Portobello resident Leanne Kitto-Thomas was at home with her two daughters earlier this month when she heard Toby meowing outside.
The delight at thinking their 1-year-old SPCA rescue kitten had come home after a month, quickly turned to horror.
They discovered him caught under their home's front fence with a possum trap still attached to his obviously "dead'' back left leg.
It was not known how far or how long it had taken for Toby to drag himself home.
"He was so determined to get home.''
He was taken to an emergency vet where he was kept overnight before having his leg amputated at the hip the next day.
The veterinarian said it was one of the worst wounds from a trap she had seen and his survival was partly down to a maggot found in his paw that kept the wound clean, Miss Kitto-Thomas said.
"It took ages to get [the trap] off his foot.''
The trap was a legal leg trap but the Animal Welfare Act states that such traps must not be set within 150m of any dwelling house or where there is a probable risk of catching a companion animal.
Yesterday, Toby was slowly recovering from his ordeal, but Miss Kitto-Thomas said she was "fuming''.
While she understood pest control was important, she urged those setting traps to adhere to the rules and check all their set traps daily.
"I'm dead against trappers who set traps and don't check them ... The suffering of a cat in an unchecked trap in a built-up area is disgusting and heart-wrenching,'' Miss Kitto-Thomas said.
SPCA Otago animal welfare director Helen Beattie said it was "horrible'' that any cat would end up in that situation.
She said using traps was not breaking the law but it was "entirely unfortunate'' that Toby had been caught.
The initial cost of Toby's treatment was estimated to be between $1500 and $1700 and already cost more than $1000.
To help cover the costs of Toby's treatment, Miss Kitto-Thomas has set up a Givealittle page, raising more than $900.
The Department of Conservation does not have traps in the area, and a spokeswoman for the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group said the trap did not belong to the organisation.
- Jess Wilson is an Otago Polytechnic journalism student.
