Joyce Fetterman, a Union City resident, considered herself an average person with a fondness for animals. She never thought she’d end up being one cat’s hero.
Fetterman found Mr. Mangled Paw, Mr. MP for short, on the street with an injury to his paw on Sept. 8. She called the police and got the number for the city’s animal control contractor. She thought she did the right thing and the feline would be taken care of.
Mr. MP is up for adoption.
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But her happiness was short lived. While the story does have a happy ending for Mr. MP, Fetterman hopes that telling her story will help make others aware of what might happen when an animal is picked up.
How it all happened
“I trapped Mr. Mangled Paw and called Jeff at 8 a.m. the very next day,” said Fetterman. “He informed me he would be at my house between 9:30 and 10 a.m. to pick up. When he didn’t show, I called again.”
Fetterman added, “He said he would be here at 11:30. When he didn’t show, I called him again. He said he would be here at 12. When he didn’t show, I called him again and finally he said ‘20 minutes.’ When he arrived at 1 p.m., the poor animal was in a crate for five hours.”
Fetterman said when Sanieni came to pick up Mr. MP, he allegedly told her, “I’m doing you a big favor by coming here. I’m not supposed to pick up backyard cats, only street animals. I usually get $90 for a pickup.”
Sanieni was not available for comment last week.
Fetterman said she called to check on Mr. MP and was unable to find someone who could tell her where the cat was taken.
Fetterman said that after four days of several phone calls to Sanieni and public officials, she was finally able to find the whereabouts of Mr.MP.
Fetterman said she found Mr. MP in the basement of Summit Animal Clinic, only after she called various times and was told the cat wasn’t there. She took Mr. MP from the clinic and brought him to Hoboken Animal Hospital, where Kelly Kurtz, associate vet, cared for him.
“When he came in he was really dehydrated. His left eye had a corneal scar on it. He has no teeth and had a significant upper respiratory infection,” said Kurtz.
Among other issues, Mr. MP had bite wounds, a deformed front left leg from having been broken at some point, and Kurtz said he wasn’t in a position to be living in the outdoors anymore.
The happy ending
After two days of treatment and several visits, Mr. MP is doing much better. “He’s healthy. His upper respiratory infection is gone. He’s integrated well with other cats with a lot of work from Joyce,” said Kurtz who added that he has healed well from his neutering scar.
Though for now Mr. MP is staying with Fetterman, he is available for adoption. Kurtz estimated his age to be around 10 years old. The fact that he doesn’t have teeth isn’t a problem because cats don’t chew their food much anyway, according to Kurtz.
Also, Fetterman communicated with Mayor Brian Stack, requesting that residents be made aware of the local animal shelter and animal control options.
“Union City works to ensure that the local animal population is addressed in a responsible manner in order to provide an environment which is both healthy for residents and conducive to proper care for animals,” said Stack last week.
The city is now seeking new animal control services as well as a shelter to bring the pets to, but Stack would not say whether the timing had to do with Fetterman’s request.
All animal control contractors must have a certain type of state certification.
Kurtz said it can be overwhelming for some shelters that receive a high influx of animals.
“If you have no other option but to turn over an animal, make the agent who picks them up show ID and make sure they know you are going to follow up to make sure the animal ends up where they say he’s going to go,” said Fetterman. “And then do it.”
Countywide problem
In this recession, more and more pets are being abandoned, and some towns send their missing or abandoned animals to the Associated Humane Society shelter in Newark. A different shelter, the former SPCA Shelter in Jersey City, was shut down last year due to allegedly poor conditions.
It has fallen to the county’s many rescue groups to temporarily take in strays. But other towns in Hudson have either used the Newark facility or built their own smaller shelters.
A petition has been placed on line to demand better animal services in Hoboken and Union City: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/hobokenucanimals.
Melissa Rappaport may be reached at mrappaport@hudsonreporter.com