Our goto recommendations for trapping:
1. Kitten Lady, Full Circle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYD66McTdi8. This one is great for people just starting, but with all the love in their hearts.
2. Alley Cat Allies, more detail, best practices: https://www.alleycat.org/resources/how-to-help-community-cats-a-step-by-step-guide-to-trap-neuter-return/
3. My own hints:
° If you’re just getting started, borrow traps if you can. If you have to buy your own, get a mid-quality traps that you are comfortable using, not the cheapest traps that are harder to make work properly. If you decide you’re TNR for life, invest in good traps and label them clearly and permanently with your last name and phone number. You may be able to get funding for a set of traps, check with your local animal welfare orgs.
° Never trap without a plan for the WHOLE process, including if you trap sick, injured, lost, tamable kittens, etc. Do you have backup from a shelter or rescue to help with these cats, or will you do it yourself? Do you have the s/n appointments, where will they overnight, who’s driving, who’s paying?
° Start with your own cats, then the cats in your neighborhood. Then start working with other trappers in your area to address the larger problems.
° Winter: traps in sun, extra stinky or warmed food. Summer: traps in shade, moister foods.
° In summer, dawn and dusk are good trap times. In mid-winter, late afternoon works better.
° In the desert, consider using food AND water to trap. Add catnip for trapwise or tom cats on the hunt.
° Cats HATE wind. Seek sheltered spots near or in the area they will be eating. If it’s windy, don’t try to trap with covered traps. Rocks can hold the trap liner in place if it’s breezy.
° Do as much trap setup as possible before you arrive at the site. The less time you spend tromping around the better. And ask the colony keeper to be silent too. They can call the cats after you leave. Try to set up at least an hour before the normal feeding time, before shy cats arrive.
° Use a cardboard trap liner that extends about 1” past the end of the trap plate for trapwise cats.
° Hold door up with a stick or such instead of the trigger and pull that away with a non-stretchy string for trapwise cats. Pile the food in so when that cat sees four or five less cautious cats go in and come out without event, they’ll feel emboldened. Make sure you can watch from a place you won’t be seen, but the string can be quickly pulled. Keep the string taught, you don’t want to be pulling up slack and scaring the cats.
° If possible, place 20% more traps than you expect cats. Place traps on paths that they use to come to the feeding area, by holes in fences, etc. Be observant and creative about getting their attention as they come to food.
° Never leave traps unattended for long, but check on them from a distance so you don’t upset cats who are investigating. Imagine you’ve caught a kitten just big enough to trigger the trap. How long should it stay completely exposed and alone in that particular weather situation?
° Double check that back doors are properly latched. This is a main way people lose their trapped cats.
° Avoid transfers in open areas. Another way to lose a cat that’s been trapped.
° If your traps are inexpensive, damaged, or collapsible, then zip tie the doors down once the cat is trapped, especially for big tom cats.
° When you take the cat(s) to clinic, label your traps with the EXACT same name that the reservation is under. I recommend either your last name and a number, or the location and a number. IE Karst-1, Karst-2, or CenturyMobile-1, etc. Also mark on the trap what services you are requesting: s/n, RCP, rabies, eartip are the usual services for a feral cat.° For overnighting after surgery, keep cats in a contained area and slip food and water by opening the trap only enough to slip the bowl in. Do this quietly and re-cover the cat to make sure it feels safe enough to eat.
° By the next morning, they will probably have messed their trap. To prepare for this, be sure they are on a washable surface, with a tarp and something absorbent like pee pads or old towels under them.
° Before moving to a new trap site, or best practice is after every trapping, deodorize all your traps. The smell of an unfamiliar cat will guarantee cats will refuse to go in. I use vinegar with lemon juice, spray on and then hose off. UV also helps. You can rub the traps in the dirt at the site to make it smell more like that area.
SLV SNA 