You think I'd effin' learn . . .
I have a neighbor who has fallen on hard times and is temporarily 'between places to live'. She has a cat with four kittens just barely weaned.
You know the rest; I volunteered to cat sit until she finds a place. Five cats. I don't particularly like cats. I have a terrier who thinks cats are great to play with--not in a cat friendly way. Notwithstanding I volunteered.
I moved everybody into an empty room. Litter box, food bowl, water dispenser and pet caddy/cat house. That lasted 12 hours before mama cat discovered the upstairs pet door and launched herself off the 15' balcony onto the concrete porch below. Seems she doesn't care for me either. Apparently she survived as I couldn't find a corpse. Now I'm stuck with 4 barely weaned kittens.
I moved the babies to the back yard in their caddy with food and water for mama hoping she will come back to them. She did. Ate the food, drank the water and took the babies away. WTF? Where'd they go? I found a hole in the privacy fence into my neighbor's back yard. Big dog, not cat friendly.
Over the next two days I see mama in the yard eating so I invest in the stinkiest wet caned cat food. Put it out. It worked. Mama now kinda' trusts me. The babies follow mom and I catch them one at a time, locking them in the caddy. All except the yellow one who is most distrustful. I close the hole in the fence and mama finds a suitable place in a woodpile on my property for the three. Mom's starting to trust me. Really stinky canned cat food will do that. I mean this is open-the-can-outside kinda cat food.
So today I set out to capture the last kitten, the yellow tiger stripe that suspects me of kittencide. I open the hole in the fence and present stinky cat food. There is mewling from across the fence but no cat. Then one of the three I have in custody breaks free and joins the yellow one. Shit.
The second escapee returns to keep company with it's siblings and I catch them all, restraining them in the caddy. Okay, three of four in kitty jail. I place the kitty jail near the hole in the fence thinking the holdout might be lonely for the clan. It worked but I can't move fast enough to avoid losing the yellow one again. Fast little beggar.
I move the kitty jail farther into my yard and turn it so the yellow one will have to turn it's back to me to commune with the incarcerated siblings. Armed with infinite patience (fortified with a folding chair and a bottle or two of nice dark german beer) I wait. And wait.
Finally the yellow one can't resist the call of it's siblings. Like a flash I sprint (picture a 74 year old arthritic sprinting and try not to laugh) to the fence and without even looking back affix the patch to the fence. There! Gotcha!
I take the caddy to the woodpile and watch as the three inmates settle back in where mama left them and the fourth little demon joins them. Refill the food and water bowls for mama when she returns. Done for the day.
Not a bad day herding cats . . .
= new reply since forum marked as read
I was laughing throughout. Good on ya!
Check GD. You might see something interesting...
can do anything.
Since you managed this so well, it's time for you to adopt one of them. I suggest the yellow one. 
Was laughing the whole time reading.
And yes the image of the 'sprint' was hilarious! 
I was able to easily envision that sprint
