Wild Fur babies: The Feral Cat Story

Several years ago, a terrible tragedy began to unfold outside of my home. I was sitting on the porch talking on the phone with my son, when I noticed that there were little kittens hidden in the spare tire of my husband’s Toyota Tacoma. The spare tires of the Tacoma ride under the bed of the truck, creating a ring of surface large enough for a litter of kittens. They were old enough to be terrified of us, and if we got near, they would all scatter. At least with this knowledge, we knew to make sure that there weren’t any kittens hiding in the tire or in our engine compartments before we went anywhere. Then they all vanished, and we never saw them again.

A year went by, and I began to notice a small kitten in our yard. He was not approachable and looked rather ill. I tried to feed him but he wasn’t hungry. I was then trying to keep an eye out for what was going on. Eventually, I saw the mother cat. She had two kittens, a mostly black one and a gray and white one. She would put one kitten in one yard, and one in another. The kittens appeared so sick. I kept trying to feed them. Eventually, the mother kitty let them eat some food, and she joined them. Then the mostly blackish kitten disappeared. I started feeding them daily and tried to make arrangements to capture and fix both of them. What I think was the father cat also began to hang around, so now I had 3 cats to fix.

Well, it was COVID times, and I couldn’t find any services to get them fixed. I found out that regular veterinarians will usually not help fix feral cats, and certainly none in my town. As the months went by, 3 more kittens arrived, and this time, the mother kept them under the porch. The mother made sure that they knew that humans were monsters, and so we could not approach them. I kept feeding them, and continued to try to find a place that would fix feral cats. Now I had 6 cats to fix. https://youtu.be/r-tlqW0jRdo

I finally found that I could get an appointment through the SPCA, which was 1 hour away. I had to purchase a trap and gear, and learn how to catch wild cats. I made one appointment, which was 3 or 4 weeks away. I ordered a Havahart 1085 Large 1-Door trap and a Live Animal Trap Cage Cover from Amazon. I had read that it is important to cover the trap to keep the wild cats calm, so I figured it would be best just to buy the cover. I was worried that the trap might injure a kitten when it shut, so I added a little paper towel and duct tape padding to the bottom of the trap door. I began to feed the kitties only in the trap and so they had to take turns. I fed them dry food in a paper bowl. I had the cover on the trap, with both ends open so I could see who was in there. I was concerned that I would catch more than one cat, and I was also concerned that I would catch the same cat again. I read on the SPCA site, about a water bottle trick. The trap is set, with a water bottle holding the door open. Once the right cat is in the trap, you pull a long string attached to the water bottle and the door shuts. While I was getting ready for the big day, I purchased a tarp for my floor, a tarp for my car seat, puppy pads, zip ties to secure the cage shut and some wet food for the recovery day. I purchase all of these on Amazon.

I needed to catch a cat the night before the appointment and keep the cat in a secure location until the morning. I really wanted to catch a female cat first. So I set up the trap with the water bottle and string and watched and waited from a secret window spot. It was difficult to see as it was getting dark, and they liked to go in as two, but I finally got my chance and pulled the string. I caught a female kitten, the one we called chicken. I ran out with my zip ties and secured the trap. I had rehearsed this previously so that I knew how to make it secure. As I got more experienced, I also added a dowel to keep the door secure. I also zipped up the cover to help keep the kitty calm, and put her in the shed for the night, on a puppy pad and tarp. Caught feral cats thrash around a great deal and will bloody their paws and such, which is why I used a paper bowl for the food. I did not want any extra injuries from a hard bowl.

The next morning, I drove in commute traffic to the SPCA, and stayed in the big city all day until she was released and ready to leave at 4 pm. I not only had her fixed, I also got her a rabies shot and a microchip. The microchip proved to be invaluable later, never skip the microchip! When we got home, I put her back in the shed for the night to recover and later took her a little wet food that I spooned through the wires of the trap. I added a rabbit water bottle to the side of the cage, but I doubt it was ever used. I also registered the microchip online, as a community cat.

The morning after, I took the trap outside and let her acclimate to where she was, and then I opened the door with it aimed under the porch. She shot out and ran under the porch.

I had another appointment a few weeks after, and I caught the big wild Tom cat for that trip. He thrashed around so much. I feared that he would break out, even with the zip tie secured doors. It was that day that I added the dowl for extra security. The SPCA said that there have been times when people's traps failed outside their clinic, and the cats escaped, never to be seen again.

After that, I finally got 2 appointments with our local county animal shelter. They were backlogged after not being open through COVID. Scheduling was done on a first call first serve reservation method, and the call in happened on the first of every month. Each person was limited to 2 appointments per month, and there were months that I didn't win an appointment because they filled up so fast.

Strangely enough, the previously caught cats would still go in the trap to eat, so trying to catch just the right cat was a daunting experience, and for one of my difficult to get appointments, I could not catch any unfixed cats. Terribly disappointing!

