Humane traps for strays

I.O.N.Doyle

I.O.N.Doyle

New member
Would like some advise on trapping some stray cats that live, basically, in my garage. First of all I know that there are some very easy answers that will be thrown out like - Smoke em' with a 12 gauge, antifreeze, rat poison and the like but I am just not down with that. I live in a typical subdivision and need to keep things fairly clean and while I don't mind them being euthanized I would at least like them one chance to provide somebody with a good pet. Previous offspring I have paid to have spayed/neutered/shots and given to family and friends.

Without going into detail of how this happens these are offsprings of a female the lived at the neighbors house awhile back and are just here and I need to take care of the situation. The neighbors are nice, no problems there, but I need to take care of this.

I need to know if anybody recommends a clean trapping system to catch these animals so I can get them moved on. And NO they don't want to be catched, they are skittish beyond belief, you can't get within 10 yds of them. Their mother is the same way and that is why we have the loose ones now.
 
I had to trap stray cats out of our boat/rv storage sheds all the time. I just used live traps wrapped in burlap with a can of tuna as bait. The only "problem" I had was I'd occasionally catch a skunk. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif That's not as big a problem as you might think. As long as they don't have room to stand up on their front legs, and with the burlap covering the trap, I never had one actually spray (still stank though).

Getting rid of them might be pretty easy too. In the area I lived in NM the ranchers were always looking for barn cats, as their mortality rate was pretty high due to coyotes and owls. Ask at your local feed store/ranch supply or at a large animal vet's office. You might just get an invite to hunt coyotes while your giving away barn cats. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I know where I live you can go down to the animal control office and they will let you borrow a live trap for cats and even come pick them up then you call and tel them theres a cat in them.
 
I know our Animal Control officers will lend you a live trap to help you out. Might want to check with them. Havahart makes a very good live trap also if you wanted to buy one.
 
+1 for calling the animal control, we had a stray in our shop that was a problem, we contacted animal control and they told us to come pick up a trap, once the cat was caught we called them and they came and got it.
 
live catch trap and tuna fish works great i had a cat problem and trapped 60 cats in the spring and 30 in the fall.
now i just have one cat useing our flower beds as a litter box and his days of that are numbered.
i live in town and the whole town is proboblly wondering what happened to thair cats.
the pound took the first 10 but wouldn't take the rest they got the 22 or 12. i advertised on the radio to put callers on pet cats and they would be released. you wouldn't beleave the people who refused they said that the cat could hang its self with the caller.
i know they did die of lead poisening not hanging.
 
A favorite of mine is the Minnesota Plasti Catch. http://www.minntrapprod.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=204_6 I use them a lot in my nuisance animal control side job. Mostly for skunks, possum and raccoons. They work great for cats as well though. Like was mentioned tuna works good or just cat food works too. Unfortunately anything that attracts a cat, does attract skunks but with this trap it isn't a problem. They won't spray if they cant see you. I've never had one spray in this trap. You can pick it up and move the trap with a skunk in it without any worries. You can either release any animal you have caught or euthanize it (to put it nicely) by simply tipping the trap on its end and filling it with water. They are a little spendy but you can start a skunk removal business to use the trap later if you want. It makes a great tax shelter.

Good hunting
 
Update - I took off for deer hunting a couple of weeks ago and thought the stray cats were gone because I hadn't seen them hanging around for a few days. Lo and behold they came back. I went the route of calling animal control to see if they loaned out traps but they don't, they rent them to you. They also told me that some local rental outfits had them too and for a little cheaper. I went and got one last night and it was $5 for a day or $9 for a week. I figured I would just get it for a week since I have four of the black devils to trap and The Corporate Man seems to want me to be at work most the day so I can't make too many trips to the pound with them. So I set the trap out last night and then a buddy calls to see if I want to go scope shopping at the new Cabelas. Not being one to pass on a good time I left and when I got back I had the first one trapped. Tried to get it out the the squirrley little effer slipped my grip and bolted but no big deal I got the thing for a week. Re-baited the trap last night, went to bed, and this morning I got another one of the garbage eating beasts. I figure I can get another one this morning if I transfer this one to a pet carrier and having learned from my mistake last night I now know to block the hole in the trap and grip the thing tight when I grab it. Well kids, don't try this at home without gloves and arm protection. The whole incident took well under one second and went from me having a firm grip on it's neck and back to it having all pointy ends sunk into my forearm. Now I'm sitting here typing this up with six tooth puncture holes and four scratches of the 4 to 5 inch variety in my arm and having to break it to the old lady that she needs to run to the pound with the trap so they can do a quicker transer and I can reset the trap today. Actually the whole thing has still been more fun than working.
 
Wash that bite wound up real good with what ever you have that can kill germs..... Cats have real nasty mouths. Especially if they been living on roadkill, and garbage.
 
I like it. May need to change my screen name.

Just a FYI for everybody - feral cats seem to love vienna sausages. My wife got back from the pound with the first cat so I cut up some more bait set the trap and 15 minutes later while I was eating I had number two. Only two of the furry little degenerates left and my work is done. Probably got one in the trap now, better call the ol lady.
 
Next to last update.

Called the wife and sure enough there was one more. Just got back from the pound dropping the third one off. One to go but I am not 100% sure there still is a fourth one, I haven't seen all four together for awhile.

Signed
The Cat Whisperer
 
Quote:
I would not want to take on a housecat in a barehanded fight to the death.

Jack

no way that cat scratch fever is not fun and can be deadly my youngest had it really bad once had to spend two day in the hospital on iv .....
 
If you still haven't caught the fourth, try putting a can of wet,smelly cat food behind the trip plate. But just crack the top. Don't open it all the way. Pour a bit of the liquid on or under the trip plate. Make 'em dig for it. I generally have better luck that way.
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top