These cats are smarter than I am! :)

white cat lover

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I am having big trouble catching a few more kitties. There are 4 cats left. There were 5, but one got caught by a neighbor!
Tubby(she's always been very fat) is a middle aged(about 5 years old is our guess) female. She is grey/orange/white calico patterned. I caught her once, but she bit me so hard it went straight through my glove & was bleeding really bad. Jasper is gorgeous. He is a middle aged male, white with blue eyes, but unlike every other white cat with blue eyes I have known, he is not deaf. I have never touched him & only know he is a male as I look at everyone's bottoms!
B.B. is a young male(maybe 2 years old) that is white with blue eyes. He is deaf. You would think I could sneak up on him, but his other sense must be very sharp. I cannot catch him. Last, but not least, is Urchin, a male kitten. Urchin will rip food from anyone's mouth. He is a violent little kitten, probably no more than 2 months old when he showed up. I would put him around 6-8 months old now.

None of these guys have seen a vet. Our vet is willing to spay/neuter everyone, but we have to get them to him. That is proving ot be very difficult. Any ideas on how to trap them?
 

opilot

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I sympathize. I've just started trapping and it
sure isn't easy!! I am sure someone on this site will have the know how!
I find Popeye's chicken tenders works wonders! But if the buggers are
trap shy... could be difficult. YOu may have to let them go unfed a
day or so to get them really hungry...

Good luck. Sending trapping vibes your way!
 
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white cat lover

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Katie, thanks for the website! It was very helpful. I guess I never mentioned that I tried a live trap, manual door close on a cat carrier & then a large pet porter.

My dad builds things for a living, so making a drop trap should be no trouble. Hopefully, I can get him to help me make one tomorrow. I really do want to catch those two white ones. I really do need more white housecats.
Actually, white cat are very "popular" in our area right now. If they are semi-decent(as long as they don't bite), people are willing to adopt them. They might just get lucky if I can catch them.
 

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Hi! I had great luck using the precooked packaged Tyson chicken (found in the refrigerated section of your supermarket) to get my girl Lexi. It's great since you can keep it in the fridge for a number of days, or even freeze until your ready to use it. Once it's microwaved the smell or "aroma" is extremely strong - Lexi came from out of no where when I brought it outside to place in the trap and actually watched me do it! The door on the trap wouldn't fall shut initially, but she walked inside the trap 6 times to get at those bits of chicken. I used dark meat since I believed it it would give off a stronger smell. Good luck!
 

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Never try to catch a feral cat with your bare hands, unless you can afford to lose the use of one of your hands for a few weeks. No kidding there.

Can you describe the ways you have tried to trap them, in as much detail as possible? That might help us to make specific suggestions.
 
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white cat lover

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I tried a live trap a dozen times, everytime the cat(only one would go inside) went in, he never set the trap off. I tried moving the food around inside, but nothing worked & since not all of them would go inside of it, I gave up on that idea. I think the cats were too small to set it off. I tried using a plastic pet porter & yanking the door shut after they were well inside, but I couldn't get the really people-shy cats.

I did, however, capture Urchin this morning. From my guess, he is already neutered, but I didn't check too close. He wasn't a really nasty cat, but he did hiss & scratch at me. He seems glad to see me now that I have been feeding him canned food. For now, he is in the pet porter in the garage. How did I catch him? I was setting up the pet porter to try to again to snap the door shut behind any cat who enters using a rope when he wandered in after the food, with me right there. He wasn't around yesterday to eat, so I would imagine he was really hungry.

That is about as creative as I got. I didn't know how else to try to catch any of these cats that I wouldn't hurt them. The one female is definately pregnant, so I want to get her asap to get spayed. She got away from me today & wouldn't go back in the trap, so I am going to try again tomorrow. I didn't feed them at all today, so I feel really guilty, but I would rather trap them hungry than have more kittens, particularly wild ones.

I didn't get a chance to put together a drop trap today, but I got all of the supplies & think I might be able to put it together tomorrow, but I wasn't going to do that until I tried the pet porter method again. For now, I am really going to focus on Tubby, the pregnant one.

I don't know how much more detail I can go into. I set up the trap & tried things a couple of times & if that didn't work, I tried the next method I could think of. Not that that's any help to you.
 

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Perhaps there is something wrong with the trap that won't let it trigger...or these cats are somehow managing to avoid stepping on the trigger.

Katie
 
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Originally Posted by TNR1

Perhaps there is something wrong with the trap that won't let it trigger...or these cats are somehow managing to avoid stepping on the trigger.

Katie
To me, it seems like the trap is too big. It is the one sized for cats. I used it to catch another cat a few months ago. He was much bigger than these cats. Tubby is the biggest at maybe 8 lbs.

I got Tubby this morning. She followed a food trail I left for her straight into a cat carrier. She was hungry enough that she didn't care. She gets spayed tomorrow morning & then moved to a family friend's farm.

The last two I have to catch(B.B. & Jasper) always travel in a pair, so they will be harder to catch. They won't go into the live trap & B.B. is very leery of me. Jasper will walk past me, but he is always just far enough away that I can't touch him. I am going to try the pet porter mehtod again later today to see if I can get them.
 

katie=^..^=

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It sounds to me like you are doing quite well. Your cats must be very hungry. Poor little Tubby she must be so hungry with the kittens taking all the nourishment. Well that problem will soon be solved.

You're doing a great job -- congratulations and thank you for caring for these poor little guys.
 
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white cat lover

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Tubby is spayed already, woke up, & came home. I am not too happy about here being here, but she was hurtng herself. She woke up much earlier than expected after being spayed. She was thrashing, screaming, & trying to get of the cage. They called me to ask me to bring her home. She has several cuts on her & she her eyes were so huge....it was so sad. She has come home to recover. She is doing fine here. She didn't damage her stitches or anything & the vet didn't want to send her home, but she would not calm down. I simply have to watch her very closely.

Jasper showed up for breakfast this morning & he looks to be already nuetered? I cannot tell for sure, but he doesn't look intact to me. I am going to try to catch him yet. At least I touched him.

I am concerned about B.B., though. He & Jasper are always together & B.B. didn't show up this morning. If he doesn't show up for supper, I will be really worried. No, I won't. No matter how naive this sounds, I hope that if he doesn't show up for supper someone else caught him & is keeping him as a pet & caring for him.
 

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What brand of trap are you using? It really sounds like a better trap will solve your problem. I like Tomahawk model 606 or Tru-Catch 30LtD. Havahart traps are awful, IMO.
 
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