This situation became even more stressful when mama cat suddenly had 3 more kittens in late fall! But I kept working at getting them all fixed. Out of the last 3 kittens, only the black and white one survived. I fear that they were heat seeking in cars, as I had found the surviving kitten in my engine compartment one morning. The remaining kitten was really savvy about watching me and understood that the trap was dangerous. It was difficult, but I finally caught her too. All 7 of the fixed cats had rabies shots, flea treatments and microchips.

Throughout this process, I would only feed these particular cats and never left food unattended. Once they were all fixed, I would go sit outside with them when they were feeding so no other cats or animals would get the food. As you can imagine, this was quite time consuming. I did not want to feed the entire neighborhood of cats, and I didn’t want raccoons around. Raccoons are dangerous for the cats and humans, as they can be vicious and carry diseases.

So I had this idea, that if I had a large enough wood box, I could put automatic chip activated doors on it and save a lot of time. (This is probably not a good idea for Bear country) I searched for a large enough box, and a door that would work with the type of microchips that these cats had. Not all doors work with all chips. I found a perfect box at Amazon, the Outsunny 75 Gallon Wooden Deck Box, Outdoor Storage Container with Aerating Gap & Weather-Fighting Finish. I also purchased the PetSafe, Microchip Activated Cat Flap. I wasn’t sure if this was going to work, so I also purchased a regular cat door that could be locked, to just provide an extra exit for them.

One would think that in this day and age, that the doors could just be programmed with an app with the microchip numbers, but that is not the case. You have to activate programming mode, and the chipped cat has to stick their head in there to program their chip in within 1 minute. That might be easy with pets, but little ferals that think I am a monster are much more difficult. So here is what I did. I taped the door shut, and used it as a bowl. When I put all the bowls down to feed them, I kept putting the program activated door bowl down last, and in a different position. As soon as it programs, it pops, making all the cats terrified of that bowl. I kept a log of which cat programmed the door. A few of the cats would not go near the door bowl. So, I installed the door as a door in a Styrofoam cube that I had from cold product delivery. I would then put treats in the door frame when the right cats were around. Eventually, all the cats were programmed, except for the big tom who stopped coming around much.

The box was fairly easy to assemble, and I purchased some thin boarding at the hardware store for the base to cover the slat holes on the bottom. I also stained the outside to match my porch. Now I had to install the doors in the box. It took me a little bit of time using various types of saws and razors, but I eventually got both doors installed. I installed the doors on the back side facing the wall. I did this for many reasons, but mostly I didn’t want other animals to see the doors and I wanted to make it hard for the Raccoons to pry the doors open. (Eventually I added the second automatic door, which is shown in the pictures. I also later added the latch and lock, that did not come with the box.

Now I needed to teach the cats to push the doors open and go in to eat inside the box. I started by taping both doors open from the outside during feeding time. They were terrified of the box, especially with the unlocking "pop" sound of the door, but eventually would go in and eat. I slowly lowered the doors to try to teach them to use the doors, but it wasn’t working. They could wiggle in if it was a tiny bit closed, but they could not get the concept of pushing on the door. Months went by as I tried to encourage them to open the door with their heads. They just could not get it. I tried treats and everything I could think of.

I finally hatched a new plan. I figured out that I needed to use ¼ inch elastic. I put 2 screws up above the door, near the lid top, and tied an elastic loop around the door. I tied the other end to one screw and wound it around both screws to hold open the door. I started with the door high up and lowered it every few days by unwrapping the elastic that was around the screws, until the door was not quite latched. This way, they were able to go in and out but the door would stay ajar. And then, I removed the elastic. With this new plan, two of the cats, JB and Piggy, figured it out and were master door openers. I would go out and put the tray of food in the box, and they would go in and feast. The other 4 cats couldn’t figure out how they were getting in there. So the smart cats would eat first, and then 15 minutes or so later, I would attach the elastic again. Eventually, they all were able to go in without the elastic. Then I bought a second door, programmed it by using it as a treat dish, and did the same tricks to get them used to going in that door as well. I wanted to have a second door, just in case one failed. I replace the batteries every so often, I usually alternate which door gets new batteries. I also watch every morning and make sure both doors are functioning. The doors do not lose their programming when changing batteries. Simply change, briefly click the button, the red light will come on., then click it again and the green light will come on - all set.

Having the cats being able to self feed is really great, because now I didn't have to sit there and watch them eat twice a day. I would just put the food out in the box in the morning and then pick it up before I went to bed. I saved so much time!

Also, as a side note, I also have water available for the cats, but not inside the box. I purchased the Petmate Replendish Gravity Waterer with Microban 1 gallon on Amazon to make sure they always have water.

Update: It was at least 7 months before we had an invader. A young raccoon managed to get in by prying the door open from the outside. So now I pick up the food and crumbs before it gets dark so that the box is empty if they come around. Since the slats on the box don't feel terribly heavy duty, I decided to add screening to the inside, and stapled it to the box. I was also interested in doing this to keep bugs out. So far, this is working great.