- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #21
I don't have the net with me now.
The colony is at my workplace, I left the net I bought over there. I will be able to take a picture tomorrow.
Thanks!
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Net Trapping: Experiences And Opinions
- Thread starter Antonio65
- Start Date
The colony is at my workplace, I left the net I bought over there. I will be able to take a picture tomorrow.
Thanks!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #23
If I were sure the cat is in an easy to reach position whenever I approach her, a similar net would be great.
The cat in that video is absolutely friendly compared to the one I need to catch.
She's very wary. I doubt that she would have eaten in a similar situation as in the video. When she was spayed, the vet told me she had rarely seen a wilder cat!
She has a sweet face, but she's the opposite, unfortunately
The cat in that video is absolutely friendly compared to the one I need to catch.
She's very wary. I doubt that she would have eaten in a similar situation as in the video. When she was spayed, the vet told me she had rarely seen a wilder cat!
She has a sweet face, but she's the opposite, unfortunately
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #25
Here is my net, still to be cut and weighted. Right now is 4 meters x 1.5 meters (13' x 5').
The photo with the measuring tape shows centimetres, not inches.
Never mind the bad floor, it is a room at my workplace.
The photo with the measuring tape shows centimetres, not inches.
Never mind the bad floor, it is a room at my workplace.
I see your point as well about the more friendly personality of the cat in the video. This has become quite a saga and I have to commend you for your fortitude.
The large net is a good thing, you may want other people at the ready when you go to throw it, is there any friendly cats you can practice with?
or just practice with a few people and aiming the net correctly.
I will try and find more videos
or just practice with a few people and aiming the net correctly.
I will try and find more videos
I guess you would need to be at the ready so the cat doesn't go under the net.
I would practice quite a bit, I practiced with the drop trap so I wouldn't make a mistake when I went to transfer the cat into the transfer trap, practice till you are comfortable, If you are unsure that you can get the cat you have to stop, you will only get one chance! so make sure you are perfectly set up with the net.
You may have to have people behind a building or something to come after the net is dropped so they can step on the net so she can't get out.
coming up with a plan is crucial but you can do it!!
do you think throwing the net will scare her? you will have to be prepared for that. sheesh this is hard I know!
one thing you might try with regular traps put 2 together with the openings at either end so when they go in the trap they see an opening.
they will circle around it and go in.
I told my friend this and it worked!
I would practice quite a bit, I practiced with the drop trap so I wouldn't make a mistake when I went to transfer the cat into the transfer trap, practice till you are comfortable, If you are unsure that you can get the cat you have to stop, you will only get one chance! so make sure you are perfectly set up with the net.
You may have to have people behind a building or something to come after the net is dropped so they can step on the net so she can't get out.
coming up with a plan is crucial but you can do it!!
do you think throwing the net will scare her? you will have to be prepared for that. sheesh this is hard I know!
one thing you might try with regular traps put 2 together with the openings at either end so when they go in the trap they see an opening.
they will circle around it and go in.
I told my friend this and it worked!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #29
I have two semi-ferals in my yard, but I wouldn't like to have them lose their trust in me.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #30
I think I haven't understood this sentence.
That's for sure! Before trying to trap her I will practice a lot, unfortunately on still objects. I rely on the fact this cat isn't as quick as a usual cat.
I think this is out of question. The feral cats in the colony rarely gather near a building, they prefer to stay in the open or near some bush or hedge. Furthermore, the colony is within a property where nobody else but me has the permit to go in. Namely it's my workplace. My collegues don't care much about this, but I don't even want to get them involved because there might be troubles with the bosses. I went through bad moments with them myself, I don't want anybody else go through the same "grinder"!
I keep caring my cats regardless what the management has to say, and I have a permit to go into the workplace even when the place is closed (Sundays, holidays, nights, etc...).
I think she will be scared, no doubt, but we have no other options.
