Need to capture two pregnant ferals... help?

carolpetunia

carolpetunia

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A woman I know who lives out in the country has been feeding some feral cats. I've offered many times to try to get them into the shelter where I volunteer, but she's refused, and now two of them are pregnant.


So now she's willing for me to take them to the shelter, but neither of us knows how to capture them safely. I've called around, and no one has a trap available at the moment... can anyone suggest another method?

I'm also concerned that the shelter may not have room for them at the time we show up there. If that turns out to be the case... would it be better for us to set up cages for them in the garage or in the fenced backyard (assuming warm weather)? The garage has no windows, and I don't know how an outdoor cat would feel about being so totally isolated from the outside world.

There's absolutely no place in the house for them -- and even if there were, I'm very concerned about the possibility of spreading diseases to our six cats. How should we go about preventing that?

And what other issues should we be thinking about?

Many thanks for your guidance...
 
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keith p

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All I can think of is if you REALLY wanted to keep them inside your house, get them to a vet and have them vaccinated, and if they test negative for all bad diseases it will be safe for your other cats.

But first you'd have to catch them.

Shelters are normally booked except for very young kittens people bring in, but you'd have to ask the shelter yourself. Mabye they will take the kittens for you once they are weaned off the mothers milk.

If you have a finished garage (like the ones people sometimes live in and looks like another room in your house), the cats could then probably live cage free as long as they couldnt escape outside easily. My garage isnt finished and I would find it hard to keep a cat in their to live out it's life, especially in the bitter winter with no heat.
 
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carolpetunia

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Thanks to you both! Tomorrow is this woman's day off, so we're going to go for it then. I'm bringing big padded oven mitts...
 
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carolpetunia

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Success! Lucky for me, Pat was able to capture both kitties before I even got there, while she was putting out the food they're accustomed to getting in the morning. They're sisters, about nine months old, one a brown tabby and the other a blue tabby with white. They're both so pretty! And they were good as gold. We had them in two carriers in the back seat for the thirty-minute drive to the shelter, and they didn't howl or hiss or anything... probably too scared to make a sound, poor little ones.

At the shelter, the intake person was in her usual tizzy. There are so many mama cats this time of year, and so few people with the room it takes to foster. So the intake person was not happy to see these cats. But the vet techs tested them for all the dread diseases you always fear a feral might have, and they came out negative! Whoopeeee!


So then I had to sign release papers, surrendering them to the shelter. I've never been on that side of the equation before -- I'm used to going to the shelter emptyhanded and coming home with kitties, not the other way around! It felt just awful. I know there are wonderful fosters who will take good care of them, and who will be a lot more help to them during the births than I would know how to be... and I know those kitties and their babies will have vastly better lives because of what we did today.

But it still felt awful to leave them behind!
 
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carolpetunia

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Oh, believe me, I ascertained up front that they had fosters in mind for them! And I'm calling in the morning to double-check that they're all set.

This is a wonderful no-kill shelter, the one I volunteer for. In fact, I've been a foster myself from time to time, so I know nothing bad will happen to these kitties. But I was concerned that, if no fosters were available right away, they might have to spend a night or two in the tiny intake cages, and I didn't want that to happen... so I asked.

Ironically, though, my Clyde was born to a rescued feral in one of those little intake cages! His mom, Abby (who was adopted by my mom), was so skinny when they brought her in that they never even guessed she was pregnant. They just came in the next morning and found her with five brand-new babies.
 
pat locani

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Success! Lucky for me, Pat was able to capture both kitties before I even got there, while she was putting out the food they're accustomed to getting in the morning. They're sisters, about nine months old, one a brown tabby and the other a blue tabby with white. They're both so pretty! And they were good as gold. We had them in two carriers in the back seat for the thirty-minute drive to the shelter, and they didn't howl or hiss or anything... probably too scared to make a sound, poor little ones.

At the shelter, the intake person was in her usual tizzy. There are so many mama cats this time of year, and so few people with the room it takes to foster. So the intake person was not happy to see these cats. But the vet techs tested them for all the dread diseases you always fear a feral might have, and they came out negative! Whoopeeee!


So then I had to sign release papers, surrendering them to the shelter. I've never been on that side of the equation before -- I'm used to going to the shelter emptyhanded and coming home with kitties, not the other way around! It felt just awful. I know there are wonderful fosters who will take good care of them, and who will be a lot more help to them during the births than I would know how to be... and I know those kitties and their babies will have vastly better lives because of what we did today.

But it still felt awful to leave them behind!
Click to expand...
I'm just now reading your post (not online much) and I was going to offer my trap. It's available if you need it again. I fed a feral colony, trapped and rehomed before moving out of Dallas. Haven't done anything in that area the last two years due to asthma.

I'm amazed that any shelter took rescues. Was that Operation Kindness? Last time I checked, Dallas/Ft Worth had the worst kill-rate in the nation, averaging 800 per day killed in the pounds.

Major kudos to you for doing what you can.
Let me know if you need the trap.
 
ldg

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Carol - congrats!
You know the shelter, so it wasn't like signing them over to strangers.
What a wonderful thing - and here I click on the thread wondering what advice I can give - and they're already at the shelter!

Did the shelter find fosters for them already?



Laurie
 
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carolpetunia

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Thank you so much, Pat! What a kind offer! I hope we'll get a chance to call on you -- the mother of the two girls we rescued is still out there somewhere. And yes, it's Operation Kindness, where I volunteer. They're just overwhelmed, and I know it breaks their hearts to have to turn animals away, but it's happening every day this time of year. I was very lucky to show up at a time when they did have one big cage where the girls could stay until they had time to track down fosters.

FurryFerals, you're a jewel, and I thank you so much for your help both here and via PM.


Laurie, yes, the girls are both being fostered now, and I'm keeping track of them -- because my friend misses her feral girls, and once the babies are weaned, she wants to adopt the mamas!
Isn't that great? I think she understands that they need to live indoors, too, but I'm going to discuss that with her before the time comes. The shelter very rarely lets anyone adopt who plans on letting the kitty roam... but my friend does live sort of out in the country, so it's possible.

But she does have two little beagle dogs. Not sure how that will work out...
 
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That is so wonderful. I hope everything works out so she can adopt the momma's back..Hopefully they will get fixed too.

 
StefanZ

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

But she does have two little beagle dogs. Not sure how that will work out...
Click to expand...
Ah, but it usually does. It is also possible to swindle a little to make things go more smoothly: use a Feliway diffuser for the cats, and a DAP diffuser for the dogs.
 
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