This is one of those recurring “matted cat stories”. They pop up on the Internet from time to time. They are astonishing because readers can’t understand how cat owners can allow their cats to get into such a state but often we don’t know the back story. There may be an acceptable reason but nonetheless the first photograph from the Arizona Humane Society makes you wonder what creature you are looking at. Fluffer, the sweet-looking placid cat you see after all the matts were removed was carrying around 2 pounds of excess matted fur on her 8 pound body. So a quarter of her weight was fur that should not have been there.
Julie, a Arizona Humane Society worker responded to a call last Friday and when she arrived she could barely tell what animal she was looking at. The mats were so severe that Julie transferred Fluffer to the Animal Humane Society Second Chance Animal Trauma Hospital™. The good ending is that she was adopted after two days at the shelter.
I can understand why because she’s a very sweet looking cat and the distinct impression that I have is that she is a very placid, laid-back cat. You can tell that from her facial expression. She is a bicolour grey-and-white.
One person who commented asked about Fluffer’s owner, or a better description would be her former owner. She enquired whether the owner would be charged with animal neglect. A fair question. Fluffer was otherwise healthy when picked up. There is no chance that the owner will be charged I can tell you that with complete certainty. Although there was neglect no doubt about that. In fact, on reading the comments further as I dictate this, I’ve just discovered that she was rescued when her owner passed away. But that doesn’t fully explain the situation. It can’t do. There must’ve been a period of time over many months, in fact, when Fluffer’s owner was unable perhaps through ill-health to care for her cat and then she passed away. That, by the look of it, is the back story to this heavily matted, cute and very adoptable cat.
