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      FIGURE 4-1: Box traps are designed to lure cats inside and then hold them safely until help arrives.

      If you’re trying to work with cats on a university campus, hospital, or military base, check with the maintenance department to see whether they have traps — most do, although you may need to go through some paperwork to use them.

      Setting up veterinary care

      After you trap a cat, leave the animal in the cage and cover with towels so the cat feels protected. Next stop: A veterinarian.

      Talk to your own veterinarian first. She may well be interested in your project and willing to help, and even if she’s not, she’s likely a good source of referral to other veterinarians who are more actively involved in the care of community cats. Your local animal control agency may have programs in place for community cats already, and if so, these programs can really help you!

      Trapping cats

      After you have your trap and your veterinarian is on standby, you’re ready to get down to the business of catching cats. Make sure that the trap is clean to start with. Scrub with hot, soapy water and follow with a spray of diluted bleach (a half cup of bleach to a gallon of water will do). If you can manage it, prepare several traps at once. Cats quickly become wary of the traps after seeing others caught, and your best chance may well be a mass trapping.

      Set the trap in a protected area, such as under a bush, or in the shade of a fence or building. Cover the trap with an old towel or blanket to make the cat feel more secure after he has been captured.

If you set out more than one trap, position them so that they’re out of sight of one another. Set the trap according to the instructions that came with it, and choose something irresistible as bait. A common recommendation is canned cat food. Another hit with cats is canned mackerel, which is relatively inexpensive and very smelly!

      Spaying and neutering cats

Discuss with your veterinarian what medical care the cat needs in addition to altering, which prevents “more littering” (see Figure 4-2). You’ll likely want the animals tested for infectious disease, treated for parasites, and vaccinated. Any cat who turns up positive for feline leukemia (FeLV) should be placed in a single-cat home, if the cat is friendly, or humanely killed if a placement cannot be found. A tough call, to be sure, but part of the deal when you care for community cats.

      Once you’ve turned a neutered community cat loose again, you won’t be able to catch the animal again to have stitches removed, which is why it’s essential that the veterinarian use a technique that doesn’t require the animal to be returned to have the stitches removed.

      Releasing cats

      Bring a carrier to the veterinarian so the animal doesn’t have to be returned to the trap — you’ll need that for more trapping after all. Your veterinarian will put the cat in your carrier while he’s still unconscious. Take him home and leave him in the carrier, in a quiet place. Have food and water available, but leave him alone otherwise. When the cat is fully conscious, he can be released to his old stomping grounds.

      Miss Parker/Photo by Susan R. Scheide

      FIGURE 4-2: Cats should be spayed or neutered as soon as kittens are weaned.

Line the carrier with newspapers, and with an old towel. The cat will likely relieve himself when he wakes up, so you want something absorbent in the carrier to keep him as comfortable as possible.

      Housing considerations

      While many caretakers don’t worry about shelter for their community cats, especially in warmer

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