Advice needed on bringing stray in.
Hello! Looking for others prior experience and some tips. We’ve been feeding a stray cat outside for 7 months. He comes morning and night, sleeps on our deck furniture, plays with one of my indoor cats nightly at the sliding glass door (my cat pounces at him, while he rubs and rolls around on the deck). He does not let me or my husband pet him, but doesn’t run far when we come out, maybe 3 ft. He is also vocal, meows at us nonstop, and will come up and smell my hand when the screen door is open.
I have a standard trap I plan on setting, but I’m worried he won’t go in and won’t come around for a while if I set it out on our deck.
This cat does not act like the ferals in the neighborhood, nor does he look like them.
Once trapped I plan on taking him directly to vet for microchip check, testing, vaccines, etc. it appears he is a neutered male but I could be wrong.
Now inside, we have a dog, 2 cats (one of which he knows well And plays with nightly)… and a toddler. He seems used to my toddler banging on the glass sliding door though. I’m planning on locking him
On our guest room for quarantine and waiting for test results, then I guess letting him out? My other cat is not the most friendly, my dog will chase the cat, but not hurt. She will also stop immediately if the cat swats and never do it again. My toddler is gonna be a different story..
Is this a bad idea? I don’t want this sweet guy dying this winter. We live where it weather can be severe and snow a lot… any advice for this process much appreciated!