Trapping Tips - Have-a-go heroes

A feral cat is a scared cat

Although feral cats are living wild and to some degree fending for themselves, they are, contrary to some people’s expectations neither vicious nor aggressive towards us humans but in fact rather frightened, keeping a safe distance. They will only attack us when they are cornered and threatened, like for instance a queen who is protecting her kittens in a hideout or a cat confined in a cage.

Feral cats are not used to being handled and will not tolerate being held in people’s arms and therefore they cannot be “put” into a basket like a domestic cat. When people contact us for help with neutering feral cats, we immediately establish the facts; that we use special equipment and that nobody must touch the cats other than us. Nevertheless, we are often assured that these cats are quite tame because they “rub around the feeder’s legs and can be stroked when they are eating” or, “I can pick him up and put him in a basket for you”. This is a frightening announcement and sometimes it is not easy to stop these well-meaning and determined people from having a go.

How not to catch a feral cat…

We have witnessed this first hand, when a cat loving lady ignored all warnings had the cat her in her arms before we had finished baiting the trap. The cat struggled desperately, but the lady was determined to win and held tight until her wrists and hands were badly bleeding (ending up in A & E).

Another have-a-go hero lived - conveniently, as it turned out - practically next door to St Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton. As we were sitting in the car on his driveway watching the trap, he came out of his house, shouting, “What are you doing sitting there in the front when the cat is at the back? I’ll go and get her for you”. We shouted after him “Please don’t, just wait!” A minute later the man reappeared with a struggling ginger cat in his arms and despite my warnings to let go he held on until the blood was streaming through his white shirtsleeves.

Having many years of experience, and having learned by our own mistakes, we only handle domestic cats and stick to using traps when we have to get hold of feral cats or kittens.

In our article “Which Trap is Best” we give some advice about the choice and use of cat traps, which by the way are safe and humane containing attractive food for bait and have no resemblance at all with the cruel traps used by pest control companies.

© Cat Action Trust 1977