I trapped a feral mother cat and four kittens several summers ago, and have trapped several feral cats and kittens since then. It was a challenge, but the end results were very rewarding. If you have patience, time, a little extra cash, and a true love for cats, this is a great way to save lives. Trapping with a friend always makes things easier. The following is an outline of how to trap feral kittens, following my example, and how you can implement my strategies into your own format.
First of all, you need to determine if the mother cat and kittens are truly feral. If they are not, this totally changes the parameters, and it is just a matter of carefully transferring the mother and her nursing kittens, into a safe, dry area and placing them into a box or secure area where they will not be harmed by predators or humans. When transferring, make sure the nursing mother does not accidentally lie down on one of her kittens. I have seen this happen before, and the kitten was smothered.
If you have determined that the mother and kittens are feral, you will want to let the mother do her thing and nurse her kittens, as-is, in the wild until they are about four or five weeks of age. They need this time to grow and mature and keep nursing from their mother, but you want to get them young enough so that they can be socialized and therefore will be adoptable. This gives you time to prepare. First of all, the best thing you can do for the mother is to get her spayed as soon as you trap her, so you need to make arrangements for that ahead of time with a veterinarian, so you will know where to take her as soon as she is trapped. There are many low cost spay/neuter clinics that offer discounted rates, but you should check with your local animal shelter first to make sure that they accept feral cats. Many do not. Sometimes you may have to resort to just going down a list and calling vets, telling them your situation, and asking them if they will perform the surgery. I have found an excellent vet this way.
Another possible solution for the mother cat is to call your local no-kill shelters and ask them if they have anyone who has land who takes in feral cats. There is sometimes someone who is willing to do this. Another solution would be to find a suitable holding place for the feral mother, such as a no-kill shelter, to hold her while she recovers from her surgery, and then when the kittens are all trapped, you can return her to her original familiar environment. This is more ideal if there is a caretaker around who can commit to feeding the cat regularly after she has returned to her original environment.
After arrangements are made for the mother, you will need to get a humane trap. These traps so not hurt the cats or kittens at all. They snap shut once the cat has stepped on a lever on the way to the food. Havahart is an excellent brand, and their traps average around $60. You can also check some local shelters and ask for a loan on a trap. Two traps set up in two different locations that the kittens may frequent, will speed up the trapping process and make things easier for the trappers and the kittens. After making arrangements for a trap or two, you will want to consider where you will keep the kittens once they are trapped. Will you be taking them directly to a no-kill shelter, or will you be keeping them for a few weeks so that they can be properly tamed and socialized before adopting them out? If you are taking them to a shelter, make sure you talk with them and tell them your plans in advance, so that they can be prepared. If you are planning to keep and tame the kittens, you will need a cat carrier for each kitten. You will also need food dishes, kitten food, canned food, water, and some old towels or rags that can be used for bedding. These bedding towels will likely be soiled, so be prepared to wash them or dispose of them. You will also need a shallow cat litter pan that is not too tall so that kittens can get in and out of it, a litter scoop, bags for litter waste, and NON clumping cat litter. Clumping cat litter can be ingested by young kittens when they groom their paws and cause major stomach issues, and even worse things. Save the clumping litter until they are older.
After the kittens have reached approximately four weeks of age, you will want to trap the mother cat. Read the instructions on how to set up the trap. I advise placing sheets of newspaper inside the trap so that the cat feels she is stepping on something solid. Place some smelly canned cat food on a small paper plate or a piece of folded up newspaper at the very end of the trap. I suggest using salmon flavored canned cat food or tuna without oil. Please do not put an opened can in the trap, as the cat can cut their tongue on the edges. Also do not use a glass dish, as the cat may thrash about and break the dish, potentially hurting themselves. A small paper plate always works the best. Then set up the trap in a place the cat frequents. The most important thing you can do now is watch the trap from a distance. Do not leave the trap for more than 10-15 minutes, so that you can take action as soon as the cat is trapped. This way the cat does not have to sit in the trap and panic. You will have already made arrangements of where to take the mother cat immediately after trapping, so this means having a towel laid on the back seat of your car for protection, so that you can simply place the trap in there and then transfer the cat wherever she needs to go.
After trapping and taking care of the mother, the next step is the kittens. You will want to tend to this as soon as possible. They will be used to nursing from their mother and will get hungry and scared quickly when they notice she is gone. You may hear some meowing as they will be quite hungry. Make sure you have an accurate count of how many kittens there are, so that you will not miss any when trapping, and think you are finished when there is maybe one more out there hiding. Some kittens are braver than others and get trapped right away. Some are scared and hide longer even though they are hungry, so just be patient. It took me a full week to trap the four kittens, and I tried every night. The best time to set your trap is in the early evening as the sun is setting. This is when they will venture out to look for food. Follow the same trapping method as with the mother and you should have no problems. It can be frustrating if the kittens are in pairs and one kitten sees the other kitten get trapped and then runs off. Then you have one trapped kitten and one really scared hiding kitten, and it may take a day or two before that kitten will try the trap again. But don’t worry, they are young and their hunger will take over, and they will eventually go in that trap to get the food.
With these kittens, have a cat carrier ready with a towel inside. It is good to have a separate cat carrier for each kitten. This isolates the kitten, and will make him or her less wild, and more easy to tame. After you trap them, line up the trap opening flush with the opening to the cat carrier and get them inside the cat carrier. Always make sure you are wearing thick gloves. Rabies is always a concern, and you do not want to get bitten. If you do, you will need to make sure you go to a hospital right away to get checked out. Don’t put it off, go right away. I have trapped many feral kittens, and I have only been bitten once, and the kitten did not have rabies. The only reason why I was bitten is because I was new at it and did not plan ahead, and picked up a feral kitten thinking it would not bite because it was so little, but it did. So the lesson is, if you plan ahead, chances are slim to none that you will have any trouble in this area. Never handle feral kittens without gloves or protection until they are tame.
Now, you should have four or five kittens separated into cat carriers. They will be scared, and will hiss,spit, and growl at you. This is normal defensive behavior, as they are only trying to protect themselves. Open the front of the carrier only slightly, and very carefully, and place some canned food on a small paper plate inside. Also give them a small, preferably plastic bowl of water or special cat milk, such as Cat-Sip, inside. They may not eat for a while, but after you leave them alone, they will eat and drink. After you give them all some food, the best thing you can do is leave them in a quiet room, free from kids, dogs, and noise, and just let them be for a while. This will give them time to calm down, eat, and adjust to their environment. Keep in mind that this is a very stressful time for them from their point of view. They have lost their mother, been trapped in a loud snapping trap, they have been hungry, and now they are separated and in a strange place that is not the outdoors. That is a lot to digest in a short amount of time, so just be patient with them.
Trapping feral cats and kittens is not easy, but is very rewarding, and can save lives. You need spare time, patience, and a little extra cash. Having the help of a friend is really great, too. Forming a strong alliance with a veterinarian who cares, and a good no-kill shelter is also helpful as well. If you are interested in learning about the next step, taming feral kittens, please check back with me as I will be writing an article on that topic in the very near future. For further help on this topic, www.alleycat.org is a great website to go to for advice and resources. Thank you for caring about the lives of our furry friends and I wish you all the best of luck in trapping feral kittens.
