After all of that trapping, I still had not gotten close to catching the mom cat. She was trap-savvy- there was no way she would ever go into a trap, no matter what I did. Lynne decided it was time to use the drop trap.
The drop trap is just like one of those traps you would set up as a kid. It’s essentially a box propped up by a stick. The stick has a string attached and when the cat goes into the trap, you pull the string, and the cat is trapped. Very basic concept, right? The actual drop trap is a little more complicated- the “box” has a wooden frame and is covered in mesh. There’s a door that fits the usual Have-A-Heart trap exactly, and piece of wood that counter-balances the trap. The stick has a bevel in it so it fits the wood of the trap perfectly, and the string is strong twine that is 80 ft long. The drop trap has the advantages of not looking or sounding like a regular trap, so the cat doesn’t suspect a thing, and gives the trapper the ability to choose which cat to trap. The disadvantages are you have to be there to pull the string, the drop trap has to be placed on a very flat surface so the cat can’t get underneath it, and if you don’t do it perfectly, then you’ve lost your cat and the cat will never go back in.
The Lighthouse Field cats are usually fed between 9 and 9:30am, so Lynne and I decided to get there a little before 8:30 so we could set up before mom cat got there. We set up on Giselle’s porch, a flat cement area where the mom cat is usually fed. We saw mom cat (a distinctive grey and white beauty) and her three kittens (a black one, a tabby, and a grey and white) as we were setting up, and it didn’t take long for mom cat to figure out that we had put delicious breakfast out early. As she was investigating the trap, another cat showed up. It was the skinny old black cat, and he was hungry. He went straight into the drop trap, and started eating. Lynne had put three large cans of cat food on a plate as bait inside the drop trap in anticipation of other cats eating first, but this old guy ate almost all of it! When he was finally done, Lynne had to refill with some tasty tuna. She made a lot of noise with the food dishes around, as if she was feeding, and called, and sure enough, mom cat went in!
That wasn’t the end of it though. Mom cat knew something was up, and she stood up as she ate her food. We were waiting for her to crouch (so she wouldn’t be able to turn around and escape) but she wasn’t going for it. Finally, Lynne gave the string a very hard yank, and mom cat was caught!
We ran over, secured the drop trap, and transferred mom cat into a regular trap. It was hard to get her into the trap, because she was slamming herself into the mesh trying to escape. Lynne called it “popcorning.” After years of experience and trial and error, Lynne knew to bring a metal rod to prod the cat into the trap. It was hard, but it was so good to finally get the mom cat.
Mom cat went immediately to surgery, and was released the next day. (Don’t worry- her kittens were already weaned, so they were fine.) When Ariel saw mom cat with her ear tip, she called me and told me it had almost brought her to tears with joy. This mom cat had been popping out two or three litters a year for a long time, and was the one no one could get. Having her spayed will hugely decrease the amount of cats born in Lighthouse Field, and she will finally have a life that doesn’t surround kittens.
I know exactly how the woman felt when she was the mom cat with her ear tipped. The cause of my cat colony was a cat like that. She would come to my house to have kittens and would dump them here when they were weaned. I hardly ever saw her otherwise. This went on for about 3 years. She was finally caught wherever in the neighborhood she lived when she didn't have kittens. When I saw her with a tipped ear, I was so excited, lol.
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