arantius.com

Caught, White Pawed!

2006-11-16 22:52 - General

So, as you might know I've moved into a new apartment, about 6 weeks ago now. It's nice. It's on the first floor, and I've got some terrace space. I keep my bike there. It's out of the rain. It's also pretty safe, it faces a gated parking lot.

But, being out of the rain, it seems a nice place for an animal to hang out. There's a stray cat that's been wandering by my window occasionally for the past two weeks or so. I've got nothing against it, I'm sure life as a stray cat is tough. Thing is, my two kitties do. It sits there, inches away, safe behind the window glass, and my cats go wild. "It's violating my territory!" you can almost hear them scream. Worst of all, Tegs would make some truly awful noise at it. And, at all hours of the night.

So, over this past weekend, I put together a simple cat trap. I took an existing pet carrier, and first step was rigging the door up with a rubber band to snap shut. Next, a twisted paper clip went 'round the little handles to the door's fastener. I ended up with a plastic ruler then attached to the door, to go underneath this paper clip. I tested it out; rigged it up, let go of the door, and whoosh it slammed shut, and the ruler hit the edge, popped the paper clip off, and nine times of ten, at least one latch would be latched. All that remained was to add two short pieces of wood. One was a fulcrum for it to see-saw on underneath, and the other propped the door open. Until the see saw tripped. The open can of cat food at the far end ensured that.

Lo and behold, tonight I heard a rustling, checked, and the door was shut. My little white pawed stray kitty was inside. It's such a poor wretched looking thing, all wet from the rain, so sad. Now I just have to wait until tomorrow morning, to call animal control and get it taken to a shelter. It's waiting in my closet until then.