process of a trap and neuter program

[Desley (booktigger)]

Good luck.
Our leaflets actually state a figure of 10,924, but it is based on a low number of litters and kittens.

[Millys Mum]

Metal cote are really helpful, definately worth a call 

Well done for getting it all in motion, be prepared for the onslaught!

What do you plan to do with heavily pregnant queens and kittens that are young enough to tame? Better have another barn for socialising     your poor hubby doesnt know what hes letting himself in for 

[maccat]

we are in burgundy and like most parts of France not enough young people are here, so I think the locals look on us as new life for the area!  I just got married and the locals keep asking when we will have a child - i just reply no i am a little overweight! LOL

i think the major would rather we do a fundraiser to help keep the local school going but he has animals himeself so is sympathtic to the cause.  the battle isn't over convincing the major is one thing getting the locals to support it is another thing.  we have an event tonight where we plan to ask locals and those in surrounding area if they would attend.

thanks for the links

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Wow, you really have got them to take you seriously! 

http://www.metalcote.co.uk/products.html

http://www.mdcexports.co.uk/

What part of France is all this happening in? 

BTW, yes the stats are true BUT a lot of kittens born in the wild will perish through predation (hawks and foxes), starvation, genetic weakness and deformity. 

[maccat]

This is all really helpful.   Basically we are renovating an old barn and have over an acre of land.  At the bottom we plan to have a vegetable patch and orchard so what I can plan in is a shed which could also act as a 'rehabilitation unit' for the females.

To kickstart my resuce antics we had a meeting with the major (who thinks i am a little crazy but can see the benefit to the local area) and what we are looking at is initially a 'fund' to help locals pay to neuter their cats (lots of people take kittens and strays in but dont really have the money for vet fees).   We will act as a pick up and drop off for the cats to our local vet (who will only charge us a basic price for the operation and will do a check up for free!).   The Major will let us use the local village hall to do a fundraiser, we are planning on one for the autumn where i plan to do an english night (locals love the brits here!)  he asked if we could cook a steak & kidney pie with mash and sticky toffee pudding and custard for desert - easy peasy   So this should help start raising money to treat residential cats who to be honest are as much of a problem as the feral colonies.  I will probably reinstate petmillions pet contest to help raise money and target expats as well as other brits back home.

Is this a true fact? If one cat is allowed to breed and all the kittens from that cat are allowed to breed in 7 years you will have 21,000 cats.

We will start with the fund raisers and then can look at the trap and neuter next year once we have the rehabilitation side setup as I now see this is key.  Dawn it will be great if you have a link for the traps - we are having out stuff shipped out soon and want to get a couple of traps sooner rather than later.

I have to do something otherwise I will become the crazy cat woman of france!

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Helen, here's another method to consider rather. If you've access to a decent carpenter, you should be able to knock up a few drop traps quite cheaply. Maybe the local school or technical college would like to assist you in this challenge?  A few yards of 2x3 and a roll of chicken wire will do the track. Celia Hammond can be sweet-talked into sending you a design they've created. But they are wary about who they send them to so be prepared to be grilled about your motives. 

The same carpenter, if he/she's any good, should be able to construct a fairly good containment pen to keep the darlings in when they recover. 

At the same time, it does need mentioning that wood is blooming difficult to clean. So arm yourself with a decent puss friendly disinfectation like Trigene. 

Oh... we could make your head spin with our accumulated ideas! 

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

It's hard to judge who will go in the trap tbh, you just have to wait and see.  If possible, I concentrate on the females but this doesn't always work.  Females I usually keep 7-10 days for recovery period, this is in case the stitches come undone or they decide to pull them out, if it's safe to do so, they are released back to where they came from.  Males can be released the following day after surgery but need at least one night for recovery and to get the anaesthetic out of their system.  I'll have a look for the link for traps, I think Trap man on Ebay from what I recall, but can't remember how much.  A decent one you're looking at just over £100, I loaned one of my good ones out to an old guy, he was keeping it in his garage for me, sadly he died and my trap disappeared    The cheaper traps, I think you're looking at around £25-30.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Someone will be able to give you better advice than this, but it is best to get every cat in the colony, but females tend to be priority, as males can still reproduce for up to 6 weeks after being done. How long they get kept tends to vary really, but I think it is overnight to a couple of days for a male, and as long as possible for a female. Vets tend to let them go the same day, so cages would be needed till they can be released.

[maccat]

can anyone shed any light on the process of trap and neuter... questions like

do you focus on females, or both?
where can you buy traps from and estimate cost per trap
after the vet has done the operation how long does a cat need to stay at the vet and do they need to be kept in a shelter or let back in the wild

thanks in advance
helen x