The very bad thing is that the last time I saw her was Saturday. And with her two more cats have vanished, her daughter and her best friend!
I hope your kitty shows up, sometimes kitties disappear and come back
I do pray you will get this sick kitty, You have a big heart.
same thing in my town some people are so negative to Ferals, This is a human caused problem
me and a friend are going to our town council meetings I hope we can raise awareness in the community, there are people who are supportive, most people have no idea about the Feral community and when they hear what we are doing they are so supportive, but you do get those negative ones too!
I do pray you will get this sick kitty, You have a big heart.
same thing in my town some people are so negative to Ferals, This is a human caused problem
me and a friend are going to our town council meetings I hope we can raise awareness in the community, there are people who are supportive, most people have no idea about the Feral community and when they hear what we are doing they are so supportive, but you do get those negative ones too!
I hope that your cats return! This is one of the most stressful parts of caring for the feral community. I get that you are the only one who can go into the area where the cats are. It is best not to rock the boat with your employers since they have allowed you to at least keep this colony.
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There is a local trapper here who routinely uses fishing pole nets to trap ferals when box traps don’t work.
He was helping me catch a sick feral once and I actually asked him about the type of throwing net you’re talking about.
He said he bought one and also made one many years ago but said they were ultimately useless for most situations.
Cats are quick, and even when they aren’t physically quick, they are too hyper aware of their surroundings. If they catch you making unusually fast or big movements they often catch on quick enough to get out of the way even if they can’t move as quickly as others.
I pointed out that the fishing pole net requires large movements as well and he said the difference was that it was significantly easier to control than a throwing net, so he could better react to the cat as things happened.
He said it’s very easy to miss your target and you really only have one chance. Everyone will start running away from you once you do it. He said the two times he tried twice on the same cat, they ended up never coming back. They associated it directly with him too much.
Have you tried either a carrier or wire dog crate with a string attached to the door? I’ve had REALLY good luck with a medium sized wire dog crate to catch trap savvy ferals before.
You can also make your own drop trap that’s also collapsible. Dr. Lisa Pierson has a whole section with two different options on how to make one. If I recall correctly, they’re about 30lbs, so not too heavy - Feral Cat Management/TNR Folding Drop Trap/Remote Control Trap
I know somewhere in there she also mentions/links plans for a drop trap two other people made. One of them is Ashots drop trap. I’ve helped with the building of one before and it worked really well.
I believe a member here has also made one before. I want to say it was Ondine, but I’m not positive.
I hope your kitty comes back. I have been trying to trap a sick feral for months now. He had disappeared for about 4 months and when he came back, he was very sick He’s only been coming very sporadically, unreliably, and infrequently which makes it so difficult to trap.
It’s been almost two weeks since he last showed up on our cameras, which is the longest he’s been gone since he came back. I understand the worry, it’s devastating. Just make sure you’re prepared for when she comes around again! It’s all you can really do.
Maybe try to set out some stinky bait foods without trapping to try and attract her. Just to try and confirm she’s still around?
He was helping me catch a sick feral once and I actually asked him about the type of throwing net you’re talking about.
He said he bought one and also made one many years ago but said they were ultimately useless for most situations.
Cats are quick, and even when they aren’t physically quick, they are too hyper aware of their surroundings. If they catch you making unusually fast or big movements they often catch on quick enough to get out of the way even if they can’t move as quickly as others.
I pointed out that the fishing pole net requires large movements as well and he said the difference was that it was significantly easier to control than a throwing net, so he could better react to the cat as things happened.
He said it’s very easy to miss your target and you really only have one chance. Everyone will start running away from you once you do it. He said the two times he tried twice on the same cat, they ended up never coming back. They associated it directly with him too much.
Have you tried either a carrier or wire dog crate with a string attached to the door? I’ve had REALLY good luck with a medium sized wire dog crate to catch trap savvy ferals before.
