Pardon me for butting in, however, both of those drop traps depicted above apparently have an inherent and dangerous to kitties, design flaw. Neither of those drop-traps have a clearance block underneath the bottom sides to prevent tail damage should the trap, drop, over the kitties' tail.The drop traps I have seen have a lift gate at the far end. You position the humane trap or cat carrier up against the lift gate door, open the door and the cat is to run inside. You then use a sturdy barrier to prevent her from exiting the carrier while you close it.
Here is a video too
Before I fabricated my drop-trap, I reviewed many different traps on the InterNet, and the best was that designed by a vetinarian, and all of the well made drop-traps that I found, include a 1 inch clearance block underneath to allow space for tails. If the blocks doesn't exist, add them or don't buy or fabricate. Four little 1 inch tall peices of wood, one on each corner of the bottom side of the trap that will land flush on the ground. Its not high enough for the kitties to get out but they do sometimes put their little paws out. If the trap is light weight, they might tip it over. Good trap design is a balance between kitty safety and the ability to properly perform its function, meaning it should have some top weight to prevent tip-over and the blocks. So if you buy a drop-trap or make a drop-trop, be certain that the trap incorporates the blocks....ya don't wanna cripple the kitty by smashing the tail-end of its spine...that would be a horrific life-long bummer.
I use FixNation promoted, designed by www.neighborhoodcats.org (Mdl: 608NC) 'Tomahawk' galvanized wire transport trapping cages, Traps :: Feral Cat Traps & Accessories :: Feral Cat Traps :: 608NC - 36" Cat Trap Designed by Neighborhood Cats Organization which are also equipped with a guillotine style back door. (Avoid the pricey 'accessories' unless ya just wanna give'm some money...)
Another issue that isn't obvious, is that when one or more kitties become trapped, they literally run amock. On the far wall of the trap, the well designed traps, employ a 'gulliotine' style up/down slide panel door with (shielded) handle on top-edge, so that a trapped kitty can't either claw or bite ya while opening or closing the door.
I place the Tomahawk transport cage, with the guillotine door pulled out, positioning the cage directly behind the drop-trap up/down sliding door, which is down the keep the trapped kitties from escaping. I mounted four large eyebolts bolted through the back of the drop-trap around that door, so that I could use bunjie-cords to hold with good strong tension the two traps together.
Immediately after trap drops, place a large bed sheet completely over the trap, this will greatly calm the trapped kitties, reducing their stress level.
Making certain that the drop-trap and the Tomahawk transport cage are securely fastened together with the bunjie-cords, (the transport cage is not yet covered, part of the escape psychology trickery), open the drop-trap sliding door, by pulling it up, the drop-trap door being 'open', the kitties will run through it. They will run with some velocity, often hitting the opposite side of the Tomahawk transport cage, thinking that it is an escape route seeing the outside world through the wire; that is the purpose of the bunjie-cords, to hold those two traps together. I have seen the kitties hit the wire cage with enough force to literally pull the two cages apart momentarily, but the bungie-cord immediately snaps them back together tightly.
Immediately push the drop-trap sliding door down, closing the route back into the drop-trap. While being careful not to catch any other other kitty attempting to escape into the already one kitty filled Tomahawk.
Cover the Tomahawk cage, and then re-fit the back sliding door and lock it with the supplied locking safety-pin. I also tiewrap it shut at the bottom, just in case!! The vet will cut the tiewrap off when cage is safely transported into their facility.
Have ready the same number of Tomahawk transport cages as the number of kitties that you intend to capture in the drop-trap operation. One kitty per transport cage.
Most TNR clinics, perhaps all?, (such as FixNation in Sun Valley Ca) will not neutor/spay feral kitties which are transported to them in anything other than a wire transport cage, as the vets have no recourse other than to put their arms into the cage to sedate the kitties to work on them, whereas with the wire cage they stick them with a sedation syringe through the cage walls in complete safety. Its good for everybody.
Sincerely
Alpha Kitty
TNRist
