Before you even think of doing this yourself, please remember that feral cats, dogs, and other wild animals can be dangerous when trapped or surrounded.  Just as equally important is that all though they are animals, these creatures feel and have many of the same behaviors you and I do to pain or injury; so please if you are not willing to devote yourself to making sure you treat these animals with care and compassion even though they may have been wrecking your home, tearing up your your property or maybe even hurt you or your loved ones; don't even attempt to do the following steps, have this done by a professional.  Last but not least; killing, injuring, or purposefully causing harm to any animal CAN and in some cases WILL result in criminal charges that can  place you behind bars and a hefty monetary fine!

First:  Identify your problem causing animal, tipped over garbage containers, torn screen doors usually are because of a dog or depending on your environment.  If you have no loose dogs or no nearby dogs the culprit could be a raccoon, a coyote, a wolf. or maybe even a bear.  Everything I have found on the Internet and by contacting my local game and fish department has told me to not to ever try to trap a wild animal, in most county's or state's bears, wolves and mountain lions/cougars can result in criminal prosecution.  Foul smelling odors around your property, or "small poop," (for a lack of better tems), typically indicates a cat.  Really small poop, small holes with tiny foot traffic around those wholes indicates rat, mouse, or mole infestations.

Main culprits in a suburban setting:     

Cats:

Dogs: (local picture of feral dogs that were probably released by unwanting owners thinking these dogs would have a better life).

Smaller animals:

Mice:

Rats:(Brown rat - most common problem)

Really Large Animals:  (Should be dealt with by professional or Game and Fish)

Bears:

Mountain Lion:

Coyote:

Wolf:

Raccoon:

Now that you have the basic fundamentals, the next is figuring out what the problem is being caused by, how this animal(s) are getting on your property.

For Rats and mice; trapping maybe difficult especially if they are located in your home, usually the vermin are using your house as one for them also.  You'll need to seal off the entrances the animals are using to get into your home, where ever you find a small opening at the base of your hose or the facade under your roof, seal it up.  Now remove any food sources from the place where the rats or mice have been feeding on; this could be the garbage, a leaky water pipe, and /or the house itself!  Rats and mice will eat the wood, drywall, electrical wiring,etc.  Some times you will have to use baited snap traps:

  (humane)   

Using Peanut butter seems to be better than fabled cheese on cartoons, just make sure you place the trap directly on the path of the rodent.  (Greasy trail of dirt along walls and the obvious tell-tale tiny claw prints..) Remember most small rodents, including rats have poor eye sight, especially in dark areas of your home.  These animals more or less will travel alng walls to maintain there route to food or their burrow.

For humane traps seen above, you'll find the easiest way to get what you need off of eBay by searching for is rodent/small animal trap there is usually the same name which includes squirrel, rat, mole mouse trap.

For lethal traps you can find by typing in glue traps (literally paper with extremely gummy surface that you place on the trail/main thoroughfare of the animal in hopes to it stumbling on it.  There are also snap traps where you place bait on them,  also a newer one called a Lynx plastic rat trap which works just like the snap trap, but similar to the glue trap you place it along the path and hope that the rodent will trigger the trap as it passes by.  There are even electric traps which work the same as above, except when the animal travels through or into the trap, the rodent will be electrocuted!  Ultimately the worse part of these types of trap is very morbid, you are going to kill the rodent, and therefore will have the remains to deal with, and if you are not quick enough, the smell.  So I strongly suggest you use a non lethal approach.  Then use your previous fact-finding call to your local municipalities to decide what to do with the creatures.

Cats, although pretty, can become problematic if allowed to roam in your neighborhood, I don't particularly mind when I am awakened at two thirty in the morning by two screeching cats vying over their territory.  But what I do find upsetting is the amount of feces and the horrendous smell of cat urine from the cats "marking" their territory.  Add to that if and when neighborhood cats breed leaving litters of kittens to roam and stray through the neighborhood and become "Ferral," or not human friendly/undomesticated.  Before taking matters into your hands check with your local S.P.C.A., Animal Control,  or Police Department to make sure you do not cross any legal lines and to see if you can not be assisted by them in trapping these cats.  Some agencies may have loaner traps, or may even come out to set the traps, and the very least you have a perfect opportunity to find out what avenues you have for dealing with the animal both before and after you trap it.  Some larger cities have nonprofit organizations that deal with freal cats.  In most citiy laws/codes, it is not illegal for a cat to not be on a leash, only be licensed locally with proof of recent rabies shots.  With that said, if you are having problems with cats as stated above, you should be in your own legal right to humanely capture these animals (check with your local law enforcement to verify this first), and then take the animals to the local shelter and identifying them as strays or problematic animals,  (again, check with your local shelter or animal control agency first).  AT NO TIME ARE YOU ALLOWED TO USE ANY OTHER TRAP EXCEPT A NON-KILL TRAP FOR THIS ANIMAL!!!!  Killing traps, Drowning sets, Leg hold traps (steel jaw and similar), Body Grip or Conibear traps (Traps that  consists of two rectangle frames that slam down on the body and kill the animal), Snares (traps that are hidden under camouflage and will tighten or entangle on a limb or neck of animal to kill it), or last but not last, Dead-fall trap (a suspended piece of material-heavy like wood, metal or concrete suspended above the animal and made to fall and kill it) should NEVER, EVER be even on your mind when trying to capture an animal!  NO where in this guide will you or should you think that I encourage any type of kill/injure mechanism to solve your problem.  You will be caught and arrested and what type of person are you!  To kill an animal is horrible and unbelievably terrible thing to do, and if you have any plans at all to not treat the animal like it wasn't yours then stop before you do something stupid! 

