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Violet Rollins had just recently celebrated her one hundredth birthday when her neighbor called the Humane Society with Violet’s problem. She and her caregivers had been feeding a stray cat and now there were six kittens, about six weeks old, feral, living under a little outbuilding behind the house. The Momma cat was tame, but the kittens always ran under the building when someone went out to feed them. Violet needed help!
We told the neighbor we would be able to trap the kittens, to spay and vaccinate the mother, and to offer to pay spay/neuter and vaccination costs for the kittens when they were old enough IF she could find adoptive homes for them. Imagine our surprise when the neighbor called the next day to say that Violet and the caregivers had found homes for all the kittens and were waiting for us to come trap. Homes for six kittens in 24 hours!
We instructed the caregivers not to feed the momma and kittens the day before we were planning to trap. Of course, we knew the kittens would have a snack on the side, courtesy of momma. We also told them to have the adopters prepared to pick up their kittens at Rutherford Veterinary Hospital before closing time that day. A flurry of phone calls followed as the adopters had relayed their doubts about finding kittens at the vet’s office. They were sure it would be impossible for us to round up six feral kittens in one day. To us the trapping in 24 hours would be a piece of cake compared to finding homes in 24 hours.
We telephoned from the car when we had parked in Violet’s yard and one caregiver came out and got a carrier from us. They were able to coax the momma up the ramp and into the screened porch with no trouble and soon they signaled us that she was safely in the carrier. Then we went to work setting up our special trap about two feet away from the outbuilding. Violet with her walker and the other ladies joined us at the top of the ramp. We were a safe distance away from the kittens. We tightly held the string attached to the door of the trap to hold it open. We didn’t have long to wait before the kittens were venturing out, circling the trap, and then entering as they found a little food trail leading them in. The critical time comes when all but two, and then one, are in the trap eating and you have to restrain yourself from dropping the door. There was a little bit of in and out activity, but finally number six crowded herself into the trap and we had them. I wish you could have seen the high fives and celebrating on Violet’s ramp. We were all so elated we had to go in and sit on Violet’s porch and take pictures and talk about how Violet and her caregivers were “The Cat Catchers” —- and indeed they were the heroes of the day.
Violet calls to tell us how well Momma Kitty is doing, and she has pictures of the kittens in their new homes to share with us. We need to have more volunteers like these ladies who can find homes for six kittens in one day.