I though I describe what happened to my cats to inform others so they can recognise and deal with early rather than when other cats are affected too.
Let me get to the point quickly, then I'll explain how I found out and what led to it.
This kind of "humane" /"non invasive" trap:
Causes injuries like this:
Plus claws ripped out, pads abraded to raw flesh.
Do not use those traps if cats can get caught by mistake (or on purpose) unless you're observing the trap all the time. These are designed wrong. There is a newer design that uses a flat sheet door(still steel with sharp edges). IMO this trap should have soft plastic covered wire or even better it should be made like a cat carrier. Cats fight trying to get out and injure themselves in the process.
If that's all you have and you have to catch strays etc to treat them, fine, but if there is an alternative don't use this. BTW, this is no my trap that hurt my cats, but it's a long story. That is below.
Let me start by giving a bit of a background. Few months ago one of my cats got really unwell.(I believe he would be dead few hours later if I didn't find him). My vet was pretty convinced he looked like "he was hit by a car" (other than there being no physical injuries). He got various treatments including IVs and he recovered fully. I suspected poisoning, but the vet told me poisons people use around here act differently, there are certain signs that were missing etc. So I eventually accepted it as some freak occurrence (maybe he got stung by a hornet and had an allergic reaction etc). When I first found him he had this very weird unpleasant smell about him. This is a very important detail.
However, 3 weeks ago, one of my cats, came back in the morning after being away all night (which is unusual for him in its own right at this kind of weather) and he had injuries on his face, one of his claws is ripped out and a pad next to it is painful. Also he had the same very strong smell about him. I have to admit I haven't connected the dots at the time. My partner washed the cat's fur and by the time I saw him the smell was a lot weaker.
We were both puzzled, my partner was convinced it was a human that did it, I wasn't at the time. I thought the cat got into some tight space and got injured trying to get out. This cat (Ramzes) loves squeezing himself into the tightest of spaces so it seemed fitting. His injuries are healing well.
And then my other cat (Seth) disappears for a night with sub zero (C) temps, which is very not like him. I wait. Midday cones and he hasn't returned. So I walk around the perimeter of my land and call him (he usually comes when I call him). My neighbor's land is 200m away I can hear him doing some woodworking. I'm pretty sure he heard me too. 5 minutes later Seth comes with identical injuries. So I knew it was a human doing that. My first thought was someone is hitting them.
So I started talking to my (very few) neighbors very directly about this and eventually one person tells me "talk to this guy next to you, he has a problem with some predator taking fish from his pond(pine marten or mink etc) and he was asking locals for help and how to get rid of unwanted animals". Now "this guy" fairly recently moved into the area. I met him once or twice and he seemed an OK person. I would never have suspected him for doing anything nefarious. Stupid yes, but not nefarious. Still stupidity often has bad consequences.
Also an interesting, somewhat related info, there used to be lots of foxes around (for years before the guy moved in), now I haven't seen one in a year and I now frequently see hares, which were very rare (someone poisoned the foxes).
So I walk around his land and what do I see in a corner... A trap, this one.
So I go there and we have a chat. The guy is adamant he doesn't use poison, nor any stinky repellent sprays, he claims that yes he is trying to catch this "mink/marten" that eats his fish, but at the same time tells me BTW, cats eat my fish too and I don't bother them. Also he says "my own cat got poisoned a month ago, I found him dead and I was very distressed.) Now I can connect the dots. I have no proof of course, but I bet the guy moves in (a year ago). Puts lots of expensive fish in his pond, fish dissappear. He tries poison first and some weird repellent, poisoning his own cat in the process (if its even true he had a cat). Then he buys this trap and proceeds to catch every single cat in the area, keeping them in that trap for a long time so they are traumatised enough to hopefully "leave his fish alone". Is there really a marten/mink in the picture? Who knows, who cares? Anyway, he was adamant he really wants to find out who does that poisoning etc. Well, I made it clear I suspect him and if anything happens to my cats he will be the first person to talk to. If he has any sense he will stop with the poison(perhaps he already did when he bought the trap). I don't care about the repellent. But I can't stop him from having a trap on his land unless I want to start a proper conflict (which I'd prefer not to). The conclusion of this "chat" was that he isn't going to remove the trap, but he tells me to let out my own cat anytime day or night if it gets caught and anyway he thinks each cat is only caught once...
Now anyone reading this may think, gee, a guy has a trap and you accuse him of poisoning, but I have only 3 neighbors. An elderly couple who love cats (they were removing ticks from strays), a lone guy that feeds all the strays around here and tries to find them homes, me, and the new guy. So the pool of suspects is very small.
So that's the story of how I found out those traps injure cats if you keep them in for too long. It has been 2 days and Seth just starts being himself again...
