Second Trap Attempt

I climbed up the garage wall and placed some heavy rocks atop that soffit vent hole. Nothing would be able to escape out of that vent now!

I waited until it got cold and rainy again. I put some food in the garage and got my line set for pulling the garage door shut. I waited, the cats came, they went for the food and - success! I finally had them!

I called a professional trapper the next day. The reason I did this was to get some education on how exactly I need to trap these animals. I had questions such as:

Do I use one cage for both animals or a cage for each animal?
Where do I put the food inside the cage?
Should I put water inside the cage?
What size cage do I need?
Would a humane trap work the best, or is there something else more effective?
Where do I place the cages inside the garage?
How long will it take for the cats to get trapped?

I felt it was well worth the $200 I spent to have these people come out, set the traps, put food in the traps and leave. I had told the trappers of my intention to spay these animals and subsequently release them back to my yard. They said that when I was finished, I should call them and they would come pick up their cages.

The day the trappers came, I checked to see that both cats were in the garage: they were. They had not touched their food, and the trapper instructed me to remove all food and water. I hesitated about the water, but because it was still cold outside, the trapper said that a day without water wasn't going to hurt them and might help them be attracted to the trap sooner. I asked when they thought the cats would come into the traps. They said that cats are the easiest animals to trap and it should occur within 24 hours of the traps being set.

The next morning I checked the garage and sure enough, like clock-work, each cat was in its own separate trap! I almost couldn't believe how easy this part had been. The trappers were right! The cats were safe and now I could bring food and water to them until I brought then in for surgery.

Next post, I will talk about my experience with the facilities where I brought the cats!

Cookie Comes Calling

So it happened. We knew it was inevitable. Cookie came, he and Sydney left for a few days, and Sydney returned alone. I guess Tater Tot followed along, because she was with Sydney. They seemed inseparable. And I knew it was time for action.

I looked online to see what the gestation period is for a pregnant cat: approximately 2 months. This would be my timeline for accomplishing my goal. It was cold outside, so I planned to trap the cats the same way as I trapped the kittens two years ago.

The bedding was set up in the garage with a heating pad. I put food and water in the garage. We have a detached garage, about 10 feet from our back door. The garage also has a door for people to go through.

I parked my car outside the garage and shut the big door. I then left the small door open. On the knob of the door, I knotted fishing line and strung it to the inside of my house. Because the fishing line was clear, the cats couldn't see it, and because it was thin and plastic, it slid nicely inside the door of my house. I was able to test it to see that if I yanked at it, the garage door would yank shut. My trap was ready and I waited for the cats to come eat.

Both Tater Tot and Sydney came into the garage. At that moment I yanked at the fishing line and they were trapped. My heart was beating so fast - I finally caught them!

But something went wrong. The next morning I went out there and there was no sign of them. I looked everywhere and couldn't find them. I saw a sliver of light from the corner of the roof and I investigated.

That sliver of light was a damaged soffit vent in the eave of our roof, not more than 2" wide. Apparently, they jumped up into the roof and jumped out to freedom. Fortunately for them, there was an air conditioner just beneath that damaged soffit vent, so they jumped on to the air conditioner and then to the ground. They came back for food the next day, just as if nothing had happened.

I felt like I was starting all over again. I felt so discouraged. This was going to be harder than I previously thought. I had underestimated these cats. I never would have thought they were capable of jumping to the roof in the first place, let alone escape through that sliver of a vent.

I took a few days to think about what to do. Sydney's belly was growing.

Sydney, Cookie's Girlfriend

About 8 months ago, a small grey and peach patchwork cat with beautiful green eyes came to Cookie's food bowl on the patio. I was inside the house, and as soon as we locked eyes, she went running out of the yard. Probably a feral, I suspected. I had never seen her before this time. She was so wild that I assumed she never had human contact before.

I began looking for her every day. I put food further out in the yard for her, and she must have come to the food (even though I didn't see her much) because eventually, she was more comfortable eating closer to the house. My daughter named her "Sydney".

One day, I spotted Sydney at the far end of my yard. Now, my yard is about 1/4 acre, and she was all the way at the back of the fence, so she didn't see me. And she had a kitten with her! My heart melted. I didn't wonder long if there were others. They probably hadn't survived.

