download/print - Neighborhood Cats

saving one day. Also remember, you’re not going to make any friends at your veterinaryclinic if you show up empty-handed or with far fewer cats than planned. Most clinicswill have already incurred expenses which they can’t recoup, like scheduling staff, basedon the planned number.If it’s absolutely unavoidable and one day of trapping is all you can manage, then beextra careful to make sure the cats are very hungry and start out early, leaving yourself asmuch time as possible.A drop trap can also help if you find yourself with less than the ideal amount of timeto trap. As mentioned, cats don’t have to be as hungry to go under one as they need to beto enter a box trap. What you can do, if you’ve only got one day, is first set out your boxtraps and catch as many of the colony members as you can. Then, instead of packing upand coming back the next day when the holdouts are hungrier – because you don’t have a“next day” - break out a drop trap and try to catch them that way. See Chapter 10 to learnhow to use a drop trap.3. Check the trapsCheck that the traps are working properly before transporting them to the colony site.Ideally, you’ll have done this when you first borrowed or purchased the traps, but if youdidn’t, do it before heading out into the field. To test one, first set the trigger mechanism.On most traps, except the Tru-Catch, this will mean lifting the front door all the way up,then pulling the trigger hook forward until it rests under one of the crossbars on top of thetrap. When the trigger is set, it should cause the back of the trip plate to rise up. Reachthrough the side of the trap with your finger or a pen and press down on the raised tripplate. The trip plate should go down without too much pressure – imagine a cat’s pawstepping on it - and cause the front door to quickly close. After the front door has shut,check to make sure its automatic lock mechanism – usually a clip on top of the trap – hasengaged and the door can’t be opened by just tugging it forward without lifting the lock.If it can, it means a cat inside the trap could push the door up and get out. Finally, do aquick check of the rear door to make sure its locking mechanism is also functioning.If you discover at the last minute that a trap is broken and can’t fix it, all is not lost.Mark it as broken and bring it to the trapping, anyway. Once you’ve caught a cat in atrap that is working, you can transfer the cat into the broken one and free up thefunctional trap. How to perform a transfer from a trap is explained later in this chapter.If a trap’s moving parts are sticky and not operating smoothly, a littlelubrication might fix the problem. An excellent lubricant which is safe forthe cats and easy to apply is non-stick vegetable oil spray. Find it in thebakery aisle of your supermarket and try butter-flavored to help attractcats with the scent.72