Let me get to the point quickly, then I'll explain how I found out and what led to it.
This kind of "humane" /"non invasive" trap:
Causes injuries like this:
Plus claws ripped out, pads abraded to raw flesh.
Do not use those traps if cats can get caught by mistake (or on purpose) unless you're observing the trap all the time. These are designed wrong. There is a newer design that uses a flat sheet door(still steel with sharp edges). IMO this trap should have soft plastic covered wire or even better it should be made like a cat carrier. Cats fight trying to get out and injure themselves in the process.
If that's all you have and you have to catch strays etc to treat them, fine, but if there is an alternative don't use this. BTW, this is no my trap that hurt my cats, but it's a long story. That is below.
Let me start by giving a bit of a background. Few months ago one of my cats got really unwell.(I believe he would be dead few hours later if I didn't find him). My vet was pretty convinced he looked like "he was hit by a car" (other than there being no physical injuries). He got various treatments including IVs and he recovered fully. I suspected poisoning, but the vet told me poisons people use around here act differently, there are certain signs that were missing etc. So I eventually accepted it as some freak occurrence (maybe he got stung by a hornet and had an allergic reaction etc). When I first found him he had this very weird unpleasant smell about him. This is a very important detail.
However, 3 weeks ago, one of my cats, came back in the morning after being away all night (which is unusual for him in its own right at this kind of weather) and he had injuries on his face, one of his claws is ripped out and a pad next to it is painful. Also he had the same very strong smell about him. I have to admit I haven't connected the dots at the time. My partner washed the cat's fur and by the time I saw him the smell was a lot weaker.
We were both puzzled, my partner was convinced it was a human that did it, I wasn't at the time. I thought the cat got into some tight space and got injured trying to get out. This cat (Ramzes) loves squeezing himself into the tightest of spaces so it seemed fitting. His injuries are healing well.
And then my other cat (Seth) disappears for a night with sub zero (C) temps, which is very not like him. I wait. Midday cones and he hasn't returned. So I walk around the perimeter of my land and call him (he usually comes when I call him). My neighbor's land is 200m away I can hear him doing some woodworking. I'm pretty sure he heard me too. 5 minutes later Seth comes with identical injuries. So I knew it was a human doing that. My first thought was someone is hitting them.
So I started talking to my (very few) neighbors very directly about this and eventually one person tells me "talk to this guy next to you, he has a problem with some predator taking fish from his pond(pine marten or mink etc) and he was asking locals for help and how to get rid of unwanted animals". Now "this guy" fairly recently moved into the area. I met him once or twice and he seemed an OK person. I would never have suspected him for doing anything nefarious. Stupid yes, but not nefarious. Still stupidity often has bad consequences.
Also an interesting, somewhat related info, there used to be lots of foxes around (for years before the guy moved in), now I haven't seen one in a year and I now frequently see hares, which were very rare (someone poisoned the foxes).
So I walk around his land and what do I see in a corner... A trap, this one.
So I go there and we have a chat. The guy is adamant he doesn't use poison, nor any stinky repellent sprays, he claims that yes he is trying to catch this "mink/marten" that eats his fish, but at the same time tells me BTW, cats eat my fish too and I don't bother them. Also he says "my own cat got poisoned a month ago, I found him dead and I was very distressed.) Now I can connect the dots. I have no proof of course, but I bet the guy moves in (a year ago). Puts lots of expensive fish in his pond, fish dissappear. He tries poison first and some weird repellent, poisoning his own cat in the process (if its even true he had a cat). Then he buys this trap and proceeds to catch every single cat in the area, keeping them in that trap for a long time so they are traumatised enough to hopefully "leave his fish alone". Is there really a marten/mink in the picture? Who knows, who cares? Anyway, he was adamant he really wants to find out who does that poisoning etc. Well, I made it clear I suspect him and if anything happens to my cats he will be the first person to talk to. If he has any sense he will stop with the poison(perhaps he already did when he bought the trap). I don't care about the repellent. But I can't stop him from having a trap on his land unless I want to start a proper conflict (which I'd prefer not to). The conclusion of this "chat" was that he isn't going to remove the trap, but he tells me to let out my own cat anytime day or night if it gets caught and anyway he thinks each cat is only caught once...
Now anyone reading this may think, gee, a guy has a trap and you accuse him of poisoning, but I have only 3 neighbors. An elderly couple who love cats (they were removing ticks from strays), a lone guy that feeds all the strays around here and tries to find them homes, me, and the new guy. So the pool of suspects is very small.
So that's the story of how I found out those traps injure cats if you keep them in for too long. It has been 2 days and Seth just starts being himself again...