TNR Handbook - Neighborhood Cats

Fully assembled, the Setup appears as in
Figure 1: the bottom of the cage is lined with
newspaper. The carrier with the towel inside sits
in a rear corner - whether left or right depends on
which direction the carrier door opens. The door
needs to open towards the side of the cage, not
towards the middle. Side by side to the carrier in
the other rear corner is the litter pan. Ideally, the
pan should fit fairly tight against the side of the
carrier, helping to keep the carrier in place. Food
and water dishes are placed towards the front of
the cage near the cage door. A sheet covers part or
all of the cage.
• Placing the cat inside the Feral
Cat Setup
The Neighborhood Cats TNR Handbook
The way not to place a cat inside the Setup is to try to move the cat directly from a
trap to inside the cage. This is very risky because at the moment both the trap door and
cage door are open, all the cat has to do is exit the trap, twist around and take off. You
won’t be able to pull back the trap and shut the cage door in time to stop him. Instead of
hoping the cat won’t do this, the trick is to already have the cat inside the small carrier,
then simply place the carrier inside the cage.
If the cat is coming back from a visit to the veterinarian or spay/neuter clinic, then
give the carrier (with a towel inside) to the veterinary staff and ask them to put the cat in
there while he’s still sedated. Otherwise, you’ll need to do a trap-to-carrier transfer,
which is described later in this chapter.
Once the cat is in the carrier, follow these steps:
1) Place the carrier containing the cat into the rear corner of the cage, left or right
corner depending on which way the carrier door opens (Figure 2).
2) Slide the yardstick through both sides of the cage so it bars the carrier door from
opening (Figure 3).
Figure 2
Figure 1
Figure 3
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