Expert: Dear Tabbi - 9/2/2009

Question
i have a feral colony with 1 queen (Lilly) and her 9 offspring. i have tried 2 trap her since august 08 but she will not go near the trap or me. all the others have been spayed or neutered. she looks pregnant and i dont want her 2 go through this again for the 3rd time this year ! i moved here a year ago and she was here with 3 babies.the others were homed or died and the process began again. all the others will rub against me and let me handle them.  Lilly is very elusive and ive tried sardines tuna and catnip mixed in. i even got this stinky bait from the shelter.she wont go in the trap for anything !!!  what can i do? HELP PLEASE!!!! THANKS!!


Answer
Allison,

The wily ones are the MOST frustrating! I would suggest using a drop trap. The trappers that help me use those in extreme cases and have been successful. We finally got one male that had string around his neck slowly cutting his head off that way. Nothing else worked! I am attaching some links that may be helpful, especially a couple of videos on drop cat use that are very good:
(copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar)

Videos:
http://droptrapdesign.blogspot.com/2005/10/demo-tape-available-vhs.html
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=jennknott

Building a drop trap:
http://www.catinfo.org/Remotecontrol-droptrap.htm

http://www.catinfo.org/buildingadroptrap.htm
(portable drop trap)

http://droptrapdesign.blogspot.com/2005/10/build-your-own.html

Article on hard to catch ferals:
http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/HOW_TO_HARD_TO_CATCH_CATS

I have found that there are some cats who will NOT eat fish! It doesn't interest them. Kentucky Fried Chicken works well, as does just using dry food (if that is what they are used to) after withholding food for a day.

If she already has her babies: I trapped a very feral mom who just had babies by waiting until she left, then got the babies "as bait". I put the babies in a carrier that had a door about the size of a trap door and used a trap that opened on both ends. I attached/bungied the open 'other end' of the trap to the carrier with the babies then set the trap. I sprinkled food in a path to the babies then sat in my truck and waited. The mom will either follow the food or hear the babies and go into the trap to get to the babies in the back. When she does, the trap will trip. You just shoo her into the carrier. Watch for ANY type of opening between the trap and carrier because a cat WILL escape and you usually lose your only shot of using that method again and she may hide the babies. The tricky part is safely removing the trap and closing the carrier door without losing the cat! You should have two people or at least a piece of plywood that you can slide down to cover the opening until you can close the door. After you trap her then you can eventually get her into a big dog crate and take care of her and the babies until they are eating on their own. Then you can spay her and release her and possibly adopt out the kittens, or have them all fixed at the same time then release them together. The SPCA spays and neuters our ferals at 8-10 weeks old! If you have a knowledgeable vet, he CAN spay the cat even if she is nursing. If done correctly, it won't affect her milk production. It is just a more tedious surgery.

I hope these suggestions are helpful and you are successful in catching 'Mom'. Good luck and let me know if you get her!

Tabbi