Experts said the smell of bio-degradable waste, dumped in the open outside the nursing home, may have drawn the feline to the medical facility.
The five-year-old leopardess walked into the nursing home at Tilak Road in the city this morning.
As it walked into the physiotherapy ward which was empty, an alert nursing home staff bolted the door from outside and called the police.
A joint team of police and forest personnel soon arrived at the scene and caged the animal after tranquilising it.