Around where I live, you can borrow traps from County Animal Control,
but there's a waiting list. When I went to trap Samuel I rented a trap
from the local feed store (yes, even in crowded Southern California we
still have feed stores). I seem to recall it cost me $10 for a weekend.

Dan

Purrs that you can catch him/her. I don't really have any useful
advice - the only time I tried to trap a cat was a miserable failure.
That was with Rocky while he was still wild, and I ended up having
togain his trust over time. Doesn't sound like an option is there's a
too tight collar involved, so hope someone with more experience can
give you some hints.

One thing I remember from an earlier thread was the suggestion that
you rig the trap so that you can open the door without getting too
close. Just in case you do trap some critter you want to keep your
distance from, ie shunk.

Probably don't need to tell you this, but remember to make frequent
checks of the trap. The reason Rocky is so trap wary is because he was
trapped by a neighbor after a possum, and the poor guy was stuck
inside for a hot Oklahoma summer afternoon.

Don't you just love it when someone starts out saying they don't have
any suggestions, then proceeds to come up with some anyway ;-)

gs,

I've had luck borrowing traps from a couple of my local cat rescue groups,
CatNipped -- have you had a chance to call around?  If that doesn't work, I
just did a web search for humane cat traps and came up with this site:
http://growersupply.com/live.html

I also found this site which may be helpful, too!
http://www.happytails.org/images/trapcat.pdf

Other stuff re trapping:

First get stray kitty used to being fed by you on a regular feeding
schedule, -- be sure you try to establish dusk  as the time you feed because
ferals are more likely to be able to get the food then your possum and/or
raccoons who will be out when it gets darker.  After you get the kitty used
to being fed at this time then you can try putting the trap out with the
door tied open so the kitty gets used to seeing it and can even walk in with
out anything scary happening.  Then I try putting the food dish closer the
trap (still with the door tied open) and so forth -- you can see where this
is going.  I'd probably not leave food out overnight though or you will get
nocturnal visitors.  You'll end up at the point where you're ready to
actually set the trap.  I had help trapping the first rescues I attempted
from one of the local cat rescue ladies -- I was trapping cats living under
the school library building at my kids' elementary school.  I'd set the
trap(s) (I borrowed 2) after school let out and the kids were gone and/or
also on Saturdays and Sundays and the rescue lady was kind enough to go down
in early evening on weekdays to see if anyone was caught.  She also said
never leave them in traps overnight (too dangerous for them she said).

Well, neutering used to involve removing or reducing the size of the
testicles (someone correct me if I'm wrong here!)but now I think some vets
just leave the sacs and remove the inner stuff.  To be sure I'd try to make
an arrangement for your vet to check the kitty out -- what I did was warn my
long-suffering vet about the rescue ahead of time and see if you can set up
some kind of plan together and inform the other vet staff you may be
calling/coming in with a critter-- my vet was also very nice to me and made
sure I got a 20% rescue discount on my strays -- it doesn't hurt to ask...

I wish you all the best, CatNipped -- I just thought of another link that
may be useful to you:
http://www.campuscats.org/articles/tiger.html

Hope this helps and let me know if I can do anything else!
Christine

...>

I bought a humane trap at a local feed store when I trapped Rosie.  I used
smoked salmon as bait.
When my daughter trapped a barn cat last summer, a co-worker loaned her a
trap, and she also used smoked salmon.
It worked like a charm for us both.
It is important to arrange ahead of time with a vet who knows how to handle
feral or hard stray cats.  You'll probably need to bring the cat to the vet
while he or she is still inside the trap.
That flea collar really needs to come off.
I'll ask the formerly feral Rosie to purr some extra purrs for the gray cat.
Annie

after reading though the posts, I saw you said your vet was open on
saturday.. the question I would have for you is will they sedate on a
saturday.  At the clinic I work for, we are short staffed on saturday,
because we only do surgery on week days.  If the cat is as skittish once in
captivity as you think he will be, they might have to sedate him to do a
proper exam and to get the collar off.  Call them up, tell them your plans,
and see what they suggest.

You asked about neutering too.  Where I work, we remove the testicles.  The
doctors can tell with a quick grope if the cat has been neutered, and can
usually tell at a glance (or a sniff) if he isn't.  Unneutered males smell
like someone forgot to wear deodorant, then went on a 40 day hike.

Unfortunately I don't know of a good way to ensure you catch the one you are
after.  I would suggest you call local rescue groups or shelters to see if
they have a trap you can borrow, but someone already did that :D

Good luck! I'll be thinking of you