Rescue Story: A Little Kitten in the Cold

This tiny kitten was living outdoors as the polar vortex approached—or trying to. He would NOT have survived! He (not verified, just convenient) was so hungry he was licking the steps where the wind had blown the cardboard with the canned food on it. He’s only been around for a few days and came to a home where someone feeds and has a shelter on the porch. He was impossible to catch by hand but turned out not to be feral.

On Tuesday, a person from Carnegie, the town I live in, posted about a kitten showing up at her feeding station. She had loaned her trap to a friend, and also had to go to work, so the soonest she could trap was that night. That day the polar vortex arrived and temperatures were dropping with wicked winds, a kitten would suffer and had to be trapped. The kitten could go to foster with Amy through Pittsburgh C.A.T. as soon as it was trapped.

I know her neighborhood—it’s the one Sienna and Hays came from—so I contacted Megan, the young woman I’d worked with on them, finished what I was doing in the afternoon and headed down with a couple of traps and food. The woman who’d been feeding had also mentioned another young gray tabby cat she’d seen the previous autumn, one she hadn’t seen since then but presumed it was visiting her feeding station, and might be a mother to this kitten. I always like to have more traps than I need, especially when the area to trap has several entrances and exits.

We hadn’t seen a sign of the kitten so I just took a guess at the best places to set the traps. There was no way to get onto the porch but by the steps leading up to the door, especially for a kitten. It might have been in the shelter on the porch, but I really didn’t think it was. A hedge of dense shrubs filled a small spot between the porch and the sidewalk and I had the feeling that was a likely place for cats to hide. The side of the porch and side of the house were pretty bare of foliage and set along a side street, open to the wind and cold. A cat would not likely go that route unless it had to.

I set the traps on the porch, back near the cat shelter and feeding station and at the top of the steps. The wind was so wicked my hands were stiff and I had a hard time ripping up the cardboard and setting out the food. I was bundled and had gloves on and am typically not bothered by the cold, but it was freezing me and I couldn’t imagine a kitten or even an adult cat out in that weather, especially when the temperature was about 15 and steadily dropping down to zero. The wind kept blowing the cardboard I’d put in the bottom of the trap at the top of the steps and I knew that would frighten off any cat or kitten, so as much as I prefer to have cardboard instead of the wire trap for them to walk on I took it out and put my little trail of three tiny pieces of canned food between the wires. I didn’t have a chance to pick up anything else or even warm it up, but if no cats or kittens came to the traps I could deal with that later. My friend and I sat in my car with the engine running and heater on full blast.

Not 30 minutes after I’d put food in traps on the porch a small gray kitten popped out from from the dense bushes next to the steps where he’d been hiding and appeared on the steps. I was shocked at how young he was, younger than I’d expected, tiny, and that pointed tail gave away his age. He ate the little scraps of food that had been blown onto the steps and licked and licked the spot, he was so hungry, then ran back, looked in one trap, started to step in, then ran back, came back and headed down to the back of the porch where I couldn’t see him, where the other trap was, then came out again and dove back into the bushes. I sat in my car just holding my breath, taking the occasional photo, hoping he didn’t see me though he kept stopping to scan all around, until finally he followed the little trail of food pieces into the trap at the top of the steps and tripped it.

As always, I love being able to help cats this way. My goal is not just to go out and trap the cats, but also to be a good example to others who are following, then give lots of information so that others learn how to do this too, and if they find a cat in a similar circumstance they have an idea what’s entailed.

Even more than fostering, bringing a cat in from a perilous life outdoors is so rewarding. Of course, it’s also time-consuming and has its expenses, and I’m on a tight budget. Thanks to those of you who have sent donations that paid for spays and neuters and food for Smokey and the ferals. If any of my readers would like to help me with expenses like extra food and materials for trapping, or gas money, no small amount when running back and forth to clinics and trapping sites, I would really appreciate it. A friend and I managed my car repairs, but this is also the time to register for several vendor events during the year, including the Steel City Kitties Cat Show next month. My Paypal address is bernadette (at) bernadette-k (dot) com, you can go to Portraits of Animals and purchase a gift certificate in amounts of $5.00 or more and let me know it’s for me, or whatever else you’d like to do. Or buy a calendar (below) or something from my website www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net .

Thanks for following me, and thanks for reading!

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