Trapping at night vs morning?

I'm sure I know the answer on this - - but need encouragement if I need to go the one way....

We've done a lot of work reducing the feral population in our suburban neighborhood...probably stupidly, we thought we had all but one. Oh but it were that easy!

Suddenly this week we've been seeing at least 4 that we've never trapped (we can tell since our area ear tips the left ear). It is hard to know for sure if it's 3, 4, 5 or 6 since in that about 80% are solid grey kitties, defnitely all related  Obviously word got out we've got the good food! My issue is I've always trapped in the morning, since our low-cost place does them in the late morning, and we can run them right in - a lot less time in the trap pre-surgery (then, particularly if female, post-surgery we transfer them into a extra large, covered dog crate for the few days we need to keep them in, so again, not a lot of time quite as terrified). 

The new issue is that we've realized now that all of these guys seem to only come anywhere from 6 pm till 11 pm. Which means could be 12-14 hours in the trap before we can even get to the clinic. I know I would advise anyone else to trap then if morning won't work - better to trap, terrify them a little longer than we had to before, and get them in vs let them stay out and reproduce, right? 

So I guess I just need advice on whether everyone would go ahead and trap in the evening and tell myself it's best in the long run? 

Thanks everyone! I know we are all softies when it comes to kitties so I'll get honest answers/experience. 

Technically, most spay and neuter clinics will tell you not to let the cat eat after 8 p.m. the night before surgery, so trapping them at night is actually preferred even if they have to stay trapped a little longer. Just make sure to take the trap somewhere safe and use something under the trap like a plastic tarp if inside or on a porch that doesn't get wet. Then make sure to cover the trap. You can always leave an empty cat food can in the trap before you catch them if you think that they may need some water and you can fill it without opening the trap. I usually take the food out and put it on a paper plate for trapping.

If you cover the trap the cats will probably stay fairly calm until you start to transport them again.

I have trapped two very feral males at night and it made the process very very difficult.  It must meant a lot of time in the trap.  I trapped them both around midnight and held them in my basement in the trap overnight.  Then off to spay/neuter clinic in the morning and then back to my basement for over night.  Both of them had major trouble the second night.  They tried to claw themselves out of the trap and there was blood and nails.  Both of these cats had been eating from my feeding stations for awhile.  I did my best to trap them in the morning, but at the time they both rarely came in the morning.  I did attempt it, but failed.  I decided that it was best to trap them at night as I really needed to get them done. 

After the release, one of them never came back.  The other was gone for 8 straight months and just reappeared this past spring.  I know in my heart I absolutely did the right thing for them both.  Yet, if I had a choice I definitely would do morning only for the more feral cats.

Just know in your heart you are doing the best you can for them.  If it means overnights in the trap, then that is just the way it must be. 

Good luck!

Is there a veterinary clinic nearby you that is open 24/7? Do they treat ferals? If so, perhaps you can negotiate an arrangement with them that when you trap the cat, you can bring the cat directly to them. In my case, whenever I have caught a stray or feral, I've called and then taken the cat directly to the clinic, no matter what time of day or night. The vets do the spay/neuter when they have a chance during the night hours or early in the AM, squeezing them into the schedule. They also give me a discount because I'm helping ferals. The cats are scared, of course, but they're transferred into a cage that is much bigger than a trap, and they're around other animals--which in the case of a feral is likely to be less traumatic than if they were isolated in someone's basement. In my case, the clinic has boarded the cats free of charge a few days for recuperation so when I took them back, they didn't need to be confined. I realize this is an ideal situation and not everyone may live within driving distance of such a vet clinic.

The other option is to try to get them to come out to eat in the AM hours--perhaps put our smelly tuna fish or chicken, or some kind of treats they enjoy. It may take them a while to realize there is tasty food out in the AM, but they'll get the drift. My guess is that someone must be feeding them in the AM hours somewhere else, because cats need to eat more than once a day. Can you talk with your neighbors to find out? A collaborative effort works best. Good luck and it's great you're helping them!   

I'll ramp up my search for an open 24- hour clinic - but think the only one in our area serves all vet related cases, & it costs $150 before they'll even see the pet, let alone cost of surgery. I REALlY want to stem the tide, but that's beyond us, & with at least (!!!at least!!!!) five to go that's out of our wallet capacity. We're ow seeing 1black/steady - ear tipped, 2 grey steady/ear tipped. Then..... at least 3 identical grey - who knows?!?!? So alike!!!!-----not ear tipped, plus a black w tail tip, black w grey smudge,cream/orange (guessing male!), and at least 1 grey & white. A minimum of 7 non-ear-tipped. We'e got to get them but we're running out of money & non-fridgid weather. I guess we can trap at night (when 2/3 of non-ear tipped come....) can grab as soon as we see them, cover them and take them into garage. But it's unheated, & where they're have to re up (once we have them back we transfer to large crate with special heated cat mat inside very insulated cat carrier ---plus we cover the large crate throughly with blankets to keep in as much cold.

