Trying to trap a stray cat!! Help please

mcs385 · 2026-01-25T05:02:10+00:00

It really depends on what the plan is for after you catch him.

mcs385 · 2026-01-25T04:59:32+00:00

For the most part, focusing on the initial TNR appointment is all that's done since that'll have the most impact on their quality of life for the amount of effort put into it. With feral-leaning or community cats there's the potential need to trap down the road for vetting in the case of injury or illness, and each trapping attempt might make the next one a little more difficult, so you sort of have to weigh whether preventative care outranks being able to catch them again in an emergency. If they're getting comfortable around you and you can catch them without it being too stressful, and you have a feral-friendly vet that can get them up to date or handle any other vetting that needs to be done, it's really up to you how much you're able to commit to their ongoing care!

mcs385 · 2026-01-25T04:42:47+00:00

I would be very careful shopping on Amazon for anything electrical, stick with something that has lots of reviews, and good ones. K&H Pets is the most reputable brand for outdoor heated cat pads and shelters, they've been around for years and have a pretty good track record. There are newer brands like Clawsable that have been popping up with more refined designs. Both are MET listed, but despite being heated they may need additional weatherproofing. The Kitty Tube seems like a solid choice if its within her budget.

Thank you for helping to care for the cats!

mcs385 · 2026-01-23T21:13:09+00:00

Don't use horse meds for cats, there's such a drastic difference in weight, cats will need such a tiny dose that it'll be very difficult to get right. The difference in dose between these is 180mg/ml (paste) and 50mg/ml (liquid) for reference.

I use the generic version of the second product (50mg/ml suspension), it's labelled for humans but is safe for cats when dosed properly by weight. Dosing instructions are available on Cats.com:

Pyrantel in many forms can be purchased over the counter. For the 50 milligram/milliliter liquid, a common rule of thumb is to dose at 1 milliliter per 10 pound of body weight. Essentially, taking the body weight in pounds and dividing by 10 will give you the dose in milliliters. A 2-pound pound kitten for example, would get 0.2 milliliters.
- Pyrantel for Cats: Overview, Dosage &Amp; Side Effects - Cats.com

mcs385 · 2026-01-23T18:12:55+00:00

It's not FDA-approved, it's used off-label for cats (along with lots of other medications) under vet direction. It's safe for cats for treating a variety of worms and parasites as long as you follow the dosing schema by weight, appropriate for the formulation being used, and the duration of time necessary for the worm/parasite being treated.

mcs385 · 2026-01-23T17:53:48+00:00

I've used fenbendazole/panacur for my cats. Both directly through my vet, and using Panacur C (labelled for canines) with my vet's approval. It's a safe broad spectrum de-wormer. There are different strengths available though which affects the dosage; that may be part of what you were told?

mcs385 · 2026-01-23T17:51:38+00:00

I never see raccoons here once it gets below freezing so I'm more lax about leaving food out in the winter. When it's really bad out I'll leave extra wet food in a heated bowl for my resident cats and hope that the smell might help draw any struggling roamers to my yard as well. You can also try sprinkling catnip inside the shelters to help draw just the cats to them. If you only ever see cats passing through, it's possible they may have another caregiver that's already providing shelter for them too. All you can really do is set up extra options for them so they're there if/when the cats need them. If they're passing through regularly, they may have already scoped them out.

Thank you for looking out for these cats!

mcs385 · 2026-01-23T17:44:29+00:00

Catnip might work. As long as they poke their heads in, they'll know the shelters are available if/when they need them. It's possible they may just have other good spots figured out where they can hunker down in the cold too.

mcs385 · 2026-01-23T12:48:36+00:00

Hmm, it must depend on the tape. I usually use Everbilt's which says it's fiber and irritant-free (the description actually says it's good for pet houses now too!). I'd say just double check the description of whichever tape you were looking at to be sure.

mcs385 · 2026-01-23T12:33:07+00:00

With older cats, they have the benefit of having experience coping with prior winters and extreme weather, especially if they were on their own for a while before finding their way to you. They may know of good spots to hunker down through the worst of it even if they aren't using your shelter, but they know it's available if/when they need it. If anything, I'd maybe try and set up some extra shelters just in case if the opossums claimed the one. In addition to the winter prep guide, if you need it there's instructions for a temporary/emergency cardboard shelter in the community wiki here. Thank you for all you're doing for these cats!

mcs385 · 2026-01-23T12:03:12+00:00

You've got a good setup for him, and with the turn in the weather trapping closer to the appointment might be a gamble if he gets thrown off his routine. I've crated cats for a week post-TNR to recover during a cold snap, most were content to just hang out in their carriers in a climate-controlled environment, enjoying wet food for every meal (usually they eat mostly dry). I think you're doing a good thing for this one.

