Animal Posse Why you should Trap Dat Cat - Animal Posse

Episode 9

Why you should Trap Dat Cat

Published on: 28th March, 2025

Join us as we sit down with Nita Hemeter, a passionate advocate for community cats, to discuss the vital work of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). We'll delve into the process, the benefits for both cats and communities, and how Trap Dat Cat is making a difference.

Transcript
Dixie:

Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the

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people and rescues making a

difference in the lives of animals.

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Today I am super excited

to welcome Nita Hemeter

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. We are gonna talk about TNR and

her organization Trap Dat Cat.

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Nita: Hey Dixie.

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Dixie: How are you this morning

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? Nita: I'm alright.

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Dixie: Tell me a little bit about

yourself and what led you to start

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trap Dat Cat

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Nita: My name is Nita.

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Hemeter.

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Theresa Bridges and I started Trap

t Cat a nonprofit in April of:

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and it was, I started trapping cats

in:

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and then I got pretty good at it.

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Last year.

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TRAP DAT CAT trapped 3,270 cats.

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Dixie: Wow.

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Yeah.

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That's remarkable.

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Nita: And yeah, I always say better to

turn off the faucet than mop the floor.

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You wanna help cats?

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The best thing you can do is get 'em

fixed, whether they're your pets or people

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are feeding cats, but they're not fixing

them, of course, when they don't fix them.

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Then, there's more and more kittens born.

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Cats can get pregnant

as early as four months.

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Gestation is 62 days, give or take.

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And New Orleans is a perfect

environment for cats because we

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don't get, really cold weather.

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Although it did snow this year.

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But it's, warm.

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There's lots of places to hide.

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So cats are just being outta control.

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, Dixie: in New Orleans too, 'cause

I don't think a lot of people

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understand we don't have one kitten

season like a lot of places do.

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We just have a

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Nita: Exactly.

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Dixie: Continuing nonstop kitten season.

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Nita: Exactly.

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And right now I think we aborted

this week, maybe 24 kittens.

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And do I feel bad about that?

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No, I don't.

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There are no homes for

these cats that are born.

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And a lot of people say, oh,

I found homes for my kittens.

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Maybe you did.

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But what you did, you just took homes away

from other cats that are already born.

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All the shelters and all the rescues

in Louisiana are filled with.

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Wonderful dogs and cats that need homes

and there's just not enough homes.

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It's a major problem here, and Theresa

and I realized, impact we could have,

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and I believe we are having an impact.

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When I first started trapping cats, I

would go out and just about every place

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I went, there'd be, six to 20 cats.

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And while I still run into some,

but it's gotten a whole lot better

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than it was, five or six years ago.

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Dixie: On average, how many

cats are you trapping a night?

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Nita: That can vary.

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As far as weekly, we probably

average 50 cats a week.

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Last week we trapped 68.

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And it's not just me trapping because

I tell people, call me all the time,

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can you come out and trap these cats?

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It's no, I can't trap

every cat in New Orleans.

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What I can do is I can load you traps.

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Show how to use them.

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You trap 'em, bring 'em to

me, put 'em on my porch.

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I explain how to label and all that.

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Put 'em on my porch and then

I'll feed them, run them back

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and forth to that, get 'em fixed.

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I'll bring 'em back.

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And then you come pick up.

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So that's not, say I don't trap

and our volunteers don't trap

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because we do, but we try to.

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The only this works is if

everybody participates.

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And now, I've had so many connections

with people that are feeding cats.

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If a new cat shows up, they call me

and they come get a trap and they

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trap the cat, they know what to do.

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So we're slowly educating the

community about the importance of t.

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And how this helps the

cats, saves them money.

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'cause feeding 20 cats,

that's a lot of cat food.

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I know we're making a difference.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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Definitely.

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Nita: Yeah, we just

need people to step up.

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Dixie: I

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know a couple of years ago there was

a family member of mine and they

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said that they couldn't afford to

feed the kittens that they just had.

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And so I'm like why

didn't you spay the mom?

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Oh we couldn't afford it.

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And I'm like there's low cost in, we're

very fortunate to have low cost programs

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here and we've had low cost programs

for a long time, and so he was like

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I couldn't afford to spay the mom.

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That's not an excuse, because now

you're complaining you don't

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have money to feed the kittens.

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And it's a lot more to feed

the kittens than it is to just

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go ahead and get mom spayed.

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Nita: Absolutely.

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Dixie: And then you solve the problem.

