LIFE OF A CAT TRAPPER – TNR
This film is rather long, but shows you every aspect of trap, neuter, return, and the pitfalls of trying to be successful at it.
Author: tnrprogram
FERAL CAT SHELTERS
For community feeders who care for feral cats, this video gives you instructions on building Winter cat shelters. I have seen it done in plastic boxes in warmer climate areas too. Don’t forget to fill it with some straw to keep them warm. As suggested by a community feeder, do not use any material over the straw because that could make it wet & cold. –>Build Outdoor Cat Shelter For Winter
TAKING A FERAL CAT HOME
This is just my own experience. If you have done this, please use the REPLY to share your own experiences with doing this. Pumpkin was born on March 5, 2022 from a feral Mom. He was left there until I had him neutered on 6/6/2022. He was neutered, give an Rabies vaccine and FVRCP vaccine…
STARTING A NEW TRAPPING EVENT
Sadly, in Texas, the start of our warm season is a good time to trap because Mama’s have usually weaned any kittens they may have and it is safe, for the kittens, to take Mom. Click on the entry title here to get details on how to start a new trapping event.
ANTS IN THE SUMMER IN TEXAS
I am trapping in the summer in Texas. It is not my favorite time of the year to trap, but it is that time when you get get Moms who have recently weaned their kitties. Our main goal in trapping is to stop the cycle of ‘multiplication’, of course, so we deal with the heat…
Trap Smart Cats
I got an excellent piece of advice from one of the TNR groups I belong to. I have a community where many of the cats have watched me trapping enough to know what happens when that trap springs. If you have that same problem, try feeding only using the traps for a couple of days,…
THE COST TO TNR
I stopped adding up what trapping – cost of food, worming meds, and gasoline for traveling has cost me. But, I can say, I enjoy seeing my TNR’d kitties living happy lives with their caregivers, so it is worth the work and cost, for me.
How To Control Community Cat Populations
EXCERPT FROM: –> 12 Year Study Article The study focused on one Israeli city (Rishon LeZion) and tried out different population-control methods over three 4-year periods. In the first, there was no population intervention. In the second, the researchers organized an intensive program of neutering of cats in half of the fifty zones of the city, while the…
STRAY, FERAL, COMMUNITY CATS
WebMD for Pets has an excellent article on the problem and solution. Some highlights from that article: * There are between 60 million and 100 million feral cats in the U.S. They are usually the offspring of cats who were lost or abandoned by their owners, and they grow up not socialized to humans. *…
VOLUNTEER TO TRAP
Addie, the Administrator of this program, has had to go out and trap on top of everything else that she does. As a fellow trapper, my heart goes out to her. She has so many other responsibilities. If you have some experience in trapping, or even if you don’t but think you would like to…
ADVANTAGES OF TNR COLONIES
Advantages of have a TNR, Trap, Neuter, Return, program for feral cat colonies: Getting feral cats neutered will stop the overpopulation of the colony. Every time a feral cat has kittens, it significantly lowers the odds that the kitten will survive. If it does, and it is not handled often, it may never be adoptable….
ALREADY STARTING A COLONY?
If you are already starting to care for feral cats, Thank You!! I am going to share some suggestions here that might help someone who is just starting to feed outside cats, at your home. I learned some of these by caring for colonies during trapping process. First, and most importantly, connect with a vet…
POLK COUNTY SPCA – LISN
I am going to put this here, but it is currently a closed program. When it opens back up, I will change this post. The LISN program is called Low Income Spay Neuter program. It is for people with lower incomes so that they can get their cats neutered. You can purchase a voucher for…
ALTERNATIVE TO TNR – LOW COST VETERINARY
If you have one, two, or three feral cats, and have the money to do it, you may choose to be a responsible caregiver by getting them neutered. When they weigh 2-3 pounds, most of the low cost vets will do that neuter. I know of a couple of vets that do it rather inexpensively. …
GET THE WORD OUT
At different times, will will be publishing printable flyers onto this website. We ask that all who check it, print it and circulate it. They could be informational or fundraising fliers. When we publish one, we will tell you where, when, and how to share it or hand it out. We will try to keep…
TEACH OTHERS
Are you someone who has been trapping for a while and you have gotten pretty good at it? If so, you can help by training people who want to trap but have never done it before. Or maybe you are someone who has done business and government organization fundraising. In that endeavor, the more that…
VETERINARY LIAISON
If you have experience organizing, we need you. As a veterinary Liaison, you would contact the veterinarians that we work with and make appointments. After securing some appointment, coordinate trappers to fill those appointments and get the paperwork they would need to submit to the vet clinic to bring their feral cats in for neutering….
