Help needed with trapping cats

Hi my name is Renee. I live in north shirley. I am trying to help an elderly man in my neighborhood. His wife had 20 cats and when she died he released them all outdoors because he could not afford kitty litter. I noticed all of them and he did make them shelters, still it was a shock to them. He spend over $1000 and had them all fixed. He barely has money for himself but he does feed them. I have been helping by buying him food.
He is down to 12 cats on his property. The problem is that 2 stray cats has 4 kittens each on his property. I have been trying to catch them but mothers are not friendly, I wouldn't say feral just scared. Put out traps but all the cats are trying to get in them although they are fed. The one mother moved her kittens and I haven't seen them or her since. The other mother is bringing her kittens who are now eating dry food but only in the am.
I have a physical disability and am not as face as I used to be.
I have trapped cats before at smiths point and found them homes but it was a lot easier because I trapped them all.
Is there any way you would be willing to come and trap these cats? The mothers can be T and R but the kittens if I can socialize them I would like to find them homes. I do volunteer at Bideawee and I am doing the best I can with this situation but I can't catch them so I am failing this man who really needs help.

Thank you so much for your time reading this and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Renee! Sorry we are late in responding. Bless you for trying to help this man and these momma cats. Sounds like most are already TNRd BUT, yes, two female cats and their offspring can and will reproduce quickly and this man will be back up in numbers of needing neutering. It can and is difficult to trap cats in a colony when the others who are already done keep going in the traps. I am going to see if Cindy ritz has any good ideas because she has had to trap many cats in colonies.

The only way I have done it IS to just keep multiple traps out all the time and keep them baited and checked. Eventually momma cat will be hungry enough to need food since she is nursing. Try to find out where momma's are keeping kittens and keep the traps near her nest. Of course, as you say, one moved her kittens so that makes it really tough and very upsetting not to be able to accomplish this very important goal.

It would also be helpful IF we knew of your location as you did not post that. We may be able to find a local TNR group to help you in your efforts. Hope to hear back from you soon.

I would buy or borrow a drop trap.  They work wonders, just be careful when you are using one so you don't injure any cats.  You can also set standard traps to go off manually by propping the front door open with a filled water bottle tied to a string this way you don't have to worry about trapping ones that have already been done.

Thank you both for replying! I live in Shirley, New York. I am still trying using the have a heart traps but not sure if it will trigger with the weight of the kittens. The kittens are now eating dry food, so I do not have to worry about them still weaning. I am worried if I catch the mom first because I haven't seen the one kitten. Is it possible she is still weaning one?

i looked up on here the information you all wrote about trapping and giving it a go again tomorrow. The man just informed me today that he is planning on moving! So now besides these kittens I have to help him find homes for 12 cats! I am a little overwhelmed to say the least. I plan on catching kittens and then work on socializing them so I can find homes for them. Also I need to catch Mom and get her fixed. I am going to set up a feeding station away from the other cats, I just have to figure out how to lure the kittens and Momma over there!
Any suggestions on trapping or placement of 12 cats would be greatly appreciated! Wish me luck!

You have a daunting task ahead of you.  Thank you for taking this on!

I did a bing search and found this page:

http://www.longisland.com/animal-shelters/

If you can contact  one of these, they may be able to help you with trapping (either direct help or tips and the loan of traps).  Sorry I'm not familiar with Long Island, so I am not sure how close any of these are to you.

www.alleycat.org also has resources if you email them.

You may also be able to bribe the kittens into a crate with nice, smelly wet food.  If you can get close enough, you can close the door on them while they are eating.

Blessings on you for doing this!

Renee Mancini said:

I have been trying to catch them but mothers are not friendly, I wouldn't say feral just scared. Put out traps but all the cats are trying to get in them although they are fed. The one mother moved her kittens and I haven't seen them or her since.

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I just saw this thread. Sorry for my late response. Thank you for helping this man and the many cats/kittens.
When I needed to trap just one cat among many, I would feed the many, already TNRd cats, sitting beside them while they ate. And ate. And ate. If the cat I was trying to trap would come near, I would motion her away. Then much later, I would set out traps and hope the one I wanted got trapped. I would set out several traps to increase the odds. Plus there were always lots of cats to TNR.
If I trapped a cat I didn't want to trap, I would either release the cat or take the trap to a secluded area while I tried trapping again. (But I have access to four traps.) I had one cat I TNRd who kept on going in the trap, and very calmly walked out of the trap when I released him. I should have named him Twiddledeum instead of Twiddledee.
You can adjust the trip wire so that it is more/less sensitive, depending on the weight of the cat/kitten. I know this by reading the literature, but being a mechanically challenged person, I haven't actually done it myself.
And I do like the idea of a drop trap. And contacting North Shore Animal League, they are near New York City.

Thank you so much for the advice. It is funny because that is what I kind of did yesterday. I fed the 12 and the kittens ran to a different area. I trapped 2 of them. One in the trap and the other in a carrier that I set up with a string on the door, because I am working with only 1 trap. I am happy to say I caught 2 precious kittens. I brought them home and fed, bathe them in blue dawn to get fleas off and brought them to vet today. They had upper respiratory infections. I could tell because the little orange one her eyes were almost completely crusted over but with some warm water and wash cloth I got them clean. I then brought them to this wonderful organization Brookhaven Feral Alliance and they took the kittens to adopt out. I found out 2 nite that the orange one already has a forever home lined up . The other one is charcoal color and I am sure she will get adopted too. I do have 2 more kittens to find. I haven't seen them but the man, Gene said they are there. Back to searching tomorrow. I want to trap kittens first before I get the mom. Thank you for your advice. North shore is about an hour from me and they really couldn't help.

Thank you! For replying! I did use sardines and waited for them to go into the traps! See my comment below. Thank you! I was lucky and found Brookhaven Feral alliance and they are giving me advice and kindly took 2 kittens to be adopted.

I can not find anyone with a drop trap that is available. Thank you for replying.

I'm so pleased you were able to trap two of the kittens. That's super.
Some tricks I've used with success, all pertain to bait:
dribble some tuna fish oil from the front of the trap to the bait.
put some cat nip in or near the bait (after the trip 'wire').
Keep up the good work--and keep us posted.

Wonderful news! Thanks so much for the update. Vbes you find and catch the other two little buggers - and mom too!