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Nita: Yeah, absolutely.

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It's like I routinely tell

people it's $60, give or take.

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To spay or neuter.

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And if you can't afford it, we'll pay.

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When we run outta money,

we run outta money.

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And so far we're still standing.

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We have next to no overhead.

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Nobody's paid.

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We're all volunteers.

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Nobody's paying gas.

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We don't have a van.

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We just have my porch

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fortunately, the Louisiana

SPCA, they're a huge help.

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So I take a lot of cats

to the Louisiana SPCA.

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And then we also have participating

vets, like Southern Animal

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Foundation, low cost animal medical

Center on Washington Avenue.

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Dr.

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Wisdom out in Jefferson Parish

on Jefferson Highway, Dr.

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Abadie

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we always need more vets to participate.

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we've tried, but I don't know.

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It's hard to get the veterinary community.

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Involved

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Dixie: You said you started

in:

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Is there any specific reason

that you started that time?

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What prompted you to start then?

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Nita: Because nobody was doing anything.

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There was nothing going on and we were

able to find, a couple of that would help.

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And if you're out trapping,

you're not really.

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You are not really

being exposed to people.

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You're outside

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Dixie: Uhhuh.

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Nita: So it ended up, that was the

beginning and somehow we survived.

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Dixie: Now for anybody that's unfamiliar,

can you explain the TNR process?

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Nita: Sure.

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It's basically trap neuter return.

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It is not trap neuter.

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We take the cats.

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People ask me all the time,

can you take my six kittens?

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And we work with various

rescues like big, easy and

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Zeus,

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and of course Louisiana,

SPCA and Spay Mart Arno.

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So if there is room, sometimes we

are but able to get the kittens

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and to foster, we foster kittens

here at my house and we have a few

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fosters, but that's not our focus.

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Our focus is getting all these

cats fixed because that's

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the only way out of of this.

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We are not gonna adopt our way out

of this because there's just so many.

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People ask me all the time, Nita, do

you know somebody that wants a cat?

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And I'm like, if I knew somebody

that wanted a cat, they'd have a cat.

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I don't know anybody.

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So it's trap, neuter, return.

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And a lot of people, I'd say

most people want the cats back.

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They love the cats.

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They're committed to the cats.

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And once they're fixed, they won't

have any more cats, any more babies

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being born, and it works pretty well.

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Of course some people are irrational and

unreasonable, but we just deal with them

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the best we can, it's a major problem.

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Dixie: What about

behavioral things with cats?

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So for people who do see cats coming

around that are not spayed or neutered,

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and you hear, cats fighting all the

time you might have spray marking,

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you may hear the females in heat.

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How does TNR address those issues?

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Nita: It eliminates it.

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People call all the time,

oh, my cat had his eye ripped

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out, and my first question is.

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Is he neutered?

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No.

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That's why he's getting in fights and with

other cats and he's mating with females

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and we just need to get him neutered.

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And I've had a lot of people tell me.

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Oh, since we got, max Neutered, he's

gotten real friendly and he is sleeping

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in the bed with us and so forth.

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So getting him spayed, neutered

helps a lot of those behavior issues.

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The spraying stops, it takes a

couple of months for the behavior

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to go, for the hormones to go away.

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But, I've had a lot of people tell me

that, oh, this cat was so mean, and

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now he just, he loves me and yeah.

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So that's nice to hear.

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Dixie: It is.

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And I'd like to mention something

else too, when you spay and

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neuter them and they're feral

after they're spayed or neutered,

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you don't see 'em as much anymore.

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They keep a really low profile.

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I know there was one that

was coming around me by my

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commercial area and he was.

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Going in and out of this busy parking lot.

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It was making me a nervous wreck,

so I trapped him right away.

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I got 'em neutered.

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And I barely see him now.

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Nita: Yeah.

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It helps just all kinds of problems.

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Plus, if you wanna talk about

money, it costs a whole lot more

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to round up impound animals.

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Than it does to just get 'em fixed.

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Dixie: Absolutely.

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Nita: And I think a lot of

municipalities are realizing that.

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I think Facebook has been a big help,

social media and putting a face to

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the homeless animals, dogs and cats.

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And the benefits of spaying and neutering.

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I've seen just a huge change.

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I've been involved in animal

work for almost 50 years.

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Dixie: I just spoke with Kelsey and she's

at the Washington Parish Animal Shelter.

