Withholding food for trapping

[moxiewild]

Do any of you guys ever have problems with this?

I usually don’t withhold any food for trapping and trap train instead.

But if that doesn’t work or there is an emergency, I will withhold food for a half day or a day.

If that still doesn’t work, I may go two days.

I know tons of caretakers who routinely withhold food for 2-3 days for trapping, and lots of advice online suggests it.

But every single time I have withheld for two days, a cat dies (hit by car) or goes missing in search of food.

We’re after an injured girl right now, and struggling to get her. So I recently withheld food from the colony for two days.

Two of our most social girls disappeared and have been gone for over a week now, which they’ve never done since they’ve been kittens.

And another of our females was killed by a car…

All had been long spayed.


I can’t stop thinking about them. I feel so sick over it, and immensely guilty.

Has anyone ever experienced this before when withholding food for trapping? They seem to do fine if I do it for one day, but disaster has struck every single time we’ve done it for two.

 

[fionasmom]

I am really sorry that this has happened to you. And, yes, you are right; almost all sources say to withhold food for up to two days.

I don't withhold food for any longer than one meal. If the cat in question is not trapped, I feed everyone. Like you, I do the trap train method with some unusual bait for the final attempt, like KFC.

Hopefully, the two girls will return. What you are suggesting, which is that ferals think that they have lost their food source, is possible. However, there are also lots of other problems which can present themselves in a feral colony. You should not feel guilty, especially given all the work that you do, as you don't know that this is not a sad coincidence and nothing more.

The reverse is also true. I have had food out, as regularly scheduled, for the usual cats and have had some not appear for a day or two, then return looking entirely healthy and happy.