TNR advice for novice

[MokunMokun]

There was a stray kitten in my neighbourhood who is now a cat. I feel bad whenever I see him but he is not people friendly despite my efforts to befriend him. I'm planning to trap, get him neutered and then release him but I'm absolutely shitting myself about the whole thing so could use some moral support.

I'm not in the UK but have been in contact with a TNR friendly vet. I have forms to claim money back from the local government.

Step 1 - fill in the forms and collect cage from cat charity
Step 2 - visit neighbour and ask her to sign the form and help with the trapping as she feeds him most mornings. I'm a bit worried about this step
Step 3- trap the cat and call vet
Step 4 - take cat to vet

It seems so easy! The vet will give a 40% discount on neutering if I allow him to clip the cat's left ear. I know this is common but I feel a bit bad about it.

My neighbour is a real cat lover and feeds local strays but I'm not sure how she will feel about getting the cat done. I'm wondering if I might be better talking to our local neighbourhood leader first and asking her to sign the form and chat with cat-lady next door.

I don't quite understand why you feel bad, you are doing the right thing.

Are you worried the neighbour is anti neutering?.

I feel bad that I haven't done anything about him yet. Sounds silly, I know! I don't know why I'm so nervous about the whole thing. I've just never done anything like this before and my old neighbours were so furious when I rescued our cat. We were so glad to move to a pet friendly neighbourhood.

The cat in question really won't be happy to be caught though but it has to be done!

I'm not sure about next door. She is very nice and friendly but last time I mentioned the cats she kind of brushed me off. I know my neighbour on the other side is pro-neutering so he might sign the form and I can just get up at 5am and trying and trap him here.

I'm sure it will all be fine. I'm just a bit nervous for some reason. Has anyone here done TNR?

I spend my life trapping/neutering/returning. I use a manual trap, not an automatic, which ensures I catch the particular cat I'm aiming for. But you might not have a choice of traps. I never feel guilty that the cat won't like it! I know I'm doing the cat a favour.

He will need to be kept in for a few days afterwards. You can put him in a spare room if you have him, or even, if it's a large trap, keep him in the trap with a bed and small litter tray. You might find, as soon as he's inside, he becomes magically tame. That often happens. I often trap a very wary cat only to find he/she becomes the tamest snugglebug as soon as they're in a pen/spare room.

Thank you! I think that is partially what I am afraid of. My cat had an operation last year and it was so stressful as he hates the vet, hates the carrier, hates the cage, hates being kept in. He drove me crazy! I would be very pleased if we could tame the stray. He's very sweet and sometimes wanders into the house but runs away if you try and approach him. My husband tried to pick him up once and still bears the scars . We do have a spare room so he can stay overnight there. We have a cage but I'm scared of transferring him if he scratches or goes crazy.

He will need to stay with you for five days ideally, to allow the wound to heal so it doesn't get infected when he goes out.

See if you can also borrow a crush cage when you borrow the trap. That will allow you to transfer him between cages/traps etc without too much problem.

Oh, no! I just went to let my cat outside and the stray was there but his tail looks badly injured. I can't tell if it has been severed or if it is all balled up. I will go to the cat rescue and get the cage tomorrow and try and get him sorted asap. Poor chap! He doesn't seem in pain though but I guess it is hard to tell.