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Now, of course, they're not as big of

an area as New Orleans, but she was

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telling me they started their program

in:

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calls and that's, it's remarkable

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. Nita: Yeah.

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Anna Zareal told me a couple of weeks

ago that their cat intake is way down.

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And,

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I know why it's just gotta

be everybody participating in

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this 'cause I cannot do it all.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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And it's very easy to trap too.

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You just have to learn

how to work the trap.

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And then other than that, you just set

it up and you just watch it and you wait.

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Nita: Yeah, I love trapping.

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I wish I could spend more time

trapping instead of organizing.

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I can hear the sound of a

trap closing a mile away.

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I joke with people,

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Dixie: Uhhuh

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Nita: and it's like hunting for good

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, Dixie: what are some of the biggest

misconceptions people have about

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community Cats and the TNR program?

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Most people are appreciative

and they get it.

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I will say that.

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Some people are difficult to

deal with and they like to see

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the little kittens, I think.

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Yeah

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. Nita: It's some kinda weird thing

that the older kittens are so cute.

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And then they don't realize,

most of these kittens born on

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the street are not gonna make it.

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They're gonna die

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I was trying to think of the percentage,

but I think it's something like

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80% of kittens born on the street

end up dying within six months.

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Dixie: I know you addressed

the controversial subject

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of aborting the kittens.

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Nita: Yes.

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Dixie: Do you find like the vets

are very willing to do that?

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Is there a like kind of a limit

when the vets will not do it?

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Nita: I know there's a couple of vets

that do have limits, but the vets we work

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with, they realize, there's just no homes

for these kittens and better for them to

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never be born than to be born just to die.

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Or, clog up the sheltering system.

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For those people that don't wanna abort.

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It's okay, then you take all

these kittens they don't want 'em,

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Dixie: Do you ever have cats

that have kittens in the trap?

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Nita: Yes.

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I think last year that

happened three times.

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And if they're born in

the trap, we take them.

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We'll find a foster or

shelter or somebody.

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Yeah.

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There was one last year that I'm recalling

that the cat was taken to a vet had

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kittens at the vet in the trap, and so

they ended up, holding into the mama and

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the kittens and then getting the kittens.

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Adopted out and the mama went back.

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The mama cat went back to her caretaker

because she did have a caretaker.

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Now I think that happened

last year three times.

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It hasn't happened this year yet.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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We're just getting into the really,

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Nita: we're

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just getting into it.

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Yeah, it's interesting.

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The winter solstice.

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What is that, December

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Dixie: 21st?

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Nita: The 21st?

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Yeah I was reading something and

it said that's the time when,

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the days are getting longer.

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And it sends a message

to the cat's optic nerve.

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That it's time to breed.

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So that's why we start seeing

lots and lots of pregnant cats.

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in March.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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It's that circadian rhythm

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Nita: and then just continues.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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It just continues, up

until October or something.

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But right now we're in the peak of it.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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I think here we get maybe one month

off where it's like a little slow.

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Nita: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And if people wanna argue with me

about it, I have so much to do, our

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volunteers and I, we I just, okay.

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Then you deal with it.

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I'll move on to the next one.

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I'm just not gonna argue with people.

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Dixie: And how many

volunteers do you have?

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Nita: Kate's over here right now

helping in the cat room and washing

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traps and helping with the laundry.

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And we have.

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I think six people that foster.

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And then I have a like six people that

help me haul back and forth to the vet.

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Two people that come in the morning

that help me change the newspaper in

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the traps before we take 'em to the vet.

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And then feed the ones that

have come back from the vet.

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I have two ladies that live near

me, and so they'll come like Monday

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through Friday to help with that.

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Thank goodness.

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Sometimes on my porch

I'll have 21 to 30 cats.

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That's routinely I'll have 20, 25.

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It gets to be crazy.

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So it takes a lot of volunteers.

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And of course I always need volunteers.

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They have volunteers

that will take laundry.

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'cause as there's just tons

of laundry trap covers.

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I have a volunteer that makes trap covers.

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I just tell people there's

always something to do over here.

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Now, and I

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encourage people to go volunteer at

these other rescues and go volunteer

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at the Louisiana SPCA or Jefferson

Parish Shelter, or Jefferson, SPCA.

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There's just a million

things that need to be done

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Dixie: How do you identify and

prioritize the areas that you go trap in?

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Nita: I get calls night and day, so

it is pretty much just come get a trap

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your hood, talk to your neighbors.

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And I have a list.

