# Advice on getting a feral cat into a carrier



## tochica (May 6, 2013)

Hi, 

This afternoon we caught one of our local street cats. She is pretty used to us - we have been feeding her for awhile now. We just used a piece of processed meat and locked the door behind her (took us about half an hour). She is booked to be spayed tomorrow at 10am. Now she is in out loft room in a cage with the carrier and a litter tray. She first tried to escape then laid down in the litter tray and hasn't moved ever since. Too stressed to eat/drink, she just cries when we enter the room. 

It's apparent she doesn't want to go near the carrier, I was hoping she would find it as 'the safe place to be'. We are getting very worried we won't be able to get her in the carrier so easily again and starting to regret we didn't attempt to catch her tomorrow morning but I was reluctant to get a vet appointment w/o having a cat and am/was planning to keep her there for a few days after the op while she recovers.

I am looking for any advice/ideas what the easiest, least stressful for both sides way to get her into the carrier tomorrow morning is going to be, assuming she doesn't change her mind overnight and enter on her own. 

Thank you.


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

tochica said:


> Hi,
> 
> This afternoon we caught one of our local street cats. She is pretty used to us - we have been feeding her for awhile now. We just used a piece of processed meat and locked the door behind her (took us about half an hour). She is booked to be spayed tomorrow at 10am. Now she is in out loft room in a cage with the carrier and a litter tray. She first tried to escape then laid down in the litter tray and hasn't moved ever since. Too stressed to eat/drink, she just cries when we enter the room.
> 
> ...


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@tochica - do you have to put her in the carrier? If she is in a cage can't you take her to the vets in that? If you have a hatchback car and can fold the back seats flat many dog crates will fit inside through the hatch, as they are designed for use in cars. I have taken cats in my [hatchback] car in traps which are a similar size or bigger than dog crates.

When I trapped a stray cat (I'd been feeding for months) for neutering I took him straight in the trap to the vets, and they kept him in overnight (at no added cost) for his neutering op the next day. It was much easier to do it that way, and less stressful for the cat I think. Also it was easier to be certain the cat had eaten nothing at all overnight than if I'd trapped him on the morning of the op, when he could have been eating mice all night long!


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

Does she try and move away from you if you approach ?

If so you can use this to encourage her into the carrier. What you need to do is to remove anything she can hide behind in the room with the exception of the carrier. Place the carrier in the corner of the room with the open door facing the wall so there is a gap the cat can get in. Place some items (boxes or something else easy to move) so form a tunnel to the entry of the carrier.

Gently encourage the cat towards the boxes and tunnel. She will if she is scared try and find a place to hide. The trick is to apply enough pressure that she wants to get away but not too much that she panics and races round the room. The idea is that she wont see the carrier as a trap but instead a safe place at the end of a tunnel of safety. She will hopefully end up in the carrier. If she does, slide the door in front of the carrier or push the carrier against the wall to keep the cat contained.

Alternatively if she is a little more relaxed you could try putting something quite stinky in the carrier like tinned sardines to encourage her in.


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## tochica (May 6, 2013)

Thank you guys. 

It's a cage my oh made, has two sides that can be separated by a sliding screen, two 'entrances' on the top. She was on the top of the cat carrier this morning, we think she spent her night trying to get out. Kittih, I didn't want to try touching her yesterday but I think I might try placing the opening of the carrier where the gap in the screen door is and try to gently push her that way. Our car is idd a hatchback and this thing may just fit in but it would be total pain trying to take it downstairs from the 6th floor. OH says it would need to be tilted to go through doors, I haven't measured it tho. If getting her into the carrier fails I guess we will need to do that. 

I will let you guys know how it goes later today, hopefully everything is fine with the op.


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## tochica (May 6, 2013)

Right, the tortoiseshell is in the carrier. We pushed her towards the carrier making it the only possible exit, thank you so much for the 'tunnel' idea. She was scared but it went way smoother than we anticipated.


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