Advice needed !!!

I will try to keep this short and to the point. I have been feeding a feral female that I named Oscar ( thought she was a he ) for close to a year now. And I have not been successful in trapping her. Originally she was living underneath the cars in the parking lot of my development until I showed her where her food would be... which is my patio. And for the most part all has been well. I even made her a place for her to sleep and stay warm. I consider her my outdoor cat and care for her as such, even though I cant trap her. Well... Oscar is in heat. And for the last 4 days there have been male cats hangin out on my patio. Every night there is a new fella hanging out with her. I have no idea what to do? When I attempt to get close to her she runs and now all of a sudden there is a very STRONG smell of urine outside where my patio is. And my husband is upset because the smell is drifting into my home. He didn't want me feeding her to begin with. So now here I am not knowing what to do. Is there any way I can deter her from attracting all these different male cats to my home since it seems like they all are spraying? I want to tnr her but she wont go into a trap no matter how hungry she is. Help please. 

Thank you for taking care of this cat, and you're right, it is urgent that Oscar be trapped asap, or in three months, you're going to be feeding her kittens.
I would set out traps, multiple ones if possible. Who ever you trap, get TNRd; it will reduce the possibility of Oscar getting pregnant. There is a warming trend this week (I live in the Baltimore/DC area), so, while I generally don't recommend this, I'd leave the traps out overnight towards the end of this week. (And plan on getting up early to check on the traps.) You can keep the cat(s) in the trap a day or two before getting him/her/them to a vet.
Here is a good site on how to trap cats, http://www.alleycat.org/tnr Perhaps it will have useful information for you.
And have you see this thread? It's about how to trap difficult to trap cats.
Have you tried a drop trap?
Finally, good luck! And keep us posted.

Hi I've turned around many feral cats , they are scared of humans normally but when there in heat they become more so , they only have one thing on there mind , and she will go without food if she thinks your trying to catch her , and she maybe aggressive if you do , but she needs to be neutered as soon as possible , I've always used treats to catch the ferals by me , I sit on the floor and just let them come to me , leaving the pet carrier Indoors .

Both she and the male cats are spraying your patio if it smells , you can buy special products to clean it with from a pet store , just look for a cat spray neutraliser that should do wonders with the smell . You say you've given her a warm place to sleep , can you trap her in there? And remember to be careful when you do catch her she's not going to be herself, her instinct will have taken over and she will be more aggressive ( a fight or flight mode ) Also do you have a near by animal care shelter by you they maybe able to help you , if your going to use live traps then put a strong smelling food in there like tuna .

Good luck , and if at first you don't succeed try and try again

A drawback with letting traps stand ready over the night is you will also catch the toms sometimes.

Are you OK with neutering them too?  If yes, please consider it to do so.

Not in first hand as lessening on your problem with them spraying, but for helping them.   If they are homeless, they do need this help.

And if they are owned, their careless owner shouldnt let them out unneutered.   But some of them may object, while most probably wont care, or even quietly approve.

Good luck!

There should be no reason why she can not easily be trapped. She obviously has not been trapped before, and become trap smart, or she would be spayed.

A few important tips to trapping.

First is, always be sure that, if the trap has ever been used before, you must squirt the trap down completely with any household cleaner, 409, whatever, then power hose it off completely, be sure it is well rinsed and no smell remains.

A cat trapped lets off the smells of fear, adrenaline, etc. and no way will another cat risk getting inside something that they smell cat fear in, right?

Next, use tuna, this has proven effective for my becoming a trap master (!! Afterall, how many cats have you ever seen refuse or even be able to resist tuna?

Next, be casual, just go out at the normal time she gets fed by you with the trap all ready set with food and door is up in place, ready to just be set down, and walk away. Don't look for her (at least do not be seen!) just put it down, alongside something, not out in the middle of the yard for instance, along side the house, etc.

It's extremely important that she does not see you watching for her or checking the trap. You don't want her to relate the trap to you or any other person in any way, cats are waaay smarter than given credit for

There's a chance you may get one of the tom cats, this is a very good thing for them as well, and I hope it's okay with you as well, they tear one another up with the territorial fights, bad. Transfer fiv and felv, and can do some serious damage, as they fight with intent to kill.

Plus surely the lack of yowling and fighting/spraying is a good thing!

If not...it gets blown by trying to deter the wrong cat from entering the trap, because she is likely right there or nearby and will see you doing so, and will be more hesitant about the trap.

One good thing here!! Pregnant cats are always alot more hungry and braver, especially later in pregnancy, they will pretty much leap off a bridge for food at that point!