How To Trap a Community Cat For Spay-Neuter Purposes

Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is the trapping community aka feral cats, spay or neutering them, and returning them to live outside, ideally in the same location from which they came.

A Step by Step Guide on Feral Cat TNR by Alley Cat Allies

Excellent video on How To Trap Feral Cats by Alley Cat Allies

Detailed video on How To Trap Feral Cats by Kitten Lady

How to Catch Hard-to-Trap Cats by Neighborhood Cats

Full Instructions on How to Use a Drop Trap by Neighborhood Cats
  Note: A drop trap is different than the standard box-style trap.  A drop trap is used when a feral cat refuses to go in a box-style trap, or one is trying to catch a particular feral cat, such as the last cat in the colony that still needs spay-neuter.
Please see Drop Trap photos on this page.

How to Catch Feral Mom Cat & Kittens by Alley Cat Allies

Need to Borrow a Feral Cat Trap for TNR?
Contact: Stray Hearts aka Taos Humane: 575-758-2981. Stray Hearts charges a $20 fully refundable deposit per trap. Other options: Taos Feral Feline Friends 575-758-3519 in Ranchos de Taos, or Northern New Mexico Friends of Animals 575-586-0784 (in Questa), or Taos County 575-737-6488 or Town 575-758-2645 Animal Control, or Four Corners Animal League 575-776-2928.

Want to Buy a Feral Cat Trap?
Havahart Feral Cat Traps and Tomahawk Cat Traps can be bought on Amazon.com as well as directly from the manufacturer, and Randall Lumber Ranch & Feed. Tractor Supply Store in Taos sells feral cat traps for ~$30; they aren't as high quality as Havahart/Tomahawk, but they'll do the job short term.

    Spay-Neuter Resources for Community Cats in Taos County

For more information on feral cats, such as how to care for a feral cat colony, how to protect feral cats in the winter, how to age & socialize feral kittens so that they can be adopted as pets, etc., please go to our Feral Cat page within Animal Care.

Feral cat who is spayed as indicated by tipped right ear. Photo copyrighted.

Cat trapped in feral cat trap. For photo purposes: Trap not lined with newspaper to show trigger plate.

Cat inside of feral cat DROP style trap. String is tied to temporary support bar. The string is pulled when cat is fully within trap.

Cat trapped inside of DROP style feral cat trap. Transfer cage will then be attached to side.