Working with animals, things don’t always go to plan. So it was one Wednesday morning last month when a large tomcat, who had arrived at RSPCA’s Lonsdale shelter just a week earlier, managed to slip past an animal care attendant when she opened the door to his pen.
A member of the public had brought the two-year-old tabby to the shelter after finding him wandering and at risk beside Old Honey Pot Road in Port Noarlunga – and now he was again wandering, but not at any major risk, around the Cat Care Centre.
According to Jacky Barrett, who heads RSPCA SA’s cat care team, the cat they came to nickname “Shed Mascot” was having a very good time while on the run.
“We set traps over a few weeks but could never catch him, or even sight him,” Jacky said.
“We knew he was around because he was making holes in the packaging of any food left on the bench and helping himself. We put a litter tray out for him, which he very kindly used, and we started locking all food away to encourage him to go into one of the traps.”
After a few days, the miscreant moggie was spotted keeping watch on the activity below from high up in the rafters.
“He managed to redecorate at night, pulling insulation out of the shed walls. And he seemed to take a particular fancy to one of the female cats, meowing to her in the way lovesick tomcats do, said Jacky”
Over the next few days, staff began putting food inside a spare room connected to the main shed, leaving the door open in a bid to tempt the now hungry tabby inside.
This plan recently worked, with a staff member swiftly closing the door while the cat ate. Since then, Bruce as he’s now known has had the snip and revealed his true temperament, which Jacky says is very smoochy.
“Bruce seems to be especially fond of Kay, one of our volunteers, and will run up to her as soon as she comes into sight. It’s adorable to watch – from being quite elusive, he’s turned into our hidden treasure.”
Big, affable Bruce has just become available to adopt and anyone interested is welcome to meet him anytime during opening hours at the Lonsdale shelter. Please just remember to keep a close eye on him when you go in his pen.
