Survivor Mishka among animals available to adopt for half usual fee
The rescue team at RSPCA South Australia is used to callouts to cats who seem determined to use up their nine lives. So, when the team received a call for help on Friday 30 August to rescue a cat that had somehow become stuck between two huge commercial sheds at Wingfield, they were hopeful of a quick and positive resolution.
Unfortunately, 12-year-old Mishka had other ideas. Fleeing the noise and disruption caused by renovations in her owner's home, the fluffy feline had no intention of emerging from the narrow space between the towering walls of the two sheds.
The owners played audio of cat noises and a trap with food was set, but by Tuesday Mishka had moved even deeper into the 15-metre-deep chasm. Knowing the cat was at high risk of dehydration and starvation, a team of seven RSPCA SA rescue officers and volunteers took turns to be onsite.
Using a long length of plastic pipe and a wooden plank, they manoeuvred food and water to Mishka at regular intervals throughout the days and into the evenings - enough to keep her alive, but not enough to prevent the hunger pangs everyone hoped would prompt Mishka to step into the trap.
Compounding the delicate rescue operation was the team's restricted access to the site.
"The location was secured and we had to work around permission to be on the property," said RSPCA SA Rescue Team Leader Nalika van Loenen.
"There was a point that she was trying to get past but could not.
"This was nearly six meters from the entrance, and we knew the gap was wide enough for her to get through because it was the only way she could have gotten herself in."
At one stage the MFS was called in to help, but their proposal to cut through one of the shed's walls to reach the cat did not go down well with the shed's owners.
On the evening of Monday 2 September, Mishka's behaviour caused Nalika to fear the cat had suffered some kind of seizure.
"She fell backwards and was unresponsive for a few minutes… we actually thought she'd died," said Nalika.
"Then she opened her eyes, so we left her to settle for the night, but the situation was keeping us awake at night," said Nalika.
On Wednesday 4 September (day six of the rescue operation) Nalika and rescue volunteer Richard arrived onsite to find Mishka had moved closer to the entrance, and within an hour they were able to finally coax her out with some enticingly smelly gourmet cat food.
"The relief and joy when everyone heard the good news was palpable," said Nalika.
"So many of us were invested in this cat's survival."
Back at RSPCA SA's Animal Care Centre at O'Halloran Hill, a veterinary examination revealed Mishka was remarkably unscathed by her ordeal, purring loudly but in need of some serious dental work.
Mishka's owners had only recently adopted her after the cat's previous owner passed away. They have decided to surrender her to RSPCA in the hope she can find a more suitable home.
"Mishka's had some dental work so she's feeling much better, and she was already fully vaccinated and desexed, so now what this really beautiful, super-friendly cat needs is a quiet home where she can fully relax, feel safe and receive lots of loving attention," said Nalika.
Mishka is one of about 80 animals available to adopt from RSPCA SA today, for half the usual adoption fee thanks to a generous donation from a longtime supporter who wishes to remain anonymous. The half-price adoptions will end on Friday.
All animals seeking new homes can be viewed online HERE.
Image (above): RSPCA SA Rescue Team Leader Nalika van Loenen with 12-year-old Mishka.
