Help with trapping a cat

Fear The Spear

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We've got this wild, stray cat that's been lingering around, that we need to get rid of. And the plan is to keep it alive, and bring it to the proper animal control, once caught. (Animal Control won't actually come out and catch it themselves, if it's just a cat.
But the cat is a nuisance and needs to be caught. We've set a trap for it, using the most desirable cat bait.
But the cat is just too smart to fall for it. He'll eat the food if it's outside the trap. But once that same food gets placed inside the trap, he'll just lurk around the cage, noting the smell, but never going inside.
He's pretty street smart, considering he's really young, probably less than a year old.
We've tried tuna fish, sardines, cat food, none of these gets him to go inside.
Any ideas on any other ways to lure him inside, or some other method of catching him ?
 
maybe drug the food? Nothing that will kill it but just dope it up?
 
You're not likely to catch it and a vet isn't going to give you anything to incapacitate it. Feral cats get to be adult feral cats by not trusting anyone - especially humans. Is he causing a proem of some kind? If he's not is recommend you either provide him food and water and feel good about your good deed, or stop providing it and he'll likely wander off to someplace where someone will.
 
I live in apartments and we fed him for a while, until the apartments told us we were no longer allowed to feed him.
Now he's attached and dependent on us for food. I realize it was a mistake to start feeding him in the first place.
If we stop feeding him, he likely won't get food from anyone else in the apartments, as long as they're abiding by the rule they're enforcing. And there's not really any other nearby residences he can go to.
It seems like the only option for him to survive, and not starve (or freeze when the winter starts) is to catch him, and then "turn him in".
But catching him is obviously a problem, too.
I've gone to the local Vet, local pet store, and even called Animal Control for suggestions.
And none of them had any useful tips. In fact, most of their ideas were pretty comical, to be honest.
 
Catching it, and "turning it in", will most likely lead to it being, "put down".

It'll either live on it's own, or it won't. No need to intervene.
 
Is the cage covered and in a sheltered spot? If it's exposed at all it won't be appealing to the cat. Try covering the cage with a towel etc and putting it under something that makes it look like a nice hiding spot to shelter in. If that doesn't work then that Cat is plenty street smart, it won't starve if you stop feeding it...TRUST me. :)
 
What CT said - except for trying to trap it. :) Just leave the cat be as it is and it will be fine. It is obviously "street smart" and that it makes the feline a bet to survive - even without you feeding it.
 
Catching it, and "turning it in", will most likely lead to it being, "put down".

It'll either live on it's own, or it won't. No need to intervene.

True, but since it may die either way, being "put down" is the most desirable option, whereas dying on it's own - whether by starvation or other potential means, will most likely mean a long, painful death, it seems

Is the cage covered and in a sheltered spot? If it's exposed at all it won't be appealing to the cat. Try covering the cage with a towel etc and putting it under something that makes it look like a nice hiding spot to shelter in.

HEY. I've seen this tactic used in cartoons !
Basically you camouflage the trap. Cut a bunch of tree branches, and put it on top, and he thinks he's basically walking into a "Tiki Bar for Cats", right ?
 
That's what 'animal lovers' say - but cats have survived outdoors, without us providing food and shelter, for a long, long time. It's harder on them, but I'm guessing if I were the cat, I'd still choose the chance to survive on my own over getting euthanized :) Just my opinion though.
 
Well - it does taste like chicken!
 
It's very stringy and kind of tough.
 
There must not be any Chinese restaurants near you.....


racist1.gif
 
Look at it this way....that Cat had to have done something to eat before you started feeding it.
 

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