I need advice on TNR

Pumpkinseeds

I spoke to a local rescue and they are going to lend me a trap to catch the little cat that's coming to our garden. I'd love to keep him myself but there is no way my 3 will accept him and they are ripping him to bits. The rescue will hold on to him for as long as it takes to rehome him, thankfully.

This little guy is by no means feral, he's just very nervous and rightly so with my 3. I'm just looking for advice on the easiest way of trapping him. I'll have to do it in the back garden, working around our other 3, that should be interesting to say the least. So any advice would be appreciated, I just want to make it as stressless as possible for him.

The plan is to get hold of him and take him to the vet on Thursday, if I get the trap tomorrow I'll start trying straight away as I can keep him in a safe room until thursday.

anniehoo

If you've been feeding him let him go hungry for a day or 2 to attract him to the trap. They're clever little things and they're unlikely to go near a strange mesh box unless relatively hungry.

Cover the trap with something waterproof and dark. When he does goes into it, it's less stressful if he's in relative darkness and quiet, rather than being trapped and visible to any other animals. Use something tasty like ham or tuna to tempt him in too.

When you do manage to trap him, do still keep the trap covered as it's sensory and stress overload having everything unfamiliar visible to him. Good luck!

SillyMangoX

The best thing would be to block access to the outdoors for a while for your own guys, leave some really smelly tasty food in the trap and hopefully the hungry little stray will take the bait! Well done for taking responsibility for the little guy, so many just over look them!

mymo

I had to do this in London years ago, there were 3 ferals we'd got already so we just fed them until they were fit to burst and then set the trap.
3 stuffed kitties went off to snooze in the sun and little feral girl was in the trap 15 mins later.
I would cover it, and keep it dry. It would be best to keep the others away, but if not possible try the above method.
Good luck.

boomerang

If you PM me your email address I will send you our sheet of trapping tips

Pumpkinseeds

Thanks for all the great advice, I really appreciate it. I just can't bear to have the little guy suffering. His poor ear looks so sore and raw and he's got so many bald patches from fighting.

boomerang

Just left a visitor message on your profile page, pumpkinseeds.

I think I've disabled private messages, sorry, I forgot that!

Pumpkinseeds

boomerang wrote: »

If you PM me your email address I will send you our sheet of trapping tips

(I'm with Limerick Feral Cats)

Ohh, I didn't know you were with LFC, I follow you guys on Facebook. It won't let me PM you on here, it asked me to send a friendship request which I have so if it lets me send one later I will. If not I can PM the facebook page if thats ok?

boomerang

Just replied to you, above

I'm on facebook right now so you can PM me there, that's probably easier.

Pumpkinseeds

boomerang wrote: »

Just replied to you, above

I'm on facebook right now so you can PM me there, that's probably easier.

Done, thanks

Pumpkinseeds

boomerang wrote: »

Just replied to you, above

I'm on facebook right now so you can PM me there, that's probably easier.

Thank you for the tips, they're very helpful:)

anniehoo

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Thank you for the tips, they're very helpful:)

Any chance you could post them up without linking to any rescues if possible?

Pumpkinseeds

anniehoo wrote: »

Any chance you could post them up without linking to any rescues if possible?

PM sent

honerbright

Could I get a copy too, please?

Pumpkinseeds

Well the trap arrived and we'll be setting it tonight, gonna be a long night. I set it off while Felix was looking at it and thankfully he's terrified of it. Jazzy won't go near anything that could confine him so he just ran past it in the back door. That just leaves Toby, he comes and goes randomly so that could be tricky. I'm going to use fish as he's not keen on fish.

Is it ok to line the trap with a thin layer of paper? I was also thinking of putting a little soft fleece in for him to lie on. If I can get him tonight he can be treated tomorrow so fingers crossed.

boomerang

I find that if the newspaper rustles in the wind, it can put them off going in the trap, so I usually don't line it with anything.

I don't like them lying on the bare wire overnight either, so what I do is line the floor with newspaper with a nice fleecy blanket on top, and then lie the trap down on that. Once they are relaxed enough to sleep it's a bit more comfortable for them that way. Just keep the trap covered over once he's in it. (Thinking positive, lol!)

