Gemma Perry said 18-month-old Slinky went missing three weeks ago.
Ms Perry knew there was something wrong because the cat always showed up every night.
After five days when Ms Perry was thinking the worst, Slinky limped home.
Her leg was extremely swollen, with an open wound and a mark where the bar of the trap had been clearly evident.
‘‘It was disgusting, it stunk, she was really skinny, dehydrated and unhappy,'' Ms Perry said.
She took Slinky to the vet straight away but it was too late to save her leg, she said.
‘‘Unfortunately, because it had been left so long, the circulation had been cut and the cat had to have its leg removed,'' she said.
Ms Perry urged hunters to check live-capture traps daily as it was inhumane to leave any animal, not just cats, in traps for long periods of time.
‘‘They [hunters] should not be using traps if they are not going to check them each day,'' Ms Perry said.
If Slinky had been let out of the trap on the same day she was caught, then her injuries would have been minimal, Ms Perry said.
Instead, the infection in the lower leg had spread right through the limb.
As a result, Slinky had to spend four nights at the vet clinic and it cost $600 for the treatment, she said.
Veterinarian Josie Holmes, of Combined Vet Services in Gore, who attended to Slinky, said in cases like this the trap often crushed the limb and cut off its blood supply.
If the blood supply was totally cut off then the limb was no longer viable.
Another complication was when infection set in as it had done in Slinky's case.
There was also a possibility of the trap injuring major blood vessels and the animal suffering from loss of blood.
If an animal was left for extended periods of time in a trap then it also suffered from starvation, dehydration and exposure.
While Dr Holmes accepted that trapping of pest animals was necessary, she said hunters needed to be vigilant in checking traps daily.
Dr Holmes said if anyone found an animal had been caught in a trap like Slinky then they needed to take it to the vet as soon as possible.
Long-time Edendale hunter Doug Speden said even if hunters did check bar traps twice a day, if a cat was caught early in the evening it could have a broken leg by the next morning.
‘‘And it [the trap] makes a hell of a mess,'' Mr Speden said.
He advised hunters to use cages as they were more humane and if a cat was caught it could be let out unharmed.
