Inexperienced and lack of support from local rescues - Please help.

Should I remove the blankets from the traps to check on them for a moment? I realized I haven't taken the time to check on how they are physically whatsoever other than getting a peek at DC's head and enough of a glimpse of Puff to see whether he was shivering or had was taking slow/shallow breaths.

I ask because I feel like every time I've gone in there more tufts of DC's fur are on the floor. Whether it happened when he was initially trapped or he's doing it to himself in there now, I don't know, but I'm wondering if I should check on their condition. I haven't pulled the blankets back all the way because I didn't want to stress or disturb them.. I still don't... but it keeps nagging at me when I go in there and there is more fur on the ground.

I also went to check to see if they'd eaten, since they haven't had much whatsoever the past few days. I didn't give them a full mean, just half of what they'd normally have. DC flipped his bowl completely over and hadn't eaten and Puff has not touched the bowl at all. I'm not entirely surprised by this, but given that they've had very little food prior to this, I am a bit concerned if the don't eat soon. What are their eating habits generally like during this process? Not post-op, but just a holding period. At what point should I be worried?

No time to cover most of the things, sorry, but just want to say---don't use a wire dog crate, either for trapping or holding! If you look at the picture, you can see that under the plastic tray, the wire openings are very large. Cats can escape through those spaces, especially if they're thrashing around and making the tray move. I'm sure one could be modified to be useable, but not unmodified. I tried keeping my ferret in a dog crate once. . .:tongue2:.

Wow, good point! I had noticed the bottom spacing was much larger. I went to check the crates we have, and the trays seem pretty secure. I actually couldn't figure out how to get them out to be honest, but I did some pushing and shoving from inside of it and I wasn't able to lift it or slide it out (there are bars preventing it from sliding out). However, I think I would prefer to secure it just in case since you brought it up. Would that suffice? I am also planning on putting a regular carrier in there, so that should weigh it down a bit. It will look like this:

*carrier and litter box - just like the photo.

So DC and Puff still have not eaten anything. Puff is in a Havahart so I can access his cage better and I added water since he has an increased thirst drive. He hasn't touched that either. I tried to tempt them with various things, but they won't touch it.

Hobo and Sneaky are still at my friend's house. They were begging them for food. I told them to feed them a bit if they saw them but I don't think they did. I'm not sure. She's so overwhelmed with the move that it's difficult to communicate. She and her son slept over at the new house tonight and I didn't know they were going to do that. So I went to the kitty house by myself to try and feed Hobo and Sneaky. As I approached the porch I heard a cage rattling... they caught the racoon that lives under the porch.

I told them three times today NOT to leave the traps unattended again. I showed them a photo of DC's head from thrashing, I told them about Puff, who I later realized did actually have newspaper and puppy pads in the trap with him... so long after it rained he had a big pile of a cold, wet mess in the cage with him. I was able to use tongs to get most of it out and put a clean pad in, even if just to use to lay on or curl up next to. DC didn't have anything in his trap and it isn't a two door, but after about 5 minutes I was able to slip a pad in there for him as well.

Anyway - I was furious they set two traps and left them unattended for the night again. Even the racoon doesn't deserve to not be found until 10 AM, which is when they plan on going over there tomorrow (so more than 12 hours). I don't know why I can't get through to them about this. I decided to make a few trips back and forth and take all 6 traps home with me. I obviously can't leave them unattended with the traps.Ugh.

I also went ahead and replaced their winter shelters (that they still use at night a lot of the time) with the carriers I want them to go in, and transferred their individual blankets to the particular crates I want each to go in and then I put food in front of them. I waited a while, but Hobo never showed even after calling him and popping a can open, so I'm almost certain he wasn't in the vicinity. I waited in my car for almost an hour but after Hobo was a no show, I figured I should leave, especially since Sneaky never eats until my car is actually leaving.

I'm just going to drive back every hour to check on things. I don't know what this will accomplish, but I feel helpless doing nothing. Sneaky has eaten the least out of all of them the past three days, and is also the least able to hunt, and is very sick. I just... need them to eat. The good part is that trapping the raccoon tonight might actually mean he will leave the cat food alone for once and they will have a chance at getting some. I'll know if he ate their food if the bowls are flipped over or not where I left them.

