The very first step is to do some homework on trapping. 

Read through the "How You Can Help Community Cats: A Step-by-Step Guide to Trap-Neuter Return ". 

This will give you an idea of how the process works. 

Once you have done your reading, watch my YouTube video on how to actually set a trap so you know what you are doing. 

 How To Set A Trap For Feral Cats and How to Trap Multiple Cats in One Trap

Now You Will Need To Prepare For Trapping

1. The First thing you want to do is find a clinic near you that does TNR. 

If you are in the Reno/Sparks/Carson area, call Options Veterinary Care OR the Nevada humane society CLINIC to let them know you have feral cats to bring in for TNR. You have to make an appointment so don’t miss this step because it would suck to be turned away with trapped cats in hand. (Their contact info is at the bottom of this page)

2. Find a cat trap (or a few) to borrow or to purchase.

Sometimes the Humane Society will have some to lend out. When I have traps available, I am happy to rent them out. I charge a refundable deposit to make sure my trap is not being held hostage. If not, reach out to the community for help. You'll be surprised at who will help or who has traps. Try posting in your community's Facebook group or ask neighbors.

OR invest in your own. They can be found at Home depot, Lowe's, Feed Stores, and Amazon. The one I most commonly use and trust is this one: Havahart Humane Cat and Small Animal Trap

When you are ready to set the trap you need to follow these guidelines:

•  TNR is on Tuesdays only for Options Vet and Wednesdays for the Humane Society (NHS) so make sure you are trapping accordingly.

This means that you will be trapping the day before which would be either Monday for Options or Tuesday for the NHS.

Drop off for Options Vet is Tuesday morning between 7:15-7:30 am. You will be expected to pick up the cats the same day at 3 pm. 

Drop off for NHS is between 7:30-8:30 am and you are expected to pick up the cats the same day by 3 pm. 

• In order to successfully trap cats, they have to be hungry.

You will need to follow a food schedule for a few days leading up to trapping to ensure they will be hungry the day you plan to trap them.

The food schedule leading up to trapping would look like this:

Sunday- feed half amount that you normally do.

Monday- no food in morning. 

Monday afternoon/evening- only place food in traps. Use canned tuna with the juice. The stinkier, the better.

3. When you are ready to actually set traps on Monday (or Tuesday for NHS), follow these crucial rules:

• MAKE SURE YOU COVER TRAP WITH A LARGE TOWEL THAT COVERS THE ENTIRE TRAP PRIOR TO SETTING TO KEEP CAT SAFE. 

• TRAP SHOULD BE COVERED AT ALL TIMES. THIS PREVENTS INJURY from thrashing around. It is also a good idea to place a small dish towel or piece of cardboard inside the bottom of the trap to protect little toes from going through the trap.

• DO NOT KEEP TRAP SET WITHOUT SUPERVISION. Always have eyes on your traps to ensure that cats are not being stolen, or thrashing around and injuring themselves, or falling victim to predators.

• If it is time for bed for you, YOU NEED TO CLOSE THE TRAP and call it a night. Do NOT leave traps set overnight. This is unsafe.

**Note** - you have to bring cats to the clinic in a trap, not a carrier or you will be turned away. One cat per trap, but if you get two in one trap, that is ok, just bring an extra trap or carrier for them to separate the cats after surgery. When Cats are waking from anesthesia, they are groggy and will fight in the same trap.

4. Once you have a cat in the trap:

• Remove the cat from the situation. You don't want to scare off other cats in the area, and you don't want other cats seeing the trapped cat because they catch on quickly. Bring the cat inside right away, or if you are trapping at a location other than your house, put the cat in the car.

• Once inside and away from other cats, if you can lift up a trap with the help of a partner, get a flashlight and look underneath for any signs of lactating, enlarged nipples, and engorged boobies. If you suspect that a cat is lactating, that means she may have nursing babies out there somewhere. It may be a good idea to release her so the babies don't die. This time of year is the breeding season and starting next month is kitten season so this is a good practice during this time of year. 

• Bring the trapped cat inside overnight to keep safe and warm, such as in a bathroom. If you cannot bring it inside, place it in the next safest location, such as a shed, or garage, or keep it in your car.  Use extra blankets/towels under and over the cat if it must be kept in the garage, shed, etc. The cat cannot stay outside overnight in a trap. it is not safe, it's too cold, and again, you don't want others to see it.

The next morning will be Tuesday and you are to drop off the cat(s) at vet at 7:30 am (I'm saying it again...pick them up the same day at 3)

5. Once you have picked up cats from the vet:

• The cats will need to go back to your house to recover in the trap overnight, and then you can release it back to where it came from on Wednesday morning (or Thursday for NHS TNR).

You CANNOT release a cat the same day it had surgery. Here is why:

1.     They will be loopy from anesthesia and will not be able to fend for themselves and could fall victim to animal attacks, hit by car, etc.

(It would be like dropping off your extremely drunk friend in the middle of the road somewhere far away and wishing them good luck)

2. They will not be able to regulate their body temperature for about 24 hours after anesthesia, so throwing an animal out in the cold could result in death.

•  you need to check in on the animal to make sure that it is RECOVERING from surgery. keep an eye that the animal is not having any abnormal side effects, bleeding, etc. 

• If you feel confident that you can open the trap door just a teeny tiny bit to get some food in there, this is what I do:

get one shallow bowl (not too deep because the taller the bowl, the wider you have to open the trap door.) Put wet food in the bowl, not dry food, and then pour a little bit of water around the food. Do not mix it up, so that they can lap up the water and eat the food. One bowl only in traps maximizes the space they have, and minimizes the times you are opening the trap, which could lead to the cat escaping. 

If you place food and water in there, make sure you are doing it in the bathroom with the door closed in case of escape. IF you don’t feel confident, or if the cat is too alert and a feisty one, don’t risk it. The cat will be fine until the morning. 

6. The next morning is release day! 

Check the cat again to make sure it looks good, that it is alert, no bleeding, etc., and let that kitty go!

 For Friendly Cats and Kittens: You do Not Want to do TNR With Them.

 Kittens that are less than 12 weeks / 3 months old, are young enough to socialize and get adopted into homes.

• You can take these kittens to Washoe County Regional Animal Services aka Animal Control any day of the week during business hours, and for after hours, they have an overnight drop box that you can drop them off in. There will be a phone number on their window to call and someone will walk you through on how to get into the building.

•  If there are any friendly cats, please follow the above advice by taking to animal control. Animal control will transfer the cats to the NHS to be adopted.