Conference misery::feline_v1

         Can you put his food inside of a cat carrier and then close the
    door behind him when he goes in to get it.  He may not react very
    well to this at first.  Is your intention to keep him inside
    temporarily or for good.  Will this cat let you handle him?  He
    probably needs to feel that he can come and go as he pleases.  
         I feel so bad for all the kitties that are outside...it's
    so cold.  
    
    				Mary

    Use what we used - a fishing net on a 3' handle, catch him
    and keep him in if you want him in.
    
    It's a heartbreaking situation to know a cat, and know he/she is
    out in this bone-chilling cold. By the same token, though, it's
    hard to tell a cat that WAS an outdoor-only stray cat that
    now that you have it in the warm house, here it will stay,
    regardless of what it THINKS it wants. We're doing that with
    Jesse James II, and although sometimes he makes me feel very guilty
    for holding him in against his will, I DO know better than he does,
    and I know he'd have trouble surviving the cold.
    
    just my two cents..
    
    jack

    Do you have a garage?  Maybe if you can't get him in the house, you can
    lure him into your garage and lock him in.  It won't be as warm as
    being indoors, but it's still better than being outside and will
    protect him from any wind.  Don't forget to leave a litter box for him.
    
    Mary
    

    
    Thanks for the suggestions, the problem is that he will come into
    the house and he will eat and sit down, and relax but as soon as we
    go near the door he bolts outside again.  I know that he is cold
    because he licks the pads of his feet and is constantly"kneading" on
    the rug when he does come in.  I would like him to stay in for good
    (by Christmas would be ideal!) but he is really skiddish and very
    afraid to be trapped indoors.
    
    I think that I can get him inside and close the door somehow, but I
    am afraid that he will go crazy as soon as he realizes he cannot get
    outside.
    
    Has anyone had this happen?  Do cats go WILD?
    
    Thanks again, I am really worried about him.  For what it's worth he 
    brought a friend with him once, needless to say she is a house cat now!
    We also have two other kitties that have no problem being indoors!
    
    Dawn
    

    re "Do cats go WILD?":
    
    Jesse didn't really like it when we'd shut the door behind him. He
    whined and whimpered, but he didn't really attack the other cats,
    the house, or us.
    
    Of course, "your mileage may vary".
    
    j
    

    I trapped a feral kitten in a carrier last year.  She was 6 months
    old.  Needless to say, she *hated it*.  There was quite a scene
    at the vets.  She literlly climbed the wall and at one point jumped
    from the floor to a picture on the wall and both cat and picture
    came crashhing down.  I was asked to leave because I was becoming
    more hysterical than the cat.  The vet thought I was crazy because
    I had her spayed and brought her home to live in my house.  There
    was never a repeat performance of the scene at the vet.  We just
    give her her space and never try to make her feel trapped.  I think
    your kitty will do ok if he doesn't feel cornered at has a place
    where he can go to get away from it all.
    
                                Good Luck,
    				Mary
    
    				

    HI.......
    
    I have SCRUFFY -- she was a stray at 1 year.  She's about 4 years now,
    took almost another year before she'd stay in and she still loves it
    out.  She goes to a barn about once a month for a nite or two, no
    matter how COLD it is.  I do worrie, but there's nothing I can do!!
    She's a great cat and prefers to do her duty outside, no matter what
    the weather!!
    
    I have about-----------(if you don't already know!!) 15 strays in the
    neighborhood.  What I've done for them FOR THE COLD is:
    
    I have an old dog house with HAY & BLANKETS in it, on the opposite side
    of the stairs a box with hay in it.  They bundle up together and when I
    feed them I feel them and they are WARM.  Let him/her in feed it and
    just sit and watch TV or do something......... It will get the message
    that its O.K. to relax, don't worry tooo toooo much about it wanting to
    be outside..........if you are home this week and weekend, have it go
    in and out.  This will teach the kittie he/she has a home and has
    freedom too.  SCRUFFY has a home and her freedom.  She is very 
    happy!!!
    
    		I know your worried, but you do get use to it,
    I still fret over my strays -- but I know there are places they go too
    and I can't run around trying to force them in a home or the dog house.
    
