Keeping a 50-foot string at arms reach for four days, was the trick to catching an injured cat.
After some surgery and garnering the new name Wylie, the hunt is on to find his family, or a new one willing to adopt him.
Lois Reid spent about a week watching an injured, hungry cat in her Colwood neighbourhood. He first came up to her doorstep attempting to eat some peanuts left out for the squirrels. She saw him around for the next few days but couldn’t catch him.
“I could see his leg was mangled,” Reid explained. “I prayed for some help to catch him.”
Her prayers were answered when she saw Langford resident Karen Brownsey on television. The two women had been acquaintances for years, but Reid didn’t know Brownsey has rescued hundreds of feral cats.
Brownsey secured a special cat trap for the injured Wylie. The condition of his leg made it nearly impossible for him to get into a conventional cat trap.
“It was a Bugs Bunny trap with a pull string,” Reid said adding the cage was about a metre squared.
Loaded with cat goodies including tuna, cat food and catnip, she set the trap was set outside her home. A trail of ham led to the goodies. Unfortunately, Wylie disappeared for three days and Reid feared he was dead.
Then last week the little tabby cat edged his way to the cage at 5 a.m. It took him 12 more hours to venture in to dine.
“I pulled the cage and we flipped out a little,” Reid explained.
She covered the cage with a pink quilt to help calm the feline.
When Brownsey arrived she lifted the quilt and stuck her fingers in the cage. Wylie nuzzled up to her and that was when they realized that Wylie was far from the feral feline they had assumed.
The two women covered the cost of the initial vet visit where Wylie had some X-rays and received pain medication. The cat was then to taken a vet clinic in Colwood where he had one leg amputated and a couple teeth removed.
The vet figured Wylie had sustained the injuries to his leg and face after being struck by a car. Then they healed improperly.
The Greater Victoria Animal Crusaders helped cover more than $2,000 of Wylie’s medical expenses and his food is being donated by a local pet store.
While Wylie is healing and is expected to recover from all of his injuries, Brownsey thinks it would be best is he becomes an indoor cat.
Anyone interested in Wylie should contact Brownsey at pkferals@gmail.com