Monday, October 02, 2006
How To Trap A Feral Cat
Some advice from Carol of Carol's Ferals
So, you've got a couple of cats in your yard and you don't want to have a couple hundred cats in your yard! Welcome to the wonderful world of T-N-R (Trap-Neuter-Return).
Note that the R is for RETURN, not simply RELEASE. For the safety of the cat, you must return the cat where you found it. Doing otherwise will endanger the cat as it will try to come back to it's last home and likely get killed in the process.
Here is the giz!
There are not enough homes for stray and feral (wild/untamed) cats out there. Shelters and Sanctuaries are overflowing. Hundreds of unwanted cats and kittens are killed weekly at Animal Shelters and other facilities. I won't even use the kind word (euthanized) here because it does not apply. Animals that are “put to sleep” because they are sick or in pain are euthanized. Animals who are “put to sleep” simply because there are no homes for them and people don't want them in their yards are “killed”. Let's start there.
So, there may be some cats in your yard and you don't want to see them multiply like rabbits. Well, there is something you can do.
If the cat is friendly and it trusts you enough to let you get your hands on it, then you have it really easy. All you have to do is make an appointment at C-SNIP (Community Spay/Neuter Initiative Partnership) and take the cat in to be fixed. Their number is: 616 455-8220.
If the cat is feral (wild/untamed/not the least bit friendly/would rather die than look you in the eye), then you have a slightly tougher job on your hands. But it's all worth it in the long run. Doing your part to control the overpopulation of cats is it's own reward. But it takes effort on the part of YOU. YOU, the person who cares enough to read this.
Animal Control will not come out for cats. The Humane Society will not come out for cats. There is nobody that will, with the exception of a couple feral groups in town. But they are overloaded with projects too. I have to tell you, it's going to be up to you! The problem won't disappear. Next spring you will have 4 times as many cats as you do right this minute.
Here is what you're gonna have to do!
Get a live trap. You can purchase one at TSC – Tractor Supply Company. They are in all the smaller towns surrounding Grand Rapids. The is one in Lowell. They sell a decent live trap for about $40. If you think that you may have more than one cat come into your life to trap, its worth investing in your own live trap. When you are not using it, you can loan it out to others who also care about the well-being of cats.
Kent County Animal Shelter can rent you a live trap for $5 per week. They do require a $75 cash deposit at the time of pick up however. With that in mind, it's even a better idea to go out and get yourself your own trap!
While you are debating whether to buy or rent a trap, do everyone a favor and get the cats on a regular feeding schedule. Most ferals and strays come out in the evening, so place food and water sometime after dinner but before dusk. Try to leave just enough food to feed the cats you are wanting to feed. Leaving too much food out will just attract other wildlife, which is fine if you want to feed wildlife, but you will find that training them to come and eat from your buffet will be regretted later when you catch a skunk in your trap. If that happens, approach with a shower curtain covering you!
So now, you have the cats on a regular feeding schedule. And you finally broke down and purchased a trap. Good for you!!!! I promise, you will use it again and again.
Be sure wherever you place the trap that it is a place where it won't get stolen. Live traps are instruments or torture and death when allowed in the hands of sick individuals. If you are not sure the trap will be safe, get some chain and a padlock and lock it securely to something stable like a fence post or support brace of your deck.
Try to shelter the trap if possible. If you can keep it under the deck or under some bushes, all the better. If you can't, you can't. Just do your best.
There is no real sense in trapping on excessively rainy nights. Cats are not so likely to come out in the rain. They typically hunker down and wait it out. Kinda like you would if you just had your hair done.
Bait the trap with something really smelly, like canned cat foodor tuna. If you get really desperate for that hard to catch kitty, try some Jack Mackeral. But bring a clothespin for your nose because it stinks to high heaven!
Please don't leave a whole can of food in the trap. Once you get a cat in a trap, you won't want to open it to retrieve an excessive amount of food (unless you are going for the scratched up and bloody look). Because the cat will be being fixed the next day, it needs to fast the night prior to surgery so leaving it too much to eat may cause it to vomit during surgery which can be deadly to the cat. Many cats will be so freaked out to be caught in the trap that they won't eat at all. But some calm down and eat every bite on the plate. I use a small paper plate or a larger paper plate cut in half to hold my food. Another good reason not to put the whole can in the trap is to safe-guard the cat from cutting it's tongue on the sharp metal edges.
So you bait the trap and wait it out. Sometimes it is easy. And Sometimes it's not...so you wait. And you wait. And you wait. And you wait. I suggest going into the house and watching some good prime time TV because it's very likely the cat won't come into your trap the first time anyhow. Sometimes I feed for a week (on schedule), then hold the door to the trap open with a strong zip tie for a few days gradually moving the food from the opening of the trap to the rear where it needs to be when you set it to actually spring closed and catch the cat.
