YEAAAA!!! I caught one

After much talking and trying to convince my husband it was the right thing to do.

This morning the "Red" cat came for feeding (it has been 4 days since we seen him last) I put his food on our screened in back porch. He was very frightful but he did come in to eat and i shut the door on him.

He is bleeding at his ear again and I was to take care of him and clean him up before i take him to the vet for neutering.

He is going a little crazy tho he didn't eat his food and has been banging at all sides of the screens trying to find a way out.

He is howling and my inside cats are going crazy.

My husband didn't like it at all. But I told him I can't save them all but I sure as hell going to try and save these three.

Hopefully he will calm down after a while and eat. I will go read to him later in the day several times. Maybe he will calm down after a few weeks enough to let me clean up his wounds. i am very hopeful.

It hurts my heart terribly to see these poor animals that have been discarded by their owners.

I am working with a group called "Happy Pet Owners" the are non profit and will help me with the spaying. Since we don't have two sticks to rub together at this time.

She wanted me to get the pregnant female from the people two doors down and she will split the cost to get her fixed with me. Those people are not very nice but I will try.

Wish "Red" luck on his new adventure.

My husband is angry because we have 5 cats inside and they are all going crazy to see a strange cat on THEIR porch. He will get over it i hope. He has always been a kind man when it comes to animals. Plus he loves me very much and I told him I would make it all right one way or the other.

Hugs and kisses
Menou Lover

Congrats!

And lotsa of good luck!

I wouldn't try to keep him on your porch for "weeks", especially before he's neutered. He'll probably spray and the smell will make your housecats (and maybe your husband ) crazy. The vets are used to having beat-up old toms come in for neutering. . .it comes with the TNR territory. They may even clean him up a bit while he's under the anesthetic. They would be able to do a much better job of it, because, if he's fully feral, he's never (or at least not for a long, long time) going to let you close enough to clean up his ear. If he is truly feral, he will continue banging at the windows trying to get out, and you run a real risk of him escaping or hurting himself. I'd try to get him to the vet ASAP. It will be difficult to get him into a carrier, but if you put one out there with some nice soft towels in it, he might use it for a bed/hiding place, and then you can just close the door on him (that's what I did with my ferals).

And yes, it is important to get that female spayed (even if you have to cat-nap her!). Neutering the males will make their lives better, but spaying the females is more important because that's what keeps the population down. She will just keep getting pregnant and adding more kittens to the problem until she's spayed.

I thought you were going to use a trap? It's really the best idea - to trap and then get to the vet ASAP. The vet can clean them up and check for wounds MUCH easier when they're already under the anesthesia for the sterilization!

I'm new to the world of TNR. I've got a lovely lady from the local rescue league helping with the hard stuff (transporting, as I really can't have a ticked off feral peeing all over the back of my car), but I do understand the sense of victory when one is caught and you know there's one less kitty contributing to overpopulation. Some of mine are crafty and seem quite good at grabbing a snack but still eluding the trap - neither the trapper lady nor I are sure how they're doing it, but that makes capture a little more exciting.

I've seen kitties lean their heads forward to grab the bait without stepping on the trap trip platform. What we do is put a piece of cardboard in the bottom of the trap, but it's a little short - make sure it doesn't interfere with the trap closing, but doesn't quite reach the trip plate. Then we put a small amount of stinky food in a paper bowl, and push it to the farthest corner. We leave a little bait trail to the trap, put a small amount of bait on the middle of the cardboard. This way the trail leads them into the trap - and there are exposed wires beyond the cardboard before the trip plate, so they are basically left with standing on the trip plate in order to reach the bowl in the back.

I mask trip plate with sheet of newspaper, I have cardboard similar way as LDG mentions, but my cardboard does not leave exposed wires, newspaper sheet goes on top of cardboard and trip plate making that look like if it would be single surface so cat does not understand to be careful about it.

I think both are functioning methods.

You could take also piece of cardboard and make small shelf (cut square piece, bend it from middle 90 degrees) to backwall from it, attach with metal wire or zip ties, put bait there, cat can't get it from outside of trap and cat have to step on trip plate to get bait.

LDG & JTbo - love the idea of the cardboard & bait path. I didn't think walking on the wires looked very cat friendly, but my trapper expert has trapped over 2000 cats and she set it up, but I'll try that - there is way too much sniffing around and not going in for my taste. Thank you!