New kitty girl stray in our yard

Sweet Pea must have put the word out there. About three weeks ago one evening the twins were really agitated at the kitchen windows. When we went to check them, we saw a small kitty on our porch. It is definitely a girl and a petite one, medium coat, a mix between tortie, calico and tabby with white socks. She looked very very skinny with very unkept coat and there was this terrible anguish in her eyes. She moved in front of our front door and sat there glued to it for a very long time. Then she moved to our back patio. We put food out for her, when we did that she ran away but she came back later and ate. She has a flea collar on so she must have belonged to somebody at some point but she is very very scared.

We have been feeding her since then and she looks better. She only comes in the evening to eat. We would like to trap her and take her to the vet. I am praying she is already fixed but also know the probability of this is rather small. This is where we need some advice.

I am concerned of her waiting the whole night in the trap until we can take her in. My concern is that she would hurt herself. What do you guys recommend? Sweet Pea used to come several times to eat and used to wait for my husband in his feeding area for breakfast and dinner, so catching him in the morning and then taking him to the vet was possible.

For now we would have to release her back outside until we can figure out how social she is and find a foster for her- we are willing to donate money for her to be fostered.

Marina

I swear they put a huge neon sign on gardens

I have left cats in traps overnight, they tend to fight for a bit and then settle down, grumpy but safe - wear gloves when you try to pick up the trap the next morning though. If you can borrow a large dog crate you could put her in that with food and a litterbox from a trap

I've left cats in traps overnight too and they were fine. I'd suggest covering the trap with a blanket or towel to help the cat feel more secure. Good luck!

I've even left them in over the weekend, which gets a bit scary -- but definitely manageable when there are no other options. Do they make small pitchforks for food that fits through the bars of the trap ??

Agree it is always good idea to cover the trap with an old sheet, blanket or towel. This will help the cat to feel safe.

Good luck !

If the cat comes to eat in the evening that will work to your advantage.

Here's what worked for me and Marlow. I placed a trap next to his nightly meal for two days. On the third night I trapped him. No more feeding after trapping. I left him in the trap overnight with a towel over it. I had placed the trap on a piece of carpet for Marlows comfort. (the shag stuck up through the mesh of the trap.) He pulled some of the towel in overnight and shedded it .

The next morning he was ready for surgery having fasted all night. Our local "Humane Society" neuters and spays feral cats at a discounted rate if they are brought in inside a trap. (some leeway here I'm sure) $25 gets a male neutered and a rabies shot. $35 for females.

Marlow is now good friends with our other cat Sasha. He lives indoors with us. Good luck with yours.

Marina, I'm pretty sure it's clear she'll be OK overnight in the trap. She won't hurt herself (maybe a banged up nose - if they really freak out, sometimes that happens, but they heal ) - the most important thing is that she be protected from the weather if it's pouring rain or something. A basement or garage or bathroom work great. If it's not raining, the porch is fine.

What you may want to do in the meantime is start your e-mail campaign to find room for her in a shelter or foster network. The best way to do this is to go to http://www.petfinder.com and type in your zip and just search on "cat." It pulls up pages and pages of cats for adoption - but each cat has an org listed with it, and each org has a link to a page that will have contact info. You can start calling and e-mailing. Just remember - it's kitten season, and most shelters/foster networks are full now and under-staffed. Responses, if you're going to get one, can take a while. Last time we did this we contacted orgs within a three hour drive radius - we sent out 20-something e-mails and got back something like four responses. We learned the hard way - the smart thing to do is get a pad of paper and write down the e-mail address of each person/org contacted, and write the name of the organization they're associated with next to it. Most people's e-mail addresses are personal, so when they reply if you don't have this list, it can be nearly impossible to figure out which organization replied to you!

It is VERY important that you let them know up front that you've rescued cats on your own and you are going to TNR her - but you're at your limit, so you cannot adopt any more, however she is obviously not feral and you're looking for a way to find her a home.

In the meantime - do sterilize her, get her her rabies shot, and have them apply Revolution or Advantage Plus (assume she has parasites, inside and out) and remove the flea collar, and feed her. With food, it may not take too long for her to become friendly with you. ...and take pictures of her. Just keep at it until you get some shots that have that "I'd want to adopt that cat if I could!" quality. We just create a little document with the picture of the kitty(ies) and a little bit about her/him/them - and have you seen those things up at stores where they have the little pull off tabs? Don't just put your number on there, make each tab say "calico cat" and the number or whatever. We put them up all over the place, and all the local vets put them up for us - or in their "for adoption" books.

Here is a good example of an application for a background check (to make sure she's being adopted into a good home): http://www.mchsofmn.org/adoption-application.html

Foster networks are REALLY happy if you pay for the spay or neuter and shots and tests and such... and really happy if you help pay for their care. It can be really hard to find one, especially now - but make sure they know you're willing to donate and help financially - and if you get a reply, but it's a "we're full," write back and ask if they can contact you when a spot opens up or if you can contact them again in the future if you haven't been successful at adopting her out.

Originally Posted by LoveWhiskers

I am concerned of her waiting the whole night in the trap until we can take her in. My concern is that she would hurt herself. What do you guys recommend? Sweet Pea used to come several times to eat and used to wait for my husband in his feeding area for breakfast and dinner, so catching him in the morning and then taking him to the vet was possible.

For now we would have to release her back outside until we can figure out how social she is and find a foster for her- we are willing to donate money for her to be fostered.

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Oh kitty is so lucky to have wandered into your yard!!!

We have trapped 2 kitties with Havaharts (Patches and the kitten we didn't get first time around) and both were left overnight. Patches as trapped 2 times! Her first time, she was left on front porch with a towel over her - just like her baby. The second time, we had her in the garage for temperature reasons. She was quiet as can be. Her baby cried and cried - which was just heart breaking to hear, but that baby was a lucky one - he is spoiled in a foster home now. Patches did bang up her pretty little nose - she spazzed the first 10 seconds or so the trap set off. Poor baby. It's an interesting emotion hearing the trap get tripped and seeing the kitty struggle - you are pleased and happy she is caught and flash forward to thinking of the future with kitty safe off the streets in a warm safe home, but you feel so bad seeing this terrified animal wondering why on earth I'm in a cage.

Anyways - I agree email campaign is the way to go. It's tough, with kitten season. If you get kitty fixed, combo tested, rabies etc it will be helpful I think - that way that initial work is done for the rescue/foster group and kitty will just need de-flea'd. That's how I got my fourth kitten in a foster (he needed socialized and he was a black kitty - many groups don't want to deal with that since he's an unlikely adoption sadly!) If she's not friendly, it will be trickier as there may not be the resources to socialize her with everyone involved with kittens right now. for a rescue here to help you out!!!

If she's a pet though - there's a chance she's just a lost pet! I would start looking for Lost ads and ask around neighbors etc. I would put up Found ads once you have her - just being careful to not 'give her away' in case someone just wants a free cat that they will not take care of, etc.

As you know, I have successfully trapped Patches two times. But boy, it was tricky. But I did get her a 2nd time - just took many nights and patience I'm here to help if that time comes.

Good luck and thank you for helping this little kitty.

Thank you all for the very caring replies!

Yes, there must be a neon sign above our door

I know it's kitten season and it will be difficult to find a foster but we have to help her. Her belly looks a bit swollen (I think) and I can't figure out if she is pregnant or has worms. I think she has been on her own for a while and reverted to feral behavior, we will see...

What about the recovery time? I know girls sometimes develop infections if they pull at the stitches etc. Is this a concern for the release part of the TNR?

Marina