Cat found in trash is foster family’s new treasure

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This article was published 11/04/2017 (3132 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — 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 feline rubbed against Vandaele’s hand and walked away on his own. He seemed OK.

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. 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 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.

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.

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

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

But Rex may have already found a forever home; his foster parents may soon become his adoptive ones.

— Brandon Sun