Kitty Buffet for lost cats.
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Information provided  by Jenne Mundy. For further assistance please visit her at www.catprofiler.com
Thank you Jenne, for your expertise!
  
The Kitty Buffet
Attracts all the cats in the area—Including yours.
(Also keeps your kitty eating and healthy while missing or hiding)

The genius of the Kitty Buffet:  even if your kitty will not come to you at first, he is still hungry.  He will come where the food is.  It won't happen the first night.  It might take a week; it might take two.  You will have to stake out the buffet from far enough away that the cats will approach it with confidence. 

The tried and true method of coaxing him out of hiding.  Yes, you will get every single cat in your complex eating at your buffet, but hopefully yours will be one of them.  All you have to do is stake it out and watch the show -- and see what time your kitty shows up.  If he's in the area, he will start eating there. 

Here's what you need to do:  Buy a whole lot of cans of Jack Mackerel and each night, after most of the traffic has quieted down, I don't know, about 7 or 8 -- choose a spot close a darkish corner, somewhere kitties will find inviting -- like against a wall, etc.  Make sure there are lots of escape routes from it so they can sidle up to it without feeling threatened.  And make sure you can watch it from your house through binoculars or a zoom lens on a camera so you can become Kitty Voyeur.  Then find a flat rock or brick, some surface to put the food on.  Then empty a whole can of Jack Mackerel there, but use the juice for making trails of fish scent towards the areas where you think it's most likely kitties hide. 

If you have many kitties living near you, I would also leave out dry chow as well, enough for everyone. 

THIS IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT:  Don't leave out food in any other place than this!!!  Jack Mackerel really smells, and it won't take long -- maybe a few days -- before all animals in the area that like fish will show up.  Your cat should join them.  But you HAVE to do this at the SAME TIME every night, and
in exactly the SAME PLACE. 

The big thing with Ye Olde Kitty Buffet -- and with trapping as well -- is to do everything consistently, in exactly the same place, same time, so even the most cautious of felines will start thinking, "okay, nothing to fear here." 

How to keep away raccoons, possums, and other critters gravy-training your buffet:

(Courtesy of Kim and Buzz – thanks guys!)

To deter the raccoons:

Repel deer, elk, moose, bear, wild boar, coyote, raccoon, beaver,
javalina, armadillo, porcupine, opossum, squirrel, rabbit, skunk,
prairie dog, groundhog, chipmunk, mink, muskrat, woodchuck, gopher, mice, rat, moles, voles and shrews. Using a shake on urine. 

Sounds gross but people use it in their gardens. 
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/mainesupply/shpere.html
To attract the raccoons: (Place away from the trap so they will go to the raccoon lure and not the cat food):

RACCOON LURE
Multiple fruit base with a strong cherry smell.
Unlike fish oil lures, our raccoon lure will not attract cats
which can tie-up your trap until they are released.
Place a small amount (1/2 oz-1 oz.) in the back of the trap.
Place the trap in the path of the raccoon.
Bait should be changed every 2 days for optimal results

I have never used the urine or cherry bait before (only found it on the internet and posted a link to it) and really only tried the other stuff (COB) for one night!  But my guess is that you would circle the trap with the urine but several feet away from where the trap is placed.  I would assume if someone ordered this the instructions would say how to do it though.  Hopefully anyway!  As far as the Cherry bait it would be similar to using Corn, Oats, and Barely. Place it in the general area of trapping and hopefully the raccoon would fill up on it first.  From what I have heard raccoons are ornery critters and would probably still want to eat whatever is in the trap.  All of the ones I caught were frightened though and just ran out as fast as they could.  The opossum I caught was a different story.  He hissed and bared his teeth at me and would not leave the trap. I couldn't even get him to slide out when I tipped the trap sideways.  In the end I just propped the door open with a stick and later checked the trap and he was finally gone. *

*THIS IS RECOMMENDED – NEVER FORCE AN ANIMAL OUT OF THE TRAP, THEY WILL GET OUT ON THEIR OWN IF THE DOOR IS PROPPED OPEN.
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Thank you Jenne!

Along with the kitty buffet you can include scented tuna trails by following the directions below.

Grab a can of canned tuna in water.
Get about two cups of hot water.
Dump the tuna into a bowl, and the pour the hot water on top.
Give it a good stir; bust up the chunks, and use plastic wrap to cover it, or if your bowl has it's own cover even better! (Just so you won't smell your refrigerator up.)
Place in the refrigerator for about two hours.
After this has set you will take it and strain it to remove the flakes of tuna.
Save the flakes; you can use it in your buffet later.
Take your strained tuna juice and pour it in a spay bottle.
You will use this to spray a path to your Kitty Buffet.

Make a path with the tuna spray so that it all comes and meets it's self to one spot, at the Kitty Buffet, as shown below.

Scenario....
The neighbor has reported a sighting of your cat, and you now need to set up a Kitty Buffet. It might look something like this....


You need to take into consideration the air flow, and placement of your kitty buffet to best make use of the scent that is going to be ejected throughout the area. This placement gives you a clear view of the station, and also, if you are not able to be there to watch, you have an area that is very accessible to place a surveillance camera.
The blue lines represent your tuna juice spray lines.

Action Step - Look for evidence