And remember to bring a carrier with you to the vets, to transfer him into, after surgery.

Pumpkinseeds

boomerang wrote: »

I find that if the newspaper rustles in the wind, it can put them off going in the trap, so I usually don't line it with anything.

I don't like them lying on the bare wire overnight either, so what I do is line the floor with newspaper with a nice fleecy blanket on top, and then lie the trap down on that. Once they are relaxed enough to sleep it's a bit more comfortable for them that way. Just keep the trap covered over once he's in it. (Thinking positive, lol!)

And remember to bring a carrier with you to the vets, to transfer him into, after surgery.

Thanks, I've put a little fleecy blanket in there for him. I'm up as Toby is out somewhere doing whatever it is he does wherever he does it and I don't want him getting shut in it. It varies time wise when the little black chap comes around. I saw him at 6.50 this morning outside the gate, so did Toby and he shot out after him. I'm hoping I can get him as they can take him to a vet tomorrow as they're collecting another tnr cat in my town. So it'd be great to get him done as soon as possible. He looks like he needs an antibiotic, a painkiller and some serious tlc.

bluecherry74

Any update this morning?

gufnork

bluecherry74 wrote: »

Any update this morning?

I'll take the liberty of replying for Pumpkinseeds since she was up most of the night and is taking a well earned rest. Unfortunately all we'd caught by the time I left for work at 7.30 this morning was our own little Toby. As far as I'm aware little black guy hasn't showed so far. Had to chase one of our others out of the trap this morning before he got trapped himself too. I looked out before heading off to work to see Jazzy's tail sticking out of it.

Oh well, there's time yet.

Apologies once again for answering for Pumpkinseeds.

bluecherry74

Thanks for the update. Poor Toby. Better luck next time!

honerbright

Ah, no! Hopefully you get the wee fellow soon! Thanks for the update

Pumpkinseeds

Yep no joy catching him last night. I fed the others and they were asleep but Toby got trapped at 3am. I let him out straight away and he wasn't fazed at all. In fact after a bowl of food he was determined to sleep in the trap:rolleyes:

The other 2 ran out when I was letting Toby out of the trap so I gave them some more food:rolleyes: to try to keep them out of it and reset the trap. At 4.30am Felix decided he didn't want Toby in the garden and decided to be very vocal on it so I had to go retrieve him. I think I nodded off at around 7 as I didn't hear Mr P/Gufnork heading out to work this morning.

The trap had to go back temporarily as there is a cat with an injured paw in a nearby town and obviously that poor little thing takes priority. So I'm gonna persevere til I get him safely anyway.

Pumpkinseeds

boomerang wrote: »

I find that if the newspaper rustles in the wind, it can put them off going in the trap, so I usually don't line it with anything.

I don't like them lying on the bare wire overnight either, so what I do is line the floor with newspaper with a nice fleecy blanket on top, and then lie the trap down on that. Once they are relaxed enough to sleep it's a bit more comfortable for them that way. Just keep the trap covered over once he's in it. (Thinking positive, lol!)

And remember to bring a carrier with you to the vets, to transfer him into, after surgery.

Would you mind PMing me where you buy your TNR traps from. We seem to attract a fair few strays over the years and it'd be handy to have one. I know the tnr traps are scarce and it'd be handy to have one locally in case of an emergency.

boomerang

When we were broke but desperately needed more traps we wasted money buying cheap traps, pumpkinseeds. They rust quickly, break easily and worst of all, the finish is poor so the cats tend to get scratched on their faces and get bleeding gums from headbutting against the wire in that minute of panic between them being trapped and you covering up the trap with a blanket.

Steer well clear of the Trapman traps (UK) and any of the traps available on Irish websites for less than fifty quid - they're sh*te! For little more than twice the price you have a robust, safe, reliable trap that'll last a lifetime if you take good care of it.

We saved up and bought more traps from MDC Exports in the UK. Including postage they work out about €100 each. We go for the Eezicatch with the wire floor. The solid floor ones are more expensive and really don't offer any advantage over the basic model. Ditto on the model with the perspex door - it honestly makes no difference so don't pay the extra.

