Need more ideas on catching last feral

[Seymour]

I apologize for the length of this post. I know it's long.

I have decades of experience with cats, including ferals, but must first give thanks and a tip of my hat to the cat lovers on this board. I have learned so much reading the advice and solutions here. I really appreciate the knowledge you have.

I posted a while back that I had a small colony in my large back yard and another small colony in the front. With very few exceptions, they tend to live separately, although occasionally one will check out the food bowls in the other side of the yard. Both colonies had four original kitties, 2 female and 2 males each, and there was an obvious correlation between the cats due to coat similarities. Before I could capture and have them neutered and spayed, 2 females in the back had kittens. I caught all six babies and found a home for one. I still have the others and am planning on placing them, but only with careful vetting. I would keep them all but we're older and want them to have long-term homes.

I caught everyone but one female in the front. I literally trapped her as the last cat of the eight adults and ran her straight to the vet to confirm my terrible suspicion that she just had kittens and the vet said she had. She guessed three since it appeared she'd given birth within 24 hours and 3 nipples showed signs of nursing. We could not find her kittens and she came and left every day, as a nursing mom will do. But we never saw any kittens and she never brought them to us. The mother kitties in the back yard brought their babies to eat solid food and we were able to trap them when they appeared.

Once I knew the front yard kittens, if there were any surviving, would be old enough to no longer nurse, I started trying to trap the mom again, but she was smart. She didn't fall for it a second time. I tried switching baits, disguising the trap in a box, camouflaging it with leaves and brush, changing locations. I even left it right where I normally feed the front yard crew and putting some food right inside of it so they could grab a bite from it once in a while. No dice.

Time passed and she was obviously pregnant again. All the male kitties in our colonies are neutered, so another cat impregnated her. If I had caught him I would have had him fixed, too, but no such luck.

Weirdly, the entire front yard colony disappeared when she had the babies. We think they are all in a neighbor's backyard under his very large deck. He's fine with it and we're waiting for her to show up with the babies, which should be any time.

The colony stayed a little jumpy for the first few weeks. We'd only see them to eat now and then, but over time they've started to hang around again and are acting like their old selves. And they go back and forth between our two houses during the day and at night.

I believe I can catch the babies if she brings them here, but I really need to trap her. She and the remainder of the colony are hyper-resistant to the trap, and since they travel in a group, I can't really use a drop trap.

I have read every bit of advice I can find on catching ferals and am still puzzled as to how I can catch this one little cat. I will gladly take any advice I can get.

Also, one other question: in our backyard colony, one of the original four cats (a female) was suddenly forced out of the group and I have no idea why. Occasionally we catch her sneaking some food when the others are not looking. I also place dry food in three backyard locations so she can safely eat when the others aren't in that part of the yard. Anyone have any ideas why cats would banish one of their number?

Any ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance!

Seymour

 

[aztrish]

Hi, Seymour! First of all, thank you for being such a friend to ferals. As for the difficult to trap mama - this is tough. I have been there with a mama cat that I was never able to trap before she moved on, assuming to another street (she left behind two of her offspring that I had fixed, sisters, one of which I still care for - I believe she ceded her small territory to them, and left for another feeding area, as she slowly disappeared instead of all at once...leaving for days at a time, then weeks, and then she just didn't come back). But I have a friend that is a long time trapper, and she has always a used a drop trap when using a regular box trap proves undoable. Do you have access to a drop trap?

As far as the "shunning" goes - I am not sure about why that would happen (so hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in, because now I'm curious! You are doing well to spread the food around, though so that she has the opportunity to eat. I've had to do that in the past when when a new cat shows up and throws the balance of things in disarray. To keep the peace, I will place food in separate areas so that the cats feel comfortable eating away from everyone.

 

[fluffpaws]

Hi Seymour,
I had a similar situation with the "shunning". A colony of cats I cared for suddenly turned on one of the females,they would run her off when ever she came to eat,I was totally confused by their behavior towards her. Well unfortunately it turned out that she was sick, poor baby . I never really knew for sure if that was why they Shunned her but I assume it had something to do with it, I pray your cat it not sick but if you can get her to a vet and have her checked out.
And thank you for all you do for the ferals in your yard

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, have you tried mackerel or Kentucky fried chicken for bait?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Furballsmom beat me to it. KFC seems to be irresistible to most cats.

