ADIVCE ON HOW TO CATCH A OVERLY TIMID CAT

Just make sure you test the trigger pressure on the trip plate a few times
before you deploy the trap. Its very easy to misjudge the pressure and set
it too high. Tap the trip plate with a hanger or short stick to make sure it
trips with very little pressure.

Good luck,

Phil,
Hi
Thanks very much for all of the advice,it has all proved to be
invaluable.After a 4hour round trip last night to go and collect the
trap,I was exhausted this moring,but did test it a couple of times on
one of our own cats,until I was satisfied that I wouldn't get it
wrong,or hurt her in any way.At 9.30,I heated some canned cat meat up,
then as sure as eggs are eggs,she turned up @ 9.45 to see what was on
offer today.I waited until I could see that she was clearly in the
trap, then triggered it & went straight out to see that she was
ok.Appart from a huge amount of growling and spitting & hissing at me,I
could see that she was fine,so went back in to,call my vet,Lola.She
very kindly came straight out to me & took one look at her & asked me
to help her restrain her(I knew those welding gloves would come in
handy one day!),whilst she administered a sedative to calm her down.
Once done,Lola shaved the area so that we could see it,& as we thought,
the collar was actually embedded into the poor things neck.It appeared
to be similar to a dogs collar,having no elasticated strip mechanism to
release a bit of give if it got caught-Please everyone,note that these
are highly dangerous!!As soon as she put a bit of pressure on the
site,it exploded with puss & blood,& the abcess started to weep.I got
on with cleaning the site with warm saline soloutin,whilst she gave the
cat a shot of antibiotics, then she started to stitch the site up again
after it was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected;she also treated
another gash on her leg that was infected as well whilst she was
restrained.Poor, Poor cat!
After fitting her with a restraint collar,I asked if she was going to
take her into the clinic for observation,but she didn't think it was
nessacery,telling me that I was perfectly able to keep an eye on her,so
we put her straight out in to one of the outside runs with heated
housing,so that she doesn't feel totally threatened or is too alien to
her either.This way we can keep an eye on her,but leave her in peace
too.
The vet has left me with a weeks supply of antibiotics,& advised me to
call her if there any problems in the meantime.If not,I am to take her
back to clinic in just under a week when she will have her stitches
removed & be spayed at the same time whilst she is under anasthetic, to
kill two birds with one stone so to speak.(It looks like she has
recently weaned a litter by the look of her teats)
The cat is on a mixed wet & dry diet(antibiotics go into the wet food
because she doesn't leave a scrap!!).I have been out there a few times
just to have a quick peep @ her,& she is eating and drinking
normally,so I am really pleased with her progress.When it came time to
settle my account with Lola, she didn't charge me a single penny for
coming out or treating her either-How is that for generositiy & festive
spirit?!!!!!!! All she charged me for were the shots she had & the
antibiotics too.If there were an award for vet of the year, she would
get my vote every single time.I thanked her of course! I really was so
grateful to her.
When we take her back & she is spayed, I intend to hang on to her & If
there is any hope of rehabilitating her,I intend to keep her until she
is, then try & home her;if she is not,I have two options.Take her down
to the shelter, or release her.I am inclined to do the later of the
two.My reasoning for this is that I very much doubt that she would ever
be homed.If I release her, at least she knows where to come at dinner
time,& I can rest asurred that @ least only she will come to dinner,
rather than her & all of her offspring too for the next possible 6or so
years of breeding that she would appear to have left in her.
If you have other thoughts or ideas on this,I would gladly accept
advice.I am no expert,I just know how to care for them.
last but by no means least,thank you very much for the advice and
support that you offered Phil.I don't think that I would have actually
had the confidence to go ahead without it,& we could have lost this
little one for sure.Seaons greeting's to you & yours & to all @ the
shelter too.With Gratitude,
Sheelagh

sheelagh wrote:
snip
With Gratitude,
Sheelagh

whew! THANK GOD FOR PHIL

addicted wrote:

sheelagh wrote:
snip
With Gratitude,
Sheelagh

whew! THANK GOD FOR PHIL

Thank god for anyone who is kind enough to give anyone the confidence
required to do something they wouldn't other wise have had the
confidence to try.
HAPPY XMAS BARRY & the furballs too,LOL!;o)
S.

on Sun, 24 Dec 2006 18:07:34 GMT, "sheelagh"
wrote:

Thanks very much for all of the advice,it has all proved to be
invaluable

WOW, Sheelagh! GREAT WORK. That little girl is so fortunate to have
chosen your home to visit. I hate to think of how much pain she must have
been enduring with that collar embedded in her neck. It makes me sick to
think that someone put a collar like that on a cat and abandoned her. What
a lovely thing you have done, your vet, too!