But keeping them in that trap -particularly overnight (even if it's covered ) worries me. We've got SO many showing up at night though -do we just go for it & ray that being in the garage they're still covered, fed, food & water, no wind, etc. it is better right?

Lastly (may start step thread?)---trying to make a small dogloo as warm as possible for feral who's really starting to hang around? Currently has added layer of insulation taped all over inside, inside is stuffed with stare up sides as high as possible, star on floor, covered by electric outdoor sanctioned cat bed mat heater. More straw mounded toward entrance, entire thing is up on bucks so not on ground, and added an angle piece of plexiglass so it a-frames down from to of dogloo entrance to ground (cat can see through but blocks a lot of wind, rain,etc. Thinking about snuggling a I& H heated house inside it for extra warmth -has anyone tried that?i worry the pad isn't enough -particularly given relative large opening for entrance of dog gloo.....thoughts?

There are some old threads on this forum discussing winter shelters and pet houses for cats, with pictures included--some of them are ingenious. You might get some ideas for yourself from checking out these threads.

It does get expensive TNR'ing a large number of cats, especially if you don't have the cooperation of a vet clinic that will work with you and cut you a break. Your best bet would to be to try to find out who's feeding these cats in the morning-- ask around your neighborhood--and work with that person to coordinate trapping the cats. I doubt these cats are only eating once a day. They likely have another caregiver feeding them in the AM. You could also try to lure the cats to your place in the AM with tuna fish or other strong smelling food in case they are close by. It's great that you're doing so much to help these cats.     

@ShadowsRescue  that's my nightmare. We use mackerel - and it certainly draws them in. But it seems to keep drawing in the same, neutered/spayed ones the most! Unfortunately evening is definitely when the larger numbers head our direction. I think we're going to keep trying morning only for this week (temps are not too bad so should be fine) and maybe move to night if we have to. I just know from past experience (and can only imagine from the poor cat's point of view) that 12 straight hours in the trap - covered or not - before they go to the clinic isn't good if avoidable. I wouldn't even consider evening trapping if we weren't getting so concerned that the numbers are more out of control than we thought! We were sure we were down to just one or two tops that we hadn't done - but guess that's all it takes, as I know well. My husband's biggest worry is we'll just keep trapping the two that have now taken up residence in our shelters - both ones we've already fixed, and they're just starting to come around (come up to almost eat out of our hands finally). They're both often the first two to eat - so my guess is he's right - we'll keep scaring the crap out of them. The one is already nervous when we put the trap out every time (we put it out in place of our plastic rubbermaid bin we use as a feeding station a few days before we trap, to get them used to eating out of the trap). That poor guy - "Crosby" - will actually go elsewhere to eat once the trap comes out - - -understandably, he's terrified of it!

Wish me luck this week - maybe mornings will be surprisingly fruitful.

kittychick said:

 
@ShadowsRescue  that's my nightmare. We use mackerel - and it certainly draws them in. But it seems to keep drawing in the same, neutered/spayed ones the most! Unfortunately evening is definitely when the larger numbers head our direction. I think we're going to keep trying morning only for this week (temps are not too bad so should be fine) and maybe move to night if we have to. I just know from past experience (and can only imagine from the poor cat's point of view) that 12 straight hours in the trap - covered or not - before they go to the clinic isn't good if avoidable. I wouldn't even consider evening trapping if we weren't getting so concerned that the numbers are more out of control than we thought! We were sure we were down to just one or two tops that we hadn't done - but guess that's all it takes, as I know well. My husband's biggest worry is we'll just keep trapping the two that have now taken up residence in our shelters - both ones we've already fixed, and they're just starting to come around (come up to almost eat out of our hands finally). They're both often the first two to eat - so my guess is he's right - we'll keep scaring the crap out of them. The one is already nervous when we put the trap out every time (we put it out in place of our plastic rubbermaid bin we use as a feeding station a few days before we trap, to get them used to eating out of the trap). That poor guy - "Crosby" - will actually go elsewhere to eat once the trap comes out - - -understandably, he's terrified of it!

Wish me luck this week - maybe mornings will be surprisingly fruitful.

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I always have a hard time keeping my current residents out of the trap.  They seem to not be concerned at all and just want the yummy smelling food!  I have started offering them some of the tuna or other stinky fish I am using to keep them away.  Last year I had a heck of a time and one of my resident ferals wanted the stinky fish so badly.  I had to yell at him to get away from the trap and in the process, he knocked himself hard into the trap and the door went "bang".  Of course the feral I was trying to trap ran for the hills.  It took months to get him after that mess!!

