Plastic Carrier fell apart = lost cat! Warning!

[Jacks]

Taking Felix, the stray cat I've been nuturing, for a vet check, chip and neuter today when the cat carrier FELL APART in the street and he has run off in terror.

The carrier was one of those plastic ones made of two pieces with a grill door. The whole thing is held together by only TWO plastic bolts at the front, and a tiny piece of plastic along the rim had snapped and the bolt of course just released and the whole thing fell apart with his weight... and he is a light cat!

Just bear it in mind, everyone - they look sturdy but they are only as good as their weakest point. The vets say they have known the little pegs that hold the door to snap as well and cat escapes. My OH has now drilled four holes through both pieces on the corners and threaded strong cable ties through them to keep it together. It's better than it was before but I'm disgusted that this could happen.

Might be a good idea to put extra straps round these carriers - now we have lost our boy. :'(

[Crewella]

Oh no, that's an awful thing to happen, and something we all dread, I'm so sorry.

Do you think there's any chance of finding him? Was he lost in an area he might be able to find his way home from? You must be in bits. (((hugs)))

[Jacks]

I am Crewella. It's about 15/20 minutes walk from here, but on the wrong side of a dual carriageway. The vet nurse came out with some treats and we spent 1.5 hours calling, calling on neighbours, etc. He ran up an alley and stayed fairly close to me for a while but when the other people arrived to help he was scared and jumped over the wall at the end into some gardens.

The vet practice is going to put a trap in one of the gardens backing on to the alley, near where he jumped over. I bought come cans of tuna. I'm going back when it gets a bit cooler with food and leaflets to do the area, but I have no way of catching him out there in the open. In my garden he was even letting me pick him up :'(

Gutted.

[Crewella]

Wish I could say something helpful, but by the sound of it you have it covered.

Absolutely everything crossed that you manage to find him. xx

[Crewella]

Any news of Felix, Jacks?

[MarkB]

Hopefully Felix has turned up now. I haven't used a plastic carrier since the same thing happened to me after I collected a stray and transported it to a vets over 5 miles away. Between the car and the vets 100 yards away. it started thrashing and the grille came away.

I also had a fabric one from PAH where the zip went. Luckily it was only one of mine and I held the top together until I got home (and binned it)

[Kay]

I've been a bit worried about the instability of the Cabrio carriers I have, although the cats like them - so I have decided to replace them with these http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BEXWHKS/r ... TE_3p_dp_1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

a top opening is essential, I think, but I haven't had any problems with the zips of the nylon carrier I use for Tiffany, who is too heavy for the Cabrios - I do attach the zip pulls to the fabric with safety pins though, in case she scratches the zip open

I do hope Felix has been found

[Crewella]

Oh dear! My Cabrio carrier is the one I trust (I love it) - it was even OK for Daz when he 6.5kg! I do still steady it underneath, though. Have any of yours actually broken, Kay?

[Jacks]

Hi everyone - we think we know where Felix is and he's been seen eating some of the food I left with the house where he disappeared over the fence. He is still very scared and scarpers if a human appears. The vets are going to set a trap for him but the most important thing is making sure he stays somewhere close to food, water and shelter. I haven't had any news today and I've had to go away for the weekend, which just feels so wrong.

I think the thing is with the plastic carrier like we have the bolts are really close to the lip of plastic round the edge and it may be that it got cracked which is why it suddenly broke. Also the 'bolts' are very easy to turn. If only I'd had my arms round the blessed thing, but it was too big for me and I was holding it by the handle - disaster.

I am thinking of the poor little lad today in the heat and helpless to do anything as I'm actually in Belgium at the moment. I've heard from a neighbour this evening that he hasn't been sighted today, but it's really hot out at the moment. Got to keep hoping.

[Kay]

the problem with one of my Cabrios is that the whole front section doesn't fit very well, and I have to bang it back into place from time to time - that doesn't necessarily mean it would actually come away completely, but it feels and looks as if it might - the second one fits together much better

I should have experimented with ties, I suppose, before rushing to buy alternative carriers, but I must admit the fact they fold up will be useful in my very restricted space

hopefully, Jacks, Felix will stay around until he can be caught - the chances sound good, so fingers crossed for you

[Crewella]

You must feel rotten having to go away, Jacks, but at least he's been spotted and you know he has access to food. Hopefully the vets will manage to trap him, and you obviously have people looking out for him. Everything crossed for him. xx

Thanks Kay - mine looks OK so far, but I'll inspect it a little more closely in future!

[Jacks]

I think that's the thing, Crewella - I should have inspected it carefully but they look and feel so rigid. Now with the holes drilled through and the ties it does look a lot more secure - Mark I can see the door coming open accidentally and those little pegs are actually really flimsy. You must have been so glad it happened in the car!! Poor little Felix wasn't even thrashing or clawing - he was being really good - unlike Jessie who goes bananas... Just as well it wasn't her who was in it.

It makes you think, doesn't it!

Vet is hoping to trap Felix today as he was seen eating again last night.

[MarkB]

It didn't happen in the car sadly. The cat vanished. We think it is the same cat that turned up as a stray almost a year later - it hadn't left the block in all that time (mainly nursing homes, so probably plenty of food around)

[Crewella]

Any news on Felix?