You can also make your own drop trap that’s also collapsible. Dr. Lisa Pierson has a whole section with two different options on how to make one. If I recall correctly, they’re about 30lbs, so not too heavy - Feral Cat Management/TNR Folding Drop Trap/Remote Control Trap
I know somewhere in there she also mentions/links plans for a drop trap two other people made. One of them is Ashots drop trap. I’ve helped with the building of one before and it worked really well.
I believe a member here has also made one before. I want to say it was Ondine, but I’m not positive.
I hope your kitty comes back. I have been trying to trap a sick feral for months now. He had disappeared for about 4 months and when he came back, he was very sick
He’s only been coming very sporadically, unreliably, and infrequently which makes it so difficult to trap. It’s been almost two weeks since he last showed up on our cameras, which is the longest he’s been gone since he came back. I understand the worry, it’s devastating. Just make sure you’re prepared for when she comes around again! It’s all you can really do.
Maybe try to set out some stinky bait foods without trapping to try and attract her. Just to try and confirm she’s still around?
I know people get into a hurry and want to do things NOW which is why they used a net here but I could have had this cat eating out of my hand in a few weeks judging from how tame it was. All you would have to do is get a box of treats, sit on the ground and toss a few at it. Everyday do the same thing but shorten up the distance. As curious as this cat was in a week it would be sniffing your hand and picking up treats from the ground right in front of you. Then when it gets really comfortable being around your hand reach out and let it smell your fingers and finally just try touching it. It will jump at first but just ignore that and eventually make the touching part of the treats. After that the cat will discover it likes the feeling and you will have won it over. Takes more time but in the end the cat will trust you a lot more and will never had the trauma of the "gotcha" moment.
I know that sounds a little simplistic and I am not dealing with a large group of cats but I have been doing it that way for many years now and never had to trap any, although there were times I thought about it.
Here is a post about Scottie, if it shows up correctly. Scottie was a huge powerful 16 lb feral tom cat that would have proven very difficult to deal with if trapped. It took a while but he became one of my tame kitties who followed me around everywhere.
Impossible Cat
dusty, why in the world do you think she's confused? i've been working with her for almost 3 months. she knows me, she knows the garden, she knows the house. there may be a clash of wills, but there is no confusion.
thecatsite.com
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- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #35
Update.
Yesterday has been a very bad day!
On Friday afternoon, around 5:30 pm, I spotted by chance the sick cat in a corner of the large yard of my workplace. I wasn't prepared to see her, so I hadn't my net or any cage with me. So I just hoped to see her again on the next day, Saturday.
So, yesterday in the morning I was back with a large carrier, a blanket and the net.
I had made my net at home, a large cut of net (around 6' x 6') and I attached a heavy and flexible rope all around its perimeter, so that the net was evenly heavy on all sides. I practiced at home, with a still object, a cardboard box the same size of a cat, and it was working very fine.
On Saturday morning, though, the sick cat didn't show up, but I did see her daughter, and this was good sign, since she had vanished for a week too.
Yesterday the weather was nice, but a bit cold, so I thought the sick cat wasn't showing up because of the rather low temperature. I thought that maybe, in the early afternoon, she would have come out to warm up in the sun.
I was back in the afternoon, around 2:45 pm. The cat was there, sunbathing. I walked towards her calmly, while I was talking to her with my usual voice. I had my net in my hands, the cat sensed something and started walking away slowly. I was following her and when I was very close to her, I threw the net over her.
I failed!
The cat sneaked under the net and ran away, I picked up the net and tried again, but she escaped again and started running fast. I chased her with the net , she took shelter under a van. I saw her under behind the driver's side tyre, I tried to scare her out, so that I could grab her, but she ran diagonally under the van and climbed in the passenger's side rear wheel, where she hid inside the hollow of the wheel rim, behind the absorber. I could see her, but could not do anything, she was hissing and growling. So I wrapped the hole wheel and tyre with my net, put the blanket on her and tried to pull her out.
