Animal Welfare Professionals

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Hi all,

I was wondering if I could get some feedback on an easier/less expensive way of transporting feral cats

Here is our issue:

We perform, on average, 30 community cat sterilizations weekly for feral colonies in and around the surrounding area.  The devices that some of our clients transport the cats in can be dangerous to our staff and the animals within the "cages".   We encourage them to bring the cats in traps but we realize this isn't always feasible because of the cost of traps.  So we end up with a lot of broke down carriers, overly large dog crates, open-air crates (which are very scary!) etc.  We try to exchange crates of our own but it is still an ongoing issue and we can't give all of our crates away.  Does anyone have a better way of doing this?  Or any suggestions? 

TIA!

#CommunityCatManagement

As far as I know, Austin Humane Society still loans out two traps maximum with your credit card  information to be used only if traps are not returned, and shredded when returned.

Our cat coalition loans out traps in our small county and have had virtually no problems getting them back (other than  too many of them being returned dirty).

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Chris DeBremaecker
Trapper
Blanco County Cat Coalition
Johnson City TX
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The vet clinics we partner with won't take feral cats in anything except a trap or transfer cage for the safety of their staff.  We also rent out traps 2 at a time (but the 2 main TNR clinics locally take walk-ins for up to 2 cats per person three days a week, which is why we landed on 2). 

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Erin Dams
Community Relations Coordinator
Roanoke Valley SPCA
Roanoke VA
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Hello,

I run a TNR program for a rural county that faces some of the same issues you're describing. We require traps only and don't accept cats in crates, boxes, etc. for safety of us, the cats, and to make removing the cats for surgery more efficient for our clinic team. We sterilize about 20 cats a week through our program. We have about 20 traps on hand that we loan out to those with a TNR appointment through our program; these were donated by private citizens or businesses, and purchased via private funds and grants as needed. Program participants can rent the traps they need the week prior to their appointment. They 'rent' them by writing a check for $75 per trap and signing a trap rental contract, which we then attach the check to. The traps are returned by leaving them at the main entrance of our facility, and since they're numbered we know who returned them. The contract and check are then shredded. Trap rentals are tracked through a spreadsheet so we can follow up on inventory.  I hope this helps!

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Krystyna Zarn-Langford
Human & Animal Services Manager
Geauga Humane Society's Rescue Village
Novelty, Ohio
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Although we are a TNR Organization that works closely with our HQHVSN Clinic, they require cats to be in traps or transfer cages. They require folks to pick up traps the week before their appointments, with a CC on file in case traps aren't returned, and then the cats are brought in inside the traps. We also have a trap supply ourselves and will loan them out to folks we are assisting to give all of us a bit more leeway on timing/length of time they are using the traps. 
We have held two different fundraisers for traps and they were fairly successful. Before we were a nonprofit I held a fundraiser and was able to purchase 22 Tomahawk traps and the second was able to purchase 11. Maybe you could hold a fundraiser for more traps for a more robust trap bank to loan out to help ensure the cats are coming into your clinic in more appropriate containers?

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Karen Jealous
PDX Cat Trapper
Portland OR
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