 

[dahlia]

I have never tried it but I have read about using kittens as bait. Maybe if you can catch her kittens first, this would work.
What worked for me with my hard to trap mom is similar to what you mentioned. I had a trap that wasn't set out and started with some wet food and temptations right at the front. Once she started eating that, I slowly moved it back until she was comfortable going all the way to the back and eating and then I set it. I had been trying with her for years so it was a relief to finally get her. Good luck.

 

[fluffpaws]

I had one cat year's ago that I could not get to go into the trap.Like you I thought I had tried everything. Then I read that some cat's can smell the stress from another cat that was in the trap.Even though I scrub the traps multiple times and leave them out in the fresh air for days,I decided to try a new trap that had never been used.This cat for some reason always returned to the yard she was born at even though the house was abandoned for a long time.It was also hard to know how many people were feeding her. So I knocked on the doors of the surrounding house's, explained what I was doing,told them when and asked them if she came looking for food please do not feed her.I also mentioned they may want to keep there own cat's in that day so I didn't accidentally trap their cat. For the people who didn't answer the doors I left notes.I set the trap at the abandoned home ,I rubbed it down all over with the stinkiest cat food I could find.Well low and behold it worked!!! I don't know if it was the new trap,the stinky cat food,the location or just pure luck. Good luck with catching her.

 

[fluffpaws]

One more thing, I always wear gloves when handling the traps so my scent is not on them ,I don't want them to be able to smell a rat !!!

 

[nurseangel]

Hi Seymour, it's nice to meet you. Bless you for helping these cats and kittens. I was going to suggest as fluffpaws did, to try a totally new trap. You probably know a lot more about trapping than me, but not only did I use tuna, I used a trail of kitty crack (a.k.a. Temptations) leading to the back of the cage. It worked.

As for the shunning, that's a puzzler. We do have a resident bad boy here who is really sweet, but will bully anyone he thinks he can scare. He has been neutered, however he will push around and try to chase off any cat he thinks he can. The other cats don't participate, though.

 

[Antonio65]

I know the frustration of not catching the last feral in the colony or the most resistant cat in the colony.
I had to face both situations. Years back I couldn't catch a young female cat, and I feared she could give birth to a litter of kittens before I was able to trap her, then, eventually, I made it, but I had to starve the whole colony for two days in order to have her motivated enough to walk into the trap, plus I used a very smelly bait.
The second cat that I had been trying to catch for nearly three years was really elusive, mainly because she would rarely show up, she would show up unexpectedly and never in the same place, so placing the trap was impossible.
Then one morning she showed up with her last two kittens, I placed the trap and in they went a kitten and his mother, so I caught them both in a single shot. I trapped the second kitten later.

When you have cats who move in group, as in your case, it is necessary to have a remote controlled trap, so that you are able to trap the one you want, not the others. Trapping the wrong cat might spook the one you want to trap, that's why the trap must trigger only when necessary.
This is how I was able to trap the two cats mentioned above, I would let other cats to walk in, eat the bait and leave, so that the target cat could feel confident, but when the target cat was in, then I would remotely operate the trap.

 

[di and bob]

Geez, I feel kinda backwards, I used a half filled half gallon milk container with a looong string tied on it to prop the door open. Then I waited until the right cat went in and pulled the string. Worked great butr a remote control woukld have been a lot easier!

 

[Antonio65]

Geez, I feel kinda backwards, I used a half filled half gallon milk container with a looong string tied on it to prop the door open. Then I waited until the right cat went in and pulled the string. Worked great butr a remote control woukld have been a lot easier!

Using something like a container or a stick tied to a long string to prop the trap door open is fine too.
The remote control, though, allows you to be a little farther away from the trap, even inside your home behind the window, or in your car when away from home.

 

[di and bob]

That is great, I will look into it!