By the 19^th, however, I was a little calmer and much more organized. A larger cage had been ordered, we were back to adding the calming probiotics to his bowl, and now his wet food was served in a new fancy cat dish that I had bought for the occasion. I was trying new strategies.

I was also trying to suck up.

I left the small cage on the porch overnight, next to the carrying case. I put treats in both, and he went in to fetch them, as usual. I also left treats in there at night, and each morning they were gone. Flash forward, I assumed that Fred was the eater of the evening treats, but later I found out that he wasn’t the only one showing up for free food.

By the 20^th, I got even smarter, putting the wet food in the very back of the carrying case so that he was forced to go in there to eat it. Although he was hesitant at first, he soon came to accept this as well. If the case had been just a little longer, I could have just zipped it up while he was eating!

OK, that’s not quite true, but I liked to think it was. He was very aware and very twitchy and the couple of times I started to make a move to do just that, he was out of the case in a flash. Fred can move fast!

The 21^st was the next attempt, and I was ready! (Sound familiar?)

The larger cage had arrived the day before, but I still didn’t think it was big enough, so I went old-school, drove to a pet store, and bought a kennel for a medium sized dog. I put it on the porch the night before, including the mat from the smaller carrying case on the floor so that it would have his scent. I put treats in there that were gone in the morning, and this time I came out for breakfast with him, ready to do this right! What could possibly go wrong?

Fred showed up on time, as usual. He was curious about the new kennel and a little hesitant, but he was willing to go in there for his breakfast.

This kennel was not the same as the soft sided carry case. It had a full on metal door that would need to be closed and the secured. The day before, under the coaching of my hubby, I practiced slamming the door shut and securing it. I went through it about 30 times until I found the right place to sit, knew to have my arm on top of it, and was ready to go.

Although Fred had never shown signs of biting or swiping, he did have a vicious hiss, and I was a little daunted that I could get hurt in this attempt, but nonetheless, I was ready. He went in, began to eat, and I moved my hand towards the door. Slowly…

And? You guessed it. Before I could practice my slam and shut, Fred was gone. His instincts were on high alert, and he moved before I could. Up the fence, over to the alley, and gone.

Dejected again, at least this time I wasn’t as miserable. I was now annoyed. This wasn’t only a “me” thing. It was also a “Fred” thing.

In my daily Facebook post, I also wrote an open letter to myself:

Today I want you to practice a mind-shift, from seeing a “failure” of catching Fred instead as finding another way NOT to catch a frightened and scared kitty who really does love you but has never been held or loved or petted. Pay attention to when and WHY you feel “failure” and how those feelings get in the way of creative adaptations and opportunities to learn and adjust. The failure mindset will always limit you. Flip the switch and recognize, not only the learnings, but be focused on what is getting in the way of complete success. In this case, it is your desire to get to the end quickly, vs. truly understand this all from Fred’s point of view….

About this time, one of my friends asked me why I didn’t simply open the door and invite him in! I reminded him that my goal was to not only capture Fred, but to make sure that Penelope was ok. This was a cat that was in the wild, and despite the fact that we had given him medication in his food for fleas and ticks and worms, he could have other diseases that we didn’t want to introduce to Penelope until we knew for certain.

But my friend was smarter than he, or we, knew. When you try 101 ways to NOT catch a cat, sometimes you have to find a way to get him to come to you.