Good ideas. We did get a trap from local SPCA and trapped “Blackie,” gorgeous long-haired boy who really is a wild cat. And we knew where he lived. They neutered him, gave him shots, and brought him back. He comes for crunchies often. Another neighbor leaves crunchies out too.
However, “Louise,” the abandoned, shy, but not wild girl is a bit more difficult. I’ve purchased two nice warm outdoor cat houses for her, but have no clue whether she uses them. I can almost pet her when she comes up on the deck for dinner, If it weren’t so cold now, I could probably coax her into a crate by leaving food in it. But she comes at night, so she’d be stuck there til morning when the vet opens. If my cat didn’t hate her, I would just leave the door open for her. She keeps looking inside with longing, but my Daisy hisses and growls.
I’ll call the SPCA re Louise.
Before we decided to bring the feral kittens inside we fed them on the screen porch. Each end of the porch had a door, and we propped them open about one foot with a rock. We learned from a Feral Friends group that they dislike going into a space with only one way in and out; they fear being trapped.
As it got colder in the year, we bought a large dog house at the farmer’s co-op and set it up inside the porch. There’s a plastic heating pad for pets at Amazon and we put it inside. We plugged in into an electric cube that automatically turns on when the temp goes down to a certain temperature.
They wouldn’t use it at first. Then we remembered that there was only one way in, so DH cut a second opening in the opposite wall. They started using it immediately. In the morning we’d find them all cuddled together, warm and cozy.
Then we found big raccoons skulking around and decided to bring in the babies.