Frightened nine-week-old kitten at shelter scheduled for euthanasia because he was too feral

This handsome, nine-week-old, long-haired, ginger tabby-and-white kitten was at a local shelter (I don’t have the name of the shelter), in a cage and he was flea infested and scared to death. He hid at the back of his cage.

RUDY - a kitten at an animal shelter scheduled for euthanasia
RUDY – a kitten at an animal shelter scheduled for euthanasia until saved. Photos: Sam Peterson or partner.

Sigh… You would have thought that almost any nine week-old kitten would be frightened in a cage in a shelter so I can’t understand why they labelled him too feral to be adopted and scheduled him for euthanasia. Perhaps we do not have the full story. I hope so. Sometimes the internet does not provide the nuances of a story which help to clarify why things happened. However, I’ll continue…

It does beg the question as to how often this sort of thing happens at shelters. And I am a bit surprised to read on the firstnewspaper.com website that he was covered in fleas at the shelter. Is this normal? It can’t have helped his mood.

With great good fortune a kindhearted man, Sam Peterson, was looking for a cat and he approached this tiny fella in his cage. The kitten sensed that Sam was friendly, started to purr and has been purring ever since. Clearly, in this case, in terms of character and personality, he was the exact opposite of feral.

Jacqueline DeAmor, co-founder of Friends for Life Rescue Network said:

“He couldn’t stop purring to the point where he got out of breath!”

Sam took his kitten home. He named him Rudy. They got rid of his fleas and fed him up. He was very skinny and fragile when they adopted him. Rudy has settled in nicely and follows his human companions around the home. Each morning he wakes them up by walking on their heads.

“Every morning, he comes rushing over, purring madly with this look on his face, whenever we make even the slightest movement like we might finally be getting up.”

I can’t help but make a brief comment about this story. I am sure that this story is (hopefully rarely) enacted across many shelters in many countries every day. I’m also sure that most shelter volunteers and workers are very careful to label their cats feral or unadoptable simply because they have the perception that the animal is agitated and aggressive. However, some people do mislabel cats at shelters which can lead to an unnecessary early death. Rudy escaped death and he is a very happy boy in a loving home.

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8 thoughts on “Frightened nine-week-old kitten at shelter scheduled for euthanasia because he was too feral”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. It is my opinion that shelter workers are either ignorant about cat behavior and/or don’t want to be bothered to learn/make the cat feel more comfortable. That takes time and effort which many people today don’t want to be bothered to do.

    Reply
    • Without a doubt all the time and resources here is spent on dogs. Shelters keep dogs in kennels with the idea they need room to move but cats are shoved in cages and stacked like storage boxes. Some of the better run public shelters are doing away with this concept thankfully and putting socialized cats in group settings in open areas. One of my cats acts feral when first put in a crate and then for a few minutes at the vet. I guess these so called animal lovers would jab her with a death needle despite her being chipped.
      Anyone with a smidgen of knowledge about cats know they are not always good in strange situations or with strangers or strange dogs and cats around. You cannot give a treat, or hug or try and sooth a cat the way you can a scared dog. But morons are fine with their ignorance and will continue to use the word feral as a justification to get rid of cats in shelters.

      Reply
  3. The director or dictator of our local shelter told me face to face that ANY cat that ACTED feral was put down.
    So this story doesn’t surprise me one bit. While they’e killing cats they do anything to rehome dangerous dogs. Go figure.

    Reply

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