Lost new cat: please help

[DeepDishChix]

Hi all,
So tonight i just got a 4yo spayed female tabby cat. I put her in the shed and as i was closing the door she bolted.i saw her run towards the neoghbors yard and the ditch. She was wearing a bright green collar. It is also raining will tha make it harder for her to fond her way back?
Thanks,
Anna

 

[DeepDishChix]

Ps i had a crate with some of her hair in it. Will that help her find her way home?

 

[Stacykins]

You need to get a live trap now, raccoon sized. Bait it with incredibly stinky cat food, tuna or mackerel flavors usually smell the most. Put it near where she was lost. Cats often don't travel far....however, she does not know where 'home' is. She could possibly wander far because she is in unfamiliar territory. She will try to find a safe place with shelter, food, and water.

Was she a housecat or an outside cat before you were attempting to make her a barn cat? I assume if she went in your shed, that was your intent.

 

[DeepDishChix]

The humane society already found her but we cant pick her up because we dony have her kennel number. If i baited the trap with smelly cat food we'd probably end up catching a raccoon or thr rats that we have in the yard.

 

[Stacykins]

The humane society already found her but we cant pick her up because we dony have her kennel number. If i baited the trap with smelly cat food we'd probably end up catching a raccoon or thr rats that we have in the yard.

I am glad she was found and is safe. If you are going to bring her back home, do NOT allow her to escape until she is comfortable with the area, if her destiny is to be an outside cat. You never answered my question, was she a house cat? Or was she an outside cat in her previous home?

Since you don't know anything about catching lost cats, the smelly cat food in a humane trap is a very effective way to recapture a lost cat. Most cats when lost do not travel too far, and few can resist food like that. I've used it to trap lost house cats for people, since they are nearby but too scared to approach humans (even humans they know because the environment can be so foreign to a cat who has been inside their entire life). I've also used it to trap ferals so they could be sterilized and vaccinated. Sure, the occasional possum or raccoon ends up in the trap. But when you are trying to get a scared cat safe once again, it is one of the best methods.