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I get a request for trapping

through Trap Dat Cat through our

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organization as well as Louisiana SPCA.

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So to be honest, I

prioritize what's near me.

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I do go out to New Orleans East, but

I live uptown, so that's, a long haul.

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And New Orleans East is very underserved.

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A lot of people, if somebody's elderly,

of course, they maybe can't do it.

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So we'll go out there

and just do what we can.

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And I always tell everybody, we

gotta get every cat, otherwise

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we're not doing anything.

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And a lot of people do call me back,

oh, need this other cat showed up?

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Can I come get a trap?

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Yes.

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They come, they sign out a trap and

go trap and then bring the cat to me.

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I have a lot of problems with people

returning traps, so I have to really read

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them the riot act that these traps are a

hundred bucks and we need our traps back.

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And I don't know what it is that.

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I have to be mean to people to get

'em to understand that, if we don't

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have these traps, we can't help cats.

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One lady stole two of our traps,

and so we filed a police report, and

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of course nothing's gonna happen,

but at least it's on her record.

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She just won't give them back.

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And we've tried, going over there and.

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There's lots of crazy cat people.

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Dixie: Yeah, I know.

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I had a situation it was a

couple of years ago where I was

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trying to clean up an area by me.

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So many cats and I was doing a really

good job of getting them and I noticed

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there was a new one over there.

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This lady had contacted us in this area.

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I was already familiar with it.

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But she was like, oh there's

kittens over here and there's cats.

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And it was like, okay I'm gonna

come and I'll try to help.

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I put the trap out and I told

her, don't touch the trap.

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Leave it right where I put it.

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, if the cat goes in

it, , just gimme a call.

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And I had to go run down

the street real quick.

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I come back, she moved my trap.

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So then I go move my trap someplace else.

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She basically told me, oh, I

can't put my trap there because

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there's a lot of kids in the area

and they're gonna steal my trap.

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And I'm like, why would

kids steal my trap?

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So I think it was her.

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I think she's the one

that just had a problem.

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Nita: Yeah.

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, Dixie: why do you reach

out for help though?

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And then tell me you're

gonna steal my trap,

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Nita: yeah.

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It's unbelievable.

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We had this, yeah, that's

happened to me before.

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This man had hidden one

of our traps in his car.

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And so we're out there trying to talk to

him, and finally his wife screams out from

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the window give the ladies their trap.

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It's in your car.

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I don't get it.

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I really don't.

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Dixie: How do you handle situations

where a trap cat is found to be owned

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or it has some kind of medical problem?

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Nita: Oh, I have a chip reader.

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So you know, if the cat looks

friendly, I'll scan him for a chip.

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And I think in the past couple of weeks

we've had three cats that had chips.

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One of the cats with a chip, the

owner, who the cat was registered

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to, did not want the cat back.

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But a lot of people do.

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We trapped one cat that had

been missing for 10 years.

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Dixie: Oh

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wow.

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Nita: And they came right

over and picked up the cat.

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The cat was trapped in New

Orleans East and the people

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were from, I think, Slidell.

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Dixie: Oh, wow.

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Yeah, I guess he got a ride.

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Nita: He got a ride with somebody.

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I don't think he swam over the

lake, but yeah, we had one Mardi

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Gras Indian that just refused.

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All the neighbors are complaining,

all these cats all over the place.

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And so we're out there trapping and

he pulls up in his van and takes

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two of our traps and throws them in

the street and breaks one of them.

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And the neighbors are afraid of him.

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So it can get crazy.

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One lady has 41 cats in her house.

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I have begged her to, and they're friendly

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Dixie: Uhhuh.

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Nita: I have begged her, bring me

the cats, let me get 'em fixed.

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Or she's gonna, end up with 60 or 70

cats and then realize she has a problem.

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I've literally begged this woman,

so I just gotta let that go.

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Dixie: So none of 'em, none of

them are spayed or neutered.

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Nita: Some of them are.

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Dixie: Wow.

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Nita: Yeah.

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I don't know.

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She's one of these that thinks

she's doing a good thing by

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giving them away to people.

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Dixie: Uhhuh.

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Nita: When we run across people

that, they wanna keep the

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kittens, we're like, okay, great.

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'cause they wanna give them away.

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Just let us get 'em fixed

first before we give them away.

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Let us get 'em fixed and vaccinated

because, the cats get an vaccine and

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:

a rabies, and of course a spay neuter.

