Cat rescued from trash

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This article was published 11/04/2017 (3094 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A malnourished cat with broken teeth is expected to make a full recovery after the feline was tied up in a garbage bag, tossed in the trash and abandoned.

Ron Vandaele was throwing junk into a waiting garbage truck in Deloraine on the evening of April 4, when he heard a faint meow.

“I thought maybe the cat had crawled into a bag and couldn’t get out, but when I got to the bag, the thing was tied shut,” he said.

Vandaele tore the bag open and a messy cat crawled out. The calm feline rubbed against Vandaele’s hand and walked away on his own. He seemed fine.

The cat roamed to a residence before quickly leaving.

A few days later, when Michalla Smart’s fiancé, Brandin Kotlarchuk, spotted the cat, she knew of the animal’s traumatic week.

He was in worse shape than pictures on Facebook suggested.

He had broken teeth. He was very thin. His fur matted, nose swollen. He struggled to breathe.

They drove the cat to Virden to get help.

“On the way into the vet, his breathing got to the point where we were scared he wasn’t going to make it,” Smart said.

The nameless cat, now called Rex for his sharp remaining teeth, had an upper respiratory infection. He had bad ear mites, broken teeth and was dehydrated and hungry.

But Rex is now on the mend.

“He’s doing even better than they thought he would be,” said Smart, who is fostering the cat with her fiancé.

It’s a big departure from when she first spotted the cat on Saturday.

“It was much, much worse seeing him in person, seeing the kind of shape he was in, but his spirit did not at all match how he looked. He must be one of the friendliest animals I had ever seen,” Smart said, explaining how the cat climbed onto her lap right away.

Kathy Heaman, manager of the Virden Pet Network rescue, said it was heartbreaking to see Rex last week, struggling for every breath.

She assumes the cat, maybe half the weight of other domestic short-haired felines, is young.

“When we age a cat or a dog, we use their teeth as kind of a guideline, but he has no teeth in a lot of places and some of the teeth he does have are so rotten.”

After speaking with the veterinarian, Heaman believes the cat was a stray, but would have been cared for in a home, evidenced by how the cat longs for human companionship.

The decaying teeth were likely caused by malnourishment, she said.

Some person, however, would have tossed the cat into a garbage truck, she believes.

“There had to be somebody there to tie him up, that’s the maddening part.

“That’s pretty much one of the cruelest things you can do to a live animal, put them in a garbage bag, tie them up and leave them there.”

No animal abuse complaint has been lodged with the chief veterinarian’s office, the province said.

The RCMP was unable to confirm Monday if an investigation is underway.

Heaman expects the cat to recover from his injuries in a number of weeks.

A GoFundMe page has been established to raise money for veterinarian care at gofundme.com/sick-cat-rescued-from-garbage-truck.

In the meantime, Rex may have already found a forever home.

His foster parents may soon become his adopted parents.

“The way he’s bringing an impression on our family,” Smart said, “we’re almost wondering if we might end up adopting him.”

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