A few weeks ago I was called by a young woman who had a situation in her neighborhood. A few kittens were in danger and living in the cold and she needed someone who could help her.
She was told I was an experienced trapper so she called me.
To cut it short, one night I went there with my remote controlled cage trap and set it up.
I soon trapped one kitten, transferred him to a carrier and set the trap again for the others. A few minutes later I trapped another kitten (two others went away) and covered the trap with a blanket, as usual.
Then I called the young woman and she took both the carrier and my trap with the blanket to the vet, and I went home.
Later that night she called me and asked whether I withheld some details on the second kitten, whether there was anything I didn't tell her. I asked her to be more explicit and she told me that the second kitten was paralyzed. She said that probably I trapped this kitten while she was still under the trap door and damaged her backbone. I was sure I didn't, because the kitten was eating the bait when I remotely triggered the trap (it's a Havahart trap, it's 30+ inches long, there's no chance that the kitten could be next to the door while she was eating the bait food). Even the vet questioned my words over the phone that night, and again a few days later.
After several days at the clinic, some X-rays, a visit with the neurologist and an MRI, the vets concluded that the kitten broke her neck and she's now paralyzed from her neck down, but I saw her eating, and then running and bouncing in the trap after the door closed, so she was still running and moving when I covered the trap with the blanket.
The woman said she didn't see anything from her observation point a few meters away, she said she has to rely on my words and thinks I covered the trap to hide the incident which she found out later at the clinic.
The vets would like to try and fix the broken neck, but the vet bills will be very high, and this woman says I should be involved in the expenses.
I'm shocked and terribly sorry for the kitten, but I know it's not my fault. I believe that the kitten was so scared that she bounced too much in the trap and broke her neck after I put the blanket on. Anyway, I don't think I will ever trap a cat again in my life.
A word of advice to cat trappers.
Always place and run a camera next to the trap to have video evidence of what you did and what happened during the trapping. I should have
done it this time.
She was told I was an experienced trapper so she called me.
To cut it short, one night I went there with my remote controlled cage trap and set it up.
I soon trapped one kitten, transferred him to a carrier and set the trap again for the others. A few minutes later I trapped another kitten (two others went away) and covered the trap with a blanket, as usual.
Then I called the young woman and she took both the carrier and my trap with the blanket to the vet, and I went home.
Later that night she called me and asked whether I withheld some details on the second kitten, whether there was anything I didn't tell her. I asked her to be more explicit and she told me that the second kitten was paralyzed. She said that probably I trapped this kitten while she was still under the trap door and damaged her backbone. I was sure I didn't, because the kitten was eating the bait when I remotely triggered the trap (it's a Havahart trap, it's 30+ inches long, there's no chance that the kitten could be next to the door while she was eating the bait food). Even the vet questioned my words over the phone that night, and again a few days later.
After several days at the clinic, some X-rays, a visit with the neurologist and an MRI, the vets concluded that the kitten broke her neck and she's now paralyzed from her neck down, but I saw her eating, and then running and bouncing in the trap after the door closed, so she was still running and moving when I covered the trap with the blanket.
The woman said she didn't see anything from her observation point a few meters away, she said she has to rely on my words and thinks I covered the trap to hide the incident which she found out later at the clinic.
The vets would like to try and fix the broken neck, but the vet bills will be very high, and this woman says I should be involved in the expenses.
I'm shocked and terribly sorry for the kitten, but I know it's not my fault. I believe that the kitten was so scared that she bounced too much in the trap and broke her neck after I put the blanket on. Anyway, I don't think I will ever trap a cat again in my life.
A word of advice to cat trappers.
Always place and run a camera next to the trap to have video evidence of what you did and what happened during the trapping. I should have
done it this time.
Please don't give up on trapping! Yes, kittens CAN break their own neck. Back in the mid 2000s, I had a group of feral kittens and during zoomies, one ran into our brick hearth/and-or the wood burner. He injured his neck and he healed but his neck was always a bit twisted. Our vet at the time was an older country vet who simply prescribed kennel rest which the kitten hated. For a long time, he could turn only left and at first, he would stagger when he walked. But he was a happy, affectionate cat who just needed a bit of extra help grooming his back furs.