Please don't waste your money buying anything cheaper than the above - you'll regret it.

http://www.mdcexports.co.uk/?p=eezicatch

Pumpkinseeds

Thanks Boomerang, you're right I'd rather pay more for 1 that will last a long time. I'm torn between the one you posted or the foldaway one. If it's reliable the foldaway one would be the handiest for us to store away. My 3 are mooching away out back with the unloaded one at the moment. The stray won't come into the garden while they're around anyway so it'll be a while before I can set it.

Jazzy showed typical feral form this morning while he mooched inside without stepping on the treddle plate. I couldn't believe that despite getting trapped only minutes before, Toby wanted to sleep in the trap. And Felix, well Felix will do anything for tuna.

Pumpkinseeds

No success trapping black puss again. Mostly as Toby has decided to sleep in the garden since I put the trap out:rolleyes: I'd happily let him sleep in the house but Felix starts going mental so that isn't happening. Am running out of ideas now. I'm not sure if he's vanished off somewhere else or if it's just that Toby is in the garden when he comes around. I haven't heard any fighting though.

boomerang

Can you get him on a feeding schedule by leaving out food at a particular time each day? That speeds up the trapping process enormously. In a week or two he should be coming at a given time like clockwork.

Pumpkinseeds

boomerang wrote: »

Can you get him on a feeding schedule by leaving out food at a particular time each day? That speeds up the trapping process enormously. In a week or two he should be coming at a given time like clockwork.

Unfortunately not. The problem is Toby comes and goes from God knows where whenever he wants. Since the rain has stopped over the last few days he's staying with us and is happy to sleep in the kitchen or sunbathe out back. Jazzy and Felix are still adjusting to Toby, Jazzy seems to have accepted him but Felix is still prone to the howling and sideways crab thingy they do when he sees Toby indoors. Sometimes Felix will just let Toby walk in the door past him but other times he'll chase him off.

I try to leave food out when the 3 of them are asleep during the day and I don't set the trap until they're all fed. If I leave food out my 3 will eat it or the crows will come down for it, as they were doing when we were putting the food in the shed. I even found a magpie in the shed eating it. The only positive thing about last nights trapping attempt is that none of my cats went into the trap.

Mr P is off for a few days now so there'll be one of us at home all the time so I can set the trap during the day now in case he comes around in the afternoons.

DBB

I know this might not be possible, as traps seem to be like hen's teeth, but if you're buying a trap for yourself anyway... How about setting up two traps? One for Toby and one for the black puddy?

Pumpkinseeds

DBB wrote: »

I know this might not be possible, as traps seem to be like hen's teeth, but if you're buying a trap for yourself anyway... How about setting up two traps? One for Toby and one for the black puddy?

In theory that sounds workable but Toby happily slept on the doormat last night, we took his basket in hoping he'd sleep in his other place til we could trap black puss, made me feel like a b*tch doing that:( The problem is he only has to see the other cat and he'll go for him. The other cat has been here at lots of different times of the day and night. I think it's just hit and miss as to whether they're around when he passes the gate. I saw his eyes peeking in the gate at 2am a couple of nights ago but Toby was there so he kept going. It's just not possible at the moment to keep Toby shut in.

boomerang

What we do in a situation where there are a few cats about, but only one we want to catch:

Instead of using the lever in the trap to keep the door of the trap open, just prop it open with a 500ml bottle filled with water. Tie a long piece string around the bottle and when the right cat goes in the trap, pull the string. This only works on traps that have a door that swings outwards when set. (See piccy).

I think putting a blankie in there is a bad idea... It may well be putting him off. It's better with a wire-bottomed trap at least to set it in the grass and let the grass come up through the wire floor. It camouflages it a bit.

He sounds very savvy. I definitely think putting him on a feeding schedule is the way to go. If you can do that, I could call out to you in about a week with our drop trap, if you haven't succeeded between this and then. That's our plan B for cats that won't go in the regular traps. I suspect from the sounds of it that this lad may be finding food elsewhere, and that might be part of the reason why he's not going the whole way into the trap - insufficient tummy grumbles!