Some cats don’t seem to want to go into the trap, no matter how hard you try Here are a few tips and tricks we’ve collected over the years that may help you nab your wily kitty.

Don’t feed – You may need to withhold food for a night or two. Sometimes a cat needs to be really hungry to have incentive to go into the trap. Make sure your neighbors aren’t feeding the cat either; if they tell you it’s not “nice to withhold food, tell them it’s a lot worse to make them suffer more pregnancies and kittens. Just make sure the rest of the colony is still getting fed.

Water bottle trick — This is a good trick to use if you have many cats with some having already been trapped or if you have a priority cat like a pregnant female. Don’t set the trip plate the usual way. Instead, prop the trap door open with a full water bottle tied to a long string. Pull the string once the cat is inside. Make sure you wait until the cat is nearly all the way in, like in the middle to the back of the trap. If you pull too soon you could injure the cat or the cat could back out and never go back in. The water bottle trick is basically a homemade, remote control trap.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Original Recipe — Get a drumstick and tie it to the top of the back of the trap, inside, dangling off the ceiling. This is a great lure for even the hardest to catch ferals. If you use this trick, don’t worry about trying to take the food out of the trap before your appointment, as the cat very likely won’t eat it in the trap after he/she has been caught.

Valerian root extract oil — Buy it at a health food store, break open the capsule and pour over your bait food.

Use smellier food — Try sardines, mackerel, Friskies “Tuna and Cheese” canned cat food or even chick flavored baby food.

Try a drop trap – If you’ve tried everything under the sun and you still can’t catch your cat, you may need to use a drop trap. FixNation does have a limited number of drop traps available to loan out, or you can have someone build it for you. To see what a drop trap is and how it works, check out Drop Trap Design.

Try camouflage or cardboard — Disguise the trap with foliage, tree branches, etc., so it looks nothing like a trap. Or, completely cover the trap with cardboard on all sides (leave breathing room) so it looks like a mysterious box.

Create a makeshift laundry basket trap – Take a plastic laundry basket and plop it down over the cat if you can get close. Slowly “spider” the basket onto a sturdy piece of plywood or a plastic Sterilite container lid. Duct tape the whole thing together. Be sure to bring an empty trap with you to the clinic, so the cat can recover in the trap.