Feral garage issue

[Cemiii]

We have a medium highstrung 3yo dog and an 11 yr old mancoon. Both have pretty free range with a dog flap. We live in the country on 5 acres and there are tons of ferals around and also coyotes. The Vizsla dog is cat friendly but wants to bark chase and play with all cats. Her nose is seemingly slice tolerant.
I have a big garage (packed full from a full extra household) and also a big Con-ex on site. Late at night I have noticed the outside garage motion light coming on frequently. And I left a garage door open for 2 days. I closed the garage doors and 2.5 days later my wife went to the garage and came back and said she saw at least 2 kittens in there.
As best I can tell, the mom was locked out. I have seen at least 2 but can't catch them. I put out water and kitten kibble and the food and water was clearly being eaten but the second I enter the garage they scurry off fast. I left a garage door open about 4" (not enough for dog to get in) and left about 2 full handfulls of kibble and the next morning all the food and water was gone. Obviously mom got back in.
I did this the second night and the food and water wasn't touched. So I am assuming mom probably moved the kittens out. I am planning to close the door but leave water and a little food just in case and so that I can be assured they are out. My guess is that the kittens are about 4-5 weeks old. Old enough to eat kibble and run quickly. I have no idea how many.
I'll leave food and water out as protected as I can (dog loves cat kibble).
I'll keep trying but I can't even seem to catch or lure a kitten and I don't know where they have moved to. When I closed the garage door, I also closed the con-ex door. Now I dreaded I could have locked mom in that heat box with no food or water. But, Obviously, she is still with us.

Can I get a cat trap loaner from humane or somewhere? I'd like to get the whole family for spay and adoption. I'm 74 and not very agile.

What else can/should I do?

 

[fionasmom]

Welcome to The Cat Site! This happens more than you might expect, especially with a mom looking for a place for her kittens. Make sure that the cat family is out of the garage as best you can. That is probably the biggest hazard....someone being stuck in the garage and dying there. I was in this situation once and the mom immediately moved the babies away from the place where they had been trapped. (It was actually one of our cars and is a long story).

The easiest first step for you would be to contact a local humane society or rescue and see if they rent out or otherwise have traps available. Also ask at what age they fix kittens. Some have an age requirement and most won't do it at only 4 weeks old. Google what is available in your area.

Alley Cat Allies has a group known as Feral Friends.

Feral Friends Network®

It is easy enough to fill out the application which is for a rescuer locally to contact you with advice or help. I do have to warn you that these people are all volunteers and sometimes you get an answer and sometimes you don't, but it only takes a minute or two to request help.

It would be good if you could trap and fix this family since they are on your property more or less. This could be the beginning of a lot of cats if they all start to breed. If you plan to trap them, getting them to eat in a designated place will make it easier than running all over 5 acres with traps.

If you need specific advice on trapping, lots of people here can help you.