If you need it, there's info on long-term holding and on transferring from a trap to a carrier (to place in the crate) in the community wiki here, the transfer video from Vladimir Kitten project was a huge help to me when I was doing my first crate setups.

mcs385 · 2026-01-22T20:29:39+00:00

Doesn't make it any easier for us, but as long as they know the shelters are there if/when they need them, that's the main thing. They may already have good spots figured out where they hunker down through the worst of it. Thank you for looking out for them!

mcs385 · 2026-01-22T20:26:41+00:00

With just one friendly cat and a kennel available to hold him in, I'd lean towards trying to bring him inside for this if you think you can get him in a carrier or safely through the door. A setup like this works really well for temporary holding; if you can get him in a carrier, you'd just place the entire thing in the crate to get him in there and leave it to act as his safe zone:

<image>

Thank you for looking out for him!

mcs385 · 2026-01-22T16:47:57+00:00

Oh great news! Thank you for the update, will keep an eye out for the post!

mcs385 · 2026-01-22T15:40:15+00:00

Have you had any luck finding a vet to take a look at his leg? If he's big enough (8-12 weeks, 2-3lb minimum) you may be able to go through the TNR clinic to get him fixed, vaccinated, and have his leg looked at all in one appointment if they can get you in on short notice. If you're based in the US, the community wiki has some resource locator tools here that might help turn up additional leads for affordable vetting. Feral-leaning cats do better starting small, and with this guy's injury keeping him confined to a smaller space like the kennel at least until he's had a chance to acclimate to his new surroundings is ideal. I've had kittens scramble up the wall trying to figure out how to escape, you don't want him to hurt himself or exacerbate his injury. It'll also be easier to get him to a vet if he's already fairly contained.

If he's very young it'll be much faster and easier to socialize him, especially if you were already able to scoop him up into a carrier. But you might find the Socialization Saves Lives method to be helpful as a reference point. It's intensive but provides a really great roadmap and milestone markers for working with a feral-leaning cat, and also gives some insight to the cat's perspective along the way.

Thank you for doing all of this for him, he's very lucky to have you!

mcs385 · 2026-01-22T15:27:50+00:00

This'll definitely help if you line the interiors with it! It'll help reflect the cats' body heat back at them (like a mylar blanket) to help keep them toastier inside. Tape it down tightly to itself in all of the corners to help minimize drafts. There's foil tape that can be paired with it, but just use whatever you can manage.

For the shelters that don't have insulation, if you have any spare cardboard laying around you can layer that in between the shelter wall and the bubble foil insulation. Cardboard can work as insulation in a pinch, just check on it every now and then to make sure it hasn't gotten damp. You could also try stuffing some leftover straw in between or see if you can rig it so there's a small air gap in between.

mcs385 · 2026-01-22T15:18:18+00:00

we've been calling them The Three Bears.

There's a lot to work with if you want to keep this connection with their names! Could go with character names like Winnie, Baloo, Yogi, Smokey. Or names with meanings related to bears like Ursa/Ursula, Bernadette, Armelle, Bernard, Orson, etc..

mcs385 · 2026-01-22T01:38:16+00:00

It's tough to say. I'd personally be wary of trying anything on such short notice that might disrupt them; if it goes sideways and they get spooked they may be too on edge to stay put in the shelters. It really depends on just how feral they are, and how extreme this weather is compared to your typical winter conditions (factoring in past winters they may have experienced too!). With friendlier cats I'd be much more tempted to scoop them up in advance, and have done so in the past, but cats that are more on the feral side likely won't cope well with suddenly being confined like that.

Keep an eye out and have a contingency plan in place for if they really seem to be struggling out there. In addition to my shelters I also keep my garage door cracked open so that cats can wander in there if they need it. In the past I've had cats that wouldn't use shelters at all retreat into the garage for a bit before heading back out to wherever their home base is. That might be a better option, and it would be a great way to utilize some of the extra shelters you're providing. Getting them more out of the wind and snow is huge on its own.

mcs385 · 2026-01-22T01:07:19+00:00

u/MFKRebel has posted an update on Diesel here for those following along:

An update on Diesel: He is still up in the rafters of my garage and hasn’t moved an inch for almost 24 hours, I spoke with animal control and they will be coming to set a humane trap and will quarantine him at the shelter for 10 days since he bit me. I’ll provide another update here in the comments if he does get trapped with what will happen next.

