intrusions you and others make into the territory, the fewer chances a cat will befrightened off and not return.Place the traps to cover as much of the area around where the cats are fed as possible.Also put them along paths the cats are known to travel and any other spots they frequent.How much of the cats’ territory you cover will depend on how many cats there are, howlarge the territory is, what sections of the site you have access to and how many traps youhave on hand. Most traps should be concentrated around the feeding area or along routesthey travel to get there. Remember, if you prepared properly, the cats will be on afeeding schedule and will come to you at the usual time, so you don’t have to gosearching for them.When placing the traps, don’t rest themon the ground out in the open. Instead, restthem, length-wise, alongside an object orstructure which is familiar to the cats, like afence, wall, feeding station curb, frontbumper of a car, dumpster, bush, tree, etc.(See Figure 9-1), The trap then appears tothe cat to be part of another known structureand is less threatening than when it’s off byitself and free-standing.Make sure the trap sits on level ground.Figure 9-1Sacrifice having the trap butt right upagainst a wall or other structure if moving itout a foot or two will mean it’s resting on the ground more steadily. Don’t put traps rightnext to each other, but separate them by at least a few feet.Once a trap is in position, open the front door and set the trigger. Remove any debrisor branches which might block the front door from completely closing when it comesdown. If necessary, blend the bottom of the trap into the landscape by sprinkling somedirt, pebbles or leaves on the floor in front of the trip plate.If the trap will be sitting in direct sunlight on a hot day, take the sheet from betweenthe handles and, after partly unfolding it, cover the rear of the trap, shading the bait so itwon’t quickly dry out. Place a rock or some small heavy object on top of the sheet tokeep it from blowing off. If it’s too windy outside, you may need to forgo shading thebait.If it might rain during the trapping, place each trap in a heavyduty garbage or contractor bag. Cut away any part of the bagcovering the front and/or rear doors, then wrap duct tape around thetrap to secure the bag in place.Some trappers always cover the top and both long sides of the trap with a sheet,leaving only the front and rear doors uncovered. They believe this makes the interior ofthe trap more inviting to the cats. At <strong>Neighborhood</strong> <strong>Cats</strong>, we do this only when the trapis in a remote spot and can’t be checked as frequently as usual. If a cat gets trapped, thepartial covering will help keep him calm. We don’t do this with every trap from the74
outset because, in our experience, most cats will go in whether the trap is covered or notand the sheet tends to blow around in the wind. If you do cover the trap, make sure therear door as well as the front door is not covered. The cat should be able to see all theway through in order to minimize the sensation she is entering a confined space with onlyone way out.One way to make a cat less wary of going in is to trick her intothinking she can exit the trap through the rear doorway. Do this byreplacing the wire mesh rear door with Plexiglass cut the same size.Drill a small hole towards the center top in the Plexiglass door sowhen your transparent new door is in place, you can run a cable tiethrough and secure it to the top of the trap. Later, after a cat iscaptured, section her off towards the front of the trap with trapdividers and replace the Plexiglass door with the regular one.As a last step, take a piece or two of Pounce, crumble it up and sprinkle a trail startinga few feet away from the front door of the trap and leading into the trap and all the way tothe bait. This same technique can be done with the juice from tuna or little bits of the bait– don’t use too much and risk the cat being satisfied before she follows the trail to themain dish.<strong>Cats</strong> often love catnip spray - it's highly concentrated and verypungent. Plus it's got staying power since it won't blow away likedried flakes do. Try spritzing a small amount directly onto the tripplate. Use a quality spray like Kong Naturals to make sure the scentis irresistible! (Find Kong Naturals at PetSmart, Petco or online atwww.amazon.com/pets.)6. During the trappingOnce the traps are all in place and set, exit the territory. Tempting though it may beto keep a close eye on the action, the cats will be aware you’re watching them. Stay outof sight and don’t stare, especially when one is right in front of the trap and thinkingabout going in. If you start looking at them intently and silently urging them to take theplunge, they may pick up on this and it could be enough to dissuade them. If you’retrapping in your own backyard, go inside the house and watch from there. If you’re atanother location, wait inside your car or stand just around the corner. The less visibleyou are and the less tension and anxiety you exude, the better.While you don’t want to watch too closely, you or another trapper should be presentat the site at all times. Traps should never be left unattended. The cats are completelyvulnerable once they’re trapped and dependent on you for their safety. If you’re notaround, bad things can happen such as two panicked cats getting caught in the same trap,wildlife attacking a captured cat or a stranger passing by who releases a cat or worse.Ideally, check the traps every half hour, but don’t let more than two hours pass without75
