Spraying Feliway On A Trap Cage

Antonio65 A few things you could try if you haven't before;

Put hay or straw on the floor of the trap and all around the outside of the trap so the cat doesn't feel the wire beneath his paws when he steps inside.

KFC. Either the chicken or the hot chips seem to work. I think the chips must be fried in some strong smelling animal fat.

Cat urine. If you could get a bit of the used cat litter from your own cat's litter box and sprinkle some of that inside the trap it might get his/her attention.

Asian Fish Sauce. Made from fermented anchovies, smells gross, but cats love it.

Good luck.

msaimee said:

If the cat has been trapped before, he may never enter a trap again. Feral cats are very hard to re-trap

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I don't know if it's ever been trapped before.
That cat has been in my colony about 5 or 6 years now, and I'm sure I've never touched it.
Weird enough, that cat has never been pregnant. So, either it isn't a girl, or it has been spayed years ago, by someone else, somewhere else. This could explain the fear of the trap!

When I set a trap, I put a small towel on the inside bottom and cover it with grass, dirt and twigs so it feels natural to the cat when he's walking in. I don't cover the top of the trap as some do. This is what has worked for me.

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I wouldn't cover the trap either, because I fear anything on the trap might interfere with the rod/latch or else.

I wouldn't withhold his regular food from him for more than a day, you don't want him to go elsewhere in search of food. If he's determined to not go into the trap, he'll simply go elsewhere.

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Yesterday the cat was hungry, very hungry, because I left little food the day earlier. I could have caught it easily, but another cat showed up in the colony, a cat that I'm sure it's a girl and shows up very rarely and randomly. So I had to give priority to this one... I'm sure that yesterday the cat I want to catch would have gone into the trap, it was too hungry to say no...
But things do not go as we like, do they?

Do you know if he likes tuna? As someone else has suggested, you could try putting his regular food inside.

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I know it likes tuna, it ate the bait outside the trap.
I also tried with the regular food, but it didn't work...

Norachan said:

Put hay or straw on the floor of the trap and all around the outside of the trap so the cat doesn't feel the wire beneath his paws when he steps inside.

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This could be an idea!
I had tried with a sheet of cardboard before, but it didn't work either.

KFC. Either the chicken or the hot chips seem to work. I think the chips must be fried in some strong smelling animal fat.

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Nothing of the kind is available here.

Cat urine. If you could get a bit of the used cat litter from your own cat's litter box and sprinkle some of that inside the trap it might get his/her attention.

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I would avoid this. This cat is so very suspicious that I think any other smell could scare him/her...

I had to use a dog crate to catch a kitty that refused to be trapped one time. They feel more comfortable going into a bigger space.

Before trapping Valentine, he was so large he caused the trap to fail. He hung out the entrance. I borrowed a larger trap and he went fully inside before triggering it. The larger size may also make them feel that they can turn around once inside, so they might enter it.

If this cat has been around for 5 years and hasn't gotten pregnant, and isn't acting like a tomcat (spraying, aggressive, mating), then maybe focus on trapping the other cats and not worry about him? People usually only get one chance to trap a cat, so maybe hold off unless he becomes sick or injured? We've had a female cat on our block for a few years who has never gotten pregnant. When she was taken to the vet teo summers ago, he couldn't tell for sure, but guessed she had been spayed. By now we are all pretty sure she was spayed and not worrying about it.

msaimee said:

If this cat has been around for 5 years and hasn't gotten pregnant, and isn't acting like a tomcat (spraying, aggressive, mating), then maybe focus on trapping the other cats and not worry about him?

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I guess it's becoming a matter of principle