I began to feed them both, all the way at the back of that fence. I would place soft food and dry food and fresh water there, twice a day.

I slowly moved those bowls a foot or two every day, and within two months, they were both eating on my patio.

The kitten was a combination of Cookie's total black with Sydney's grey/peach coat: black and peach patchwork fur with golden eyes! I named the kitten "Tater Tot".

But after a few months, I could see a problem coming. I knew Sydney would get in heat again and Cookie would come calling. Furthermore, I was able to get close enough to Tater Tot that I determined she was a female. Eventually, she would be mature and would get in heat. Time was limited if I was to prevent this new colony from growing.

Next post, I'll continue with what happened.

Cookie The Black Cat

Cookie (named by my daughter), an all-black feral male cat, has been coming around for years now. He's a wanderer, but he always seems to average a weekly visit here. We will feed him for a few days, then off he'll go on another "tom cat" excursion.

Cookie has never let us get near him. He'll sit on the patio and stare into the house until he gets someone's attention who will feed him. He has three willing participants who are eager to comply, so he usually gets what he wants rather quickly! When we go out to take the food to the patio, he runs into the back yard for safety. Just this year, however, he began to go into our garage when it was really cold. I set up a large box with a heating pad, nestled in between soft towels. He seemed to appreciate that!

One day Cookie showed up with a nasty, bloody red spot on his back. Another day, he showed up missing some hair on his neck. Cookies "issues" have become so commonplace that my husband and I joke about the newest "boo-boo" Cookie has. About a year ago, he hurt his leg badly and limped for weeks. I was really concerned, but had no idea how to trap him to care for his leg, other than to feed him as much as possible. Fortunately, it healed. Now that he comes into our garage, I might have a better chance at trapping him and having him neutered and released in our back yard, but he is very suspicious. I think he might have been feral all of his life.

I have heard that tom cats are always getting into fights to protect their territory, and that if they were neutered, they would be less prone to fighting. I'm not sure what the truth is there, but I don't like to see an injured animal for any reason.

I can only imagine the problems Cookie might have, from dental issues to the normal "flea/ear mite/intestinal worm" things. God knows what else. Katy Lady still has ear infections that never seem to clear up for long, and Morgan had ring worm that was all over her nose and ears. I thought she would never look normal, but all of her facial hair has been restored.

Next post, I'll write about the cat colony that has started to develop in my back yard.

Feral Kitten #2

Okay, now I know that the word got out. Within a month of getting Morgan into our house, another kitten set up residence under our deck! I'm such a softie! We went through the whole thing again and trapped the kitten the same way as before. But this one was a fighter! She was a bit older than Morgan, so she had more determination. After a struggle, everything was okay. But since she was older, more time was required to make her feel comfortable around us. This experience tells me that at some point, a feral cat will be much more difficult, if not impossible, to tame. Of course, this depends on the cat to some extent, too.

I promised my husband that I would find a home for this one, since this was going to be #4 in our house, so I set out asking people if they wanted a cat, I posted signs and kept at that for a number of weeks. Well, you know the rest of the story! We got attached to her and we still have her today. She is a small (6#) cat with a big personality. She is very talkative and playful and seems to get into the biggest messes! I'm glad we couldn't find a home for her.

Here is a picture of KatyLady soon after we trapped her. She's not much bigger today.

 Here she is (on your left) with our Humane Society Cat of 13 years, Saatchi. It's amazing how similar they both look!

Feral Kitten #1 - The Successful Trap!

After those multiple failures at trapping this kitten, I had to re-think my strategy as to how I might trap it. I knew I wanted to trap it, but had no idea which direction to take.

In any case, I knew I wanted to make the kitten as comfortable as possible while it was outside, so one night, I left my garage door cracked. I placed a small basket with towels inside it on the floor of the garage, and put some cat food next to the basket.

The next morning, I noticed that the cat food was gone, but also that there was a bit of cat hair and dirt from "someone" who had been in that basket! I suspected I knew who it was, and this gave me an idea.