--
Lynne

http://picasaweb.google.com/what.the.hell.is.it/

Thanks very much for all of the advice,it has all proved to be
invaluable

WOW, Sheelagh! GREAT WORK. That little girl is so fortunate to have
chosen your home to visit. I hate to think of how much pain she must have
been enduring with that collar embedded in her neck. It makes me sick to
think that someone put a collar like that on a cat and abandoned her. What
a lovely thing you have done, your vet, too!

--
Thank you for your kind words Lynne,but to be honest, the real hero's
are the ones that inspired me to me believe in myself,& the vet who so
kindly did the real work for no fee too.I am just glad as you say that
the right cat came to right community feeding bowl,& that I didn't foul
the whole operation up !!Lola was brilliant too-not any old vet would
be so kind as to do that,would they?
As I type, she is fast asleep & oblivious to the happy ending she has
caused.I wouldn't have been able to live with myself knowing that I
didn't interveen if you understand what I mean?
I hope that you have an excellent day tomorrow too with you and your's
and your feline family too,
Hugs n stuff,
Sheelagh

sheelagh wrote:

Thank you for your kind words Lynne,but to be honest, the real hero's
are the ones that inspired me to me believe in myself

how sickening

why can't you just be yourself

I have no idea what sheelagh is saying in any of her posts
I have no idea what sheelagh thinks about stuff or anything

you got ****ing toilet paper hanging from your skirt, your press-ons
are due!
your roots are showing, your peg leg is losing its suction

CAN ANYBODY BE REAL?

poor thing, all she wanted was a friend

bookie will be your friend

if you want friends sheelagh, it starts with being yourself

this way, ITS NOT TIRESOME TO BE AROUND YOU

On Sat 23 Dec 2006 06:40:51a, Wendy wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
:

I have no doubt that a drop trap would work, but I wonder how you
would get the cat into a carrier for vetting? Phil may have
explained before, but I probably missed it.


http://www.alleycat.org/pdf/droptrap.pdf

Thanks, Wendy. Excellent description, and brilliant design.

--
Cheryl

On Sat 23 Dec 2006 08:37:39p, Phil P. wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav newsRkjh.1870$%M1.1628@trnddc08:

Butt the transfer cage door to the trap's transfer door and
raise the doors at the same time- most cats run right into the
transfer cage because they think they're escaping from the trap.
If the cat doesn't run into the cage on her own, I use two
dowels to guide her in.

After seeing the design, it looks simple! Good to know.

If I'm using a carrier instead of a transfer cage, I butt the
carrier (with the door open) to the trap's transfer door. I
remove the transfer door of the trap and use it to block the
carrier doorway after the cat goes in the carrier. Then I slide
the transfer door out as I'm closing the carrier door. Its a lot
simpler than it sounds.

I'd go for a havahart trap,

I wouldn't recommend Havaharts--they're unreliable and poorly
made. Tru-Catch, Safeguard, and Tomahawk traps are made much
better and have better triggers. The Tru-Catch has the best trip
plate of all the traps and has more room inside than other traps
the same size-- makes a better recovery cage, too. The 36D fits
inside RB 36 duffle bag perfectly- makes an excellent trap cover
and great camouflage.


I haven't used any other type, but good to know there are others.
Thanks for the explanation.

--
Cheryl

On Sun 24 Dec 2006 01:07:34p, sheelagh wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
roups.com:

Thanks very much for all of the advice,it has all proved to be
invaluable.After a 4hour round trip last night to go and collect
the trap,I was exhausted this moring,but did test it a couple of
times on one of our own cats,until I was satisfied that I
wouldn't get it wrong,or hurt her in any way.At 9.30,I heated
some canned cat meat up, then as sure as eggs are eggs,she
turned up @ 9.45 to see what was on offer today.I waited until I
could see that she was clearly in the trap, then triggered it &
went straight out to see that she was ok.Appart from a huge
amount of growling and spitting & hissing at me,I could see that
she was fine,so went back in to,call my vet,Lola.She very kindly
came straight out to me & took one look at her & asked me to
help her restrain her(I knew those welding gloves would come in
handy one day!),whilst she administered a sedative to calm her
down. Once done,Lola shaved the area so that we could see it,&
as we thought, the collar was actually embedded into the poor
things neck.It appeared to be similar to a dogs collar,having no
elasticated strip mechanism to release a bit of give if it got
caught-Please everyone,note that these are highly dangerous!!As
soon as she put a bit of pressure on the site,it exploded with
puss & blood,& the abcess started to weep.I got on with cleaning
the site with warm saline soloutin,whilst she gave the cat a
shot of antibiotics, then she started to stitch the site up
again after it was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected;she also
treated another gash on her leg that was infected as well whilst
she was restrained.Poor, Poor cat!

snip

Congrats! It just takes a little persuasion when you're clearly an
animal lover such as yourself. You couldn't let that poor cat
suffer and you did what you had to do to get her, and you got her
quickly. Kudos to you and your vet for her pro bono work on this
cats behalf.

