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Trapped cat fine, less a leg

Lori-Anne Charlton
Special to the Province

Thursday, August 04, 2005

KELOWNA -- An orange tabby cat that survived for days caught in a leghold trap is on the mend.

The cat, dubbed Trapper, is recovering at the Kelowna SPCA after having its right hind leg amputated.

"It was really, really bad," said Dr. Marco Veenis of the Okanagan Veterinary Hospital.

"The leg was crushed, the bone was exposed and there were maggots crawling out of the wound.

"The skin was already dried, like parchment, around the wound, and everything below the jaws of the trap had died off. It was a mess."

He estimates the cat had been in the trap for a couple of days. Trapper was dehydrated and emaciated when he was found last week by a groundskeeper at a local golf course.

The SPCA paid the $500 veterinary bill -- about half of what it should have cost, according to Veenis -- through its Biscuit Fund, which is money that has been donated to help animals without owners.

"We figured that after he'd dragged himself around like that in these temperatures, and fought so long to survive, that he was worthy of getting fixed up like that," said the SPCA's Kathy Woodward.

She said a number of people have expressed outrage over a leghold trap being set where it could catch domestic animals.

But Woodward said leghold traps are just plain mean, no matter where they're set.

"This time it was a domestic animal, but whether it's a raccoon or a rabbit or a gopher, the pain is the same," she said. "It's just barbaric."

Once Trapper is fully recovered he will be put on the adoption list.

Veenis said he should live a normal life on three legs.
© The Vancouver Province 2005