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How To Catch A Feral Kitten Using Best Practices? Find Out
Do you have a cat outside your house and figuring out how to catch a feral kitten? There are many methods you can try. If you have suspected that the kitten has been lost or got separated from its owner, or it is a feral kitten that is injured and needs immediate medical help or attention, you should definitely help the kitty.
Normal or domesticated cats who just lost their owner are pretty easy to get a hold of because they have developed a habit of living indoors but knowing how to catch a feral cat can be a lot more tricky.
Feral cats are usually afraid of humans and it becomes a little difficult to catch them so that they can get help. We have shortlisted some straightforward techniques that you can always use if you want to learn how to catch a feral cat.
Let’s see what to do first if you have spotted a feral kitty outside your house.
What To Do After Spotting A Feral Kitten?
The first step involves identifying what the kitty needs. Maybe, the kitty is scared and afraid you would hurt her. Some cats are not at all familiar living outside but feral kitties have a habit of staying outside and keeping them indoors without practice is not easy to carry out.
A feral kitten requiring medical attention for their injury before they are released back to their wild community is important. You need to be highly cautious when you are helping them because you never know what contagious disease the cat has. If you already have kittens at home, keep the feral cat away from them until diagnosed with the injury.
If you have spotted a feral kitten roaming around for many days now that requires help, you need to attract the cat first so that it can easily fall into the trap. Try feeding them at the same time every day so that they do not disappear and come back to you every day on the same spot.
In this way, the cat will come around whenever they are expecting snacks put for them. You can use dry cat food as it catches their attention easily. Wet food is also enticing if you wish to use it. You may try baby food, sardines, anchovies, catnip, or cooked chicken as well.
Now the question is how to catch a feral kitten when they are so scared of humans and save them from any prominent injuries to leave them back to their community? Let’s see some of the best methods shortlisted in this article that could help you on how to catch a feral kitten.
How To Catch A Feral Kitten
1. Get Them Food To Eat Outside The Trap
Feral cats are highly scared of being trapped because they are afraid already. Do not set a trap directly to catch them. Keep feeding them during this duration such that they do not have to be scared of you. Feeding them daily at the same spot and same time makes them believe you will do good to them.
If you are using a trap for their safety, load that traps to the opposite side you actually place it so that food is placed in front of that trap. Tie this trap securely open and when the cat comes to feed at that spot, going through the back door, pull the strings attached so that they get trapped. Once they are trapped you can get them to a vet or if you have prior knowledge of treating cats with injuries, just treat them nicely.
The best thing to do is have other cats at home, seeing other cats in traps would not scare a feral kitten as much and your work will become very easy to get accomplished.
2. Go For A Larger Trap
If the feral kitten you have encountered is trap-savvy you may want to consider switching the trap and using a larger trap so that the kitten would not escape. The trap should be wider and taller than the previous one which eventually failed you. Being trapped in a very small space is not something any animal will love, so bring something that has a wider opening.
In this manner, the cat will also proceed towards the trap because they find such spaces enclosed and good.
3. Withhold The Food Items For Two Days
If the cat is still trap-savvy, you may consider withholding their food for 2 days but do not ever go beyond that. Withholding food is fine for 2 days but never withhold water.
Just make sure you are not ignoring the basic necessities of a feral cat while opting for this method or the situation may get worse.
4. Make The Trap You Have Enticing
Another thing you may want to consider to know how to catch a feral cat is using a more enticing and bigger trap. You can use smelly treats as a form of bait for the cat to enter. Just find out their favorite food by feeding them daily outside. Once you come across that food item, in particular, use it. Some things that are common to kitties liking are:
- Small bits of jarred baby food not having onions
- Fresh catnip on the trap plate
- A strong-smelling broth. You can make this by boiling a pungent herb called valerian root. Boil it using fresh water and then douse the trap using this herb.
- Try working on other baits along with these like people tuna in oil, canned cat food, mackeral, anchovies, cooked chicken, or sardines.
- Cats have a great sense of smell. The traps you use often smell like humans to them, so make sure you are wiping that tap using sardine oil or catnip.
- Leave the covers of the trap outdoor for losing any form of the human scent inside them.