    		Do your best make a box outside too that will help
    		your worries, incase the kittie remains outside.
    
    				MERRY CHRISMAS!
    
    

    If your really worried about the strays being outside, get some
    hay or straw, fluff it up and put it in a box, prefferably out of the
    wind.  Bagged, kiln dried shavings (the kind you put into horses
    stalls) work well too!
    
    All three types of material can be purchased at a grain/feed store
    very easily.  They will have an insulating effect and keep the kitties 
    warm if they choose to use it.  
    
    My aunt had a cat (RIP - she dissapeared about a month ago) that 
    would not come inside.  I gave her some hay, and the cat lived in a
    dog housde filled w/ hay year round.
    
    If you need help finding any of the above mentioned materials, send
    mail and I'll help you find something.
    
    Michele & Nippa
    

    
    	I agree with .7 whole heartedly. If kitty prefers to
    	be outside to the point of worrying about it, I would
    	provide him with a little hidey hole and fluff up a
    	bale of straw (can be had pretty cheaply). It gives
    	puss a lot of insulated material to burrow into and
    	if he has a little shelter to keep the wind off, he
    	should do okay. 
    					kim and the Nipper
    				(who prefers a warm bed in the winter)
    

    Little Bit took about a week to realize that he wasn't going outside
    again after he became an indoor cat.  The week was tough on both of
    us.  But he seems very happy and well adjusted now, and gets more
    loving and cosy every day .
    

    That's how I came to have Pepper.  She was an abandoned kitty, about
    9 months old and PREGNANT!  I used to leave some food out for her until
    she trusted me and then one day on a day much like today (below zero
    and windy) I told her she just couldn't stay out any more.  She agreed
    and came in to the house.  She had six kittens that March, and has
    stayed in the house since.  On nice days she comes out with me to the
    garden and cleans out all the mice and moles, but she won't go out on
    a cold day like today!  I open the door for her, but when she realizes
    it's so cold, she cringes back and says "No way, I ain't that crazy to
    go out in that again!"
    
                                              Denise
    

    *MAMA* was a stray for who knows how long before we found her.  She
    lived in the alleys in Mancester right near Elm Street.  My daughter
    saw her and tried to get close to her.  *NO WAY, JOSE.*  My daughter
    started leaving food out for her and then a box with a blanket in it
    when it started getting cold.  This went on forever.  Mama still
    wouldn't let my daughter near her.  One day my daughter took the
    blanket from the box and put it in her lap.  Mama came and laid on the
    blanket on my daughter's lap.  *WHAT A BREAKTHROUGH.*  Then Mama got
    pregnant.  We couldn't let her have the babies outside.  They would
    die.  The day that Mama didn't want my daughter to leave because she
    didn't want to be alone was the day Mama had her kittens.  My daughter
    called her husband and he helped her get Mama into the house.  He took
    the blanket and just wrapped it around Mama and carried her into the
    bathroom.  Mama stayed there for four weeks after having the babies. 
    Then she was allowed out of the room to meet the other kittys.  In the
    meantime, the Feliners had found wonderful, wonderful homes for the
    babies.  When it came time for the first and second to leave my
    daughter was crying.  She had come to love them.  As I was dropping off
    the first kitten, the owner said she had read that *two are better than
    one and could I leave the other kitten*.  I said that it already had a
    home but that Mama was still in desparate need of one and that she
    wouldn't have to put up with the *strange kitty* syndrome.  It worked. 
    Mama had a home.  With a lot of patience, Mama has turned into a
    wonderful cat.  She is an indoor only cat and doesn't miss the outside.
    
    I know that was a long story but I have a tendancy to ramble but I also
    wanted to point out that an outdoor only kitty can be made to be an
    indoor only kitty.  It just takes patience and love and love and love.
    
    Sandi (who thanks her lucky stars for the wonderful Feliners)
    
    Merry Xmas.....
    
    

    I agree Sandi.  At this point none of the captured kitties shows
    any indication that they'd rather be outside in the cold.  Dusty
    just says he'd like to be outside the back bedroom so he could
    come lay on the couch with us.  What a love he is!