A few days after I had moved into my apartment, I had spotted a cute little gray kitten that was living in the woods behind our apartment building. She was all by herself and I knew I had to rescue her before winter came and find a home or a no kill shelter for her. One of my roommates and I had tried to just walk up and catch her because she looked friendly and wasn't hissing at us, but that did not work. The minute we took a step in her direction she would take off. That is when we started calling her Skit, because she was skittish. Everyday I would try to get her comfortable with me so she would trust me enough for me to catch her. I put food and water out on our back porch and I would sit outside and talk to her, our neighbors probably thought I was nuts. She eventually started getting closer and trusting me more. It was finally after a month of doing all of this that I was finally able to catch her. I sat outside while I was talking to her and tossing her food. She slowly started to get closer and sniffing me, but the second I would move she would start to run. I finally got sick of standing and sat down and started to play with her with a string and water bottle cap.
This went on for two hours until I had moved in the house. I left the back porch door open and she would come right up to the door then back off again. I started to roll the bottle cap across the carpet until she finally came in to get it. She would run right back outside though so I knew I had to roll it further. The next time I made sure to roll the cap far enough away that I could close the screen door before she was able to get out. It worked. I had finally caught her. I put her in our cat carrier and started to call the animal shelters. I did not know at the time that you have to call in advance to make sure the shelters have room and that most shelters do not take feral cats, wild cats. After calling 22 shelters in a 100 mile radius, I called my mom. She called TLC, Tender Loving Care, and they would take her if we paid them $75. So we agreed and I brought her home. I had to wait to bring her home until the school week was over so I had her for five days. When it had finally come time to take her to TLC, I had fallen in love with her and knew I would not be able to get rid of her. We aren't allowed to have pets at school, so my only option was to beg my mom to let us keep her. After getting Skit home, it took my mom one minute with her to know we couldn't get rid of her either. We kept her and named her Isis, which in Egyptian mythology means the goddess of the sky and nature. She has turned out to be the most loving cat we have ever had. She also gets along great with our other cats.
The first thing I would recommend doing is to call a no-kill animal shelter, you may have to call several animal shelters, and let them know that you have a cat, or kitten, you are trying to rescue that will need a home. I would do this because shelters are often full and put you on a waiting list before they will take anymore animals. I would also start to let your friends and other people know (via word-of-mouth, Facebook, Twitter, Poster's, etc.) that you are in the process of rescuing a cat that will need a good home. Or, you could always keep them. They will most likely bond with one or two people in your family and be a little timid, but they still make great pets and in my case are very affectionate. The second recommendation would be to put out food and water for them. I would only leave the food and water out during the day to avoid attracting unwanted night critters like possums and raccoons. This will make the cat want to hang around your house because it knows that it will always have food. The third thing I would start doing is talking to it. This will help them to familiarize themselves with you in a non threatening way. Go out on your back porch, or wherever, pull up a chair and just make conversation. The fourth recommendations would be to get a cat carrier or some type of cage for you to put it in once you have caught it. If the animal will let you pick him or her up, do it and put it in the cage. If it won't, try to lure it into the cage with food or toys. If you are still having problems, try to lure it into your house so that you can close the door behind it and coax it into the cage once it is in your house. The cat will be very frightened and upset so make sure you do not take it out or try to put your fingers in the cage to pet it. Just continue to talk to it and follow through with the plans you had made after you caught it.
