MEET Max the cat … yes, he’s cute and cuddly – in fact, he’s about as nice as cats get temperament-wise.
He likes nothing better than to have a pat and a scratch under the chin and spend time with you. He’s also a very clean little cat and despite being only four months old already knows all about litter trays.
So why did someone leave him on the side of a road in a small box on a hot day to die?
It’s a question that animal foster carer Jennifer Brown has racked her brains over since the young male cat – which she named Max when he arrived in foster care – was found last Tuesday morning. A passer-by spotted an almost sealed small box similar to that used for A4 paper on the side of Boundary Street and looked inside.
They then took the cat to a local vet who in turn passed him on – after checking him over and finding he had no microchip – to the Port Macquarie Animal Welfare Service.
“Maybe they were on their way to the airport?” Jennifer pondered.
“But why, oh why if they had to get rid of him, if they could not find a home, why not take him to the pound, or a vet to be put down humanely?”
“This little cat is just so lucky someone saw the box and decided to look inside. I’d urge anyone finding a box or a sack that could conceivably contain a cat or a dog. You just never know.”
She has a message for the cat’s previous owner if they are reading this: “Shame on you. To die like he could have out there in a box in the heat – not a nice death. It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
A foster carer of 20 years, Jennifer says cats frequently get a bad deal, but this was one of the worst cases she had come across.
“Five weeks ago, three kittens were also dumped in a box at the TAFE, but it wasn’t sealed and obviously they were somewhere they would be found and not just on the edge of a road where they could be run over,” she said.
Animal Welfare Service co-ordinator Leonie Heath said when she heard of how Max had been dumped she was disgusted.
“When I heard this story – just horror. Horror and disgust,” she said. “It’s happening all too often plus in the last couple of seasons people have been dumping pregnant cats. How are they supposed to survive? You wonder how people’s minds work.”
What makes Max’s dumping all the more confusing is that the little black and white cat is very friendly and has obviously been well handled and relatively well cared for, even if un-microchipped.
The young male cat is now one of more than 30 cats and kittens in foster care with Hastings Animal Welfare Service volunteers, who are stretched beyond capacity and desperately need more carers. Cats cost from $150 with all vet work done. Foster carers are reimbursed for all out-of-pocket costs, including food and vet work.
The service also fosters dogs and currently has more than 15 dogs looking for homes, of all shapes, sizes and ages.
They hold regular cat and dog adoption days at Petstock in Port Macquarie. Times and dates and details of some of the pets are always posted on their Facebook page – www.facebook.com/pages/Port-Macquarie-Animal-Welfare-Service
You can also find listings on the www.petrescue.com.au (follow links for Port Macquarie dogs and cats).
Inquiries about adopting little Max can be directed to Jennifer on ph 0428 26 373. He is not yet on petrescue.com.au because he was still in the mandatory quarantine phase all new pets have to go through.
