Trapping Mom with Kittens

As a trapper and TNR advocate, you'll often face some difficult trapping situations during kitten season. The most important thing to remember - do not take a mother away from young kittens and do not take young kittens from their mother. It's a package deal. But, first, assess whether or not you need to trap these kittens and their mom now, or if it can wait. Here are some helpful guidelines:

• The kittens are 8 weeks old or older
• The kittens and/or mom appear to be sick or injured
• The kittens are in an unsafe environment 

As hard as it may be, if these guidelines don't apply, you should leave the kittens and mom where they are for the time being. You can do your part by making sure they have access to food and shelter until you are able to trap them. 

When trapping kittens, it can be tricky. Kittens are quick and moms are really protective. You may have to get creative with how you trap them. Here are some tips:

• Make sure you have enough traps to get everyone - 1 trap per cat or kitten. So, if you're trapping mom and a litter of 4, make sure you have 5 traps.
• Sometimes using kitten sized traps may work better. Often referred to as squirrel traps, these are never appropriate for adult cats, but they work great for kittens.
• Drop traps work really well for these types of situations. You can trap everyone at one time and make it a little less stressful.

Some techniques that we've found work well for trapping mom and kittens:

1. Use a drop trap to trap: This works really well when mom and the kittens eat together. Place a big plate of food under the drop trap. Extend your rope to drop the trap as far back as possible - we usually do at least 20 to 25 feet. You'll need to stay out of sight. And, make sure you always have more than one person as transferring into regular traps can be tricky!
2. Try a trap train: When a kitten goes into a trap, cover it on all but the back side. Set another trap directly in front of that trap and cover them both. This looks like a dark tunnel to their littermate. This works for mom too!
3. Crying kitten sounds on YouTube: Mom's instinct will be to hide when her babies are in traps. It's very important that you do not leave her there. She needs to be spayed - and you don't want to kitten-nap! You can play kitten crying sounds on your phone and set it near a trap and cover everything. That may draw her out and into a trap.