Trapping smart feral for new home

On Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:40:34 -0700 (PDT), irtheman
wrote:

What do you do when the feral cat is to smart and won't go in the
trap? We left the traps open for several days with food in them so
the
cats would get used to eating inside them. A week later we actually
set the traps. We caught all but one of the cats. He was always very
cautious but he would go in and eat eventually. He saw the others
get
trapped and now he approaches the trap from behind, sniffs the food,
sometimes meows and never goes in. We really want to catch him so he
can be with his brothers in the feral house a friend made for them.
Any ideas?

My friend, John, who lives in San Diego, had a feral cat who just
died. Pity-Pat was over twenty-two years old when she passed on. He
found her in the late 1980s.

She always stayed under his bed and would never come out except at
night. That's when she would eat and use the litter box. John said
that occasionally she would let him touch her, but it wasn't very
often, and she wouldn't make an appearance for anybody or anything.

He always had another cat, and it almost seemed to be protective of
her.

Towards the end, she started coming out and meowing. John thought
that she was finally dying, and so it was. Quite an emotional
experience - and all of a sudden you knew she wasn't there anymore.

"Kelly Greene" wrote in message
...

"Phil P." wrote in message
news
Use a drop trap. They're excellent for trap-wise, hard-to-trap cats.
Its
the only trap I use. If you can't borrow one, you can build one for
about
$20 in about 2 hours. Just be sure to place the food all the way in the
back of the trap in the center. Keep the trip cord taught so it will
only
take a slight tug release the prop stick.


http://maxshouse.com/Equipment/droptrap_camo.jpg




How do you remove the cat from one of these traps without being shredded
and
bit?


Butt a open carrier to the door of the trap and pull out the trap door.
Most cats run right into the carrier to escape the trap. If the cat doesn't
run into the carrier, gently prod the cat with a long dowel that fits
through the netting on the trap. Once the cat is in the carrier block the
opening of the carrier with the door from the trap. Slowly slide the trap
door out as you close the carrier door. The vet can sedate the cat in the
carrier by tilting it up until the cat is resting against the door. The
injection can be given through one of the holes in the door. The cat can
then be anesthetized and neutered and placed back in the carrier while still
asleep. You never have to handle a conscious feral.

