“We were both crying! It was the best sight ever.”
When Betsy O’Neill first received a Facebook tag about a family of cats who needed saving in the summer of 2022, the proposition was nothing unusual. The full-time schoolteacher had also spent the last 10 years trapping cats in and around New Milford, Connecticut, so she was used to receiving such calls for help.
But when she finally trapped the mother cat, a litter of 6-week-old kittens and two other cats later named Padmé and Aayla, something about that rescue felt different than the rest. One of the cats instantly connected with O’Neill’s son, Reilly.
“We had recently lost our cat, Leia, and Reilly fell in love with Padmé because he loved her [pastel] coloring,” O’Neill told The Dodo. “Of course, he talked us into getting two, so we chose the pastel beauty and her sister, [who] had a heart on her nose!”
Betsy O’Neill
All the cats trapped that day went to New Milford’s Animal Welfare Society, where they were monitored closely for the next few weeks. As soon as the cats were cleared for adoption, the O’Neills drove straight to the shelter to pick up Padmé and Aayla.
As semi-feral strays, Padmé and Aayla were initially wary about their new home and family. But once they realized how loved they were, the cats’ true personalities blossomed. While Aayla remained relatively calm, Padmé secured her role as the family’s beloved wild child.
“She’d get a running start, jump straight into the air and velcro herself onto the cat tree,” O’Neill said. “She’d jump over the dog, off the table onto the refrigerator, over the gate to the cat room and she’d run full force, sometimes sideways, down the hall to pounce on her sister. I guess you could say she was a typical calico.”
Betsy O’Neill
Padmé kept the O’Neills and their dog, Maizie, on their toes with her antics. But she wasn’t just rambunctious — she was loving, too.
“When Reilly would come home from work, she would hear his voice and come running from her hiding places into the kitchen,” O’Neill said. “Padmé loved sitting with Reilly when he was on his computer, and she would snuggle with us when we were watching TV.”
Betsy O’Neill
Whenever Padmé wasn’t launching herself across the room or cuddling with Reilly, she would usually sit and watch birds from her favorite window. Although she was strictly an indoor cat, her fascination with the outdoors gave Reilly an idea in 2024, two years after her initial rescue.
“Reilly wanted to walk her on the leash with a harness, however, as soon as he got into the yard, she freaked out, jumped out of his arms, flipped in the air and slipped out of her harness,” O’Neill said. “She ran around to the front of the house, and then he lost sight of her.”
Reilly was distraught, but his mom quickly jumped into action, implementing all her tried-and-true methods of luring cats from her decade of experience.
Betsy O’Neill
“We did EVERYTHING possible! The very first thing that we did was we moved cameras to different areas around the yard and set up the trail camera,” O’Neill said. “I posted on Facebook, made over 100 laminated fliers, hung fliers within a mile radius, knocked on doors in several neighborhoods and handed fliers to them, dropped fliers at local businesses …”
In addition to spreading the word about Padmé, O’Neill set up a feeding station by her house and monitored all the cameras she’d placed around the property. After 26 days of constant monitoring and false alarms, she finally noticed a familiar set of glowing eyes on the camera footage in the middle of the night.
Betsy O’Neill
Sadly, Padmé didn’t walk into any of the set traps that night and hurried back into the woods before anyone had a chance to catch her. She briefly appeared on the O’Neill’s cameras again 8 days later and was spotted less than a mile from her house the following day. But it wasn’t until September 29, 40 days after her disappearance, that Padmé’s family could finally breathe again.
Earlier that night, O’Neill and her son had trapped an adult male cat at their feeding station, who they feared was scaring Padmé away. O’Neill went to bed directly after catching the tomcat, but Reilly stayed up late enough to notice someone else activating their motion-sensor cameras.
“He had seen Padmé on the garage camera and quietly ran out to the garage post,” O’Neill said. “He was watching the trap and noticed Padmé moving VERY slowly toward it. She was following the trail of treats I had laid out, and she was taking her time eating each treat. Reilly said it felt like torture watching her slowly walk towards the trap.”
Betsy O’Neill
As soon as Padmé entered the trap, Reilly pulled the cord to close it. He immediately called his mom, who rushed to the garage in disbelief.
“He had been holding the trap down as I instructed, then stood up, put his foot on the trap and gave me a hug,” O’Neill said. “We were both crying! It was the best sight ever.”
Betsy O’Neill
After a few celebratory, emotional hugs, the O’Neills set Padmé up in a cozy cage to isolate her while they waited for the vet clinic to open. Padmé was understandably stressed that night, meowing incessantly with a new, raspy voice. But she soon calmed down when a familiar friend visited her crate.
“At first, she hissed and tried to climb the cage, but when we let Maizie in the room, she immediately settled, rubbed against the cage and reached her paws through the ‘jail bars’ to play with Maizie,” O’Neill said. “It was a relief not just for us, but for her, too. It was a rollercoaster of emotions for those 40 days …”
Betsy O’Neill
Padmé visited the vet the following day and received another clean health bill before returning home to her family, where she’s been relaxing ever since.
It’s been a few weeks since her second rescue, and Padmé is mostly feeling like herself again. While she’s been sleepier and a little more anxious around sudden noises or other animals, some things about her haven’t changed.
“[Padmé] is back to velcroing herself to the cat tree, but she can typically be found curled up in a warm fleece blanket with her boy, Reilly,” O’Neill said.
To help pets like Padmé get the care they need, you can donate to New Milford’s Animal Welfare Society here.
