Tips on catching kittens?

The background story is here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ies+catch+mama

Anyway, the mother cat didn't bring her babies around to my house until just last week. I think they're 10 weeks old now. I decided to try to catch them, and put out a carrier with a rope tied to the door, and put canned food in. I caught one of the kittens right away, and re-set the carrier. Imagine my surprise when I looked out and the mama cat was in the carrier! So I pulled the door shut and brought her in. This was Tuesday morning. I managed to catch another kitten last night.

But there are still 2 of her babies out there, and they're proving hard to catch. They seem to be doing well without their mother, although they look kind of sad . If they just knew she was in my bathroom, I'm sure they'd go right in. They've been hiding all day and only coming to eat at night. I'm going to keep trying the "carrier with a rope on the door" trick every night until I catch them, but I was wondering if anyone had any other tips? The bait doesn't seem to be a problem (they like Nine Lives Chicken and Tuna flavor , but are not impressed with anything else), it's just getting them to go in the carrier and stay long enough for me to pull the door closed.

I don't want to use the trap because I'm afraid one will trigger the trap while the other is standing in the doorway, and that one will get hurt by the slamming door.

You have the mome at your place? I hope she is laying on something?

Take this something and lay it in the carrier-trap. Hopefully they feel the smell and comes...

You can perhaps use a little of her used litter to reinforce the moma-smells leading into the carrier...??


I may be worth a try to play in when the momma is crying, and play up the sounds near the carrier so the kittens come near??



Im not sure if any of these ideas works for real, but that is these ideas I have...

Congrats on your success so far!

You can still use a trap tho and catch both at once if they both go in. Similar to what you are doing now, it's called the water bottle technique where you do not set the trap to trip and have a water bottle holding up the door and tie your rope to the water bottle. I have caught 3 kittens at once using this method.
Here's a video by Liz Cava of Fix Nation:
Are you continuing to feed them outside the carrier? If they aren't hungry there is no reason for them to go in. Make sure the only food they get will be in the trap - they will eventually go in. Be sure to leave out plenty of fresh water though.

Mackerel as bait works well as they can not resist that - just make a trail going into the trap - one medium piece in front of trap, then pour juice on the newspaper leading into the trap. About 3" in front of trip mechanism put another small piece and then a huge plate of bait at the very back of the trap and pour all the stinky juices in too.

Good luck!

Tx Techiegirl.

Your advices sounds more practical than mine.

Although it is perhaps possible to combine them. Both smell of food and mom.

Originally Posted by Willowy

I don't want to use the trap because I'm afraid one will trigger the trap while the other is standing in the doorway, and that one will get hurt by the slamming door.

Click to expand...

Check out this video. Someone shared it one time and it's a wonderful idea to avoid this issue.

Caught 'em! Both at the same time, too, which is good because I was worried about leaving either of them alone out there. So, now how to tame them? I think they're starting to trust me a little more, but they still hiss when I try to touch them.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What fabulous news!

At 10 weeks, they may be big enough for your vet to spay and neuter - maybe take the whole family in together? Are you going to be releasing mom or trying to socialize her? Any idea how old she is?

There are so many threads on socializing here, just conduct a forum search!

Laurie

The mama will be released after being spayed. Even if she "tamed" a little bit, I don't think she'd be happy as a housecat. She's been in the neighborhood for a couple years now, so I think she'll be fine out there. I have 11 indoor cats already, so keeping her inside is not something I'd prefer to do, and I doubt she could be re-homed.

The low-cost clinic requires them to be 12 weeks old and at least 2 pounds. Hopefully I can get an appointment soon.....they're only operating on Wednesdays and they have a waiting list.