Trapping an Injured Neighborhood Cat

Part of my duties as a cat caretaker and rescuer is to watch over the cats and to trap them if any of them are injured. 

So when the baby-injured feral kitten showed up at the workshop with a noticeable lump on his upper leg I knew that he needed veterinarian care.

Feral kitten I trapped in a Live animal trap

We tried to catch the kitten but when that failed we decided to set up the Havahart double-door trap that I bought at amazon.com in the workshop and close off the kitty door so he could not exit and other cats could not enter. 

 

The live animal trap was set and baited with Friskies mixed grill canned cat food and I also added some water in a small plastic bowl.  This stinky food should attract the cat into the live animal trap. When the feral kitten enters the trap this evening at least he will have food and water and a soft bed of straw.  I covered the trap with a soft white baby blanket, so the kitten will think the trap is its den. The blanket is a way to lessen any stress or anxiety. 

photo of a kitten in a recovery cage

The kitten entered the trap and was not distressed. His leg needs to be looked at by a veterinarian.  Trapping was successful 

Trapping Feral Cats in Parks

Feral cats come from a long line of abandoned house cats. Many of the cats are left in state parks, and in wooded or forested tracks of land.  The house cats that are left in these isolated areas seldom survive as they lack in foraging skills. Some get cat disease, others are hunted by wildlife predators, and a few are injured by fighting with feral cats.  

The fate of an abandoned house cat that is left in a wooded area is many times a fatality; however some house cats survive the harsh terrain and environment.  Woodland feral cats sleep during the day and awake at dusk to forage, socialize and mate. The night provides a safer environment for the cats as they are terrified of humans. 

 Periodically cats will be viewed in the morning hours, they may be seeking food, water or they may be injured.  Trapping feral woodland cats does take skills as one must locate the colony and then bond with the cats.

Locate the Colony

Locate the woodland feral cats in state parks by asking the park ranger if there are any feral cats in the area.    Park officials know if cats have been abandoned or they will know where cats have been viewed. 

Find out if the cats are being cared for by a colony caregiver.  If there is a caregiver then offer your contact information and ask the ranger if they would pass on your business card.  

Tell them that you would like to help care for the cats and trap them for spay or neuter and the necessary medical care. If there is no caregiver then you will need to locate the woodland feral cats.  Go to the location were feral cats have been sited. 

Winter Woodland Feral Cat by Susang6

Survey the wooded terrain with your field glasses.  Look for cat shelters; opening in a rock wall, hallow trees, thickets.  Hike to the area where you viewed the shelters.  Stop 15 to 20 feet away from the shelter and set up a feeding station.   

Set up Cat Feeding Station
Fill a bowl with dry cat food.  Food that is fortified with antioxidants will help in boosting cats immune system.  Fill a separate bowl with fresh water. If cats are viewed lurking in the distance, top the dry kibble with stinky fish flavored wet food like Friskies mixed grill.

Document Cat Activity:

Back away from the feeding station and stop twenty feet away.  Set up camp and watch the feeding station with field glasses.  Wait for woodland cats to appear.  

1. Take photographs of the surrounding area, the woodland feral cats, and write your notes on the cats and shelter.  Document their characteristics, mannerisms, sex, and keep your notes in a binder. 
2. Watch the food bowls; if there are many cats the bowl and water will need to be filled Do this by approaching the feeding station slowly, and do not make eye contact with the cats.  
3. Fill the bowls and then back away from the area slowly.  

If you have completed your journal on all of the cats then you may leave.  However you must return to the feeding station the following day at the same time and set up the feeding station in the same location.  You will do this on a daily basis; it is best to feed cats twice a day; 6am and 6pm.

Bond with Feral Cats

Being a woodland feral cat caregiver is a daily job, these cats become dependent on you for food and hydration.  Soon you will notice that the cats are dependent on you for their food source, they will sit in a line and wait for your arrival, or they will run to greet you when they see you approaching the feeding station.  

The cats may seem friendly, however you must respect them at all times and do not attempt to pet them. If you do so this will scare the cat and the cat will react by scratching you or biting you.  If a cat bites you then animal control will cease the cat and euthanize the cat because it is not vaccinated for rabies or other cat diseases.  Therefore respect the cat and keep your hands away from the woodland feral cat.

Communicate with Veterinarian

Contact your veterinarian and inform them that you are a caregiver to woodland feral cats and that when they are dependent upon you that you will begin trapping.  Make arrangement s to bring cats in for sterilization, feline leukemia and AIDS tests, rabies shots, cat wormer and application for cat frontline plus.  Also contact your local cat network, for assistance in a group trapping.

Trapping Feral Cats

Schedule a group trapping for the colony of woodland feral cats.  Omit feeding the cats for 12 hours, however do provide water.  Purchase a medium size live animal trap.  Line the trap with newspaper that is folded so that it fits securely in the trap.  Drop two teaspoons of Friskies tuna canned food in the back of the trap, and  drizzle the juice down the center of the trap (on top of the newspaper) the stinky food will lure the hungry cat into the trap. Next drape a twin size blanket or a fleece sofa throw over the trap, do not conceal the opening of the trap. Spray the inside of the trap; blanket that faces trap interior with Feliway comfort spray.  This formula will help to relax the cat, so that it is not so stressed out.  Set the trap close to the vicinity of the feeding station.   Stand at a distance and watch and wait for the cat to enter the trap and the door to close.  Wait patiently.

