Thursday, June 23, 2011

If food doesn't work, drugs will

So the kitty whose owner died, who was left to roam Shelter Valley, and who was rescued because neighbors were concerned about her, finally walked aaallll the way into my trap. She doesn't like wet food, and dry food is probably available on every other porch in the park, so she probably wasn't ravenous. What finally overcame her wariness? Fresh and dried catnip. I pulled a plant out of my yard, and brought along about two cups of dried catnip I had put up about six years ago. I poured the full two cups under the trap behind the pan, put in a plate of dry food, and crushed the fresh catnip on top. I then covered the trap with a pillowcase to hold the catnip smell in.


Bingo! I'm glad she went in, because I was beginning to despair that I would run out of gas money before payday. Luckily the very caring neighbor was willing to shut the empty trap at night to spare me a drive out.

She is very scared. The neighbors had heard a previous owner of the cat mention once that he wouldn't mind having her back, so they are checking to see.

2 comments:

georg said...

If that person doesn't take her, she'll likely be on our short list, but I don't know if she'll want to be an indoor only cat.

I have a fondness for the older ones like that. I am so glad you've gotten her safe.

Strayer said...

The old catnip trick!!!! Glad you caught her. I use catnip outside the trap sometimes, to get cats high so they'll trap easier. I use tiny amounts mixed into small bits of wet food. If they ingest it, the high seems to be more subtle than if I pour some outside the trap. Then they roll around in it, bang against the trap and usually forget they are hungry.

Good job catching her.