Some cats just don’t seem to want to go into the trap, no matter how hard you try. You’ve used smelly bait, you’ve withheld food to get them hungry, and yet you still sit out night after night and come up with an empty trap!
Here are the top 10 tips and tricks I’ve collected over the years that may help you nab your wily kitty:
- Pray. Even if you don’t pray…pray.
- Drink. Even if you don’t drink…drink.
- Communicate telepathically with the cat. Even if you don’t believe in communicating telepathically with a cat…send them mental mindwaves to let them know their life will get better if they just—GO—INTO—THE—TRAP.
- Disguise the trap with foliage, tree branches, etc. so it looks nothing like a trap. (And boy have we seen some interesting trap camouflage come into the clinic).
- Disguise the trap with cardboard, covering it completely with cardboard on all sides so it looks like a mysterious box. Very important to make sure the cat still has plenty of ventilation.
- Sprinkle catnip all over the inside of the trap. In fact, we’ve even seen someone hang a catnip toy from the top of the inside back of the trap. You laugh? She got the cat.
- If the cat is an indoor/outdoor cat, try opening the back door just a little bit and set the trap inside the house—rather than in the back yard.
- Two of our favorite words – Laundry basket. This strategy is particularly good for those cats who are “kinda sorta friendly who you can sometimes pet or touch but only briefly and while not making direct eye contact”. You know the ones. Take a plastic laundry basket and plop it down over the cat when he/she is least suspecting. “Spider” the basket (with the cat under it) onto a sturdy piece of plywood or a plastic sterilite container lid. Duct tape the whole thing together and bring kitty into the clinic just like that. Be sure to bring a empty trap with you so the cat can recover in the trap after surgery.
- Kentucky Fried Chicken. Evidently the “original recipe” is paw-lickin good. Get a drumstick (yes it must be original recipe) and tie it to the top of the inside back of the trap. This is a great lure for even the hardest to catch ferals. (Don’t worry about getting it out of the trap, either; technically with this method there will be food in the trap after midnight, but they never eat the drumstick while trapped).
- Valerian Root Extract Oil. Buy it at a health food store, break open the capsule and sprinkle it over your bait. We have no idea why it works, but it does. Expect to be swarmed by bugs though—as it seems to attract insects, too.
If you’ve tried at least five of the tips listed, or maybe even just three in combination with #2, we consider you a seasoned master trapper. Good luck getting your kitty!