[Jacks]

I've been waiting two days to hear any news - I desperately want to go and do feeding time to perhaps pick him up if he will come to me - but I don't know where he's being fed at the moment.

It seems the lady whose garden he was visiting didn't want the trap in situ - the vets have set the trap but for two days have caught other cats. I hope they persist because we KNOW he's in the vicinity, but laying low.

I've asked who is feeding him - they will need more grub, which I'll take, and I'd like to go along for the morning feed when he'll be most hungry, but no respond to my latest messages. I know they're really busy and I mustn't hassle them, but every day feels agonisingly slow.

Go on, Felix, go for that tuna in the trap, please

[Crewella]

That must be so frustrating for you and really hard to hold back, but you're right - you do need these people on side! I really hope someone contacts you soon.

Sending positive tuna vibes for Felix. xx

[bobbys girl]

Yes Felix you know you love tuna......
Good luck and thanks for keeping us posted

[Jacks]

Update on Felix:

I went back to the alley where he was lost at 6.45am on Thursday morning but it was locked, so all I could do was watch. Then at 7.15 there he was! He was strolling across the alley behind the vet surgery, so I called him and he stopped in his tracks, looked at me, then started trotting towards me! He stopped and sat under a car for a while watching, then went back to the garages. It took me until the vet opened up at 8.30 to get into the alley and call him again, outside the vet - then I saw he was sitting under the car next to me!!! A boy came into a back yard with 2 dogs and Felix vanished and by 10am not spotted again, but a lady came out of the flat above the shops two doors down from the vet and said she and her daughter have been feeding him in the last few days and the daughter even picked him up, but he scratched and she dropped him! So he's close, and staying around, and they set the trap near her stairs last night but a fox must have tripped it.

Still this is really positive for Felix - he's there, we've proved it, and renewed efforts by all to catch him. Just have to keep hoping. x

[Crewella]

That is positive news - all paws here crossed that you catch him. xx

[Jacks]

Update a week on - we thought we had Felix in the trap yesterday morning and I shot down to the vet surgery in excitement - but it was a little girl, longer haired than Felix, unchipped, poor condition, unspayed, about 1.5 years but the size of a 9 month kitten, I would say. Poor little mite. Now I'm wondering if this is actually the cat that the lady has been feeding!

I've named her Phoebe, she has been spayed and chipped and she's coming home today - the RSPCA who paid for her treatment are completely full and I can't have this baby TNR'd into a filthy alley - and confused with Felix! So my family is expanding. It was my 'fault' she was trapped and I can't turn my back on this little one. Not sure my three girls will be impressed but they seem to accept other cats dropping in to the cat's kitchen outside so I'm hoping they'll be nonchalant with this baby too...

Been back regularly calling for Felix but no more sightings. If the neighbours don't see him again then it may have been Phoebe they were feeding, not Felix. Trying to keep positive but I need another sighting. Keep fingers crossed for me please.

[Crewella]

That must have been a huge disappointment, but bless you for taking on little Phoebe. I hope she settles in without too much disruption.

All paws here crossed for more news of Felix. xx

[meriad]

Oh Jacks - I'm so sorry it wasn't Felix (((hug)))

As Crewella says - well done on not turning your back on little Phoebe. Fingers and toes crossed that your Felix does turn up soon x

[Crewella]

I hope little Phoebe is settling in OK, she sounds such a timid little thing. xx

Is there still no sign of poor Felix?

[pandorawarlord]

hope the little one is doing well and have you had any news re Felix?

[Jacks]

Sadly there have been no more sightings of Felix and I have to accept that he's moved on. I've got him registered on Animal Search UK and the National Pet register, and I've sent pictures and details to local vets within a 5 mile radius, and talked to them on the phone, and the RSPCA and CP centres have been alerted. So now I have to hope someone is feeding the little lad and takes him to a vet, or phones the RSPCA...

Phoebe has been very shy - just craving human company to start with, starving, and breathing much too fast. Very cuddly, in a needy sort of way. After two weeks she's looking much better and she's started exploring outside her little room. To start with she was terrified if I left the door open, hiding in a crack between bed and wall. Now she's moving around - bit by bit - and meeting the other cats. I think it's going pretty well really, only minimal hissing at times, and she is a lot less dependent on us humans. She's not panting and her pupils are much better, unless she gets scared. I miss the needy cuddles but I think it's actually more healthy that she's concentrating on working out relationships with 'the gang'. I sit with her and talk to her when she comes out for her food, then she will have a little potter. A lot of the time during the day she's sleeping under our bed.

If I hear ANYTHING of Felix I'll let everyone know - but just today I had a text from the lady who was looking out for him to say that he hasn't been seen again.

[Crewella]

I'm so sorry to hear that, Jacks - poor Felix really doesn't know what's good for him. Please don't beat yourself up about it, you did everything you could and it was just one of those unfortunate things. With any luck he will turn up in time, or maybe he's found another good samaritan to feed him.

I'm so glad to hear that little Phoebe is gaining in confidence, it sounds as though she is settling in rather well. Hopefully, she'll go from strength to strength now she has someone looking out for her.

Do keep us posted, if you can!

xx