Cat Trapping: Phase Two - The Traps are Set

So I put the traps out today after I confirmed an appointment with a shelter for tomorrow morning.

I hope they are camouflaged enough.

I did put one on the deck. My folks insist this is the best place because this is where they eat. I think they are more skittish on the deck because that's where the people are. But, what do I know, this is my cat trapping lesson. I'll claim knowledge on it after I'm done.

Everybody was a little put off by me coming around their area.

They do, of course, think they own it so I'm sure they will be back.

There is a saying that "curiosity killed the cat." It had to come from somewhere so I'm sure everyone will be back in no time. They will be hungry because they haven't eaten since Friday and I'm hoping they will be curious enough to get into the traps.

Note to other future Cat Trappers: be prepared to lie on your stomach in order to get the bait into the trap. I ended up having to bring the traps back to the deck to bait them, otherwise I would have been lying on the wet ground.

I did have some trouble getting an appointment for the spay and neuter. The first shelter (whom will remain nameless until after they've proven to be no help) quoted me $25 for males and $50 for females in January '09. When I called today, they quoted $75 for males and $100 for females.

Well, that's too much green! Does anyone have $900 to $1200 to spend on wild cats??? Not in this economy!

So, I have the Rice County Humane Society to thank for setting me up with an appointment to do 3 cats tomorrow morning. Of course this is pending feline cooperation. They will do the spaying for $80 and the neutering for $50. This is of course still too much money but doing 3 cats is sort of feasible. I have phoned my vet, my friend's vet and a friend at the AHS to see if we can look at some other options in the way of donating services.