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:

So that gives them a better chance

of survival and we know that,

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:

those kittens won't be, starting

the cycle again of breeding.

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Dixie: Now, recently on Facebook,

I saw a post where some woman was

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really, infuriated because her

outdoor cat came back with an ear tip.

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So what do you think about

situations like that?

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Nita: Ear tip, cats are

protected under the law.

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It's the universal symbol that

this cat has been spayed or

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:

neutered and vaccinated for rades.

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And it also prevents somebody like me

or you going over there and trapping

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the cat and the cat's already fixed.

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:

And people say, oh, I wanna go

through your program, but the cat,

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I don't want my cat ear tipped.

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Then you go to a private vet and you get

'em fixed and microchipped and you pay.

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$200 - $300 or more and you

could do that rather than pay 60.

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:

The cat's ear tipped and most

people will go, we'll accept that.

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Dixie: So is there protection for

ear tip cats in your area too, where

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like the shelter won't pick those up

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Nita: Yeah, absolutely.

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:

The shelter won't pick 'em up.

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:

They're protected under the law.

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And you can see ear tip cats

in China or England or France.

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:

It's the universal symbol.

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That these cats are spayed,

neutered, and protected.

437

:

So why would you not ear tip,

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:

Dixie: right?

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Nita: All of my cats are ear

tipped, even the friendly ones,

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:

right?

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:

Dixie: Yeah.

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:

I don't mind the ear tip at all,

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Nita: Yeah, me either.

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:

It's I don't want somebody coming

over here and taking my cat.

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:

Dixie: What are some of the

success stories that you have

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:

had to keep your team motivated?

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:

Nita: We have success stories every day.

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:

For every cat we fix, we're

saving thousands rather

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:

than taking one kitten and.

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:

Using up a huge amount of

resources to get that cat at home.

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:

We're preventing, all this suffering.

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:

And community problems with cats,

roaming and yelling and spraying

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:

and bothering neighbors and.

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To me, every cat that we fix is

just saving so many down the road.

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:

Dixie: Yeah, absolutely.

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:

What are your feelings about breeders?

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Nita: I do not understand why anybody

would be breeding a dog or a cat

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:

when all of our shelters are full.

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:

Even purebred animals.

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:

I think a quarter of the dogs that

end up in shelters are purebred.

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:

And there's all these rescues that

specialize in, poodles or Dobermans or

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:

German shepherds or cocker spaniels.

463

:

There's rescue specific

for specific breeds.

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:

Puppy mills, I don't get, I've never.

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:

All of my animals are rescued.

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:

And my, like my neighbors, all

of their animals are rescued.

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:

I see people walking down the street and

I can tell, oh yeah, I re rescued this

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:

dog from Zeus, or Big Easy, or wherever.

469

:

Dixie: What are your future goals for Trap

Dat Cat and are there any new initiatives

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:

or projects that you're working on?

471

:

Nita: I would like to see more

of the rescues have traps to

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:

take some of the stress off.

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:

I would like to, see more rescues have

just even a small team of trappers

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:

and I know Jefferson, SPCA does.

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:

This is a big area to cover

and I can't do it all.

476

:

I know Juliana in, on the West Bank, she

traps a lot of cats on the West Bank.

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:

She's in Jefferson Parish and

we have a couple of trappers.

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:

Catherine in Algiers.

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:

She traps a lot of cats over

there, we're not there yet.

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:

Our goal is to try to keep

educating people and just keep

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:

stressing spay neuter, TNR.

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:

Be a responsible pet owner,

just get your animals fixed.

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:

Dixie: Do you think there's any kind of

way to help to educate the public on that?

484

:

Nita: I think just by us being out

there, most people know us now.

485

:

I I'd love to see like

people go into the schools

486

:

and the veterinary community.

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:

I think most vets will tell you

that, like 90% of their clients'

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:

pets are spayed, neutered.

489

:

I, I've asked around, and

that's the percentage I get.

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:

So I would like to see the

vets lower their prices.

491

:

Somebody called me last week,

they got a price for neutering,

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:

a cat, a ma, male, cat, $800.

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:

. Now maybe that included, shots

and combo tests and all that.

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:

I dunno.

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:

But, so they came right over here and went

through our program and plopped down 65.

496

:

Dixie: Wow.

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:

Yeah.

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:

I just took in a little cat she's a

year and a half and she wasn't spayed.

499

:

Now the owner did ensure

to keep her inside.

500

:

So she never did go outside, which is

great, but she wasn't from this area,

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:

she had another one that was neutered.

