Cats For Dummies. Gina Spadafori

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target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_bb5b58a3-b50c-5974-809d-87731291316b">FIGURE 4-1: Box traps are designed to lure cats inside and then hold them safely until help arrives.

      If you’re trying to work with cats on a university campus, hospital, or military base, check with the maintenance department to see whether they have traps — most do, although you may need to go through some paperwork to use them.

      

Although borrowing traps is probably the best way to get started, you can also buy them directly from the same companies that sell to animal-control departments. One such source is Tomahawk Live Trap, P.O. Box 323, Tomahawk, WI 54487; www.livetrap.com.

      Setting up veterinary care

      After you trap a cat, leave the animal in the cage and cover with towels so the cat feels protected. Next stop: A veterinarian.

      Talk to your own veterinarian first. She may well be interested in your project and willing to help, and even if she’s not, she’s likely a good source of referral to other veterinarians who are more actively involved in the care of community cats. Your local animal control agency may have programs in place for community cats already, and if so, these programs can really help you!

      

What you’re asking your veterinarian to do is make a charitable contribution, of her time and her staff’s time, and of her equipment and supplies. Spaying, in particular, is major surgery, and veterinarians routinely do it at a loss, as their contribution to helping combat animal overpopulation.

      

Be sure that the veterinarian is aware that you’ll be bringing in untamed cats. These animals are more difficult to handle, and the staff needs a heads-up before you bring any trapped cat in. Good communication is the key to working with your veterinarian under any circumstances, and that’s doubly true when you’re dealing with these special needs cats.

      

Veterinarians clip the tip off the left ear of a community cat after neutering. That way, if the cat is ever trapped again, cat caretakers and veterinarians will know that the surgery has already been performed. The cut is in a straight line so as not to be confused with damage from fighting or other injury-causing events.

      Trapping cats

      After you have your trap and your veterinarian is on standby, you’re ready to get down to the business of catching cats. Make sure that the trap is clean to start with. Scrub with hot, soapy water and follow with a spray of diluted bleach (a half cup of bleach to a gallon of water will do). If you can manage it, prepare several traps at once. Cats quickly become wary of the traps after seeing others caught, and your best chance may well be a mass trapping.

      

Stop feeding your cat colony for a couple days before you put traps out. You want them hungry!

      Set the trap in a protected area, such as under a bush, or in the shade of a fence or building. Cover the trap with an old towel or blanket to make the cat feel more secure after he has been captured.

If you set out more than one trap, position them so that they’re out of sight of one another. Set the trap according to the instructions that came with it, and choose something irresistible as bait. A common recommendation is canned cat food. Another hit with cats is canned mackerel, which is relatively inexpensive and very smelly!

      

Check your traps at least a couple times per day and ideally every three-four hours — and even more frequently in cold or hot weather. Traps offer no protection against the elements. A trapped cat is also vulnerable to attack by dogs or by people intent on mayhem.

      

After you have a cat trapped, don’t attempt to remove him from the cage — you’ll be bitten. Keep the cage covered and use the handle to transport the cat, cage and all. Your veterinarian and her staff are trained and experienced at handling less-than-cooperative cats. Don’t risk a bite!

      Spaying and neutering cats

Discuss with your veterinarian what medical care the cat needs in addition to altering, which prevents “more littering” (see Figure 4-2). You’ll likely want the animals tested for infectious disease, treated for parasites, and vaccinated. Any cat who turns up positive for feline leukemia (FeLV) should be placed in a single-cat home, if the cat is friendly, or humanely killed if a placement cannot be found. A tough call, to be sure, but part of the deal when you care for community cats.

      Once you’ve turned a neutered community cat loose again, you won’t be able to catch the animal again to have stitches removed, which is why it’s essential that the veterinarian use a technique that doesn’t require the animal to be returned to have the stitches removed.

      

If the cat or kitten you’ve brought in is destined to be tamed for a future as a pet, ask the veterinarian to trim the animal’s claws. Taking the sharp tips off the claws will make the cat much easier for you to handle.

      Releasing cats

      Bring a carrier to the veterinarian so the animal doesn’t have to be returned to the trap — you’ll need that for more trapping after all. Your veterinarian will put the cat in your carrier while he’s still unconscious. Take him home and leave him in the carrier, in a quiet place. Have food and water available, but leave him alone otherwise. When the cat is fully conscious, he can be released to his old stomping grounds.

      Miss Parker/Photo by Susan R. Scheide

      FIGURE 4-2: Cats should be spayed or neutered as soon as kittens are weaned.

Line the carrier with newspapers, and with an old towel. The cat will likely relieve himself when he wakes up, so you want something absorbent in the carrier to keep him as comfortable as possible.

      Housing considerations

      While many caretakers don’t worry about shelter for their community cats, especially in warmer parts of the world, you may be in a location where your cats need shelters. While there are ready-made cat shelters on the market, the DIY route is probably cheaper and works just as well. You’ll find all kinds of ideas for community cat shelters with a simple internet search.

      A very basic and very warm shelter can be made from an old cooler chest, which you might be able to find at a tag or garage sale or even just ask around

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