The logistics of trapping

Last night I went to Scarborough to return a cat and do some more trapping.  Amazingly, even though it was pouring, we got one cat (Marisa, our marvelous new feeder) joined me.

TNR is one of the most crucial things in the feral cat world, and in a way it seems easy, but it actually involves a lot of logistics.

The process starts by booking appointments, I mostly use the THS due to proximity.  Then I have to make sure Joanne can do recovery and that I can use Connie's garage overnight to hold the cat.  Unfortunately I don't have the space to do either.

Then I have to make the feeders don't feed that day.  The day of I load up the car with traps, blankets, cardboard for inside the traps, and bait.

Last night I drove 15 minutes to Joanne's, picked up the cat trapped last week, drove another half hour to the colony site, set up the traps and waited.  Luckily one brave soul went into the trap quickly, but Marisa and I stood in the pouring rain for an hour waiting for another to no avail.

Then I drove another half an hour to Connie's and left the cat in her garage and went home to dinner.

This morning I left my house at 7 a.m., picked up the cat from Connie's, drove to THS for their spay neuter clinic.  At 3:30 I had to pick the cat up so used vacation time and left early.  Off Bandit and I went to Joanne's.  Bandit is male so two days from now I will need to pick him and drive him back to Scarborough to release him.

Most weeks I am doing this process at least once, sometimes twice, it can be very time consuming and sometimes you don't even trap a cat, that's when it's maddening.

I'm scheduled to go out again tomorrow night but they are calling for an ice storm so we will see.