Steps:

Check around your property, once finding the area where the cat is spraying/causing trouble look around.  Do you see a food, water, or some life sustaining source that makes this such a desirable place for the cat?  If so remove the source, by getting rid of it, moving it away, or making it more difficult for the cat to get to it.

If you don't see where the animal is at or the animal is passing through or using your property as a bathroom, find a place near where the animal is entering the property, pathway, whole in the fence, etc: and set up you trap.  By trap I am referring to one below, made by havahart specific model# 1079, it's a spring loaded humane trap which props the front door open and connects to a small piece of metal plate about three quarters of the way into the trap just in front of where one would put the bait (surprisingly 2 tablespoons of wet tuna worked better than cat food or pieces of chicken).  Once set, leave the trap alone, check on it from a distance at least every four hours and in the morning if left over night, (that is the time I had most luck with the trap).  Remember, never leave the trap alone for long periods of time.  Once the trap has captured an animal, you should (keeping your safety in mind first) make sure the animal is not in any harm; not in direct sun, near other animals, or anything that may not cause injury to it - NEVER EVER put a caged or non caged animal in your vehicle unless your ready to take it to the shelter/vet. 

Mission accomplished, Now what?

Once the animal is in the trap, you must immediately work towards getting the animal to the shelter.  This is were your homework by contacting the above services comes in to play, you can drop off the animal at the shelter, if the animal is not feral, there should be no charge or possibly a nominal fee, if the animal is feral, you'll probably end up paying at least twenty dollars or so, as these animals are not available to be adopted out and will unfortunately, but humanely, will be euthanized.  If that is not your cup of tea, you can take the animal to a vet, (if you make prior arrangements), and have the cat sterilized, although this may be tough on the animal, you can then release it back out near your property and not have to deal with the feral cat population getting out of control.  Remember when removing an animal from a trap, there is a very good chance of getting bit or scratched!  Even a domesticated animal, when scared or afraid, will attack.  Some traps especially the havahart series of cat traps have a special door and feature that allows you to move the animal in the trap without injuring the cat or your self.  I personally used thick cotton lined wielding gloves (that extend far up on to my forearm), to prevent from being bit or scratched.   Never use a bucket, canvas, plastic or metal made bag to contain the animal.  I personally use the same trap to carry and contain the animal to the shelter, as the trap will not allow the animal to escape, allows suffecient amount or air flow, allows you to monitor the animal, and in my case safely place water or more food in the trap without fear of being bit, scratched, or releasing the animal.  Place a water proof barrier in your car where you plan to set the cage, (incase the animal deficates or urinates).  Always use common sense when dealing with a caged animal.  

(Did you know one pair of breeding cats which can have two or more litters a year can exponentially produce 420,000 cats in a seven year period!) 

Here is a link for cat traps that would be best for feral cats:

EBay Cat trap search

Search for Feral Cat

There are also sprays and repellants, yet I have not seen much help or results from these, as it typically ends up over time you having to reapply the agent or rain will remove the benefit of the spray causing you to continuously reapply. But this approach is probably the safest and least physically interviening approach so it may appeal to those who don't want to come in close contact with an animal.  Please note that sprays and repellants are usually only effective when used in only small areas, as a deterrent for repeat trespasses on one part of your property.

