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A “dry” space is protected from theelements, especially rain or snow, but also windor direct sunlight (which could causeoverheating inside the traps). A holding spaceis “secure” if it is only accessible by peopleassociated with the project and not by strangersor other animals.Examples of adequate holding spaces mayinclude a garage, basement, ventilated shed,empty trailer, empty room in an apartment,empty retail or office space, part of awarehouse, a bathroom if there’s only a coupleof cats involved, an empty adoption van, or a cargo van parked in a driveway. Indoorspaces are preferable because they’re better protected from the elements and usually aremore secure. In a pinch, if the weather is warm and calm and the area secure, a canopytent set up in a private backyard, an open porch or a terrace could serve as holding space.Sometimes people worry about fleas infesting a holding space. If the cats are well fedand healthy, their immune systems will be strong enough to fight off most parasites andit’s unlikely they will suffer severe flea infestations. But they may still have some. Inour experience, it’s rare for the presence of cats for a week to cause a flea infestation in aholding space. If the traps are kept covered with lightweight cotton sheets and the spaceis cleaned or vacuumed thoroughly after the project, you should be fine. If fleas doappear, flea bombing the space afterwards might be necessary. Remember to bomb onceafter the cats are out and then a second time two or three weeks later to kill any fleaswhich may have hatched from eggs not destroyed in the first round (see the instructionson the flea bomb product). If you want to try a more natural approach, spreaddiatomaceous earth in all the cracks and crevices of the space (see “Diatomaceous earth”under “Fleas” in Chapter 4). Another way to cut down on the risk of fleas, if you canafford it, is to have flea medication applied to the cats during the spay/neuter procedure.One trick, if a cat is staying in your bathroom, is to place the trap in your bathtub ontop of some bricks. Then fill your bathtub with an inch or so of water. Between the trapbeing covered with a sheet and the moat below, it would be very hard for fleas to spread.Sometimes people are worried the cats will make a great deal of noise. Simply put,they won’t. Feral cats are very quiet in captivity and try to make themselves asunnoticeable as possible. Once in a while, you might get a colony where one cat meowssoftly and others join in for a couple of minutes. Most of the time, they remain still andsilent. If you do get a cat who’s meowing a lot and appears to be crying out for attention,this is often the behavior of a former house cat, not a feral. Such a cat should be carefullyevaluated as a possible candidate for adoption.If you’re going to hold the cats in part of your home, segregate your own cats anddon’t allow them in the holding space in order to minimize any risk of disease or parasitetransmission.During the project, the holding space can also act as your command center where youkeep your equipment, supplies and records, and meet up with volunteers. See the section,“Preparing the holding space,” in Chapter 11.53