Friday, February 17, 2012

How to catch a cat

If you are wanting to do the right thing and TNR (trap and return) your found cat, you can buy a humane trap like the one above or you can call Tree House Humane Society and they'll give you one for free for a limited time on a deposit. There are many tutorials on YouTube that will show you how to set up and arm a trap. The company that makes the trap above has posted many: 

In the week or weeks leading up to the trapping, try to feed the kitty on a regular schedule to better ensure he or she shows up on the day of the trapping. Leave the trap out for a week or two to get the cat used to the trap being there. We rig the trap to stay open with twist ties and  feed the cat in the trap for a few days or a week before we actually trap it. On trap day, you can set the trap with a SMALL amount of tuna or something very pungent and wait for the cat to go in and the door will close on its own, or if the cat trusts you to stand nearby, you can wait for kitty to go in and gently release the door yourself so as not to frighten the cat unnecessarily. BUT....never leave a trap unattended. The cat can panic and injure itself. In Chicago, I recommend Tree House Humane Society for TNR. You must make an appointment and have kitty trapped and at Tree House between 7:30am and 8:30am, and what I love is that they will board the kitty afterwards; females need pain medicine as their spays are more involved than neuters and it can be difficult to ensure your "yardies" get what they need when they need it. Anyway, this was just a post on how to catch a cat...more on services and shelters later. :)

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