If you submitted a feral cat application and you do have traps, we will call you directly to talk you through our clinic protocol over the phone and get you scheduled for spay/neuter reservations.

If you submitted a feral cat application and you do not have traps, we will either call or email you to schedule time for you to come in to pick up humane traps from us and get trained. We will have you come either to the clinic or to one of our trap depots to pick up traps and get trained. Please plan on approximately 30 minutes for the training session from start to finish. At that time, we’ll teach you how to safely and effectively trap, we will go over our clinic guidelines with you and we will send you home with traps for you to use. We will also get you booked for initial spay/neuter reservations.

FixNation does loan out humane cat traps, cat carriers and other equipment free of charge to the public. Traps and equipment may be borrowed for up to 30 days, provided you are actively trapping and booking reservations with FixNation. All equipment must be returned promptly or upon request. We have three trap depots where you can pick up traps from:

• Sun Valley (FixNation clinic location – just west of the Burbank airport)
• Pasadena
• Palmdale

Please make sure to specify what trap depot is closest to you on your feral cat application so we can accommodate you. You’ll also need to list on your application what day is best for you to come in for training, and approximately how many traps you think you’ll want to borrow or can fit in your car.

We highly recommend that you watch our TNR training videos before you come in for training: How To Trap a Feral Cat: Video Series

Go to Step 3: Trapping that Cat!

Humane Trapping Instructions

Key highlights to remember:

• Never leave a trap out unattended overnight or for any length of time, whatsoever, for any reason.
• Do not trap cats after midnight the night before your appointment; tame strays need to be taken in off the streets before midnight. This is due to the fact that if the cat eats after midnight, they will likely vomit while undergoing anesthesia and aspirate, causing them to die or catch pneumonia.
• Feral cats need to come to the clinic in traps. Tame cats can come in hard plastic carriers or traps. No cardboard boxes, cardboard carriers or pet bags of any kind.
• Make sure the trap is locked. Brown Tru-Catch traps should be locked or zip tied at the bottom on BOTH ends.
• Line the bottom of the trap with newspaper.
• Bait the trap by putting the bait food on a square of aluminum foil, putting the foil on the ground and setting the trap down on top of it. This way when you pick the trap up, the remaining food falls through the trap and you don’t have cans or dishes inside, so the cats can’t eat after midnight.
• Make sure the trap is fully covered as soon as a cat is trapped. Keep covered at ALL times.
• As soon as a cat is trapped, pull the trap from your trapping area immediately so the other cats don’t see their friend get trapped.
• Make sure you hold the cat the night before surgery in a safe, dry, indoor, secure location that is temperature controlled.
• If you catch a cat early in the afternoon, make sure food is available to them up until midnight, using the aluminum foil trick mentioned above.
• Kittens should be fed about a teaspoon of wet food around 6:00 a.m. the morning of surgery. Kittens can become hypoglycemic if they go without food too long, which is a surgical risk.
• Do NOT trap nursing mothers until the kittens are at least 5 weeks of age. If you do happen to trap a nursing mother, do not release her. Still bring her in to the clinic. We will prioritize her for the day and you will need to release her immediately after she wakes up from anesthesia — you will not hold her overnight after surgery like you normally would. That way she can get back to her kittens quickly.
• Do not transport any cats to and from the clinic in the back of an open-bed pick up truck or an open Jeep, or in the trunk of a car unless the backseat is folded down.
• Avoid using plastic, period. Never use any trap covers made out of plastic (trash bags, plastic table cloths, etc.) because the cats often pull their trap covers in through the trap overnight and they can ingest the plastic. Only use lightweight, breathable materials for traps covers to give the cats ample ventilation.
• Be extremely cautious if you use plastic to line your car when you’re transporting cats. Again, remember, ventilation!
• Do not try and transfer a feral cat to any other container for any reason once they’re trapped, because they are very likely to escape.
• If you catch two cats in one trap, do not release one. Try to bring an extra empty trap in to the clinic with you. If you don’t have one, we’ll loan you one. Again, do not try and transfer one of the cats, because they are very likely to escape.
• We do not allow Harbor Freight traps (collapsible traps) here at the clinic as we’ve witnessed these traps frequently failing and cats escaping from them.

Good luck trapping! We’ll see you for your appointment.

Go to Step 4: Appointment Day

Check-in time for feral cats is is between 7:00 – 8:30 a.m. daily. When you arrive at the clinic, please leave the cats in your car and come into the clinic to fill out the check-in admission form. Once you’ve completed the check-in paperwork, you can then bring your cats into the clinic. Since we’re a high-volume clinic, our lobby gets very busy in the morning, and this just helps us to keep things running smoothly for everyone.

While your cats are here at the clinic, please make sure you are at a phone number that is reachable throughout the day, or check your messages often. If there is any emergency, we will need to get a hold of you. Also, we will call you as soon as your cat is ready to go home.

Pick up needs to be before 5pm daily, except for Thursdays when we are open until 6pm for late pick up. Cats do go home the same day; we do not hold cats overnight. We will call you when your cats are ready to go. Normally cats are cleared for release between 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; however, exact times vary depending on how many surgeries we have that day.

If you are late and show up after our closing time, please be advised there is a $25 late fee per cat.

If you need to cancel or change your appointment for any reason, please call us as soon as possible.

Payment for additional services such as FeLV/FIV testing, microchipping or medication will need to be made at pick-up. We accept cash, checks and credit cards (sorry just no Amex.)

We look forward to seeing you and your kitties at FixNation!