Turns out to be a very happy holiday for her and for you. And for
those of us reading. Thank you.


--
Cheryl

"sheelagh" wrote in message
oups.com...


Just make sure you test the trigger pressure on the trip plate a few
times
before you deploy the trap. Its very easy to misjudge the pressure and
set
it too high. Tap the trip plate with a hanger or short stick to make
sure it
trips with very little pressure.

Good luck,

Phil,
Hi
Thanks very much for all of the advice,it has all proved to be
invaluable.After a 4hour round trip last night to go and collect the
trap,I was exhausted this moring,but did test it a couple of times on
one of our own cats,until I was satisfied that I wouldn't get it
wrong,or hurt her in any way.At 9.30,I heated some canned cat meat up,
then as sure as eggs are eggs,she turned up @ 9.45 to see what was on
offer today.I waited until I could see that she was clearly in the
trap, then triggered it


I don't understand. If you were using a Tru-Catch the cat would have
triggered the trap when she stepped on the trip plate- you didn't have to
tigger it. How did you trigger it??


& went straight out to see that she was
ok.Appart from a huge amount of growling and spitting & hissing at me,I
could see that she was fine,so went back in to,call my vet,Lola.She
very kindly came straight out to me & took one look at her & asked me
to help her restrain her(I knew those welding gloves would come in
handy one day!),whilst she administered a sedative to calm her down.
Once done,Lola shaved the area so that we could see it,& as we thought,
the collar was actually embedded into the poor things neck.It appeared
to be similar to a dogs collar,having no elasticated strip mechanism to
release a bit of give if it got caught-Please everyone,note that these
are highly dangerous!!As soon as she put a bit of pressure on the
site,it exploded with puss & blood,& the abcess started to weep.I got
on with cleaning the site with warm saline soloutin,whilst she gave the
cat a shot of antibiotics, then she started to stitch the site up again
after it was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected;she also treated
another gash on her leg that was infected as well whilst she was
restrained.Poor, Poor cat!
After fitting her with a restraint collar,I asked if she was going to
take her into the clinic for observation,but she didn't think it was
nessacery,telling me that I was perfectly able to keep an eye on her,so
we put her straight out in to one of the outside runs with heated
housing,so that she doesn't feel totally threatened or is too alien to
her either.This way we can keep an eye on her,but leave her in peace
too.
The vet has left me with a weeks supply of antibiotics,& advised me to
call her if there any problems in the meantime.If not,I am to take her
back to clinic in just under a week when she will have her stitches
removed & be spayed at the same time whilst she is under anasthetic, to
kill two birds with one stone so to speak.(It looks like she has
recently weaned a litter by the look of her teats)
The cat is on a mixed wet & dry diet(antibiotics go into the wet food
because she doesn't leave a scrap!!).I have been out there a few times
just to have a quick peep @ her,& she is eating and drinking
normally,so I am really pleased with her progress.When it came time to
settle my account with Lola, she didn't charge me a single penny for
coming out or treating her either-How is that for generositiy & festive
spirit?!!!!!!! All she charged me for were the shots she had & the
antibiotics too.If there were an award for vet of the year, she would
get my vote every single time.I thanked her of course! I really was so
grateful to her.
When we take her back & she is spayed, I intend to hang on to her & If
there is any hope of rehabilitating her,I intend to keep her until she
is, then try & home her;if she is not,I have two options.Take her down
to the shelter, or release her.I am inclined to do the later of the
two.My reasoning for this is that I very much doubt that she would ever
be homed.If I release her, at least she knows where to come at dinner
time,& I can rest asurred that @ least only she will come to dinner,
rather than her & all of her offspring too for the next possible 6or so
years of breeding that she would appear to have left in her.
If you have other thoughts or ideas on this,I would gladly accept
advice.I am no expert,I just know how to care for them.
last but by no means least,thank you very much for the advice and
support that you offered Phil.I don't think that I would have actually
had the confidence to go ahead without it,& we could have lost this
little one for sure.Seaons greeting's to you & yours & to all @ the
shelter too.With Gratitude,
Sheelagh

Great news! Well done! You've probably saved her life- and many more lives
after she's neutered.

Phil