I put out their favorite fancy feast and added a bit of fish and then poured some baby food on top since it is protein and calorie dense, and I did the same for DC and Puff. These cats are driving me to an early grave, I swear it.

Since my friend won't be there until ten tomorrow morning, I'm thinking I'll go there at about 5 or 6 in the morning to see if I can feed them, especially if the food situation tonight is left inconclusive. I don't know if I will be able to trap without her there, but we will see. Sneaky is going to be really, really tough and I'm worried about that.

Well, I'm worried about everything.   

Wow, you've had an eventful few days!

First of all, congratulation on trapping two cats. Don't worry if they won't eat at first, that's normal in a situation like this. Even my very tame, snuggly cats wouldn't eat for the first 24 hours in their new home. Just make sure they have food and water available if they want it. They might take a sneaky bite when everything is quiet. Nothing at all for 48 hours is the point my vet told me I should bring a cat in to see him.

I think it would be OK to lift the cover up and take a tiny peak at them. Talk to them in a low, soft voice to let them know you are coming, give them the slow eye blink so they know you mean them no harm.

I'd be furious at anyone leaving an animal in a trap without any protection from the weather for that long too. I think you'll need to take over the trapping and feeding fully now, your friend has obviously got too much on her mind to be off any help right now.

Your feral cat set up looks good. If you're worried about them lifting the tray at the bottom and squeezing out of the gap put something heavy around the bottom of the crate to block the gaps off. A 2 liter soda bottle full of water or sand is too heavy for most cats to move.

If you can go back over at dawn tomorrow take a couple of traps with you and try to get the last of the cats then. If they're hungry you might be lucky.

Oh, and Valerian root actually gets cats more excited, it doesn't calm them down. Stick to the feliway, composure treats and maybe some harp music played at low volume. 

@Norachan - I'm trying to keep track of what everyone has eaten over the past few days. This is where I think they're at:


Puff:
Thursday morning - Half of usual meal
Thursday night - nothing (raccoons ate it)
Friday morning - tuna and mackerel right outside the trap. So very small amount of an incomplete food.
Friday night - nothing
Saturday morning (now trapped) - nothing
Saturday night - nothing

Sneaky:
Thursday morning - Half of usual meal
Thursday night - nothing (raccoons)
Friday morning - Sardines, tuna, mackerel from outside the trap and half of the trail inside. Tiny bit more than Puff, still incomplete food.
Friday night - nothing
Saturday morning - nothing
Saturday night - possibly (though not likely) up to 1/3 complete wet food, some bait, some baby food, and a few pieces of freeze dried chicken. Possibly nothing.

Hobo:
Thursday morning - Half of usual meal
Thursday night - nothing (raccoons)
Friday morning - 1/4 of complete wet food, plus most of the bait trail
Friday night - tiniest bit of bait right outside the trap
Saturday morning - nothing
Saturday night - at least 1/3 complete wet food, some bait, some baby food, and a few pieces of freeze dried chicken, likely more

DC:
Thursday morning - half of usual meal
Thursday night - nothing OR whatever his usual mystery food source at night is
Friday morning - 1/4 of complete wet food, plus most of bait trail and small bit of bait from the other traps
Friday night - most likely nothing
Saturday morning (now trapped) - nothing
Saturday night - possibly nothing. He keeps flipping the food bowl over in the trap, but this last time he did it I didn't find too much food that fell under the cage, so I think he probably did eat some - at most he hate half of complete wet food, tiny bit of mackerel and sardines, tiny bit of dry food and 1/4 jar of baby food.



So as you can see, Puff has not had a full meal since Wednesday night and no complete food since Thursday morning. Puff also has a very excessive thirst drive and has not drank any water since being trapped. Sneaky may be in the same boat as Puff, but possibly not (will explain below). Hobo I am the least worried about, as he's shown up the most for food and we know he regularly hunts the birds my friend feeds - however, she has gradually tapered feeding the birds, so it would be more difficult for him to find a food source. DC had a very small amount of complete food Friday morning, and appears he had to have eaten some of his food last night. Since I'm taking him to the clinic tomorrow, I won't be able to feed him after 10 tonight.

