What time of day is best to start trapping?

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I have to drive 1 1/2 hours to the low cost clinic for surgery and have to be there by 9am so have to trap the day before. I usually start trapping around 4pm but at 75 years old I have difficulty driving when it is dark. I bring the cats to my garage, feed them till midnight, remove water when we leave in am. I'd like to trap earlier but obviously do not want the cats in trap too long. When is earliest I can trap? Thanks.
 

fionasmom

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Are you not trapping on your property? Or far away from your place? The time frame you have mentioned which would indicate that you would need to leave home around 7 AM or so with cats who have been trapped after 4 PM is not bad and you have indicated that you maintain the traps and cats in them. Is there a much longer time frame that you might need to use? I know that after my vet TNRs ferals they go back in the trap and I always leave them over night, so that means they are in traps which are monitored for up to 2 days.
 
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I wanted to start trapping earlier the day before surgery, maybe around noon or so to give me better odds of catching them all. I trap throughout my community of around 1500 homes, in the Pocono mountains I may make an appt for 5 cats but don't always get them all and the appt is wasted. I bring them back to my garage post op and return the males the next day, the females the following day. The above article certainly gives me much more time than I am looking for so I think I am set. Thank you.
 

tnrmakessense

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I have to drive 1 1/2 hours to the low cost clinic for surgery and have to be there by 9am so have to trap the day before. I usually start trapping around 4pm but at 75 years old I have difficulty driving when it is dark. I bring the cats to my garage, feed them till midnight, remove water when we leave in am. I'd like to trap earlier but obviously do not want the cats in trap too long. When is earliest I can trap? Thanks.
Cats are most out-and-about at sunrise and sunset. As far as fasting, many TNR clinics now acknowledge that fasting after midnight isn't necessary as long as the cats don't have a huge meal just before surgery.

If you have it in your budget, you can buy an outdoor camera and battery pack online for about 60.00. It will give you a clear idea of when the cats are around. The cheap ones like the one I bought can't be watched live, but are easy to plug in to your desktop. When one of my guys got out it was really helpful - told me he was around much more often than I thought, and much closer to my building than I thought.
 
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Camera is a good idea, thanks.
 
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