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How to Trap – TNR First Steps
Trapping 101
Trap Neuter Return is now a worldwide phenomenon. In every country of the world you will find caring people trying to help the cats, and the best way to help is get them fixed. With so many involved today, there are now numerous sites online helping people understand what is involved in TNR. Our best suggestion is to connect with mentors who can quide you through the beginning process of learning TNR, avoiding the mistakes that sometimes derail your efforts.
This presentation was written to give new trappers a step-by-step plan to follow. If you are completely new to TNR, it is a good starting point.
To view in your browser or to download to your computer, phone or reader, click the Trapping PDF. This is a document version of the PowerPoint presentation below.
Ready to teach a class in your own community? For a ready-to-edit PowerPoint, download the trapping PPT file. You can use it as is. But presentations work best if you make them your own. Add your own stories and trapping pics.
Trapping Feral Mom Cats
Trapping feral mom cats is easier if you already have the kittens. This works particularly well with young babies under 6 weeks.
1. Place the kittens in a crate. Be sure to put in a warming pad because getting chilled can kill young kittens. If you don’t have a heating disk, you can fill a sock or pillow case with dry rice and put it in the microwave for about 90 seconds. Cover with a thin towel or sheet so it isn’t too hot for the baby.
2. Set the trap with the carrier positioned at the end. Cover with a towel. You can put food in too.
3. If the kittens aren’t vocalizing, play kitten cries on your phone. Link Kittens Crying. (Right click (windows) or Control click (Mac) to save the file to your computer or device. Check the resources tab for a 26 minute mp3 sound file.
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Benefits to Fostering Feral Mom Cats with Kittens
1. Kittens are healthier when kept with their mom for at least the first 4 to 5 weeks. There is a higher mortality rate in bottle fed kittens. Moms cats are the best moms for kittens.
2. The kittens will be well socialized to humans. This makes them more adoptable.
3. You don’t have to worry about the mom cat moving the babies and being unable to catch them until they are past the easy taming age.
Here our Facebook story about these kittens.
Alley Cat Allies has excellent resources on TNR and helping community cats. Here is their YouTube intro to TNR.
Trapping Mistakes
Sometimes, the only difference between an experienced trapper and a new trapper is the number of mistakes under their belt.
The photo at the left was a CCC volunteer’s first trapping experience. Kittens on the beach. The ground wasn’t level so the trap tipped over. She moved the traps to the sand. But the wind blew the paper around frightening the kittens. So, she covered the wire bottom in sand–and trapped a sea-gull. Oops. And then a kitten finally went in. But the sand kept the door from closing all the way and she slipped out. Agony!
No worries, she eventually caught the kittens and had that fluffy buff boy for 17 years. Did she finally master the trap? NO! She hid behind a boulder with canned food and scruffed them into carriers. Want to skip all those mistakes? Read this before you start trapping.
How Do You Reply to People Who Say…
“Isn’t it better to let a cat have one litter?”
“I want my children to experience the miracle of birth.”
“There is a shortage of kittens because there aren’t any at the shelter right now.”
“We let our cat have kittens, and we ALWAYS find homes for them.”
Face it, something about moms and kittens turns our logical brains into mush. But here is the sad reality. There aren’t enough homes for the cats and kittens who are already here. Estimates on the number of unowned cats in the United States range from a low estimate of 30- 40 million (Humane Society of the United States) to over 80 million (Alley Cat Allies). Roughly half the cats in the U.S. have no owner.
Faulty logic abounds when people try to defend their choice to let a mom cat have kittens. So try making it simple when trying to educate people repeating one of the misconceptions above.
Let’s say you live in a small town and there are 100 people planning to adopt kittens that year. Any kittens born over that amount will not get a home. With an average of 5 kittens per litter, it takes only 20 unaltered cats to produce 100 kittens. Let’s say there are 60 unaltered cats having kittens in that town, then 300 kittens won’t get to be one of those lucky 100 adopted kittens. They may remain homeless and join the population of community cats or they may be euthanized.
There are always more kittens than homes. So even if you find a home for the kittens you allowed to be born, that simply means that the adopters took one of your kittens instead of a homeless kitten or one at a shelter. It is easy for people to explain this away, because they don’t get to see the kitten that died as a result of that choice.
For every kitten allowed to be born, one already here won’t get to live.
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