EBay search for repellant

If it is a dog, that maybe difficult to trap unless you know what size the dog is; specifically traps are based off of weight or size, ie:  20-40lbs or small versus large.  Dogs are also under more strict leash laws.  Usually most animal control departments will respond if a dog is loose, (no leash and the animal is free-roaming).  I strongly recomend that you try to have a professional from your local animal control department try to contain a dog as they are obviously larger and much stronger than a cat; reulting in more expensive traps and more hard work on your part to contain and deliver the animal.  I personally have had only a few episodes where I had to confine a dog, which proved much easier than a cat; as I was able to lock the dogs in my back yard and contact the local animal control to come to my home and pick the animal up.  However if you have a neighbors dog which keeps getting out and into your property, this may result in you having to be more proactive with the situation.  As I hinted above, with dogs, local municipalalties are more likely to respond by you calling them out.  In the city where I live, if you own a dog and the police department receives a complaint about the animal barking, you will receive a letter in the mail notifying the local city code on dog barking, and after three violations (calls from your neighbors), you can be cited, and after that the owner can be forced under the code to surrender a repeating offender (dog), and have to appear in court to fight over wether the owner can keep the dog, (usually resulting in some type of arbitration - the owner having to promise to keep the dog inside or having the vet snip the vocal cords).  Nationwide, the most non-emergency calls police departments receive are barking dog complaints, so the police/sheriff departments are usually motivated in this aspect to respond accordingly.

Here is a search on eBay for dog traps (appropriately sized):

eBay search for Dog trap

Depending on the size of dog you may need to specify "large animal trap," for dogs similar to Rottweiler, Labrador.  Remember if the animal can't fit in the trap, it won't be caught, same goes for too small of an animal, there is a chance that a Dachshund could easily wander in and out of a trap after getting the bait that was placed in a trap made for a larger animal. ie Havahart model# 1079 (large)

Again, there are repellants that tote effective towards dogs, usually, as stated above this will be a locally applied (one part of your home versus all over), to say a trouble spot or one area the dog continues to focus on.

Ebay search for dog repellant

If none of these options seem viable, try researching the issue more online, or by calling a professional exterminator/animal specialist.  Most professionals will tell you that food or water sources are the main reasons for unwanted animals coming on to your property.  The other reason: poor or lacking prevention on the property owners' part, a missing gate, whole in the fence, or trash cans without lids are an open invitation to animals to feast/tear apart your property.

EBay search for animal proof containers (results will vary)

Last but not least, this guide was written to help you make a safe and careful decision on your animal problem.  You should not use any type of trap that is considered a fur or hunting style trap, (listed above under cat problems), although these types of traps are shown on eBay you are required in some states to have a license and can only use the trap for a certain animal, and for certain periods of the year/parts of the state, (usually requiring some type of permit).  If you do not think you can successfully trap the animal without injuring it, DON'T!  Try finding out who the owner is, or as I suggested above, contact your local authorities in charge of loose or wild animals to see what legal and safe avenues you have to correcting your problem.  A troubling phenomenom that occurs throught the nation is the mindset that househeld pets can be released into the wild; aka: forest, agricultural settings, or tribal lands.  Even though domesticated pets like dogs and cats can become feral animals wth no human contact; this does not mean that these animals can fend for themselves.  This grandious idea that your problem pet will live a happy life mousing near a field or tromping through the forest catching their fill of little animals resulting in fulfilling the circle of life is not the case.  Locally, there was a severe problem with people releasing the animals onto a native american trible land which is just a few miles form our local suburbs.  The problem got so out of control that coyote populations skyrocketed from the coyotes being able to sustain themselves off of all the cats and small dogs released by their owners in the hopes that "everything will be fine."   It was even worse for the larger animals that were even shot by tribal police for a lack of  an animal control department.  In retrospect, most domesticated or feral animals DO NOT AND CAN NOT cope in a wild enviroment.  The problem usually originates with some people who find strays, an animal that does not "fit" into the dynamics of family, allergies to the pet from one of the family members, the animal not safe enough around small children, and or, financial hardship resulting in the animal having to go.  I personally do not like animal shelters (especially the ones that have no no-kill  policy), but one has to be honest with themselves when deciding what the best would be for an animal, and sometimes even that is not a very plesant option.  In regards to larger animals, especially wild animals, there is a good chance of you being on the losing end if your traping an animal like a raccoon or coyote goes bad; these animals, (much like domesticated animals when scared) can rip a good chunk right out of you.  These animals including bears, mountain lions/cougars, racoons, and wildcats are usually food driven.  By you or your neighbors feeding; leaving food out purposefully for the intent of the wild coming to your property to feed, or leaving trash out in non animal proof/resistant containers, you are bringing the problem on yourself.  Once a food or water source is removed many times your animal problem will be solved.  Good luck and remember, your actions can cause terrible consequences on the animal's life as well as yours (criminally or financially), most definately if the problem is not taken care of legally and morally.  I hope this guide helps, as it taps all the information I know and was able to find through research and personal experience.

Well, hopefully this helped, if it did please find the "was this guide helpful?" and click yes, thanks.