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:

And I said, why didn't

you spay the female?

503

:

Can I ask?

504

:

And it was, the vet told her it would be

better to wait till the female was a year.

505

:

. Nita: Yeah.

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:

The vets need to step up and I think a

lot of them are, we are fortunate here.

507

:

We have.

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:

Like four vets that will,

give us reduced prices.

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:

We had one cat this week.

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:

Lady brought me this stray

cat she picked up at Costco.

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:

Friendly, had a broken leg,

so Southern Animal Foundation

512

:

ended up taking that cat.

513

:

And they amputated the leg,

I think Friday, Thursday.

514

:

And the cat's doing well and

they're gonna hang onto the

515

:

cat and find that cat at home.

516

:

And we are fortunate here.

517

:

We need more vets.

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:

But we're pretty lucky out

in the rest of Louisiana.

519

:

Most parishes don't even

have an animal shelter.

520

:

There's a few small organizations, we're

able to help St Bernard has a trapping

521

:

group and , they're doing really good.

522

:

, but they're brand new, so we're

fortunately able to help them.

523

:

And yeah there's other little groups

that it's just gotta be everybody.

524

:

I know there's lots of cat lovers.

525

:

And.

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:

They just have to understand what

the impact is on the community when

527

:

they allow these cats to breed.

528

:

Dixie: So what advice would you

give someone who is thinking about

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:

starting a similar organization?

530

:

Nita: Be prepared to be

overwhelmed and worn out.

531

:

As everybody in rescue

is just overwhelmed.

532

:

It's

533

:

just never ending.

534

:

My phone never stops.

535

:

Just never.

536

:

And it's just gotta be everybody helping

and everybody can do something, go to

537

:

your shelter and wash laundry for 'em,

or go walk dogs or go play with kittens.

538

:

Or if your neighbor has a

breeding animal, talk to 'em.

539

:

And again, I think social media

has put a face to all this.

540

:

When I first started.

541

:

In the eighties I was volunteering

at the Louisiana SPCA.

542

:

They were taking in 17,000 animals a year.

543

:

Dixie: Wow.

544

:

Nita: It was unbelievable.

545

:

Now I think they take in maybe 5,000.

546

:

That's a see change.

547

:

Yeah.

548

:

In a relatively short period of time

549

:

and.

550

:

It's, it's a national problem, obviously.

551

:

It's in, the more educated areas

where there's lots of money for animal

552

:

control and shelters it's not as bad,

but it's bad all over the country.

553

:

Dixie: How was your group funded

554

:

Nita: donations?

555

:

Strictly donations.

556

:

We're lucky to have a couple of

people that donate regularly.

557

:

And then, I beg people to donate anything

they can when they bring me a cat.

558

:

And so far, we've survived.

559

:

It's a miracle.

560

:

There, I, it really is a miracle,

but, we have no, no building.

561

:

No car, no electricity, no water bills.

562

:

Just my porch.

563

:

Dixie: Before we end the call can you

tell us, what is your biggest need and

564

:

how would people get in touch with you?

565

:

Nita: More volunteers.

566

:

Money for spay, neuter.

567

:

Talk to your vet about

participating in our program.

568

:

We have a website, www.trapdatcat.org.

569

:

You can go on there and donate.

570

:

You can send cat food.

571

:

There's just, a million ways to help.

572

:

Trap your neighborhood.

573

:

Just get involved.

574

:

If you don't live in New Orleans, go

volunteer, for your local shelter.

575

:

Dixie: Absolutely.

576

:

Thank you for taking the time

to speak with me this morning.

577

:

I really appreciated it and

I enjoyed our conversation.

578

:

Nita: Thank you, Dixie

579

:

thank you so much for doing this.

580

:

Thank you.

581

:

Thank you.

582

:

Dixie: Goodbye.

583

:

Nita: Bye bye.

584

:

And that's all the time we

have for today's episode.

585

:

If you are in animal rescue, or if

you know someone that has a story that

586

:

should be told, please contact us.

587

:

We would love to have

you or them on the show

588

:

. Thanks for listening, and please

join us next week as we continue to

589

:

explore the world of animal rescue.

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About the Podcast

Animal Posse
A look inside the world of animal rescue
Dive deep into the world of animal rescue with heartwarming stories, expert interviews, and behind-the-scenes insights. From heartwarming adoptions to daring rescues, we'll explore the incredible bond between humans and animals.
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