Last night I went to the house like I said and kept checking every hour. Someone did come to eat. I am certain Hobo got food in him, I am just hoping Sneaky was able to get to the food as well. The raccoon didn't show up again, so that's good. I just have no way of knowing about Sneaky because he won't come if he sees my car so I can't monitor it. The last I went over there last night was at 2:30, at which point I added 1/4 can of fancy feast, pinch of fish for smell, and half a jar of baby food, plus some freeze dried treats in the carriers. I was able to see Hobo go up to the porch this time, so I am much less worried about him in terms of what he's had to eat. Again, I just hope Sneaky was able to get something.

I went back up at 5 this morning to see if maybe Sneaky was waiting on the porch for food. That way, I'd be more certain that even when he ran to hide he'd at least be aware I was putting down food. But Hobo was the only one there. Since this is our last full day to trap and I know Hobo ate last night, I didn't want to feed him just yet. I'm going to go over there in a bit and try to trap them. I am very nervous we won't get them today, particularly Sneaky. I am just going to set the Havahart traps and also try the crates. I am hoping my friend will be able to convince them into the carriers.

If not, we might have a bargaining chip. Her landlord has violated a lot of laws and regulations of the Fair Housing Act and Title IX and various other things. My friend has done the homework, went to verify with realtors and apartment complex managers, has printed out the the info from .gov websites, and tallied what she could technically sue him for. She's going to show him with the intent to educate him (we think he really has no clue and is just lazy and winging it with the landlord thing), and she is basically going to show him that she has a strong legal case - but that she would be willing to settle this privately by getting back a $500 deposit he illegally asked for and allowing us a few more days to trap any remaining cats. If he doesn't, he would have to go through court on charges he would certainly be found guilty for and could end up having to pay her up to $3,000+ and all of her (and his own) court fees. She has complied everything so that she will leave him with little doubt that everything is legally in her favor.

As a back up, if we have any remaining cats tomorrow (absolute deadline is tomorrow afternoon) then first thing tomorrow morning I am going to forgo the clinic and vetting to head straight to the animal control and beg them to help me trap, particularly this one woman I spoke to who was very supportive and informative and made trapping sound very easy, haha. She said she does it all the time and has a lot of success with the fried chicken. Even if they can't help, maybe they will know someone who can. I don't know, I will honestly be grasping at straws at that point :/ I may also call the feral coalition hotline and plead with them later today to send someone tomorrow. Maybe if I explain Sneaky's situation they will make an exception to come out here. I already feel in full grovelling mode at this point.

If we don't have them by this evening, I am probably going to stay the night at her empty house and just camp out all night. Sneaky is my biggest worry about all of this though because he darts when he sees me and my car most of the time.

I feel like I've tried everything but a drop trap, which doesn't seem feasible at this point to obtain. I'm going to try and stay positive and head over there now.

Thank you everyone, seriously. I would fall apart without you guys, I have virtually no other support and unfortunately no clue what I am doing. So your input here is invaluable and I cannot express my gratitude enough.

I think you're doing as much as any human being can (I know - - from personal experience - - it often still doesn't feel like enough). I think the animal control (or any humane organization) is smart. 

They're not completely starving yet - just shut down. I agree with @Norachan  that often cats just shut down and won't eat for a short period. As she said, even the most friendly ones sometimes completely stop eating for a bit. And sometimes the effort to help hurts (like your friend putting the newspaper inside, etc). But remember she was trying to do the best for years (unless I miss something along the way - this is the woman who initially cared for them and now is moved, right?). 

Keep working - you're doing more than 99.9% of people would, which means you'll be saving more lives than if you wouldn't have made this herculean effort!

Okay, guys, one to go!

I've been up here since 11:30 this morning. My friend was still moving, but it was much less chaotic.

