The Cat Trick

You know that phenomenon, when you’re looking for something – and you’ve looked EVERYWHERE – but you can’t find it? And then you ask someone else to help and they find it right away?

For CPAW NJ, that person who steps in and makes it look so easy is our volunteer Addie. But she wasn’t always like that. Addie helped us in so many ways.. food donations, outreach, brainstorming fundraising ideas, and so much more.. but she had never trapped a cat. She spent a few weekends out with other trappers, learning the tricks of the trade, but never had luck herself.

There was one location all trappers had tried their luck on. Several people feeding. No centralized hangout. First on our priority list was a female cat who gave birth to kittens season after season, and try as we might, no one could catch her. Addie signed up to trap at the location and we all expected more of the same. She set up the traps, and cats came running for dinner.

“omg I got her,” she wrote the group chat.

“There are more cats here, should I keep trapping?”

“YES!” we replied. And she got another one!

With luck this good, she didn’t want to stop there. A community cat nearby had recently given birth but the kittens had all died. The caregiver reached out because she looked pregnant again. For weeks, another trapper had been trying to catch her, but again, getting multiple feeders to cooperate made the situation difficult.

Addie set the trap and waited around the corner. After a few minutes, SLAM! The trap door closed, with the cat safely inside. Three cats in one weekend?! That’s what we call a CAT TRICK!

But the best part of the weekend is that Addie saved a life. Upon conducting surgery on the third cat, the doctors diagnosed her with Pyometra – an infection of the uterus. If left alone, Pyometra can end in death. The cure? A routine spay! This lucky lady will never give birth to another litter who won’t survive. And she’ll live the rest of her days healthier and happier.

 

 

Please donate $12 today so that we can continue spaying cats like the ones Addie trapped and help prevent kittens from being born outside.