Dear Hideyo: We are only able to treat the feral cats while we have them under anesthesia, which is why we end up doing so much to them at one time, even though that is a lot of stress for a cat to handle all at once -- surgery, vaccination, defleaing, worming, etc. It is unlikely these cats will ever have another chance to get any treatment and we try to give them the best chance we can.
I've had some young cats/kittens go into the traps more than once, but the adults get trap savvy in a hurry and are unlikely to make that mistake twice unless very, very hungry. With some of the older females it has taken months to years to get them trapped and of course in the meantime they keep having kittens. The kudos should go to the vets who work with this program...they don't need to give up a Sunday a month to donate their time and expertise for the dubious pleasure of spaying/neutering a bunch of feral cats, although by the time the vets doing the surgery see the cats, they are under anesthesia so aren't the ones who risk being bitten/scratched taking them out of the traps and adminstereing the anesthesia. I have yet to work on the team that does that and I do wonder how they go about it with no one getting hurt. I know in doing trapping and transfering cats from traps to holding cages or into carriers/back into traps to be S/N, I've been bitten and scratched countless times, but so far only ended up in an ER on one occasion. My admiration is also for kind, caring people such as you who feed and care for the ferals on an ongoing basis and bring them in to be spayed and neutered. It takes many of us to make a difference for the sake of so many homeless cats who have ended up in rather desperate circumstances through no fault of their own. It is irresponsible humans who have helped to create the situation and responsible humans like us have to step forward and say the buck stops here to try and resolve it, not just turn away and let "someone else" do it. Thanks for your kind words of support. One of our goals is for this kind of effort to spread and that vets in other areas can be encouraged to give to this very worthy cause. Sally in San Jose
