Concerned employees help RAPS save cats
The Adesa Auctions team spotted a mama cat and kitten on their car lot – and helped RAPS trap what turned out to be a whole little feline community.
When RAPS rescues stray or feral animals, it is often because we have had a tip from a concerned friend in the community. We are extremely grateful for animal allies who are the eyes and ears of rescue agencies like RAPS!
Just such a connection was made recently thanks to employees of Adesa Auctions in Richmond. The vehicle auction company, located at Number 8 Road and Blundell, has acres of outdoor parking lots. One of the employees, Bernie, contacted us several weeks ago to ask for help in trapping a black mama cat and her tiny kitten. This employee had also rescued a domestic rat from inside one of the car hoods at Adesa about a year ago and brought him to RAPS – “Gouda” was adopted into a loving home.
The RAPS team took traps and food over to Adesa and met with Bernie, who suggested the areas to set the traps based on where he had spotted the mama cat and baby.
We quickly trapped a total of three adult cats and two kittens. But it took fully three weeks to catch the mama and kitten who we set out to trap in the first place.
Mama, who we’ve named “Adesa,” was actually trapped twice before, but was released because we did not catch her kitten and we needed to reunite them until we could get them both in our care.
The first cat we trapped was a big, handsome, grey tabby who we named Bernie. He was an intact male and is now recovering from his neuter at the RAPS Adoption Centre. Bernie was very scared at first but is readily accepting pets now and is a loving, friendly boy.
The second one we trapped is sweet Jagger, a beautiful brown tabby kitten approximately 11 weeks old. Jagger too was quite terrified upon arrival, but came to a foster home for a week where he quickly realized humans can be trusted. He is settling in now at the Adoption Centre and, although still scared, is a sweet boy readily accepting of pets. He will surely be a super friendly and trusting boy in time.
The third cat we trapped is a tuxedo male with cool face markings, whom we have named “Aldo.” He too is settling in at the Adoption Centre. Staff think he is about three years old. He was intact when we caught him and, judging from his colouring, he may be the father of the new kitten we finally trapped with mama.
“Leland” the kitten appears to be about six weeks old and is a black-and-white male. We noticed a wound on his should on arrival so he was immediately brought over to the RAPS Animal Hospital. Dr. Schwartz says the wound is a puncture from an animal and the medical team soon discovered that the wound was infested with maggots. Thank goodness little Leland was trapped and is now getting the urgent medical care he needs. His infection could have been fatal. He was sedated as he was understandably quite terrified from this huge ordeal and the wound was cleaned and treated. He immediately became quite the celebrity at the RAPS Animal Hospital and was completely adored and fussed over by Hospital and Adoption Centre staff.
His mama, “Adesa,” who was trapped at the same time but about 100 metres away, is a petite, black girl and she is very frightened.
The last member of this little colony we trapped is a black kitten, approximately 11 weeks old. We believe him to be Jagger’s littermate. “Joey” was very frightened on arrival but Jagger proved to be a tremendous source of comfort. They are very happy to be reunited.
It has been wonderful to work with the employees of Adesa and in particular with Bernie, who has made our trapping job very easy and successful. We supplied Bernie with lots of canned food to bait the traps and he checked the traps frequently. We are not sure how many cats and kittens are out there – we aren’t sure if we have trapped them all or whether Bernie will find some more surprises. We will keep the traps out there for a few more weeks and the Adesa employees will keep their eyes open for cats and kittens on the expansive property.
As their health and socialization progress, the cats from the Adesa lot will be ready for adoption to loving forever homes.
This sort of happy ending is possible because of kind people like Bernie and the rest of the Adesa team, who have saved these cats from a life of danger – or worse.
Thanks Adesa!