At one point both Sneaky and Hobo showed up at the same time. As to not spook Sneaky, I decided to casually walk to my car and drive far down the property out of sight. As I watched they both started going into the traps at the same exact time. They were about halfway there when her son came home from taking over a load to the new place. He saw me on the hill and his face was just like "Oh, sh*#!". He knew there'd only be one reason I'd be up there and camping out in my car.

Naturally, they heard him driving down and scattered

Later on Sneaky was about half way in a trap again and some neighbors walked by and spooked him. They were no where close to him whatsoever, but he's just so skittish

Those were the only times they ever went in much. All day long I watched as my friend and her son would load the car and leave to drop everything off at the new house. And every time they left, Hobo and Sneaky would begin circling the traps and trying to paw the food out from the back. I felt we had a good chance but as the hours went by I began feeling very discouraged.

On their final load her son showed up with takeout. At that point I decided to go home and feed all the kitties dinner, grab some blankets and pillows for the night and my laptop, and reload on friend chicken. Well... they left and of course the traps were set and unattended. However, we did trap Hobo and unlike the others, he was not in there for long at all.

Now I'm just at the empty house waiting for Sneaky. It's difficult to even see out there because it's so dark and there's practically no lighting. I can't really watch from the window since he's the most skittish of all of them so this is the first time I'm having to resist the urge to obsessively look and just try to listen for a trap closing

It looks like it may storm, I will be devastated if it does. I have 3 traps set with loads of fried chicken (I honestly can't believe he's not shown up yet). Hopefully the raccoons are still too scared to come back! If there is still no sign of Sneaky after a few hours I will try doing the crate idea, though Hobo seemed to have taken to the crates more than Sneaky today. And there is really no way for me to do it without him seeing me, so it may be moot point, but I will try anything.

I was so happy to get Hobo tonight. Literally on the way back I was on the verge of tears. I felt like I was failing these guys and my friend was clearly losing hope and growing tired and feeling like she had to accept us leaving them behind. And then there was Hobo, frightened and totally unaware his safety is now assured.

I am still terrified of losing Sneaky, as he's the one who actually needs us the most, but I am trying not to lose hope. I could never live with myself if we didn't get him, especially now leaving him all alone without the others, including his bonded brother I don't think I could stop myself from trespassing to be honest. I just can't accept leaving him behind...

In kitting eating news, DC is now eating a fair bit, but this afternoon when I went to give him dinner he was sitting by his bowl (he's normally at the opposite end hiding). He just stayed there and looked back at me. I swear he's blinking at me before I even have a chance to do it to him. I got a much better look at his face, and he is so, so beat up from ramming the cage. I am pretty sure parts of his face are swollen. I know this is somewhat normal, but it's pretty bad and I hope he is okay and not in too much pain

Will the spay/neuter place let me know if it's something to be worried about since they aren't acting as a full service vet at the clinic?

Also... Puff still refuses to eat. He may have had maybe two nibbles but it was so little that I really couldn't tell. I put some fresh friend chicken in there to hopefully entice him. Still worried about how little he and Sneaky have eaten... Shouldn't Puff be more settled in by now? Puff knows me really well... DC doesn't even know me and he's already started eating again.

This is a long time without food for a cat...

@kittychick - By the way, thank you for the encouragement. It may seem minor to you, but it really helps me to keep going and not wallow in the terrible "what ifs".

Great job! You've only got one cat to go and there's the possibility of getting an extension on your trapping deadline. You're making amazing progress.

I know know nerve wracking trapping can be. I've TNR'd more than 30 cats and every time my hands shake so badly I can barely set the traps and I feel like I'm about to throw up. I really admire your patience for camping out there in your car for so long.

One word of advice about the raccoon if he starts to go near the traps again. I hear they really like things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or marshmallows. It takes them a long time to eat as it's sticky so it should keep them occupied and away from your traps. Maybe leave them a plate of sandwiches or marshmallows if they show up again.