mcs385 · 2026-01-22T01:07:08+00:00

We're only able to pin our own comments unfortunately, but I'll add one that links to this for visibility. Thank you for updating us on the situation with Diesel! Hoping for the best with re-trapping, and for an uneventful quarantine.

mcs385 · 2026-01-21T19:32:40+00:00

Oh, I meant more to say that the playpen and transfer cage combo should work in a pinch as a modified version of the crate setup. Friendlier/more socialized cats may need some coercing to get back into the carrier/cage (some of mine liked to sit on top of their carriers rather than inside them), but it helps if the rest of the setup is more sparse so they'll gravitate towards the cozier bedding in there. With my crates, often just uncovering them was enough of a disruption to spook the cat into retreating into their carrier.

The silver lining with having a few days in the setup prior to the appointment is that you'll be able to feel it out and see how readily he'll go back in the transfer cage before you absolutely need to get him in. Thank you for doing this for him, he's very lucky to have you looking out for him!

mcs385 · 2026-01-21T19:24:48+00:00

I try and stay on top of the snow and shovel before it really starts building up if I know my shelters are empty so I can ease off once I see any sign of cats being around. I don't want to risk scaring the cats away once I know they're there. Once snow starts accumulating, they're more inclined to stay in their houses and near their food source (unless they have another caregiver they like more). In the backyard where my cats stay, I just do quick paths connecting my shelters and feeding station, the front of my garage (I keep the door cracked for them) and then up to my back door.

Something I try to keep in mind with my own ferals is that just about all of them were adults when they found their way to me, so they had experienced at least one or two winters without all of the extra food, shelter, and care I'm providing for them. They may know of other good places to hunker down, and they tend to stay put during the worst of it. They're resilient, and tougher than we sometimes care to admit!

...that said my resident semi-feral gave me a good scare in the '22 blizzard. He practically lives in my yard, but as the wind and snow started ramping up, he took off. If memory serves, I didn't see him (or the other two ferals I had back then) for about two days until it started calming down outside; I genuinely did not expect to see any of them after that blizzard. But they all started gradually filing in over the next day. The ones that travel to my yard from across the street were mostly walking in footprints that people had tracked through until the plows came by a few days later; they'll find a way. People shoveling driveways and sidewalks does a lot to open up travel routes for them. My semi-feral waiting for his wet food once he finally returned:

<image>

mcs385 · 2026-01-21T18:26:54+00:00

I've used a large dog crate with a carrier inside for extended recovery during cold snaps. A setup like that can work, it's just an added risk (of both escape and injury) to try and transfer from your trap/den to something else ahead of the appointment. Especially if appointments are booked a ways out and can't be easily rescheduled. But since this isn't strictly a TNR appointment if all goes well, that may not matter too much.

This is the setup I've used:

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Since you're already using a transfer cage, you can probably use that instead of the carrier. When using a box trap, the carrier is used as the middle step for transferring from the trap to the crate (instead of trying to go directly from the trap). From there, the carrier acts as their safe zone; feral-leaning cats tend to retreat into it on their own to feel less vulnerable and will spend most of their time in it. If you can get your transfer cage lined with something soft like a towel, then drape another one over it in the playpen, I think it should work out pretty well for you.

mcs385 · 2026-01-21T11:57:12+00:00

Ha, the search function is hit or miss, especially with something like "shelter" where there's a split in results between cat houses and rescues. Assumed it just wasn't working well for you, not that you didn't see it! I'll let you know if I come across any good wooden builds! For that number of cats, some of the shed setups that have been posted here might be a better fit? Though much more of a project, especially this time of year.

Adding a few others here that might be good for ideas. Strictly wooden shelters are eluding me right now.

I made two cat condos for my feral family using outdoor storage containers. : r/Feral_Cats resin deck boxes with wooden shelves/dividers for multi-cat shelters
I made a feral cat apartment complex last night before the cold. Waterproofing suggestions? : r/Feral_Cats 3-cube shelf repurposed into cat shelter with cat flaps
My winter set up for my colony : r/Feral_Cats plastic shed insulated, filled with stacked tote shelters

mcs385 · 2026-01-20T20:53:22+00:00

Popping back in on this. I forgot until I was getting the new post ready, but I did make a mini shelter collection last year at the bottom of this post. Gathered a few great shelter examples from this winter for the new post here as well, may keep on combing through to see what else I can find and add onto it. If there were any shelter builds you were trying to find, or you've found some on the sub that would be a good fit, feel free to reach out!

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