On Apr 29, 10:05*pm, "Kelly Greene" wrote:
"irtheman" wrote in message

...
It is a very nice cage designed with feral cats in mind. *Lots of
hiding places and easy access for providing food. *Easy to clean
without cat escaping. *Pretty neat but not cheap. *It is kind of based
on what they use in zoos for care and feeding of tigers really.
```````````````````````'

How large is it and how many cats are in it?

I need to take a picture and post it. This cage is 5x8x6 and now has
two cat stand trees and a few boxes for the cats to hide in. There is
easy access to the the food and litter boxes which the cats seem to
use without a problem. TIt has a double door system and is designed
so we can go in and the cats can't slip out. I am a very big guy
though so it doesn't work so well for me but my wife can slip in and
out easily. We have feral 2 cats in there now and as soon as we catch
this last one there will be 3. They are all male siblings as far as
we can tell so they get a long great. My wife just got the first one
we caught to let her pet him so that is nice progress and wasn't
possible prior to this cage. For those who think these cats should be
left free I have to say they are healthier and happier now and there
is no risk from the local coyote population anymore.

On Apr 30, 3:10*pm, "Bill Graham" wrote:
Kelly Greene wrote:
"Phil P." wrote in message
news
Use a drop trap. They're excellent for trap-wise, hard-to-trap
cats. *Its
the only trap I use. *If you can't borrow one, you can build one for
about $20 in about 2 hours. *Just be sure to place the food all the
way in the back of the trap in the center. *Keep the trip cord
taught so it will only take a slight tug release the prop stick.

http://maxshouse.com/Equipment/droptrap_camo.jpg

How do you remove the cat from one of these traps without being
shredded and bit?

A good pair of leather welder's gloves works very well for this....

and cat burrito using a towel definitely makes transport and shots
work better. :-)

On Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:44:52 -0700, Mack A. Damia
wrote:

On Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:40:34 -0700 (PDT), irtheman
wrote:

What do you do when the feral cat is to smart and won't go in the
trap? We left the traps open for several days with food in them so
the
cats would get used to eating inside them. A week later we actually
set the traps. We caught all but one of the cats. He was always very
cautious but he would go in and eat eventually. He saw the others
get
trapped and now he approaches the trap from behind, sniffs the food,
sometimes meows and never goes in. We really want to catch him so he
can be with his brothers in the feral house a friend made for them.
Any ideas?

My friend, John, who lives in San Diego, had a feral cat who just
died. Pity-Pat was over twenty-two years old when she passed on. He
found her in the late 1980s.

She always stayed under his bed and would never come out except at
night. That's when she would eat and use the litter box. John said
that occasionally she would let him touch her, but it wasn't very
often, and she wouldn't make an appearance for anybody or anything.

He always had another cat, and it almost seemed to be protective of
her.

Towards the end, she started coming out and meowing. John thought
that she was finally dying, and so it was. Quite an emotional
experience - and all of a sudden you knew she wasn't there anymore.



It might be better for cats that feral to be outside in a colony. They
can't be enjoying life much if they're hiding under a bed all the
time.

On Mon, 02 May 2011 16:08:36 -0400, dgk wrote:

On Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:44:52 -0700, Mack A. Damia
wrote:

On Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:40:34 -0700 (PDT), irtheman
wrote:

What do you do when the feral cat is to smart and won't go in the
trap? We left the traps open for several days with food in them so
the
cats would get used to eating inside them. A week later we actually
set the traps. We caught all but one of the cats. He was always very
cautious but he would go in and eat eventually. He saw the others
get
trapped and now he approaches the trap from behind, sniffs the food,
sometimes meows and never goes in. We really want to catch him so he
can be with his brothers in the feral house a friend made for them.
Any ideas?

My friend, John, who lives in San Diego, had a feral cat who just
died. Pity-Pat was over twenty-two years old when she passed on. He
found her in the late 1980s.

She always stayed under his bed and would never come out except at
night. That's when she would eat and use the litter box. John said
that occasionally she would let him touch her, but it wasn't very
often, and she wouldn't make an appearance for anybody or anything.

He always had another cat, and it almost seemed to be protective of
her.

Towards the end, she started coming out and meowing. John thought
that she was finally dying, and so it was. Quite an emotional
experience - and all of a sudden you knew she wasn't there anymore.



It might be better for cats that feral to be outside in a colony. They
can't be enjoying life much if they're hiding under a bed all the
time.

I generally don't deal with ifs and suppositions. Pity-Pat had a good
life; John gave her a lot of love, and she always had a feline
companion close by.

On Mon, 02 May 2011 16:08:36 -0400, dgk wrote:

On Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:44:52 -0700, Mack A. Damia
wrote:

On Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:40:34 -0700 (PDT), irtheman
wrote:

What do you do when the feral cat is to smart and won't go in the
trap? We left the traps open for several days with food in them so
the
cats would get used to eating inside them. A week later we actually
set the traps. We caught all but one of the cats. He was always very
cautious but he would go in and eat eventually. He saw the others
get
trapped and now he approaches the trap from behind, sniffs the food,
sometimes meows and never goes in. We really want to catch him so he
can be with his brothers in the feral house a friend made for them.
Any ideas?

My friend, John, who lives in San Diego, had a feral cat who just
died. Pity-Pat was over twenty-two years old when she passed on. He
found her in the late 1980s.

She always stayed under his bed and would never come out except at
night. That's when she would eat and use the litter box. John said
that occasionally she would let him touch her, but it wasn't very
often, and she wouldn't make an appearance for anybody or anything.

He always had another cat, and it almost seemed to be protective of
her.

Towards the end, she started coming out and meowing. John thought
that she was finally dying, and so it was. Quite an emotional
experience - and all of a sudden you knew she wasn't there anymore.



It might be better for cats that feral to be outside in a colony. They
can't be enjoying life much if they're hiding under a bed all the
time.
im with you on that

irtheman wrote:
On Apr 29, 10:05 pm, "Kelly Greene" wrote:
"irtheman" wrote in message

...
It is a very nice cage designed with feral cats in mind. Lots of
hiding places and easy access for providing food. Easy to clean
without cat escaping. Pretty neat but not cheap. It is kind of based
on what they use in zoos for care and feeding of tigers really.
```````````````````````'

How large is it and how many cats are in it?

I need to take a picture and post it. This cage is 5x8x6 and now has
two cat stand trees and a few boxes for the cats to hide in. There is
easy access to the the food and litter boxes which the cats seem to
use without a problem. TIt has a double door system and is designed
so we can go in and the cats can't slip out. I am a very big guy
though so it doesn't work so well for me but my wife can slip in and
out easily. We have feral 2 cats in there now and as soon as we catch
this last one there will be 3. They are all male siblings as far as
we can tell so they get a long great. My wife just got the first one
we caught to let her pet him so that is nice progress and wasn't
possible prior to this cage. For those who think these cats should be
left free I have to say they are healthier and happier now and there
is no risk from the local coyote population anymore.

Be sure to get them neutered and checked out for FIV....

"dgk" wrote in message
...
It might be better for cats that feral to be outside in a colony. They
can't be enjoying life much if they're hiding under a bed all the
time.



If the transition is done right, a lot of ferals adapt quite well and live
very happily indoors. Some cats take a little longer to adapt than others.
Start by keeping the cat in a large cage or condo in the busiest room of the
house for a few weeks or a month or so. Have different people feed him.
Keep a bag a treats close by so every time someone passes the cage they can
give him a treat. Make sure he has a nice bed but don't put anything in the
cage that he can hide in. This is how you start breaking his fear of humans
and household sounds.

On Apr 27, 1:40*pm, irtheman wrote:
What do you do when the feral cat is to smart and won't go in the
trap? We left the traps open for several days with food in them so
the
cats would get used to eating inside them. A week later we actually
set the traps. We caught all but one of the cats. He was always very
cautious but he would go in and eat eventually. *He saw the others
get
trapped and now he approaches the trap from behind, sniffs the food,
sometimes meows and never goes in. We really want to catch him so he
can be with his brothers in the feral house a friend made for them.
Any ideas?

Update: Abbott appears to have left the neighborhood. No one has seen
him for about a week. Very sad for all. We will keep watching for
him and hopefully be able to join him with his brothers again one day
but hopes are low.