Oh my gosh, I am so relieved to hear you say you get so nervous trapping! I always feel like experienced (and some times even first time) trappers make it sound like a breeze! Both in trapping the cat, and just their feelings toward it (not sure how to put that, but I hope you understand what I mean). While I know I will certainly gain a bit more confidence over time, I am just a wreck!

I know a lot of it is because this is a deadline, life-or-death sort of thing rather than a TNR sort of thing, but I know that I would still be very nervous and anxious regardless. I don't feel so silly now hearing you say that

Also, I wasn't in my car all day, only about an hour. The rest of the day I was holed up in the house and just didn't come out unless I had to. Currently I am in the now empty house with tile floors... every single noise is SO LOUD. Even when my knee creaks it sounds like I'm opening a soda can! I'm afraid to move in case Sneaky is out there.

It's driving me nuts not knowing if he has even checked out the traps.. they've been out for almost 3 hours now. I'm trying to decide when I should go rebait them. He was so interested in the chicken all day long.. I hope seeing Hobo get trapped didn't scare him for good

That is such a good idea about the raccoons! We always use marshmallows (and cat food, ugh) to trap raccoons at the sanctuary, and it totally didn't occur to me to throw some over to them. They live right under where the cats eat. Luckily, I haven't heard them scavenging so far.

I had told myself if I didn't have him trapped or see him by the traps by 12 or 1 AM that I would try doing the crate/string thing. But I have only had several hours of sleep the past few days and I don't know if I can stay sufficiently awake for that now Not to mention I am struggling finding a place to do it that is out of sight but still works. Doing it from a window seems like a two person job... and since the only place he reliably goes is the porch, I have no cover there.



 

Middle of the night update - right before my alarm to rebait the traps was about to go off, I was woken up by a trap deploying. I was relly excited but of course it was another raccoon, a much smaller one. My friend has always said there are two raccooons living there, so now maybe both have been trapped now and will know to stay away.

But that's not all - I noticed there was something in one of the other traps as well - an opossum. And the third trap had gone off too, but nothing was inside of it. Kind of worries me I didn't hear the other two traps, I was sure I'd be able to hear that...

Anyway, I walked down the road to my car to grab an extra blanket (sleeping on tile flooring is no fun!) and then came back and rebaited the traps. As I was doing so, I just happened to see a white figure in the driveway about 20 feet from me. It was Sneaky! He'd come out of hiding to watch me. Usually if I'm moving around like that, and in a high stress situation like it's been the past few days, he will bolt. The fact that he stayed and watched the whole time indicates to me that he's very hungry.

I pretended not to see him and went about a routine as I normally would - I dumped the old water, filled it back up, and called "Hobo, Sneaky, Puff" like I normally do and walked inside. And this may not have been a good idea, but I am worried about how little he's had to eat obviously, so I did leave a bowl out with just baby food in it, since I figured that wouldn't be filling enough for him to avoid the traps. It doesn't so much matter though because he took a whiff and left it.

He circled the trap, tried to paw at it from the back and then all of the sudden bolted. Not even a minute later, something else came up to the trap, but I have no earthly idea what it was. The outline of it's body looked like a manx cat, actually. It was too dark to be an opossum and did not appear to have a tail like a raccoon. I opened the door to scare it off and I wonder if that's what Sneaky was spooked by.

Anyway, just an update. I'm going to get some sleep and if I haven't had luck by dawn, I'll try to figure out a way to trap him in the crate.

It's morning now and still no dice. I have to leave long enough to take the other three to the clinic. I'm debating just leaving one covered trap set unattended just in case. I've left a message with the feral cat coalition and I'll be calling animal control to solicit any assistance from them as well. When I get back from the clinic I'm going to try doing the crate. Very upset and nervous right now.

Very strange. When I checked the traps when I woke up I noticed one trap had deployed - I checked inside and nothing was in there. I wasn't too sure why it tripped. When I went back out there just now I noticed that the 3 oz can I put the food in was right outside the trap and licked clean. So something somehow got in there and took out the food while managing to trip the plate yet not get trapped... has anyone ever seen this before??? I'd think a raccoon would be most capable of something like this, however, it did happen to be the trap that Sneaky has shown the most interest in, so I wonder if it was him.

