Let me introduce you to Hermione, aka Cliffy.
Hermione was a black female kitten dumped at a riverside park outside of Charleston, WV, last fall.
On September 18, 2024, my friend, Tara, texted me a picture of soon-to-be Hermione and said, “Jenn, there is a two-month kitty at the (park). Do you think you could take him in?” Tara had already named the kitten Cliffy, and I would come to find out just how fully invested Tara was in Cliffy’s rescue.
By that point, I had already fostered about 20 cats in the calendar year and about 24 the year before. Fostering had become a full-time volunteer gig because the need for help never stops.
I had heard of this kitten. I had seen posts about it on a local Facebook page. This park was about an hour away from where I live and a good 15-20 minutes from my office. I knew how hard this was going to be: trapping in a public area, finding time to get to the park on a regular basis to get the kitten on a feeding schedule before trapping, getting the playful and oblivious-to-danger kitten into the trap. So, that same day Tara texted me, I went to the park to check out the situation and take the kitten some food. Despite my best hopes, the kitten was not socialized and would not come near me. It confirmed my theory that this was going to be a challenge.
With trapping, you really need the cat to be on a feeding schedule. You need the only food to come from you and for it to come at a certain time every day so the cat develops a schedule and understands the food is coming from you. Sometimes you can establish this routine in a few days; sometimes it takes a while. There was no way I was going to be able to go to the park every evening to establish that routine, but thankfully Tara was more than willing to do that part.
More than just the kitten’s skittishness working against us was well-meaning adults who were bringing the kitten cheeseburgers and other tasty human morsels that are 1) bad for the kitten’s tummy and 2) a deterrent for the kitten to eat our food if they are full and if the human food tastes better. Several adults had made mention on the Facebook page that they were going to go try to catch him. People chasing him was also not helpful, and add to that the human food that smells and tastes better than Kitten Chow, and we had an issue.
So, I made a sign. I posted notice at the riverfront area where the kitten was commonly seen frolicking in the weeds on the bank between the river and the parking lot. “Please DO NOT Feed Kitten! Rescue In Progress!” This was also the area where food scraps and empty containers had been left by those well-meaning humans with their greasy leftovers, and I was really hoping they would look up from the kitten in the weeds, read the sign, and respect what we were trying to do.
I went back several times and set the trap, but the kitten never even went close to it. Yep, I tried all the things, including making a trail of food toward and into the trap and using smelly food like tuna. Kitten was not interested, and I was fading quickly to stress and #IdiopathicHypersomnia. Living so far away made it feel impossible. At work, we were dealing with disaster response for Hurricanes Helene and Milton. At home, I had my own five cats plus a foster litter of five: #TeamHogwarts.
Tara never let me quit, though. Every time I would try and fail, she would say, “Okay, what do we do next?”
On October 12, I worked late at the office, preparing volunteers to deploy to North Carolina for Helene disaster response. When I left the office, I headed over to the park, ready to set the trap with dinner but afraid it would fail again. I prayed so hard on the car ride over: God, please put that kitten in the trap as only You can.
You see, He had done it for me before. He put Molly Weasley in the trap when we rescued her from the gas station where she was dumped, and He put Rory Gilmore in the trap after multiple failed attempts. He could do it again, I knew it. I needed that kitten to be safe. Halloween was approaching, which isn’t good for a black cat, and the weather would be turning soon.
At the park, I set up the trap and put a small trail of tuna into the trap. I sat on a nearby bench and watched. The kitten showed up right on queue, and it went toward the trap. I had never seen it go toward the trap before. I couldn’t believe it when the kitten sniffed around the trap and then stuck its head in. I remained perfectly still, but inside, I was on the edge of my seat, cheering for it to go all the way in.
Y’all, I’m not even kidding. When that trap slammed shut with the kitten inside, I jumped up on my feet in a cheer and then cried and thanked God. He made it look so easy to trap a cat. If you knew how many times the cat had run from me, hid from the trap, or refused to get near the food I put out or the number of times Tara and her boyfriend had been within arms’ length of the kitten only for the kitten to run way into the weeds, you would understand. That evening in 20 minutes it was done.
At the time, I was on the board of a local rescue. The rescue was aware of the kitten, and it had agreed ahead of time that if I could trap the kitten, they would intake it as one of the rescue’s kittens and I could foster it till adoption. Having a rescue to work with is pivotal because this rescue was willing to cover all vet expenses. I provided the safe space, food, litter, transportation to the vet, and socialization.
I brought the kitten home to #WeasleyMeowtainLodge and quarantined it until it could be treated for fleas and worms and get its first round of vaccines. Turns out the kitten was a she, so I named her Hermione. After about a week of quarantine, she was added to #TeamHogwarts. The boys welcomed her with open paws, and soon it was like she had always been part of the litter.
Cliffy, formerly Hermione, now lives with her mom who never gave up on her and a sibling to keep her company in a home where she’ll never have to worry about cold weather or going hungry again.
Little Did She Know 