Unfortunately she got stuck in the wheel and I couldn't pull or push her out. I thought we were both doomed!
I was also scared to hurt her. I was on my back under the van, with a limited span of movements.
Eventually, after about 30 minutes of various attempts, I was able to free her from that very uncomfortable and surely painful position. She was wrapped in my net and I was able to lay her in my large carrier.
I ran to the clinic, along the way the cat didn't move an inch inside the carrier, I would poke her every now and then to see if she was still with me.
At the clinic they were shocked by the cat's conditions. I already felt her cold, she was cold, her paws were really cold. And she was terribly dehydrated, really skinny, very weak, with sunken eyes. Her gums were pale, near to yellowish, her breath had a bad smell.
I was sure that the last time she had eaten was a week ago.
It was clear to everybody that the poor cat used up all her last energies to run away from me, but then she had collapsed.
The vets ran a blood test which revealed a very low level of red cells (1.4 millions) and a low HCT (14). The FIV/FeLV test came back clear. The sugar blood was alright. Her temperature was 35°C (95°F).
An X-ray revealed a cloudy abdomen, it could be either fluids or no fat present in the cat's tissues.
The cat was hospitalized and later at night an ultrasound scan was done and revealed that her kidneys were fine, there was a slight liver reaction, but no masses were visible.
The vet's suspect was that the cat suffers from a bone marrow dysplasia due to a marrow failure or a marrow FeLV. Both cases are treateable with cortisone, but the life expectancy is poor anyway. Furthermore the cat is wild, all tests and scans were done under anesthesia, and any kind of handling of the cat is absolutely impossible!
The poor cat couldn't go back to her life in the colony, neither she can come home with us because of her terrible character.
The suggestion of the vets was to put her to sleep. But I have never surrendered before, and want to ask them to run a specific test on her marrow to see what cause is behind the failure, and a PCR on the same sample to see if it's marrow FeLV for sure.
Because if it's FeLV there's a problem with the rest of the colony!
This morning I called the clinic, the cat is stable, she ate her food, she's on a drip and after all she's not bad.
Today in the afternoon I will go to the clinic and speak with the vets.
Poor cat...
Yesterday has been a very bad day!
On Friday afternoon, around 5:30 pm, I spotted by chance the sick cat in a corner of the large yard of my workplace. I wasn't prepared to see her, so I hadn't my net or any cage with me. So I just hoped to see her again on the next day, Saturday.
So, yesterday in the morning I was back with a large carrier, a blanket and the net.
I had made my net at home, a large cut of net (around 6' x 6') and I attached a heavy and flexible rope all around its perimeter, so that the net was evenly heavy on all sides. I practiced at home, with a still object, a cardboard box the same size of a cat, and it was working very fine.
On Saturday morning, though, the sick cat didn't show up, but I did see her daughter, and this was good sign, since she had vanished for a week too.
Yesterday the weather was nice, but a bit cold, so I thought the sick cat wasn't showing up because of the rather low temperature. I thought that maybe, in the early afternoon, she would have come out to warm up in the sun.
I was back in the afternoon, around 2:45 pm. The cat was there, sunbathing. I walked towards her calmly, while I was talking to her with my usual voice. I had my net in my hands, the cat sensed something and started walking away slowly. I was following her and when I was very close to her, I threw the net over her.
I failed!
The cat sneaked under the net and ran away, I picked up the net and tried again, but she escaped again and started running fast. I chased her with the net , she took shelter under a van. I saw her under behind the driver's side tyre, I tried to scare her out, so that I could grab her, but she ran diagonally under the van and climbed in the passenger's side rear wheel, where she hid inside the hollow of the wheel rim, behind the absorber. I could see her, but could not do anything, she was hissing and growling. So I wrapped the hole wheel and tyre with my net, put the blanket on her and tried to pull her out.
