So Many Kittens Underneath the Shed, Update 1
This morning, Darwin set the traps, baited with wet food, after I left for work. Within an hour, the mother was in the first trap. Darwin left her in it and moved the other traps so they were next to hers. Not much later, we had two kittens in each trap. When Darwin went outside to check them, he found the remaining kittens sleeping on top of the mother's trap. She growled when he approached. The kittens sprang awake and bolted away.
Darwin is working at home today and couldn't spend hours dealing with the cats, so he had to leave things as they were. When I got home, we both went out to have a look at the situation.
The doors to the traps open by sliding upward. I realized we could combine the traps by facing the doors to each other, sliding them up, and shooing the kittens from one trap into another. Then we'd have a free trap, and the kittens would feel better.
We did this, and it worked very well. Then I thought, why not do that for the mother? So did it again, creating a mother-kitten corridor. Except the mother refused to leave her trap, and the kittens refused to leave their trap. I finally crouched down and blew a few puffs of air on the kittens. They backed away from this and finally noticed their mother was waiting for them at the other end of the double trap. They ran over to her, and we closed the doors.
Three more kittens to go!
I set the empty traps on either side of the occupied traps, and left. About twenty minutes later, I came downstairs to take out the trash and saw one black kitten in one of the traps, one calico kitten sleeping on top of the mother's trap (we'd covered the trap with a blanket to make the cats feel more secure) and one gray kitten crouched near the shed. I was able to slip up close to the trap. The crouching kitten saw me and scampered away, but the calico was too dead asleep. I reached down and YOINK! I had it gently by the scruff. It went limp--carrying reflex. I put in and the black kitten the main trap with the others, reset the two traps, and left.
One more kitten to go!
We'll see what happens next...
comments
Darwin is working at home today and couldn't spend hours dealing with the cats, so he had to leave things as they were. When I got home, we both went out to have a look at the situation.
The doors to the traps open by sliding upward. I realized we could combine the traps by facing the doors to each other, sliding them up, and shooing the kittens from one trap into another. Then we'd have a free trap, and the kittens would feel better.
We did this, and it worked very well. Then I thought, why not do that for the mother? So did it again, creating a mother-kitten corridor. Except the mother refused to leave her trap, and the kittens refused to leave their trap. I finally crouched down and blew a few puffs of air on the kittens. They backed away from this and finally noticed their mother was waiting for them at the other end of the double trap. They ran over to her, and we closed the doors.
Three more kittens to go!
I set the empty traps on either side of the occupied traps, and left. About twenty minutes later, I came downstairs to take out the trash and saw one black kitten in one of the traps, one calico kitten sleeping on top of the mother's trap (we'd covered the trap with a blanket to make the cats feel more secure) and one gray kitten crouched near the shed. I was able to slip up close to the trap. The crouching kitten saw me and scampered away, but the calico was too dead asleep. I reached down and YOINK! I had it gently by the scruff. It went limp--carrying reflex. I put in and the black kitten the main trap with the others, reset the two traps, and left.
One more kitten to go!
We'll see what happens next...
comments
No comments have been added yet.
