Searchable transcript of How to Trap Train Feral Cats for TNR (Using Tru Catch Traps) — Small Town TNR (04:06). Search for a phrase, then click its timestamp to jump straight to that moment in the video.
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00:00 Trap training is when we turn the trap into a feeding station and the kitty learns that this is where their new feeding station is. This is where they're going to eat several of their meals before it's time to actually trap them. And we do this for a few reasons. The first one is when we have appointments, we don't want to not take cats to the appointments.
00:18 We don't want to wait till the day before and trap kitties and hope we get all of our appointments filled. And the other one is to make sure that the kitties get used to going in the trap. And by the time they go into the trap on trapping day, they're already used to being in the trap. So, I'm going to show you what we do for trap training. Now, for example, if we have appointments on Monday, let's say we have appointments for five kitties on Monday.
00:45 We are going to go to a location that has hopefully five cats to trap. We're going to set five traps to be feeding stations. And then we know for certain hopefully that all five kitties will end up in traps to go to their appointments on Monday. We're going to start trap training about a week ahead of time. So, start feeding the kitty inside the trap a week in advance and then trap the kitty two two nights before or one night before the appointments.
01:18 So, the first thing we're going to do is first of all, I'm using a Tru Catch Trap. It has two doors and I'll show you the doors, but we're going to start with this end and basically just open it and then put a zip tie right here. And it's going to secure the door. So, the door will sit open as because of the zip tie. And then you just put the food in the trap.
01:44 You might want to start closer to the front here and then keep moving back until the kitty gets used to walking in the trap. But the nice thing is that walks in and it walks out. It walks in to eat and then it walks out. So, it's literally training the cat to go in the trap um but we turn it into a feeding station for several days ahead of time. Now, the day before your appointments, you are going to actually set the trap.
02:11 Uh so, you'll cut the zip tie off and close this door. And make sure that you secure this door. Make sure this goes on the outside this way. Make Do not let the door go inside like this because I have seen kitties take their paw, lift the door, and escape. So, make sure that this bar goes on the outside and then you clip it closed. You will have put food at the very end right here up against um the edge of this end the night before um the appointment day.
02:51 And then you're going to actually set the trap. And you lift these two rings. You lift the door. And then you move this bar on the inside to meet the bar of the door. You now have the trap set. The plate is back here. Um so, the kitty is already used to eating inside the trap. It has no idea which end it's going in and out of, but this time it's going in the end where it'll step on the plate and the door will go down and you have your kitty trapped.
03:24 Cover it right away. The kitties tend to freak out, so cover it right away so that will calm them. And then always have another carabiner because you want to make sure you connect the ring to the trap so the kitty can't lift the ring. There is another video where kitties have done this before. They've actually lifted the rings and scooted out and escaped.
03:46 So, make sure you have a second carabiner to hold these rings closed. You can put a second one over here. It's not necessary, but just make sure you do have one. So, this is trap training and I hope you found this helpful. Leave a comment below if you have other suggestions so we can continue to learn from each other.
Feed cats inside open traps for about a week so they become accustomed to entering them, then set the traps one or two nights before appointments and secure the door and rings against escapes.