I want to think that this family made decisions initially stemming from a place of care. When their relatives passed away about four years ago, their senior cat was left behind. But when the mourners attempted to wrap up their deceased loved ones home, they were met with hisses. Hisses from a clearly traumatized cat who had just lost it’s humans and entire world was in chaos.
They didn’t want to bring the 8-year-old cat to a shelter where they knew his standoffish disposition at the time would likely lead to his demise. So instead, they chose to leave the cat where it sheltered.
And for the next FOUR YEARS, they paid the electricity, water and rent in the home, fed the cat every few days, and left him on his own.
But now, seeing the outcome, some argue what they did was worse than death. Yes, they kept him fed. And yes, they cleaned the litter boxes out. There was a roof over his head, but his heart was empty.
After the weeks turned into months, and months into years, the word eventually got out about the cat called Sparky.
An animal rescuer and another fosterer for a local shelter learned about the neglected feline. The family had finally decided to put the home up for sale. Which meant that the cat would have to evacuate the residence. He would have to go to a shelter for possible adoption… like he originally should have.
Luckily, the loving and dedicated workers and volunteers at Boston’s Forgotten Felines were happy to help.
But at this point, four years alone in the house had left Sparky untrusting, scared and COVERED in matted fur.
The process to teach him trust would be slow and they weren’t even sure it would work. But they refused to give up on him and a volunteer made it her mission to find his heart again.
She sat close to him, received a small his
s at her hand 6 inches away but didn’t give up. Slowly she could rub under his chin. She says his hisses are fake, he made no aggressive moves towards her keeping his front paws tucked under his body.
The scared boy sat huddled in a corner, the only safe space he’s known for the last years. But they were eventually able to get him into a carrier and off to the vet. He spent an entire day being pampered and all his medical issues finally addressed.
Since he clearly had no annual exams to maintain his health, he had numerous rotten teeth that needed to be extracted. Upon his exam, they actually found one tooth to be hanging off. In total, he had 8 teeth removed.
Not to mention his “trouble nuggets” since he wasn’t neutered, including one testicle that had never descended. He also had all the matted fur carefully shaved off. That alone had to be quite a relief!
Sparky was then off to a foster home where they would slowly and patiently work on gaining his trust.
It has been a long time since he has experienced the kindness, comfort and companionship of humans. I am confident she will supply all his needs on his terms and hopefully he will find his way back to the trusting, happy life he had with his family before they passed so long ago.
Faster than they could have imagined, Sparky soon opened up and was ready to find a forever family.
The organization was thrilled that he accepted love from his foster family again. But they also knew that his forever home would need to be filled with love, patience and understanding. His situation was so unique (thank goodness!), that his new family would need to go above and beyond for the senior boy.
It didn’t take long after his story was shared for a family to come forward and offer their hearts to him. Congrats to them all!
Sparky is in his new home with a nice young couple who are very excited to have him join their family. They have 2 young, sweet cats waiting to meet him. It will be a very slow introduction once he feels safe. He is getting plenty of attention, has a great attitude and must be feeling so good with all those mats and all those rotten teeth gone.
And with that, Sparky received a new life…and a new name; Egg. Fitting, considering they were all able to coax him out of his “shell” with much deserved attention. The attention that he finally received after four years of neglect and abandonment.
Latest update is that during the night he jumped up on their bed with them. And later they could hear him playing with a crinkle toy.