I typically don't leave traps out over night. I don't like the idea of a cat in a trap overnight unsheltered. If I can't catch the cat before I go to bed, I remove the food and close the trap. I don't leave the food out because it will just teach them that they can wait it out. Let them go hungry if you plan to trap the next day.
Does this seem like a huge project? At first it's a little daunting. But relax and have fun with it. It's like harmless hunting. And it's going to benefit the cat GREATLY. Of course, he won't know that at the time.
So it's later on in your project and you finally bait the trap and get a cat inside. And it's going absolutely crazy running back and forth or round and round in the trap and bashing it's head against the door and you are about as freaked out as it is. RELAX! Have a towel handy and cover the trap completely. This will calm the cat down immensely. Keep it covered all the time from there out, especially during transfer to C-SNIP.
Now, you have a calm, covered, trapped cat. What to do? Put it in your garage overnight if you can. At least someplace where it will be protected from extreme cold/heat or rain.
If you can slip a shallow cup or dish of water in the trap, that would be great. However, if you are new to using a trap, opening it even the slightest bit may compromise your catch, so if you feel uneasy putting a little water into the trap, don't even try it. The cat will be fine overnight without water. It's just a comfort measure.
The next morning, you will want to transport the cat to C-SNIP. Trapped cats need no appointment, however you should only bring a maximum of two per day. Trapped cats should only be brought in on Monday-Thursday. You need to arrive between 8:00 – 8:30 am. Bring along a small carrier lined with a towel so that the cat can be put back into it for the trip back home vs the trap. Always line carriers with a towel. This is for the cat's comfort as well as preventing some really urine soaked cats if they should decide to let loose during the ride back home.
When transporting the cat, be sure to line your vehicle with a thick plastic shower curtain or a tarp. I also put towels or dog training wee-wee pads under the trap just in case. I find about ½ of my trapped cats like to do their business in transport. And feral tom cat urine is the absolute last thing you want to try to get out of your upholstery.
When you get to C-SNIP, leave the cat in the car until you have gone inside and registered. Once you do, the office staff will tell you when to bring the cat in. Keep the cat covered and try to hold the trap steady when coming into the building.
Be aware that if the cat is feral, C-SNIP will follow the national protocol for identifying a sterilized cat and “tip” it's left ear. This means, that the cat will have the very tip of it's left ear taken off surgically. This is done when the cat is under anesthesia and it will not have any discomfort because of it. The beauty of ear tipping is that it allows future trappers to identify the cat as being “fixed” and it won't be taken in over and over needlessly. C-SNIP will also give each trapped cat a vaccination for rabies.
The following morning, you will pick up your cat from C-SNIP. You will need to arrive at 7:30 am. Hopefully you are a morning person!
When you arrive, you will be given back your trap and receive you cat in the towel lined carrier which you brought along with him. I suggest using the towel that covered the trap to cover this carrier for the ride back home so that you don't further stress them out.
Once back home, males can be released immediately. Females however should be allowed to rehab for a day or two before releasing them. I suggest setting up a dog cage with a litter box, food and water. Then place the carrier inside with the door facing backward. This way, the feral cat won't have to make eye contact with you. Carefully open the door to the small carrier and use a wire tie to hold the door open so that it's always a place for the cat to hide when it's feeling uneasy. This carrier will be what you use to take the cat back to the location where you will return her. So definitely, keep the small carrier in the cage. With the towel inside, she will find it a comfortable place to hunker down till you can take her back to where you found her and hum the tune of “Born Free” as you open the door and watch her take off like a bat out of hell.
Congratulations. By fixing that one feral/stray cat you have circumvented 11,000 unwanted births over the course of 7 years. Yes, a single cat and her mate will produce that many cats in a 7 year period. Get a calculator and do the math if you don't believe me. A female cat once it hits sexual maturity (only 6 months) can produce up to 4 litters per year. Then all of those cats (figure 16 per year) will do the same thing, and those 16 per cat will produce 16 more per year. And just like the Fabrege' Organics Shampoo commercial of the 70's goes....and so on, and so on, and so on! Get the picture!
And the boys you fix won't travel up to a 5 mile radius looking for a mate every 20 minutes when the urge hits them (like their “unfixed” counterparts). Instead, they will be less likely to fight for territory and less likely to contract deadly diseases like Feline Leukemia and FIV (which is basically HIV for cats).
Now, do the kind thing and provide this cat fresh food and water daily. Winter shelter would be a nice thing to give it as well. Now that it's fixed, it won't make a thousand babies for you and it will keep other cats from coming into it's area as it won't want to share it's food source!
It was all worth it now, wasn't it?
If you are feeling completely stressed out and need to talk to someone about this,
contact Carol Manos at: 616 957-2756 or via email at: dollmouse@aol.com.
Check out my blog for more tips and to see what I've been up to:
