Toby the cat isn’t just your regular old house cat. At only 7 years old, he’s already had a life full of ups and downs.
Toby’s family rehomed him in February after they realized he wasn’t getting along with their other cats.
According to the SPCA of Wakefield communications manager Tara Lynn, the organization who rescued Toby from the shelter, the family had taken him in when he was a stray, but things just weren’t working out.
They decided to give him to someone with a home he’d happier in, but apparently, that wasn’t working for Toby.
In an effort to get back to his comfort zone, Toby walked a painstaking 12 miles to be reunited with the family he knew.
Afer realizing that rehoming wasn’t going to keep Toby away, they took him to a nearby shelter and requested them to euthanize the adventurous little cat.
Thankfully, the heavyhanded request from the family didn’t quite sit well with the shelter employee who took him in.
Toby is a relatively healthy cat and certainly wasn’t in such poor shape that he’d have to be euthanized.
Euthanization should always be a last resort, reserved for the animals who are in too much pain to live out a quality life. Even when this is the case, it is a tough call to make.
According to Lynn, Toby does carry what is called FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus), which is basically the feline version of HIV in people.
However, in an article posted by Todaynews, Lynn told reporters that with appropriate medical attention, Toby could still live a very full and happy life.
It seems that this is exactly what Toby intends to do.
Upon hearing about poor Toby’s recent experiences with attempts at domesticated life, the SPCA decided to use his story as a poster child for a walkathon the SPCA was set to have on May 6th.
As fate would have it, Beth Stern, wife of Howard Stern and known animal rights advocate, saw the poster and wrote about Toby on her Instagram.
Fortunately, Stern’s post reached a young woman in New Hampshire, who happened to have a fur-baby-loving sister in North Carolina, not far from Toby.
Michelle Puckett’s sister contacted her as soon as she saw the post, and just a few short weeks after coming to SPCA, Toby got to meet his mom-to-be and two siblings for the first time.
There are so many furry friends with so much love to give. Sometimes, you’re their only fighting chance.
Thanks to the endless efforts of organizations like the SPCA, and the compassion of people like the shelter employee, Toby now has home with a loving family that welcomes him with open arms.
