Life 9 Rescue

Cats in Traps – are they Feral?

There’s a cat in your trap! Yikes! He’s thrashing around, growling, hissing, slapping at you as you approach the trap - he’s feral, right???

One of the BIGGEST misconceptions in trapping is the one that promotes the belief ANYONE can tell that a cat is feral in a trap. We don’t care if you are the Cat Whisperer of all time – we won’t believe you if you say “that cat in the trap is feral”. Now – many TAME cats are obviously tame in the trap, but that one is easy. He’s meowing and head butting the trap, and purring and kneading the air as he talks to you – yes, that cat in the trap is tame :) But feral? Not so easy.

How many people do you know who have a lap cat, a sweetheart who just LOVES his people – yet if a stranger comes in, will bolt and act like the monster of all time has appeared? Or is your fur-baby scared of his own shadow, hides under the bed? What would these cats do if trapped outside?

Some time ago we encountered 2 examples of this that made us think “how do we get this message across?” The first was with a homeowner who had trapped a cat and “boy is he FERAL! He’s sticking his arms through the bars trying to get me, just throwing himself at me – he’s a mean one boy!” The second was the opposite “this cat is not feral, he meowed at me and didn’t move when I touched him through the trap”.

The first cat? The human had left a trap outside, uncovered, all day long – this cat had been caught and exposed to the elements AND visual terror all day – then, at the end of it a human walks up and stands over him to see “if he’s feral”. We’d like to put that human in a trap… oh, excuse me! 😊 I meant, we kindly offered to take this cat, promising we would not return him. And that cat went into a very large cage with a “safe” hiding spot, was eating his canned food, using his litter box, hiding but not acting aggressive. That cat was terrified – there is NO way you can assess any cat in a trap after an ordeal like that. He was given a minimum of 2 weeks to relax and adjust, and guess what? Totally tame. And went into a home.

The second cat? He has lived in a colony all his life – born and raised feral, but fed by a caregiver every day. He knows people are the source of good things, and has been partially socialized. While it is true that a true feral does not meow at you in a trap, there are MANY stages of socialization between true feral and tame. This cat is not tame, and he was released to live in that managed colony. Thankfully, that meow may have saved his life, because cats in traps who land in a shelter and are deemed to be feral may be killed.

We as rescuers have often asked others how they are assessing a cat as “feral”. One horrifying example was “if you poke him with a pencil in the trap and he bites it or growls/slaps at you, he’s feral”. We’ve heard “he is frozen in the back of the trap, he hissed at me, he slapped at me, his ears are flattened, he’s growling…” all of these observations need to be part of the assessment of a cat, but NOT WHEN HE’S IN A TRAP! We’ve even had people shocked when their own pet cat was trapped, to have that cat growl and slap at them. Cats in traps are animals in danger – they know they are trapped, and their self-preservation kicks in. Until that cat can be in a “safe” spot where he is no longer feeling threatened, he’s likely to be “feral”.

Rescuers who do a lot of trapping DO develop a sense of “feral”, but they know you cannot always tell. We share this message in the hopes that it circulates to those who might buy/borrow a trap to get that “feral” in their backyard –please, look for experienced rescuers to help you assess the cat, and please know if you take that “feral” to a shelter they may have to kill him. Shelters don’t WANT to kill healthy cats – but there are not enough cells to hold all the unwanted cats. Shelters nationwide are embracing TNR, knowing this is a way they can promote saving lives, not ending them. Don’t trap and take cats to shelters; TNR – trap/neuter/return them. And if you plan to assess them, know you must give them time. Time to relax, to feel safe, to trust. Time to know you care 😊

(PS - the cat in the picture was feral)