she might have died because of that and old age. what i'm going to do is bring out my dog's old house and put a lot of fleece blankets inside so the cats could have a place to sleep.

my suggestion to you is to keep putting food in a safe container because she might be back. there were days when the cats i'm feeding were gone for a few days but they eventually did come back. also, put something like a big box with blankets as well so she could sleep in it. you'll hopefully would eventually be able to come close to her and when you're able to grab her, i do hope you adopt her and give her a permanent home. thank you for caring for this cat!

[memovieaddict]

Originally Posted by Villiam Hayes

Yeah....they piss in my garden and if I could only get my hands(pitchfork)on them...

[UK_fan_05]

Cats can be pretty damn nasty too. Pissing on walls/furniture. Eww.

[sk33tr]

Originally Posted by UK_fan_05

Cats can be pretty damn nasty too. Pissing on walls/furniture. Eww.

that's not urinating, that's marking their territory. and they don't do that if you get them fixed.

[OrlandoEastwood]

Originally Posted by chip75

That video was like the Blair Cat Project!

Yeah, I had the camera inside a plastic bag because it had been raining pretty hard the past few days and the opening in the skirting around my trailer is where the rain water likes to connect because I'm at the bottom of an incline. I didn't want to get it caked in mud. I had my gloves on and accidentally switched it over from HD to SD when I was positioning the cam and I didn't feel like switching it back.

Originally Posted by chip75

It's possible the little guy has got up underneath your trailer if there's any warmth there, I've known cats to go underneath car bonnets if they're warm too.

I felt a lot of heat coming out when I was underneath my trailer. And that was from yesterday after it had snowed.

Originally Posted by memovieaddict

my suggestion to you is to keep putting food in a safe container because she might be back. there were days when the cats i'm feeding were gone for a few days but they eventually did come back. also, put something like a big box with blankets as well so she could sleep in it. you'll hopefully would eventually be able to come close to her and when you're able to grab her, i do hope you adopt her and give her a permanent home. thank you for caring for this cat!

Yeah, the plan was either domesticating it and keeping it or try to domesticate it and if that failed, take it to the humane society. To be safe, I was going out with thick gloves on my hands since it cold, but, besides that to protect in case if it tried to bite or scratch. It won't completely help me, but, some padding is better than nothing.

Originally Posted by sk33tr

it's good to know there are still those that are concerned for our furry friends. so many others would just ignore and hope it went away.....even in the cold months. so good for you.

Well, the people who own the trailer park that I live in do not like dogs at all. They hate them with the passion. I think cats are okay, but, it's either a cat or a goldfish and most fish don't live too long. So, the logical answer after living there for a year was to get a cat. I was wanting to get a kitten and start from it being a baby. But, since I was told by my neighbor about this little guy under my house, I figured this was better than nothing.

[Moviefan1203]

Originally Posted by UK_fan_05

Cats can be pretty damn nasty too. Pissing on walls/furniture. Eww.

I've had cats my entire life, and I never had that experience.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by sk33tr

that's not urinating, that's marking their territory. and they don't do that if you get them fixed.

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

I've had cats my entire life, and I never had that experience.

We rescued a Tabby cat which had gone through a traumatic experience and he literally sprayed and peed on everything we had. He'd been neutered too. If he was unhappy about anything he'd pee on it!

[UK_fan_05]

Originally Posted by sk33tr

that's not urinating, that's marking their territory. and they don't do that if you get them fixed.

It is still nasty regardless. Doesn't matter if they are fixed or not, they still do it.

[UK_fan_05]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

I've had cats my entire life, and I never had that experience.

You are use to the smell but they do it.

[Moviefan1203]

Originally Posted by UK_fan_05

You are use to the smell but they do it.

That's a false statement. One of our cats is male, and he has never sprayed anything in our house. We've had him since he was a kitten. (We did get him neutered) I'm not saying it doesn't happen in rare cases, but once you get a male cat neutered they stop marking their territory.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

That's a false statement. One of our cats is male, and he has never sprayed anything in our house. We've had him since he was a kitten. (We did get him neutered) I'm not saying it doesn't happen in rare cases, but once you get a male cat neutered they stop marking their territory.

I think it can depend on when the cat is neutered, sometimes it can be a bit late. Our cat was neutered and I've only seen him spray once (I think it was too cold for him to sit) all the other times he squats. The notion that cat owners get used to the smells isn't quite true either. I can detect cat-spray at 20 paces!

[blujacket]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

That's a false statement. One of our cats is male, and he has never sprayed anything in our house. We've had him since he was a kitten. (We did get him neutered) I'm not saying it doesn't happen in rare cases, but once you get a male cat neutered they stop marking their territory.

I agree. Our male is 12 and he has never sprayed.

[blujacket]

Originally Posted by chip75

The notion that cat owners get used to the smells isn't quite true either. I can detect cat-spray at 20 paces!

Me too! Once in awhile I catch a whiff of some dirty butt in the grocery store and it about makes me puke right them and there!

[memovieaddict]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

Yeah, the plan was either domesticating it and keeping it or try to domesticate it and if that failed, take it to the humane society. To be safe, I was going out with thick gloves on my hands since it cold, but, besides that to protect in case if it tried to bite or scratch. It won't completely help me, but, some padding is better than nothing.

cats and dogs can sense if you're truly concerned about them. what you need to do if you really want this cat is feed it everyday and wait for it to slowly approach you until the time when it feels secure enough to eat when you're around. once the cat learns to trust you, you wouldn't even need any gloves to protect yourself.