From now on I'm going to use bowls and hopefully the weight of those will prevent something like this from happening again.

Thanks @MoxieWild  for the kind words - - - trust me I know how scary it is. I'm like @Norachan  ...I still get terribly nervous every time we trap, even once the trap is deployed and we know we have a cat. I still (and my husband too - so it's not just me - since we "tag team") worry while the cat's in the trap, while they're at the spay neuter clinic, while they're home waiting in the trap to be released...well, you get the idea I just keep trying to tell myself that this is saving the kitty so much hardship in the long run...if male, saving so much stress over fighting for mates, if female, the stress of multiple pregnancies and kitten losses. But still - nerves abound!

And we often get cats that figure out how to somehow lean over the trip plate and eat, or something else I don't understand! I wonder if it's a raccoon also - they're damn smart creatures! We have one that has even moved his "coon schedule" so that he now eats before we pull the food early evening. And once a few weeks ago I left a bag of kitty treats inside the garage, on a shelf all the way at the back in a box.. You guessed it - we came out to all of the shelves in the back of the garage toppled over, pots broken, etc - - the box that had once been on a third shelf ripped to shreds, and the treat bag pulled open and completely clean of treats! And they're bold - this one even comes TOWARD us if we come out our back door and he's in the feeding station (about 15 feet from the back door)!!! My poor husband thought recently it was our black feral, Crosby, in the feeding station (it's a basically clear rubbermaid bin with lid/holes for entry) and he went up to it - got about 6 feet away and the coon came out, and started walking toward him! I heard a "bang" and saw my husband had thrown a little plastic deck side table at the coon - which STILL didn't phase him! (My husband is terrified of raccoons - don't tell anyone I ratted him out - and don't tell him that the coon wasn't phased by the table).

So never underestimate coons And - bowls aren't a bad idea (we put the mackerel just on the newspaper thats underneath the trap, at the back of the trap. Obviously wouldn't stop a raccoon from reaching in. If you do a bowl, I'd suggest a slightly heavier crockery type bowl. I'd avoid light glass - if the cat really thrashes, the bowl could break and that's something you don't want to happen

Good luck - and keep using this forum. It's been a lifesaver for me mentally in many trapping, socializing, and just plain kitty worry (or sadness or joy!) situations!

Meant to tell you - we use almost exactly that set up for our ferals we hold over 24 hours (all - if possible!). We really like the set up - we've gotten it "down" more over the years. The one thing I do use is a broom handle (initially - and then with some if I'm extra worried about door-rushing). No - not to poke kitties But we use it this way - we find with a lot of them, even if they move around the crate when we're not in the immediate area, that when we approach the crate they often run into the plastic carrier. So we take advantage of that to change litter and food/water. My husband and I tag team - - one of us is at the front wire crate door - - with food/water/scoop at the ready -- the other is at the side, with broom at the ready. Once the cat retreats to the carrier, the person with the broom handle slides the handle into the crate from the side and pushes the carrier door shut, temporarily enclosing the cat. We learned from experience that the best way is to push the broom through the side, pushing the carrier door shut, and then sliding broom handle all the way through the other side of the crate so that the cat can't push the broom handle aside and the carrier door open in a panic. Usually they remain still - but we learned the hard way that never expect 100% "uniformity" in kitties (just like people!).

We also cover the crate loosely with a sheet or two - all around except part of the top. We find they panic less and relax more when the crate is covered. We do leave part open at the top for air flow and extra light. We also use a white/light sheet to allow more light in. 

And I know someone expressed concern about feet in the bottom of the wire dog crate (although I was reading quickly - may have misunderstood) - - most dog crates come with a heavy plastic "floor" that slides in on top of the wire floor.  This eliminates any wire concerns on the bottom!

And we use a plant watering jug with a long spout to add more water, and roll a newspaper into a tube and slide hard food down it into the bowl. I also use chopsticks or skewers to maneuver the bowls, as they'll most certainly be moved and overturned in panic/efforts to get out. 

