I caught the cat!!!!

**madhen** · 03-05-2011, 01:04 PM

I have had a stray cat coming to my house for several months now. He has a hurt foot, and he always limps, but he has been very savvy about avoiding the cat trap.

Well, last night, his stomach must have been louder than his brain, because he fell for the old "tuna in the cat trap" trick!

He is at the vet right now. He was very stressed out, from being in a trap all night, then a truck ride, then having a bunch of strangers looking at him while a frantic dog barked in the exam room next door, so they are going to sedate him (?), then check him out. If he is healthy, they are going to neuter him, vaccinate him, and I'll be picking him back up this afternoon.

I am so RELIEVED that I caught this stupid cat!! Every time I see him limping up to the food dish, I feel so terrible that he is out fending for himself. I am hoping the foot is something that can be fixed, although it might be interesting if he is going to need antibiotics.

Depending on how the day goes, I'll try to post a pic. Forgot to take one of him after I trapped him, but all the staff at the vet's office were ooh-ing over how cute he is.

**pollypurebred39** · 03-05-2011, 01:10 PM

You've got such a good heart MadHen.

**madhen** · 03-05-2011, 01:14 PM

Thanks. It is a matched set to my empty wallet.

**frugalfranny** · 03-05-2011, 02:30 PM

Glad you were able to catch him.

What ever happened to that 'other one' you had for awhile??

Do you have coyotes, eagles, hawks, and wolves up where you are at? (I say 'up' as I have a friend that lives in Elk Grove!)
They keep the cat population down.

**mauimagic** · 03-05-2011, 02:31 PM

You caught the stupid cat!! WTG MH!! That is one lucky kitty!!

**OOwl** · 03-05-2011, 04:23 PM

I bet he tames down really quickly if you have to administer antibiotics to him and keep him confined while his foot (and surgery) heals. That is a very fortunate cat. Not many would go to such measures to help him. Thank you for doing so.

**tervsforme** · 03-05-2011, 04:59 PM

If anyone could catch a cat you could. You are so good with animals, what a lucky cat to have found your house...

**Vanilla** · 03-05-2011, 05:44 PM

Lucky kitty. Great job, madhen!

**pinetree** · 03-05-2011, 05:50 PM

Great job, hope he heals quickly, he sure found a good home!!

**krbshappy71** · 03-05-2011, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by madhen

Thanks. It is a matched set to my empty wallet.

I hear that, you are an inspiration to me.

I have got to get out of debt so I can do more for the animals I love and the animals that need our love. (without jeopardizing my current situation) The cat may not thank you for this, but the rest of us do!

**Ramona** · 03-05-2011, 06:21 PM

He's a lucky little guy ♥

**madhen** · 03-05-2011, 06:57 PM

Update on the stupid feral cat!!

Turns out "he" is a SHE. As suspected, her left front leg was broken. Or, more accurately, BOTH bones in her front leg had been broken and re-broken multiple times, probably by her trying to use the leg before it had a chance to heal completely. The bones are just starting to heal, and while they aren't straight (overlapping each other), the vet feels it would be too much to do the surgery, re-break the bones, pin them, and start the healing process over. She (the vet) says that the cat will heal with the current situation without pain and will probably never show signs of having an injury, with the exception of possibly a little limp down the road.

She is about 4 years old, based on her teeth, and it turns out that she is already spayed! She is tattooed and her ear is notched, and I am informed that such markings indicate that a rescue group caught her as feral, had her spayed, then released her. No wonder she was savvy about the trap!! Look what happened the last time she wandered into one!!

Weighs about eight pounds, and the vet says she is amazingly well-groomed for a feral cat - very clean and no critters!

I had her vaccinated and bloodwork done to determine whether she has anything communicable to other cats (will find out Monday), and she has a big PINK splint on her leg to help it heal. She is living in my laundry room, where she is to remain under confinement for two weeks, at which point I am supposed to take her back to the vet for a recheck. They think she'll be completely healed up in a month. Once she is ready to be released, I am going to microchip her with my information, just in case she decides to up and run again and finds herself at another vet's office or worse, the pound!!

Here are pics - can't see the splint because it is on the other side - and I am told the weird dilated eye thing is temporary due to either the sedation or one of the tests that they ran.

**madhen** · 03-05-2011, 06:58 PM

FF, my other stupid feral cat was Schroedinger, who I never could catch. Unhappily, she crossed paths with my dog one day, and he dispatched her. She was "my" cat for about two years until that happened. Stupid mistake on my part, and I felt horrible about it. I didn't realize she was hanging out so close to the house during the day, because she would always take off after she ate. One day, I let the dogs out for a run, as I did almost every day, and Riley found her. Ever since THIS cat showed up, I have been restricting the dogs out of the area where the cat was, just in case. I am also going to take Riley to the county animal shelter to try to desensitize him to cats before letting this girl back out. He learned not to kill chickens, so I am hoping he will figure out that cats are also not squeaky toys.

I have hawks, coyotes, and mountain lion, as well as some pretty large owls up here. The hawks aren't really a problem for cats, because most of the hawks are smaller - can't even carry off a chicken and don't try - but the coyotes and mountain lions would make a meal of her, for sure, if they got hold of her. I think she was hanging pretty close to my house, though, which protected her, because my dogs run one side of the property and my neighbors' dogs run the other - keeps other predators at a distance.