When the cat enters the trap and the door closes.  Cover the entire trap with the twin size blanket, this blanket will aid in comforting the cat.  Do not attempt to touch the trap or the cat.  

Move the cat in the trap away from the trap site and place in the transport vehicle, a van is useful when trapping a colony of cats.  Transport cats to veterinarians for medical care.  


Release the cats to the trapping site when the veterinarian tells you it is okay to do so. 

Tips:

• When cats are released to the colony resume feeding the cats at the station.
• Contact cat network in your area and ask for volunteer in your area to help with caring for the cats.
• Rehabilitate kittens for adoption, by socializing them in your home or with the other caregivers.
• Keep a current journal on all of the cats, that way you will know their medical needs and when they will need to be re-trapped for shot updates.

Feral Cat Needs Medical Care

Feral cats are smart and once they have been inside a trap they are not going to enter the trap again.  Normally after I release a feral cat they will live their life in a control colony and will only be re-trapped if medically needed.

 The feral cat I call Lucy was released three weeks ago after being treated for an injury that she suffered while nursing her kittens.  Since being set free Lucy has stayed close to the shelter, she goes inside the shelter and sleeps there throughout the day. 

In the evening around 6:00PM she will leave the shelter and venture out into my yard, sometimes she lays by the pond, other times she hides in the ornamental grass garden, and sometimes she sits on the back wall, rarely does she enter the woods to go to the cat colony by the caves.

I have been watching the feral cat named Lucy through the lens of my camera. She was wounded several weeks ago and I trapped her for medical care.  The wound on her paw is not healing. The 1/2 inch scab grow larger daily. 

Lucy has been chewing on her paw, as if she needs to drain it daily. I suspect that she has another infection. On Friday September 3rd, I spoke to the veterinarian and I told him my concerns for Lucy’s wound, he told me that she is chewing on her paw because it must have another infection.  I was told to re-trap Lucy the feral cat and to bring her in for a medical examination. 

I set up the trap inside the the shelter as that is where her feeding station is located. 

Both my husband and I have been watching the shelter, waiting for Lucy to go inside. Lucy did not spend the night in the shelter. She did come to my yard at 3:00 this afternoon and I noticed blood on Lucy's head and I thought that she had been in a fight. Then I noticed her paw, it was covered with blood. 

I quickly made up a bowl of Blue Buffalo chicken canned cat food and brought food and fresh water out to her.   I set the food in the back of the trap. I left the kitty door open and I waited for her to go inside. She did not enter the shelter; instead she hunted a salamander and ate it before walking out of my yard.

 I will continue to watch the shelter and have placed a baby monitor inside, that way I will be informed of any movement. I pray that she enters the shelter tonight and I also pray that God will watch over her and guide her to the shelter and inside the trap.

Feral Cats Deserve a Better Life

There are billions of feral cats worldwide because of human negligence. Feral is the cat that nobody wanted. These cats were abandoned by their owners and left to survive on their own.  

Some cats survived in areas close to a food source others perished. These cats are living a life much like the wild cats of Africa. They are competing for food water and shelter and just want to carve out space for themselves so they can live a peaceful life with humans.

I have been a colony caregiver since 1999 and in that time I have trapped, sterilized, and given the feral cats their vaccines, tape wormer, and treatment for fleas, ticks, and ear mites. 

 All of the feral and stray cats that I have trapped were either socialized for adoption or released to a controlled colony where they are safe from human traffic.

My husband and I care for feral and stray cats.  At the present date, we have 10 cats in our colony.  The colony where the cats reside is on a side of a mountain ridge that is located in a forest of 25 acres. The cats live in limestone cracks and crevices as well as large thicket dens or hollow trees. 

 All cats are fed twice a day and get fresh water at the feeding station.

In the winter the cats are welcome to sleep and get warm in my old shed.  It is a drafty shed, however, it is dry and it does provide the cats with a good wind block and straw-filled beds. 

Some feral cats will go where they go when the weather turns extremely cold or hot and these cats do suffer. They are too wild to realize that the shed has heat and an air conditioner.  

The feral cats are terrified of the noise that the heater or the air conditioner so these cats will burrow into the leaves or the brush in the forest. For these wild feral cats, we will hike out to them to provide them with food and water.  And when the snow is too deep we will make a path to them.   (see the path my husband created for us to get to the cats or for the cats to come to us.)

It is not easy to be a feral cat, most humans fear them and believe they are vicious and diseased.  Many humans think the best interest of the feral cat is to trap them and euthanize them, and this action is humane.  

I have trapped and taken the feral cats in for sterilization, tested for feline aids or leukemia, and out of the 298 cats there was 1 sick cat and that cat was a neighborhood stray cat, very people friendly. 

Feral cats did not ask for this life, they really had no choice as their human abandoned them long ago.  They are feral because of human neglect, a human error that can only be fixed by the caregivers that dedicate their service to trap, spay or neuter and then care for the cats in colonies.  

Feral cats deserve a better life, where they can co-exist with humans without being feared as dangerous animals, with no purpose on earth.