There is a young male feral cat stuck on the neighbors roof.

July 20, 2016 11:54 PM

There is a young male feral cat stuck on the neighbors roof and it has been up there a few days and is freaking out. It is hot and I would like to get it down. The neighbors are having their house remodeled and I have contacted them and I have permission to access their property.

I was alerted to this around 12 hours ago and it appears that that the contractor working on the house tried to get it down but had no luck and was a bit scared of the cat.

I went with a ladder once I knew of the situation and tried to get it. No luck. So I put a few bowls of water and food on the roof. Tried a plank too. http://imgur.com/a/IOWFS

My mom witnessed it eating and drinking from what I put up there so that is comforting.

But it is still up on the roof so I am looking for ideas to get it off the roof and perhaps some suggestions for what to do once I do get it down.

posted by johnpowell to Pets & Animals (12 answers total)

First, I would Google around to see if there are any local TNR (trap-neuter-return) groups in your area. Local animal rescues/SPCA/animal control will either have programs or should be able to direct you to them. Most TNR groups have had their fair share of crazy cat rescue situations and will be able to offer assistance.

Second, the plank is a great idea. Provided it feels stable to walk down, it's probably your best bet, it will just take a bit of time and bait to get the cat to feel comfortable enough to go down it. To do that, get a can of the stinkiest wet food you can (Friskies is good). Glob one-half to three-quarters of it down the length of the plank--not a lot, just sort of trailing it small bits of it down the plank, so the cat will walk, eat a bit, walk more, eat a bit more. Return the plank, then put the remaining bit of the can on the roof right in front of where the plank sits. Go ahead and leave the water, but take in any other food you have out there so he's attracted to this. Then just leave it like that. Keep people away from the roof and the plank. The more people and noises milling around, the more likely the cat will stay freaked and try to hide. The wait will feel like agony, but give the cat at least a day before moving on to other options. I see there's a ladder there, too--if the ladder's owner is amiable, you could also try globbing cat food on that and the cat will jump from roof to ladder. The ladder looks a bit more stable than the plank.

If the plank/ladder doesn't work, you'll want to try to trap him. Aforementioned TNR groups may have live traps that they can lend you and help you set up. You line the bottom with newspaper or cardboard (cats don't like walking on the wire), putting small bits of wet food along the length of the trap. You put a big glob at the end, right behind the plate. Cat walks in, steps on plate, cat is trapped. The caveat is that you'll need a flat surface to set up the trap, and in the one picture I see the roof looks sloped. Are there any flat areas? You don't want the cat getting trapped, freaking out, and then cat and trap rolling off.

Are there any windows accessible to the roof? If so, the last-ditch effort is to set the trap in the house just inside the window, and trailing the food from roof to inside the window to the trap. Your neighbors will have to be really chill to be OK with this option, though.

The underlying theme of all these options is patience, unfortunately. Helping feral/not-friendly cats that have trapped themselves in trap-inaccessible situations is frequently a matter of setting up a reasonable escape route, luring them towards it with food, and then waiting for their hunger to outweigh their fear so they chill out long enough to find the exit and use it. In my old place I had ferals trapped in my basement walls twice. I had a route for them to get out, and stinky food leading them there. The first one took a day to get himself out. The second took nearly three. It's really stressful, but short of tearing the walls out there was no other way to do it.
posted by Anonymous at 1:20 AM on July 21, 2016

(also, if you do get in contact with a TNR group, I would make your best effort to get TNR him. He won't make babies and he'll be less liable to get himself into scrapes since he won't be looking for other cats to mate or fight)
posted by Anonymous at 1:22 AM on July 21, 2016

Home improvement, farm & garden and feed stores should have box traps locally. I like sardines as bait for cats and opossums, marshmallows for raccoons.
posted by ridgerunner at 1:33 AM on July 21, 2016

Can you make a more stable (and perhaps also wider) version of your plank walkway? Maybe fasten the end of a 1x10 or 1x8 board to the fence, and put something on the plank to make the footing surer.

Cats are agile creatures, but young ones (kittens) are sometimes not the steadiest, and if the cat has been up there for a while in the heat he may be more unstable - and he knows this. Also, the angle of the board is a little steep, and if it's just plain wood it may not be very grippy -- the cat will look at that and know he's likely to slip a little going down, and the uncertain footing makes him more vulnerable to predators and other surprises.

I've had good luck with just wrapping a rope around a plank. Maybe loop about every 2-3 inches to save rope (and time). Tie the ends tightly around the plank and nail them into place. One can also just nail some cross pieces onto the plank every 2-3" or so, or wrap some burlap or carpet and nail that down. After the cat is safe, you can take it all apart and re-use the components for something else.

If the contractor has some inexpensive wood you can use, maybe two or three 2x4's fastened together edgewise would also make a good ramp (a 2x4 is actually 3.5" wide; three 2x4's could make a ramp 10-1/2" wide; fasten them together with two cross pieces). Then, after the cat is safe, the wood can be re-used for something else.
posted by amtho at 2:06 AM on July 21, 2016

I hate to say this - as someone who went through an ELABORATE rescue attempt of a local stray recently (this involved a very tall tree and a neighbor with climbing gear) but with a house - if he got up there he will in all likelihood get himself down when he's good and ready.
posted by Thistledown at 5:11 AM on July 21, 2016

Is calling the town's animal control department and/or fire department an option?

This sounds like a problem for municipal professionals especially since it's not on your roof.
posted by slateyness at 5:12 AM on July 21, 2016

That cat can 100% get down, probably by jumping onto the ladder (the plank looks wobbly, cats don't usually like wobbly). Leave the ladder there if you can, keep giving the cat water and put the stinky cat food on the ladder.

Assume that the cat will probably only escape at night, not during the day with noise and people around.
posted by jeather at 6:16 AM on July 21, 2016

Assuming nothing else mentioned above works out, can you get access to the house and crack open that window? Close the door to that room, and put a live trap in there.

At least then you would know that he's out of the heat.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:19 AM on July 21, 2016

The cat should be able to get onto the ladder. Maybe put a table near the ladder so that it can jump from the top of the ladder to the table.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 7:34 AM on July 21, 2016

Can we get an update on the cat?
posted by julie_of_the_jungle at 6:23 PM on July 21, 2016

Aw, yes, updates, please. Cats and ladders can be pretty dicey, but if the plank is secure, this guy will probably test it out and use it.
posted by serenity_now at 8:15 PM on July 21, 2016

There is actually a service for this called Cat in a Tree Rescue. They cannot always rescue cats on a roof but sometimes can.
posted by Altomentis at 2:14 PM on July 22, 2016