SAMPLE DISCHARGE INSTRUCTIONS
This is a copy of a discharge that I received from a vet once a feral cat had been neutered. I put it here, on the website, because a Veterinary Liaison should make sure that they received these instructions from any vets they work with and that the trapper/caregiver has read them. Part of the…
THE LAST FERAL CAT
I am currently working on two different, large colonies, in my neighborhood. Sadly, there are several more because this area seems to be a dumping ground for people who don’t live here. On one of the colonies, this week, I will be trying to trap the last of the cats. I am praying for success,…
THE ARGUMENT FOR TNR
This is a person who has had years of experience working in a TNR program. She brought up a number issues. I did not know that the life expectancy of a feral cat is, in average, 3 years. I do know that one colony I have been working in for over a year lost several…
PRE – POST SURGERY CAREGIVERS
Cats need to be held the night before and at least one night after surgery. There is usually hours to a couple of days time period from the time a cat gets trapped until the time they go in to the vet to be neutered. Once the surgery is done, they will be transported back…
CAT TRANSPORT VOLUNTEERS
You can make a valuable contribution as a transport volunteer, delivering cats to the clinic and returning them to a holding place after surgery. We are currently using multiple vets in our area and in Humble. In Humble, we are able to take many cats at one time, but in our local vets, it is…
VOLUNTEER TO TRAP
TNR programs are always in need of people with the drive, patience and dedication to do the essential: catch the cats. Right now, we have a set number of traps and vet appointments available. If we can get enough funds to expand out, we can get more traps and enter more community areas. We do,…
TRANSPORTING TRAPPED CATS
If you are trapping from multiple areas, keep some masking tape in your car to mark, clearly, on the trap, where that trapped cat came from so you can return them into the same area. Cats do best when they stay in the same communities. In fact, they may not survive well if you do…
BUSINESS LIAISON VOLUNTEERS
If you have ever helped with business level fundraising, we need you. Anyone who has done this knows that businesses that will donate to communities are able to give more than an individual. Having someone who has experience doing this can help by doing the actions needed or even teach other volunteers how to do…
FUNDRAISING VOLUNTEERS
Like most non-profit programs, we cannot keep the program going without money. So far, this has been done by the program Administrator and she has done a great job, but she has a LOT more to do. We need help in this area. We need volunteers to not only do the actions needed for fundraising,…
DONATIONS TO TNR
We will be posting an online method of donating to the Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR) program. For now, we ask that you mail checks to the Polk County SPCA, (NOTING TNR PROGRAM on your check memo) to: P.O. Box 1403, Livingston TX 77351, or take them into the SPCA at 802 S. Houston Ave, Livingston. See sample here: 
Or, donate online: –> Donate To TNR Online
HOW-TO
Here are some helpful steps on how to use the website. Use the REPLY (below) or –> CONTACT US link to tell me if you are having problems or want to add info. I will gladly update the with solutions or better info. * The website is split into sections, using the menu options on…
About
The TNR program is a self-supporting entity of the Polk County SPCA. The program was created to try to solve the feral cat problems in Polk County TX. As a mostly rural county, this problem has been well hidden, but it is extensive. –> Read More Here
MY TRAP EXPERIENCES
I have learned, under fire, about various traps, losing kitties and cleaning up trap messes is not fun. I am going to put pictures, in posts here, of various traps I have used. There are dozens of models, so this will certainly not cover them all. If you have personally had some experiences with traps…