Pumpkin's Story
This is a story that was supposed to be short and sweet, with a happy ending. The story took a detour and the happy ending was delayed by ten days. Read on…
South County Cats was contacted to help an injured feral cat. We requested a photo, and, apologies for the graphic description, it looked like his face had come off. It was hard to tell from the photo, but it almost looked like the wound went clear through to his mouth (thankfully it didn’t). We loaned the caretaker a trap, and “Pumpkin” was quickly captured. We took him to our vet the next day where his wound was treated, and, of course, he was neutered and vaccinated. A post-op plan was in place. He would stay with a volunteer for 10-14 days to allow time for his wound to heal and to get a second long-acting antibiotic injection. We picked Pumpkin up from the vet in the afternoon and somehow, during curbside discharge, he busted out of his carrier! Shock, numbness and disbelief set in as the search instantly began. We searched until dark with no success. Over the course of the next week, along with Pumpkin’s caretaker, we put up nearly 100 flyers and signs, posted on every community social media and lost and found pet page, looked into search dogs, talked to people near where he escaped, placed and monitored a trailcam, and every day, we searched. We never gave up on Pumpkin.
Then a miracle happened. A kind neighbor contacted us to say she’d seen a cat on her security camera (a fuzzy image) that matched the description of Pumpkin she’d seen on the community Facebook page. He’d come by two nights in a row. We went out that afternoon and set a trap in her front yard. It was our volunteer’s famous “robo-trap” that would have to be triggered remotely. This robo-trap is an extra-large Tru-Catch trap, baited with our volunteer’s best recipe. Pumpkin had already been trapped once. Would he be trap-shy and not go in again? We discussed taking shifts overnight to watch for Pumpkin to enter the trap so we could trigger it at just the right time. One volunteer would stay up until 2:00 am. Who would take the 2:00 am - 5:00 am shift? 5:00 am - 10:00 am shift? Three cameras were placed and we headed home. Three hours later, about 7:30 pm, Pumpkin appeared on camera. Our amazing volunteer held her breath for 8 long minutes until Pumpkin was far enough into the trap that she should trigger it. And we got him! Ten days after he escaped, Pumpkin was recovered.
