Wednesday at 11:30am, while I was in the parking lot of a mall, I saw a white cat walking around underneath cars and vans. It was periodically crying, and appeared skinny and very hungry. It also had some old wounds around its head, and the fur was disheveled in the back (probably due to the heavy rain we've been having). I leaned under a car and talked to it and it cried a bit and kept looking at me. Meanwhile, a few others gathered to help. A mother and her two pre-teen kids had gone to Petsmart and got some canned food, and the cat ate the food out of the can while the boy was holding it. The boy put some food on the ground and the cat ate ravenously. Another woman ran home and came back with a carrier and some dry food. I put some wet food in the back of the carrier and made a trail with the dry food to trap the cat and take it either to the Humane Society or to a clinic where I've taken other ferals for medical treatment and spay/neuter. When the cat was three quarters of the way into the carrier, instead of waiting for it to walk fully inside, I impulsively tried to nudge it into the carrier and close the door. It jumped out and it ran off into the patch of woods at the side of the mall. It had eaten quite a bit at that point and didn't come out again. Everyone was very upset, but there was nothing more to be done.
I'm thinking this cat is either semi-feral or a stray, because it was eating in front of five strangers. It could possibly have been a feral faced with starvation, desperate enough to surface during daylight in a parking lot. I suppose it could also have been sick--but I think it's more likely that it was very hungry, and a stray that had once been fed by humans, but put out and now semi-feral.
I've been depressed and worried about the situation and have gone back to that parking lot 6 times since Wednesday morning to look for the cat with a humane trap in my trunk to trap it and take it to a clinic. I've seen no sign of it. Yesterday morning I left out dry food at two places near the woods and as of sunset, it was untouched. This AM, it was gone, but raccoons could have easily eaten it during the night. I'm going to continue to try to look for the cat.
I called the manager of the store where the cat had been near and gave him my number and asked him to call me if anyone sees the cat again so I can try to trap it and get it tested and treated at a vet clinic. He said they would more likely call Animal Control. I am hoping this does not happen, because Animal Control would leave a trap out and return in 24 hours, and if the cat were trapped that long in this heat, it could die. If they did trap it, they would just euthanize it. I think this is a stray that could be socialized and saved.
A friend of mine, based on the photo I took of the cat, thinks the cat is ill. I think the cat was just scared, crying, and hungry. I'm going to continue to look for it for a while. If I hadn't been impatient and had waited a few more seconds to close the door of the carrier, the cat would be at a vet clinic now, getting ready to start a new life. Because of my mistake, this cat is still in crisis, and the people who tried to help me left feeling sad and disappointed--especially those two beautiful children who tried to help. I'm especially upset with myself because I know better--I've trapped several cats before! I am hoping that someone else will be able to take the cat in, and that its experience with the carrier won't make it harder for someone to help it.
I was hoping that someone could say something to help me feel less horrible about this situation, but I guess that might not happen.
I'm thinking this cat is either semi-feral or a stray, because it was eating in front of five strangers. It could possibly have been a feral faced with starvation, desperate enough to surface during daylight in a parking lot. I suppose it could also have been sick--but I think it's more likely that it was very hungry, and a stray that had once been fed by humans, but put out and now semi-feral.
I've been depressed and worried about the situation and have gone back to that parking lot 6 times since Wednesday morning to look for the cat with a humane trap in my trunk to trap it and take it to a clinic. I've seen no sign of it. Yesterday morning I left out dry food at two places near the woods and as of sunset, it was untouched. This AM, it was gone, but raccoons could have easily eaten it during the night. I'm going to continue to try to look for the cat.
I called the manager of the store where the cat had been near and gave him my number and asked him to call me if anyone sees the cat again so I can try to trap it and get it tested and treated at a vet clinic. He said they would more likely call Animal Control. I am hoping this does not happen, because Animal Control would leave a trap out and return in 24 hours, and if the cat were trapped that long in this heat, it could die. If they did trap it, they would just euthanize it. I think this is a stray that could be socialized and saved.
A friend of mine, based on the photo I took of the cat, thinks the cat is ill. I think the cat was just scared, crying, and hungry. I'm going to continue to look for it for a while. If I hadn't been impatient and had waited a few more seconds to close the door of the carrier, the cat would be at a vet clinic now, getting ready to start a new life. Because of my mistake, this cat is still in crisis, and the people who tried to help me left feeling sad and disappointed--especially those two beautiful children who tried to help. I'm especially upset with myself because I know better--I've trapped several cats before! I am hoping that someone else will be able to take the cat in, and that its experience with the carrier won't make it harder for someone to help it.
I was hoping that someone could say something to help me feel less horrible about this situation, but I guess that might not happen.
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