Cat Trap

 

There are a lot of feral cats in New Zealand. Our farm has more than its share. As you know, I am a cat lover and I hate to see these scrawny animals slinking around unloved, unfed, and alone.

So when I found a wee gray kitten scarfing down the premium cat food from Smudge’s bowl, I tried – in vain – to make a friend and thereby adopt a second cat. Smudge was not in favor of this and made her obligatory hissing noises while standing at attention as the kitten eyed her nervously.

Well, the kitten hung out with us for a few hours and then disappeared. I saw it again near the barn and tried again to make friends. No deal! So I went to Dan. He knew of an extremely expensive cat trap that would humanely trap the cat thus enabling me to perhaps tame the kitten. At worst it would help us corral the other feral cats and get them off the farm. And, yes, I did have a plan for their removal. I was going to drive them to the SPCA and they could try to find homes for them.

I don’t know if the plan would have worked or not. I never had the chance to find out. As you can see by the picture, the “cat” trap only trapped rats. So far we have gotten 5 rats in 5 days. Can’t do better than that! We are ecstatic here. We’ll trade feral cats for disgusting rats any day.

 

By the way, this picture of Smudge is while she is watching the rat in a trap which is located just underneath the window of my grandson’s bedroom. This window is next to the pipe that leads  up to my rooms. Perhaps now the rat convention in the eaves over my head will stop. I can only hope – and rebait the trap.