Animal Welfare Professionals

I maintain a small cat colony in a Dallas suburb. These cats depend on their daily feeding. Some trapping guidelines recommend withholding food for up to two days + to trap 'challenging to trap' cats. How do I balance feeding my colony and luring challenging newcomers into a trap? I'm having a hard time with the concept of withholding food for the whole colony.

I too maintain a cat colony. When I have a day that I know I will be trapping, I set my traps out first with food. Once those cats are caught, then I feed the remainder of the colony. By trapping first and then feeding the remainder afterward, they never go without food. I have never had to wait more than 30 minutes for a cat to be caught in my traps, even when it was lightly raining. I usually trap in the evenings. Hope this helps! Happy trapping!!

Here's how I look at it. Withholding food for 2 days is no big deal. Think of it as as 'fasting' for cats. :-) Humans do it for detoxification/health (I did an 11-day water fast myself back in November), why should we think it's not good for animals? I sometimes have to pull an 'all-nighter' trapping, and I can't risk not catching who I need. Leave water out for them, but withhold food for 48 hours. They will be fine. Heck, in some cases, I've withheld longer. I maintenance-trap twice a year at my colonies (unless I see someone un-tipped sooner), so everyone 'fasts' twice a year. :-)

Instead of withholding food, I suggest making a "soup" of maybe 1 tablespoon of canned food or sardine, etc. in 1/3 cup water per cat and feed this for a couple of days.  This keeps caregivers from getting anxious and keeps the cats coming for their regular meal.  But they are a bit hungrier.  I also encourage trappers, where possible, to feed the cats in traps for a few days.  We cover the traps, and tie them open.  The covers are laid on the ground in the area for a while to get the familiar scent.   Then set the traps the night before clinic.