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Every cat on my farm has been spayed/neutered except for this one female I haven't been able to catch for two whole years! And she's responsible for 8 kittens born during that time (daddy's from the farm up the hill - they don't vet their cats at all and I had no way of keeping him away from her.) Today I finally caught her and she goes to the vet tomorrow morning!
Here's how I did it: I lured her into my basement with food. The other cats came too, of course. But I successfully chased her and got her shut by herself into one smaller part of the basement. Then, on the advice of my vet, I starved her for 48 hrs. Yes, it made me feel terrible and is exactly what has prevented me from doing this before, but my vet said it would be fine. This afternoon I put a humane trap baited with Fancy Feast down in her part of the basement, and waited.
I just went down and she's in the trap! It's warm down there and there is newspaper in the trap, so she'll be ok (though unhappy) until early tomorrow morning when she goes to the vet.
This is such a relief I can't tell you! No more kittens!
Next on my agenda is trapping the Daddy cat who's used to coming down here for nooky.
I trapped one once.
Actually, I worked with her until she would come to be petted. Took many, many weeks, but soon enough we were friends. But I could not pick her up. Would not stand for that. She was a big strong cat and I wasn't going to argue much.
But I wanted to take her to the spay clinic. I called and the lady said to take a pillow case, pet the cat and scoot her into the pillow case.
OK. So I got my pillow case all ready.
"Here, Kitty, Kitty....."
(pet; pet; pet)
(SCOOT!)
She went right through the pillow case! In one end and tore open the other end. She ran about 10 feet and turned to give me the evil eye.
She sauntered off and I never saw her again...
AWESOME!! Nice work! I have trapped neighborhood cats and have usually waited 24 hours without food. Glad it worked and here's hoping Daddy will be tricked into the trap too!
They're all here: Bunny, Egg, Ned, Tippy, Dulcie, Eleanore Jane, Marie Celeste, and Louis. All very nice cheerful cats. The last 3 were born in May, so will be spayed/neutered at the beginning of Nov. I have 17 cats now . 6 are inside, the rest are barn cats (shut in at night.) I love kittehs, but no more!!!! (When I bought my property it came with 5 cats, and I moved here with 2. The others were dumped here by townies.)
Got her to the vet just fine this am (other than the usual pooping/peeing in the cage) and just got a call from the tech saying that mama went through surgery fine and is in recovery. I pick her up tomorrow am.
Then, on the advice of my vet, I starved her for 48 hrs.
Get a new vet!
ANY vet, with a brain, knows that starving a cat is NEVER a good idea! It is a LIFE THREATENING situation for a cat that goes without food and/or water for 48 hours!
S/he will experience severe dehydration. Also, his/her system/organs will start to shut down in that time frame.
Hepatic lipidosis is a huge concern also.
If there is a next time, PLEASE contact a rescue group. They can provide a LOT of helpful hints to trap a cat, without making it very seriously ill or killing it.
I should have been clear - she had WATER AT ALL TIMES. Just no food for 48 hrs.
Of course it wasn't normal or ideal, but one has to balance two evils: a cat that has never been vaccinated and is continually breeding, versus that same cat living 2 days with water but no food in a climate controlled safe place so that cat can receive vaccinations and stop breeding. I'm confident that I made the right choice, based on good advice by an excellent veterinarian.
In conclusion: the opinions of people who live in cities are completely and totally and absolutely valueless to those of us who live in very rural areas (and most other sensible people have learned to ignore the ignorant babbling of urbanites, too.)
I should have been clear - she had WATER AT ALL TIMES. Just no food for 48 hrs.
Of course it wasn't normal or ideal, but one has to balance two evils: a cat that has never been vaccinated and is continually breeding, versus that same cat living 2 days with water but no food in a climate controlled safe place so that cat can receive vaccinations and stop breeding. I'm confident that I made the right choice, based on good advice by an excellent veterinarian.
In conclusion: the opinions of people who live in cities are completely and totally and absolutely valueless to those of us who live in very rural areas (and most other sensible people have learned to ignore the ignorant babbling of urbanites, too.)
Not sure what difference living in a city vs rural area makes as far as an opinion on this...
I live in a city and I think you absolutely did the right thing!
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