5. Use Distractions To Coax The Kitten On The Trigger Plate
There are some people who guide feral cats or other cats they pet using a laser beam. It sounds funny, right? The point is, you should not be around that trap for the cat to enter inside it as they should feel a sense of safety. You can easily use a pointer from a distant place.
Use that laser beam to emulate the movement of any insect to draw the attention of the feral cat if you wish to learn quickly how to catch a feral kitten and help the kitty.
Another distraction other than the laser beam is using a piece of chicken or any food item the cat loves. Just tie a piece of chicken using a string above the trigger plate. To reach the food bit, the cat is likely to climb the trigger or step on it. In this way, you can catch a feral kitten.
6. Try Extending The Length Of Trip Plate
How to catch a feral kitten using a trip plate? It is not that difficult. The kittens are known to be clever creatures, and I am pretty sure you will agree with this statement if you have cute kitties at your home. This plan or method to catch a feral cat can outsmart a clever kitten who is planning to walk in, have a bite of the food, and then leave.
Just follow these steps to know how to catch a feral kitten:
- Cut a small piece of corrugated cardboard of size 12 inches or 18 inches long and keep it 1/2 inch narrower than the inside width of the trap you are creating.
- You can use either painter’s tape or masking tape to secure the cardboard rectangle over the top of the trip plate.
- You can use another piece of sticking tape for securing the base end of this cardboard loosely to the wire mesh near your trap door’s opening. This piece of cardboard is used for extending the length of a metal plate or metal trip plate. The clever feral kitten will be trapped inside this trap if they keep one paw on this plate. When the cardboard platform has covered the trip plate followed by the wire mesh. The feisty feline will not realize and fall into this trip you have created.
7. Try Placing The Trap In Secluded Location
If the kitten is not approaching any of the traps you have created previously, then this method can help you out clearly. If you are wondering how to catch a feral kitten using a different method, try this.
Just move the trap to a location that is quiet and more protected than other locations. Make sure no one is around the trap at that time because kitties have s strong smell sense. This will increase the comfort of feral kitty to enter the trap and in this way, you can easily help them out.
8. Camouflage Your Trap
Make the trap such that it just gets camouflaged with the surrounding. If you disguise the trap, it will most probably work and the chances will increase of trapping a feral kitten. For this procedure, hide this trap under a bush outside your house, maybe under any leaning piece of wood. You can also hide it under a box so that the kitty feels like entering a dark hole instead of a trap.
If you wish to disguise the trap further, cover the sides of the trap you have created using natural surroundings like leaves, branches, burlap, camouflage material, or any other material that appears natural to a feral cat. In this manner, they will feel like entering their home.
If you do not wish to do so much with a single trap, you can just use a simple piece of cloth of any color and use it to cover the trap. This trick is simple but it has helped many people. Sometimes to learn how to catch a feral kitten you may use simple tips and tricks. You can even lean a large piece of cardboard against any wall so that the trap seems hidden and the cat enters it without thinking too much. Do not forget to keep food bits inside the traps and clean them.
9. Try Using A Drop Trap
If you are still in a dilemma about how to catch a feral kitten or the feral kitten near your house has found its own ways to steal the bait without getting trapped, you may consider using another type of trap known as a drop trap.
The drop trap usually does not rely on any trigger plate for closing the trap door you have set. Drop plates are excellent in catching the cat inside the trap without forcing the kitty to remain in a confined place which a feral kitty might be scared of.
The drop trap as the name suggests just drop over the kitty when you trigger them using a rope. This will eliminate the need for the cat to stay or fall inside a confined little area. Using a drop trap to know how to catch a feral kitten should be your last option, to begin with, if you do not have any such trap already in your house. This trap is costly and you have to purchase it for a feral cat to get trapped. If you can borrow from someone or already have it, it’s great.
You may also prepare your own drop trap at home using DIYs, but this requires patience and time.
10. Lure The Feral Cat Into A Confined Region
If you are eligible, just lure the cat into an indoor space and then close the door they entered through. Make sure that this confined space should not have any exits or halls in the wall for them to escape.
Before they enter you have to make sure you remove everything from the room in which the feral cat might hide in the future and get away with the trap. You may create a small trap and then force the cat to get inside once they are inside the room. In this way, they will not find anything to escape or get outside the house. They will eventually get inside the set trap and then you can do everything possible to help the little kitty.
These were 10 easy ways for how to catch a feral kitten and help them with any injuries.