I did find a trap that is awesome and closes relatively quietly.  It is a Tru Catch.  It doesn't close with a bang, but instead it just drops.  It doesn't spook the cat nearly as bad.  I also bought a divider so that since it has a trap door and rear door.  With the divider I can easily feed them in the trap. 

Good luck.  The last feral I trapped, I waited and he eventually started to come in the morning.  I was so relieved.  I too wish I had a clinic that was open 24 hours and would take the ferals any time.  I am fortunate that one of  the low cost clinic here takes ferals without appointments.  All of the other clinics require appointments which is just insane. 

Keep us posted.

Just had to post a follow up - virtually all the non-ear tipped disappeared almost as suddenly a they appeared -darn it A virtually new -almost 100% ear-tipped - group has suddenly started showing up! Out of the 5,only 1 - a male -is intact! (Obviously the others are sadly probably still in the area -and therefore just ripe for the kitten-producing picking--we're just not seeing them

Luckily the one intact guy -although feral-was handled as a tiny kitten by the neighbors who refuse to TNR and basically started (and now perpetuate) this colony. So while he's still extremely skittish - by day 2, I was actually able to slowly touch his back, ears & tail!!! So hopefully we can lure him one morning next week with mackerel into something (I'm going to look into that quieter trap you mentioned @ShadowsRescue!!!!) separately from the others & get him fixed. The whole group was also a "night only" group --but already over this short time period --they've realized that our back door opening just might mean chicken or some type of yummy extra treat. To the the extreme that -as my husband pointed out -- two of them don't even head to the food station with the dry food we put out--instead they immediately come running from their shelters if our back door opens and it looks like we're NOT headed for the food station!!! They've got US trained!!!

So cross your collective fingers that we can lure the intact guy this week!!!

And you'll all get a kick out of this ---we now have 3 of the "double Rubbermaid/straw insulated" homemade shelters up with outdoor heated kitty beds in them....and yet this is what we saw yesterday morning: my husband called it "a kitty clown car"....and the second I open the door FOUR came running at top speed out of that small converted dogloo!!! Granted it has a heated bed & straw in it too ---but that was the shelter I wrote about being worried it wasn't warm enough!!! guess it's a lot warmer when four guys cram themselves into it "clown car style"!!!!

Just wondering, do you guys cover the traps with a blanket when you trap? I lay a blanket over top and make sure it will fall when the trap closes so that it fully covers the trap. I have never had a problem with the cats panicking and I have always trapped at night since most of my community's ferals only come out then. 

I do cover our trap with a blanket- leaving the "entrance end" basically uncovered. The minute they go in and trip the trap, we rush in & make sure it's covered all the way around, to the ground. Calms them almost immediately - not 100%, but close!

And we caught Brady, the last (that we know of) in-fixed in the colony/neighborhood!!!!!! He made it through the neuter just fine, released him this afternoon, & sadly, didn't see him tonight. Hopefully he'll be back soon!!!!

Great work, kittychick!  Loved the clown car cat igloo story...made me laugh as I imagined it.  I see a lot of unfamiliar cats around when someone is in heat.  It usually draws cats from far and away so maybe one of your neighbors had an indoor cat in heat?

Well....never, ever, ever say "we got the last of the colony" out loud. In the "good news/bad news" category--Brady, the male that we finally trapped & neutered, came back! He and his best buddy Crosby have been sharing the dogloo every day.

In the "bad news" category...yet ANOTHER one showed up yesterday morning & again last night...NOT ear-tipped Guess the trapping isn't done We did finally talk to the neighbors who had refused to trap & perpetuated this group...and they do think this one is the last of "the group"....with the exception of two more (that unbelievably THEY actually got fixed last month!!!!) that have stayed on their street. I pray they stay there bc our back steps officially looked like a cat hoarder yard last night (they've all figured out that the good food & heated shelters are at our house!). Plus -since 4 of the 6 are solid grey and look 99.9% identical-it almost looks like a kitty swarm. We're hoping the neighbors can't count

I'll have to get a picture of our "instant outdoor family" tonight.

And pray we can now get the newest one

I know all about appearing as a cat hoarder to my neighbors.  As far as I know I am the only one doing TNR here.  My problem is I didn't really get the "release" part of the equation done properly and many of my neighbors didn't get the neuter part.  Oh well....I just found another Tom in need of my services, too but my now resident cats won't let him join the group.  Maybe after he's neutered.

Yup...we look crazy. As my husband says "only two good things about this picture...#1-most look exactly alike so maybe the neighbors don't actually realize there are so many, and #2) at least the white container of oil isn't another cat.

what many vets and humane societies don't tell you is even if you bring the cat in during the day or early afternoon, they might not get a chance to do their surgery and guess where the trapped cat stays all night? In your trap- unless they have kennels vacant.