Injured ‘Heart’ to Return to 76th Ave. N Colony

A female feral cat with an injured front paw is now on the sandy road to recovery.

Since Friday, Oct. 2, Cats of the Boardwalk (COTB) volunteers had been trap-training at the 76th Avenue North colony in an effort to familiarize the cats with the trap. Training involves placing food in an unset trap for a few days so cats can get comfortable with it.

The goal was to isolate “Heart” — a feral cat named for the heart-shaped pattern on her coat. Residents alerted COTB after noticing her struggling to move, raising concerns about a potential broken paw that would severely hinder her ability to hunt or escape danger.

“Residents alerted COTB after noticing her struggling to move, raising concerns about a potential broken paw.”

While two other colony cats took the bait from a set trap on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 6 (and have since been fixed, vaccinated, and returned), Heart evaded capture until 1 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7. Alerted by a resident, COTB founder and president Laurie Peterson and her husband Ron drove over in the middle of the night to retrieve Heart who was relaxed inside the trap she’d been cautiously eating from for days without the trap being set.

Though newly abandoned and learning to trust caretakers at feeding time, Heart remained unapproachable, making foster-home convalescence impractical. Fortunately, however, nursing her back to health won’t be necessary.

As of yesterday, Heart has been spayed, and the vet confirmed her paw injury will heal naturally on its own. COTB plans to return her to her colony today — because after all, shouldn’t home be where Heart is?