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1.  Rent a Trap

Trap Rental Agreement

  • Text ABC at 254-776-7303 to confirm availability (or call). Squirrel-size traps are not cat safe and won't be accepted. 

  • Pick up traps at the front desk- 3238 Clay Avenue, Waco, Tx, 76711

  • Pay $50 deposit per trap for one week of use. If you like, the deposit will be returned when the trap is returned to us, use it toward the cost of care, or donate it to help the clinic's community work. 

  • Sign the Trap Rental Agreement and go through a quick orientation, if needed.

  • Questions: Call, text 254-776-7303, or email centexoutreach@gmail.com. 

  • Costs of care: Cat Neuter $35, Cat Spay $45, Rabies $15, for a very limited time, we have the feline vaccinations at no charge. If you need financial help with the cost of the surgery or rabies vaccination portion, ask clinic staff if funds are available when you rent a trap and prior to services.

  • Cats in traps do not need an appointment, but must get an eartip. If you don't want an eartip for a cat, schedule an appointment to bring the cat in a carrier or crate. 

2.  Trapping

  • Use a predictable feeding schedule to increase likelihood of swift trapping success. Don't overfeed prior to trapping. 

  • Pick a discrete area near where the cats normally eat.

  • Set the traps on grass or another surface that will not get hot or on a blanket/sheet. 

  • Prep: The feeding prior to planned trapping, place a spoonful of food just inside the unset trap to help the cat be comfortable with the trap. 

  • Check traps often (within 15-30 minutes) after setting them. 

  • When you trap a cared-for, eartipped cat, release it or set it aside if you have more than one trap or it keeps going in after the food. 

  • Kittens can receive surgery and rabies vaccine at 3lbs / 12 weeks of age, so plan trapping for them. Although they are quite small, they do great. This also catches the many that go into heat to begin reproducing around 4 months of age. If in doubt on size, text a good photo to the main ABC line. 

  • Female cats go into heat while they are still nursing kittens, so act quickly. Ask staff for the trapping process for a mother with unweaned kittens. 

  • Don't take pediatric kittens away from nursing mothers.

  • Mothers move their kittens 2-4 times before they are weaned. Allow her to care for them. See more here: https://www.wacoanimalguide.com/kitten-help​​

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3. Transport the Trapped Cat

  • Cover the trap with a sheet or towel to calm the cat for the time near humans and for the ride.

  • Bring cat in the trap, do not attempt to open or transfer the cat to a carrier, or separate two cats that may've been trapped at once. We will separate. 

  • Bring trapped cats in Monday through Thursday between 7:15am and 5pm.​ (avoid Thursdays 3-4pm). No trapped cats on Fridays without special clinic management approval.

  • Cats in carriers or crates require appointments. 

  • You may bring up to 5 trapped cats in at a time without special approval. ​

  • To avoid an extra trip to return the trap, bring your own cat carrier on the morning of the last cat. The cat will wake in the carrier, so you can release the cat on the morning after surgery like usual.  

  • If you don't feel you've gotten all of the cats in your group or area including the shy ones that don't allow you to see them, review our Advances Trap Tips and/or ask to chat with ABC's TNR experts.

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4.  Return the morning after surgery

  • Release to the cat's outdoor home where it relies on knowledge of food, water, shelter, predators, traffic patterns, and familiar cats and humans.

  • Continue trapping right away for the shyest cats that won't allow themselves to be seen by you, or return trap to clinic quickly (they are needed by many others in our community giving them care).

  • If you need to keep the trap(s) longer than one week, email centexoutreach@gmail.com or text/call the clinic at (254) 776-7303.​

  • We have a limited trap bank, so fees will be charged for traps returned after a week unless you communicate with the Outreach team; 2 week max.

  • MAINTAIN: this is a critical part of TNR. A new cat will roam and need to join your group at some point. Act FAST to prevent a litter that will set you behind. ABC doesn't have unlimited resources to support litters that can be prevented. Assume that the new cat is there to stay, is likely female and already in heat. Trap within one week of seeing a new cat that may be scouting a location for it's next reproductive cycle. 

  • Prepare to adjust your feeding amounts up or down to meet the needs of your cats. Seasons, numbers of cats, activity levels, etc, will affect how munch food they need. 

  • Thirty minutes of food, twice a day is the nationally recommended feeding guideline. If your cats have eaten in less than 30 minutes, leave a little more at the next feeding. If the cats have food left after 30 minutes, reduce at the next feeding. 

  • Avoid leaving food available after dark, as this brings interactions with wildlife that have other food sources better suited to them. This reduces spread of disease and perils for pets and people and reduces risk from other members of the ecosystem food chain. 

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