Well I took DC to the clinic and they confirmed he is an neutered male. They're going to transfer him to the carrier so I can set him up later.

Three weeks ago I called this clinic begging for help. I knew they couldn't likely do anything but I knew they had to know of local trappers or groups that could help me - even if just lending traps. But they said they only do spay/neuter and that was that. When I went in I tried again and explained the urgency.

They gave me a local man's number and I called and left a message and he called back about ten minutes later. We met up and he came out to the house and put out a bigger trap with some friskies in it. He placed it strategically and offered help with the placement of the others and told me to pay attention to the direction of the wind.

While he was there the property manager came over and had attitude. She blamed us feeding the cats for every cat, racoon, opossum and potential bobcat and cougar. She said the cats are trying to kill her chickens (which she only just got this past week) and it is certainly not our cats because they refuse to go past a certain point because the tenants on that end used to throw rocks a them to make them go away.

Regardless, she tried telling the man they belonged to the guy next to us as barn cats. They only came here because my friend feeds them. I pointed out that she didn't just put cat food out for no reason - Sneaky and Puff had been there for several weeks before she decided to feed, and she only did so because Hobo showed up close to death from starvation, dehydration, and some kind of attack or a car hit him or something. It was only then she broke down and given Hobo's weakened state, she couldn't feed him without feeding the others.

I also pointed out that the initial three were all ear tipped but DC was not. It's not likely the neighbor would have a mix like that and purposely bring them over like she said. She just kept insisting all of the cats were his. The man told her that if he's making them strict mousers and not feeding them in addition to that, then they won't stay.

She also said Sneaky wasn't sick. She said he is just lazy and gets food from my friend, a tenant next to her (major rock thrower that they would never get within 100 feet of), and the neighbor.

She said that they can't show the house with a bunch of traps around. I told her that they can't show it with a cat around, either. She said that the traps were drawing in all of the neighbors barn cats. I said even if that is true, the trapping is very temporary. If they are roaming, they will soon realize there is no stable food source here and move on. This is different from Sneaky who has learned that there is in fact a stable food source and shelter here, so he will not move on so easily.

What really pissed me off is that we made a deal with these people in the fall that if I took the three strays that were dumped here, they would allow the ferals to remain. Two of the strays were easy to pick up and I still have them. The other was dumped with a collar that was too tight and acting aggressive and needed to be trapped. She was also only popping in and out and seldom seen. We convinced the property manager to start feeding her so that we could predictably know how to trap her. Then when the time came for me to get her, she changed her mind - she wanted  to keep the cat.

Then just now she starts talking about the cat (Silver Bell) to the man and said she's trying to trap her so that she can take her to animal control. I was so livid! I was just trying to bite my tongue though so that we can possibly work something out with Sneaky. She brought up calling animal control to get cats and raccoons in the past. I asked her if that would be a good compromise, if animal control could come out here to get Sneaky and we could stay out of her hair.

She said she didn't think they would do it because they are so "busy" which makes me think they won't agree to this. She said she'd run it by the property owner. I don't have much hope for it, though :/

To make matters worse, today is FREEZING. It is so weird! It is super cold and windy... which means Sneaky will likely be scarce. I am trying so hard not to cry right now. I feel like this is hopeless and I am so, so upset. I cannot fathom leaving him here alone and in the condition he's in. I don't see how I could get myself to do it. I don't know how I could get around it, but I just feel like I could never live with myself and would just be thinking of him constantly.

I feel so incredibly helpless right now..

@kittychick - Oh, I really can't stand the holding period. Puff has still not eaten and I am more than likely going to take him to a full service vet tomorrow because of it. I want to do it today to be honest, but I have to focus on Sneaky. I might be able to get my boyfriend to do it, though he's never done any sort of vet stuff or handled a feral or anything, so I worry about... his incompetence, haha. But I may call him in a bit and ask him to. I just don't know what the vet could do to make him eat other than a feeding tube...

That is hilarious about the raccoons!

For the holding set up, I was actually going to use a yardstick to be able to close the carrier while I clean/feed. That's going with the assumption that they will hide in the carrier when I approach, though.