Unfortunately she got stuck in the wheel and I couldn't pull or push her out. I thought we were both doomed!
I was also scared to hurt her. I was on my back under the van, with a limited span of movements.
Eventually, after about 30 minutes of various attempts, I was able to free her from that very uncomfortable and surely painful position. She was wrapped in my net and I was able to lay her in my large carrier.
I ran to the clinic, along the way the cat didn't move an inch inside the carrier, I would poke her every now and then to see if she was still with me.
At the clinic they were shocked by the cat's conditions. I already felt her cold, she was cold, her paws were really cold. And she was terribly dehydrated, really skinny, very weak, with sunken eyes. Her gums were pale, near to yellowish, her breath had a bad smell.
I was sure that the last time she had eaten was a week ago.
It was clear to everybody that the poor cat used up all her last energies to run away from me, but then she had collapsed.
The vets ran a blood test which revealed a very low level of red cells (1.4 millions) and a low HCT (14). The FIV/FeLV test came back clear. The sugar blood was alright. Her temperature was 35°C (95°F).
An X-ray revealed a cloudy abdomen, it could be either fluids or no fat present in the cat's tissues.
The cat was hospitalized and later at night an ultrasound scan was done and revealed that her kidneys were fine, there was a slight liver reaction, but no masses were visible.
The vet's suspect was that the cat suffers from a bone marrow dysplasia due to a marrow failure or a marrow FeLV. Both cases are treateable with cortisone, but the life expectancy is poor anyway. Furthermore the cat is wild, all tests and scans were done under anesthesia, and any kind of handling of the cat is absolutely impossible!
The poor cat couldn't go back to her life in the colony, neither she can come home with us because of her terrible character.
The suggestion of the vets was to put her to sleep. But I have never surrendered before, and want to ask them to run a specific test on her marrow to see what cause is behind the failure, and a PCR on the same sample to see if it's marrow FeLV for sure.
Because if it's FeLV there's a problem with the rest of the colony!
This morning I called the clinic, the cat is stable, she ate her food, she's on a drip and after all she's not bad.
Today in the afternoon I will go to the clinic and speak with the vets.
Poor cat...
Yay for catching her! since she is very sick you should weigh the options of releasing her.
do what is best for her, bless you for taking extra steps to make your decision, we
are here for you and will support you in everything you do.
thanks for going all out to catch her!
your awesome by the way!
do what is best for her, bless you for taking extra steps to make your decision, we
are here for you and will support you in everything you do.
thanks for going all out to catch her!
your awesome by the way!
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Thank you so much for all that you have done for this sweet kitty. You have done your absolute best for her.
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You really busted your butt trying to get her! Quick thinking with using the net and blanket to remove her from the tire!
I don’t know anything about bone marrow dysplasia, is there a way to confirm that diagnosis or is it usually diagnosed by exclusion?
If it’s the latter, it might be worth considering getting a second opinion - and I ONLY say that because she seems to be stable and eating now.
Even then... it’s very difficult weighing the pros/cons of diagnostics and treatments when it comes to any pet/animal, and this is especially true for ferals who experience significantly more stress in confinement.
I don’t envy the choices you’ll be forced to make here, but you have already given her the best shot, whether at life or at ending her pain/suffering or both.
No matter how it goes, she is incredibly fortunate to have you.
I don’t know anything about bone marrow dysplasia, is there a way to confirm that diagnosis or is it usually diagnosed by exclusion?
If it’s the latter, it might be worth considering getting a second opinion - and I ONLY say that because she seems to be stable and eating now.
Even then... it’s very difficult weighing the pros/cons of diagnostics and treatments when it comes to any pet/animal, and this is especially true for ferals who experience significantly more stress in confinement.
I don’t envy the choices you’ll be forced to make here, but you have already given her the best shot, whether at life or at ending her pain/suffering or both.
No matter how it goes, she is incredibly fortunate to have you.