Now, one thing I have to say before I continue, is that this kitten was not as skittish as some feral cats are, once they are fully grown. I think a fully-grown feral cat might not have gone into that garage so easily, or if it heard someone approaching, it might have run out of the garage. So the next night I saw the kitten go into the garage, and when she had been there awhile, I snuck outside and quietly closed the garage door that I had left slightly open.

Voila! I had her! Well, I had her in the garage. Now, what do I do to get her in my possession? I knew I had to leave the overhead door shut, so I focused on the other door.

Here's the trap I set: I found the kitten tucked in a corner of the garage opposite the opening of the door. I went out and purchased some plastic bird-netting that gardeners use to protect their tomatoes, and I came home and taped it all around that door. Then, I created a barrier leading from the wall where the kitten was to the wall where the door was. Since the light came through the netting, the kitten would try to escape in the direction of the light.  Because of the barrier, it couldn't go anywhere else in the garage to hide. I got a broom handle and gently poked it down in the corner where the kitten was perched.

After a few attempts, the kitten charged out from the corner and toward the light, right into the netting. It immediately got entangled in the netting, and as it struggled to free itself, I released the netting from around the door and enclosed the kitten inside it, held it close to my body and rushed it into a bathroom in my house that I had prepared for its arrival. I had a kitten litter box with litter, food and water, and a super-cozy place to sleep!

By the time I had the kitten next to my body, moving toward my house, it knew it had been caught and was totally submissive. I held firmly, just in case it would try to escape. Inside the bathroom, I easily removed the netting from it and left it alone for awhile to get used to its new surroundings. From that point on, it was easily tamed.

We have had Morgan for over 2 years, now.

Feral Kitten #1: The First Traps

A few years ago, my daughter spotted a calico kitten in our front yard.

"Mommy, Mommy! A kitten is in our yard! Come and look!"

I came and saw it, but as soon as I looked, it was gone. I rushed to the kitchen to open a can of tuna fish, and I placed it under a bush and left it there for the night. The next morning, it had been eaten.

In a few days, that kitten was living under our wooden deck in the back yard (our deck was raised up about 8 inches, so it provided a shelter for all kinds of small animals at various times).

We fed that kitten for a few days, but it became apparent that this kitten was a stray. Since it was cold outside, I decided I needed to trap it. I would worry about finding it a home later (yeah, you know where this is going!).

We set a booby trap on the top of the deck. It was a large overturned box tilted up by a large stick. I strung some fishing line from the bottom of the stick and pulled the line into my house, so that I could jerk the stick from inside my house and have the box trap the kitten. I also taped a 5# weight plate on top of the box, just in case the kitten tried to get out from under the box.

It worked! I trapped the kitten! But er, uh... I didn't think about how to get the kitten out from under the box once I trapped it! Big mistake. We so much as tilted the box and that kitten shot out so fast! There was no catching it. Back to square one.

I went to the hardware store to get a humane trap. I got one that I thought would be appropriate - a little larger than the size of a kitten. This was another mistake - I got a humane trap for a squirrel! I should have bought a larger one. Hey, how was I to know the right size for trapping a cat? All the outer boxes for those humane traps have pictures of possums and raccoons and squirrels on them - no cats! Anyway, I set the trap up, but the kitten was too smart and didn't go in the trap. Not only that, she kept setting the trap off without getting trapped! I gave up after a few attempts.

Next time, I'll share with you the trap that worked!

Welcome!

Hi, to all you cat lovers!

My friend suggested that I begin this blog to exchange information regarding feral cats, and to share my experiences I have had with these creatures. In doing so, I hope we can educate one another and ultimately help to decrease the feral cat populations around the nation.

So this is a forum! I want everyone to chime in. Because I realize that the more I learn about feral cats and cats in general, the less I know about them. One thing is for sure: I have a heart for these animals and I want to do whatever I can to help the situation, to alleviate suffering and to restore ecological balance in certain parts of the country.

Domesticated cats were never meant to live in the wild. It's rough out there. Some survive, but most suffer. In the next few posts, I will share stories about the feral cats that have come into my life. I hope you can share your information with me too, so that we will all be better equipped to handle this growing problem.