# I got "help" trapping today



## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

I was getting ready to go out and set the trap. My 4 year old nephew wanted to come with me, partly because I was going outside and partly because he wants to help me with everything anyway.
As we walked across the yard, he points to the can of tuna and explains how good he is at feeding cats. "I feed my kitty all the time. I did this morning, too!" So I told him he could feed for this, too.
We get there, and I took the blanket off the trap so we could get the tuna in the back of it. I showed Ryan (my nephew) how to get a fork-full of tuna and drop it into the very back of the trap. Then I told him to put a little more right inside the doorway.
I explained that they go in to eat the food, and the door shuts behind them and makes them stuck in the trap so I can catch them. "That's genius!" he shouted. It was so adorable!
After the trap was set, he kneels a couple feet away "I'll wait right here for them." I told him that he was blocking the way they come out of the woods (he was literally sitting right in front of the bramble-tunnels!), and we had to go away farther. So we started crossing the yard, and he said he would wait on the porch. But I told him we had to go in the house and hide, or they would run away. "They're the wild kitties, they run away from us, remember?" (we have a 'tame' outdoor cat that he chases her and squeal-laughs and she runs from him, so he has dubbed her 'the wild kitty').

Now that I think about it, I really hope that the smell of another person at the feeding station won't discourage them. I really want to get everybody taken care of as soon as possible, in a few weeks, not spend months at it like last year!


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## suwanee (Jan 22, 2011)

That's so sweet and cute. I was waiting for something uber-dramatic like he got stuck in the trap or something. Whew. Glad it was more educational for him & less hysterical.


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

I've hurt my fingers (pinched, slammed in, etc) setting the trap, and glad he didn't ask to do that part. I would'a said no!
Just like when he wants to help me sew stuff... He does the "not dangerous" part - I let him push the foot pedal, but I guide the cloth under the needle.

And of course nobody showed up at the feeding station today. BLEH! 
It's either the new smell, or they're getting smart about the routine. At 3 P.M. I close the trap and set out the regular food, because none of the places I can take them to will let me take them after 3. And I know you're not supposed to feed the day before trapping, but for me that's every weekday... and Zinny is 11 months old and still barely weighs 5 pounds, so I don't want to deprive her of food if I don't have to. If I didn't love them so much, all this frustration would make me give up!


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