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TNR HandbookThe Guide to Trap-Neute
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Table of ContentsForeword by Susan
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Chapter Ten: The Neighborhood Cats
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ForewordOne of the first ferals I e
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Introduction“If we keep ‘em in
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2. What is Trap-Neuter-Return?Trap-
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c) Fewer nuisance complaints. As me
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and as their hunger grows, they wil
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3. The TNR Process - An OverviewEve
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After you’ve determined how many
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for this purpose. Once you can talk
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like the board of a homeowners asso
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information provided because of the
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- Page 31 and 32: epel. It operates on four “C” b
- Page 33 and 34: • Free-standing fencesPurrfect Fe
- Page 35 and 36: • Type of feeding stationThe perf
- Page 37 and 38: Amazon (www.amazon.com) for “Le B
- Page 39 and 40: will be drawn to this easily reache
- Page 41 and 42: a search for “heated water bowl
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- Page 47 and 48: steroids, tranquilizers, anesthetic
- Page 49: weather, loud construction work nea
- Page 52 and 53: • Feralvilla Outdoor Cat ShelterD
- Page 54 and 55: • Styrofoam boxesRestaurants and
- Page 56 and 57: Another option is the Snuggle Safe
- Page 58 and 59: apart. Knowing the correct number,
- Page 60 and 61: 4. Schedule the spay/neuterAfter yo
- Page 62 and 63: three more traps than the number of
- Page 64 and 65: Tomahawk Live Trap- Neighborhood Ca
- Page 66 and 67: 11 inches in height. In our opinion
- Page 68 and 69: trap are attached. The transfer doo
- Page 70 and 71: Feral cat densNeighborhood Cats Fer
- Page 72 and 73: drop trap (code: KITDT) - see Figur
- Page 74 and 75: That said, not every community offe
- Page 76 and 77: practice. In our experience, there
- Page 78 and 79: saving one day. Also remember, you
- Page 82 and 83: doing so. Don’t check too frequen
- Page 84 and 85: Winter trappingSome trappers in nor
- Page 86 and 87: around and inflict a severe bite or
- Page 88 and 89: The bottle-and-string method is use
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- Page 94 and 95: Unless a caretaker objects on relig
- Page 96 and 97: Caddie” by Tomahawk (see Figure 9
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- Page 100 and 101: feet long, and lean it up against a
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- Page 104 and 105: PreparationsAs with any trapping, i
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- Page 112 and 113: Feeding and cleaningThe traps shoul
- Page 114 and 115: 7. Secure the rear doorAfter you’
- Page 116 and 117: Figure 12-1 shows the Setup fullyas
- Page 118 and 119: unlikely the cat would be able to o
- Page 120 and 121: • Special instructionsAny special
- Page 122 and 123: The FVRCP vaccine, also known as th
- Page 124 and 125: difficult without the ability to te
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- Page 128 and 129: “snap” test, it produces a resu
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In our experience, the primary caus
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Before releasing a spayed female, r
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has been created and one set of cat
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and water bowls - see the Feral Cat
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enforcement agency will tell you if
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long will show signs of being socia
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feral at all yet and may tame immed
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When they’re verycomfortable with
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socialize enough, which is very lik
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When the cat no longer uses the cag
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alternatives, like scratching posts
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• Where to lookIn order to attrac
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In case you’re unable to return t
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18. Feral Cat ResourcesBooks Implem
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Petco Foundation (4Rs Project Suppo
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ToolkitsAction Kit: Advocating for
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Appendix BHOW TO BUILDTHE NEIGHBORH
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5. Place piece E two inches back fr
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Trap LogProject/Colony: ___________
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In memory ofBobby Kergis1952 - 2011