FluffySox Returns to the Wild

With the combination of FluffySox spending her days pining out the windows, depressed by her incarceration, and the return of an outdoor temperature above 32, we made plans to return her to domain she preferred.  Only one problem... we weren't sure how to do it.

Getting her indoors was easy.  Put a pet crate outdoors, next to where we put out food.  Furnish crate with cat bed. Cover with blanket to temper the elements. Heat it. She spent many hours in the crate when the temperatures ran low.  Once the mercury hit the teens, despite the accommodations we set up, she was still terribly cold and exhausted by it.  All we had to do was walk up to the crate, shut the door with her inside, and carry her, crate and all, inside.

After spending nearly a week in our guest room, she was spending all her time on the top of the crate bed, no longer needing to seek shelter from within it.  So removing her from the guest room within the crate wasn't an option.  She has become used to us and has been unafraid of us for many months now, and after sleeping next to her for the past week, we were allowed within a few inches of her... but she is very adamant that we don't touch her.

Attempt #1:  We put Sidney and Bailey upstairs and closed all the doors downstairs.  We opened the front door and blocked off a path that leads directly to the front door, so once motivated, FluffySox would leave the guest room, wander toward the living room, and dash out the open door.  Well, I got her into the hallway, she panicked, and rushed back into her safe room (the guest room), and hunkered down under the bed.

Attempt #2:  We opened the windows so she could dash out on her own.  Problem A: We couldn't get the storm windows open enough to get a cat to squeeze through.  Problem B:  She was still unwilling to come back out from under the bed after the first attempt.

Attempt #3:  Take apart the bed and gently encourage (scare) her out the door (in a similar process to attempt #1)  Well, that was our plan, anyway.  We tore the bed apart, and she just froze.  We ended up grabbing her using a towel to keep ourselves safe from claws and teeth.  She took it in stride, and I carried her to the doorway, released her, and she was on her way.

We set up her porch bed and crate in the same manner that it had been a week earlier.  We placed food and water nearby as well.  We hope to see her back on our porch very soon.  We'll keep you posted on her return