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three more traps than the number of cats in the colony. This is advisable for two reasons.First, a cat you didn’t know about may appear. Second, when you’re down to trappingthe last cat or two, it’s much easier when you have a couple of extra traps. With threetraps to catch the last cat instead of only one, you can cover more of the territory and giveyourself more opportunities to catch her. The types of traps we recommend are listed inChapter 8 (“Recommended Equipment”).In communities where TNR has taken hold, traps can often be borrowed at little or nocost from “trap banks” run by feral cat groups or shelters. In other places, there may notbe a formal trap bank, but animal control or a cat rescue group may have some to lend.On its website, The Humane Society of the United States maintains a comprehensive listof feral cat organizations throughout the country, listed by state(www.humanesociety.org/assets/maps/feral-cats.html). You can use this resource to helpfind a TNR group near you.If there are no traps available to borrow, you may have to buy one or more yourself.This may limit how many cats you can trap at a time and may preclude doing a masstrapping of the entire colony. Stick to what you can afford and proceed with the projectat the pace you can.In addition to traps, you’ll want to have at least one pair of trap dividers on hand. Asexplained in Chapter 11 (“Caring for Cats in Traps”), dividers are essential tools andshould always be used in pairs for safely feeding and cleaning traps in which cats areconfined. If more than one person is going to help feed and clean at a time, you’ll needthat many pairs of dividers. A trap divider may also come in handy during the trappingitself, for example, when two cats get caught in the same trap and need to be quicklyseparated, or when a cat is acting frantic in the trap and the space he has to move about inneeds to be quickly reduced. Some trap banks do not stock trap dividers. If you can’tborrow them, consider purchasing a pair (see “Recommended equipment – trap dividers”in Chapter 8).The availability of equipment may impact when you schedule your spay/neuterappointments. If you need twenty traps, but they won’t be available for a month, you’llhave to wait until then to schedule the surgeries. If securing needed equipment might bean issue, check the availability of traps and trap dividers before you schedule thesurgeries. Reserve the equipment as soon as your spay/neuter appointments are made.photo: Debbie Preto56